To gather info, I created a Special Needs list. This document consists of a checklist for each teacher that contains their student names (copied & pasted off our district website). The categories on this list are: Resource (SPED), Speech, TST (our designation for students performing far below grade level but not labeled SPED), Gifted-Math, Gifted-LA (Language Arts - our school is the district magnet school for gifted), Non-reader, Monolingual/Spanish (80% plus of our student population is Hispanic), Fluent Spanish & English (these kiddos can help translate if seated next to a monolingual student and this also designates the student as an English Language Learner), Medical Needs (allergies, asthma, ADHD w/meds, etc) and new this year - Special Home situation (homeless, lives in shelter, newly divorced parents, etc.) There is also a 'Comment' section where teachers can explain anything not already covered in the list.
Kinder teachers have an abbreviated form since there is not a lot of info on their kiddos yet...
I hand each of my teachers their copy on their first day of class with me - the expectation that it will be filled out & returned asap. Some forms are returned that same day, some much later but I get all back within the first month of school. This information helps me form a picture of the class demographics and influences my teaching strategies for that particular group of learners. I send out the same checklist at the start of 2nd semester since our population is very transient plus the info for some students has changed since the start of the school year...
In my next post, I'll talk about how that info makes it way into my class lists (used for attendance & grades) as well as the seating chart.
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Wow! That's a lot of info to take in! I think it's great that your homeroom teachers are willing to fill out the checklist for you! :)
ReplyDeleteTook some training but they've come around...I tried to make it as simple as a checkoff for them. Most of this info they have on a 'pink or blue card' our district uses to gather this same info on each student. These cards are index-size cards that our teachers fill out on their students at the end of each school year & pass on to the next-year's teacher in May when students are sorted/assigned a new teacher. Essentially, they can fill out my sheet by just using those cards...
ReplyDeleteYou are so organized! I have borrowed some of your ideas and need to work on more organization.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think it only took 30+ years of teaching to get where I am...be patient, little grasshopper, it just takes practice...
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