If you are a classroom teacher, then you are probably very familiar with documenting student data and progress. Documenting the differentiation you are providing for every single student while also teaching said students can feel impossible. Hopefully, these tips for organizing your math intervention documentation will make it all more manageable. Plus, there are a few freebies to get you started, so keep reading!
TRACKING PROGRESS
Once I became more skilled at pulling a small group while managing a classroom full of other students, I was ready to level up and track data. What was the point of pulling a small group if I couldn’t see if it was making a difference? I created this Small Group Progress Monitoring Printable to document how my small group of students were progressing.
I made a ton of blank copies, put them inside a binder, and filled them out whenever I pulled a small group.
If you want a copy for your classroom, you can grab it (along with a few others) here.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Keep it simple is pretty much my moto! State testing is right around the corner, and this idea worked really well for my smaller intervention class. This requires some work upfront, but makes the day-to-day, in-class mental load lighter. Here is a solution that worked for me:
- Create one page with all of the standards listed in kid-friendly language. This is your cover sheet.
- Create a packet of material that students need the most help with. I would use material from our State Testing Units – the 10 question assessments were perfect. Make the exact same packet for all of your intervention students.
- Staple the cover sheet to the packet. The cover sheet is where I differentiated! I highlighted the skills that the individual student needed to work on based on what I saw from their benchmark. For example, Student A might have dividing decimals highlighted amongst other highlighted skills while Student B might have integer operations and creating equivalent fractions highlighted. Student A could find the section titled dividing decimals and start there. The next day, they would go to the next highlighted skill. The cover sheet included a space for me to check off when they mastered the skill.
Students were practicing exactly what they needed to work on, and I didn’t have to make 15 different worksheets to hand out to 15 different students and try and keep up with who got what.
Note: Since I took the picture above, Maneuvering the Middle has created an Intervention Binder for both TEKS and CCSS that has a more comprehensive overview of all of the standards. The Student Data Sheet would be perfect to use as a cover sheet.
MAKE IT VISUAL
After completing a unit, I passed back their unit tests along with a unit test reflection. The unit test reflection broke down the test into the 3-5 skills that were tested. Next to the skills, were boxes with the question numbers that aligned to those skills. Students would go through their test and color in green for questions they got correct and red for problems they got wrong. This created a great visual for students to see what skills they still needed to develop.
Students were then able to reflect more effectively on their strengths and their areas needing growth. I had students keep these reflections in their notebook, so on days when we used Khan Academy or IXL, they could refer to this page and work on the skills they had not mastered yet. If students hit below a certain threshold, you could assign a video reteaching the topic – a perfect use of our Maneuvering the Middle Student Video Library. Click here to grab your Test Analysis printable!
This reflection never quite took an entire class period, so I paired it with test corrections.
USING EXIT TICKETS
Exit tickets are another way to decide who needs to go into a small group and what you should reteach or practice in the small group.
When I am looking through the exit tickets, I would sort the exit tickets, not according to their grade, but by what the misconception is. Let’s say the exit ticket is over adding fractions.
- I might have one stack of exit tickets where students did not find a common denominator and just added the numerator and denominator together (conceptual understanding).
- Another stack would be for students who made a computation error (procedural fluency).
- Lastly, I might have a stack of students who couldn’t decode the word problem (application).
Of course, some exit tickets might fall into all three categories, but these different stacks allowed me to prioritize what students to pull in my small group, who just needs more practice, and who needs to be completely retaught.
I hope that this post provided some easy take-aways on how to organize math intervention in your classroom. Similar to how we scaffold for students, scaffold some of these organization systems into your daily routine. Choose the tip that would be the most helpful to you or would be the easiest to implement and give it a try!
What tips do you have for organizing math intervention?
For more tips on pulling small groups, check out Tips for Small Group Implementation here. Interested in learning more about our Math Intervention Binder? Check out the video below.
Click to find out more about Maneuvering Math™.
P.S. Maneuvering the Middle has been publishing blog posts since 2014. This post was originally published in June of 2016; it has been updated for relevancy.
Cindi Stickle says
Do you have the 6th grade math skills list available in your TPT store? I teach in Texas, and this would be great to have. Thanks!
Noelle Pickering says
Hi Cindy! I don’t right this minute, but plan to in the near future. Thanks!
Lauren says
I am also a 6th grade math teacher in TX and was wondering the same thing.
Noelle Pickering says
Small world! It is called KG Always a Good Time. Thanks!
Shamra says
I love this idea, so I am trying to wrap my head around it. I do something similar but it isn’t quite this organized, and I think I like this better. The numbers in the boxes correspond with the test questions of that particular skill, right? Do you only do this sort of form for district assessments, or do you use it for class tests too?
Noelle Pickering says
You could do it for both class and district assessments, it does take a bit of time for students to get the hang of it, so it would likely depend on how often you assess.
Bethany Bauer says
I have read all of the information. But, I need to know how to get the papers that go along with your math intervention block.
Noelle Pickering says
Hi Bethany! I don’t have all the forms available right now, but hope to sometime in the future. Thanks!
Kate says
I am teaching 8th grade intervention math this year and was wondering what your daily routine/class set up is. How often do you use Khan Academy?
Noelle Pickering says
Hi Kate! I am working on a more specific post about using Khan, but I do mention it quite frequently in my “How to Teach a Multi-Level Class”. Thanks!
Victoria says
Hi there! We will be starting RTI soon and we are being asked to also have the kids graph and make goals from assessments. Will you be posting your documents soon on TPT? I really like your system! Thanks!
Noelle Pickering says
Hi Victoria, thanks so much! Yes, I plan to have them out in the next month or so.
kate says
I have one other quick question for you. Above you have the STARR Intervention sheet -do you happen to have a copy of this for 8th grade? Our district is utilizing STARR as a district assessment and I love your idea.
Also, do you have the HOW DID I DO sheet available for 8th grade?
Thank so much,
Kate
Noelle Pickering says
Hi Kate! I hope to have these resources available in the next month or so. Interesting to hear that other states are utilizing the STARR as a benchmark.
Bailey says
I love the assessment tracking sheet. Do you have a copy available?
Noelle Pickering says
Yes, in the pack on the blog. Just got it posted in the store last month.
Dana says
Hi! I have clicked on your free intervention pages that are available. I have gave two different emails, but still have note received any pages. I would really love to implement it and use these! Please let me know if you could help me out.
Noelle Pickering says
Hi Dana! I am so sorry! Please email me and I will send them over.
Lezlie Lanza says
Awesome post! Thank You! I would love to have all your organizing sheets for rotations as well as small groups.
Thanks,
Lezlie Lanza
Noelle Pickering says
Thanks Lezlie! I will work on getting that set up for the blog.
Janet says
Do you have any Math group intervention plans for K-3?
Thank you!