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Friday, September 23, 2011

In on the ground floor, part 2


Pretty amazing week of ideas, idea sharing, and implementing some new things at my school. All thanks to the legislation called RTI!

The very first thing the 8th grade math team is starting is "Homework ER," which, essentially is homework detention for students who habitually don't turn in their homework - as defined by 3 or more assignments missing within two weeks. I already have a list of students who fall in this category, and thus will receive this intervention.

The entire plan for the 8th grade math team, including Homework ER is still very experimental (ER - as in Emergency Room, although the one time I was actually in an emergency room, this acronym was used for something else, so we might be perpetuating a common mis-nomer....). It may or may not get the results we want. But Homework ER is supposed to be structured in a way that gets students to do what they are supposed to do. It's to change their behavior, which will change their experience, which will change their attitudes - or so goes Gardner's theory. More updates to come. The first Homework ER is in October.

But besides that, I do want to change up a whole bunch of things about my own instruction. It's mind-boggling to think about right now - so I'm only handling it one piece at a time. Still very excited about what will happen.

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