Those pesky red flags made your heart sink. And they were doing so well. At some point every student reaches this wall. Actually this can be seen as a good thing. It means that both the student and the program have located the area of need, that point where the student missed along the journey of reading. This can be seen as a fabulous opportunity.
Strategies for intervention come and go. The question is what strategies will support the student in the most positive, most targeted, most efficient manner? Consider the following:
- Check the Completion History Report. It gives you a quick way to see individual progress and may offer insights in preventing those flags from popping up. “Prevention is easier than intervention.”
- Check the Error Reports – what story do they tell? Ensure you have a clear understanding of the issue at hand.
- Check in with the student – what story does the student tell? This is a perfect time to connect and make this a “connectedness” time. “Relationship is everything.”
- Only after the three above, check the blog Interventions section of the exercise for specific ways to support. (*You might also talk to your colleagues in other buildings using the same program. They have strategies that have worked for them.)
- Interventions may require more time than one session. Take the time needed. (*Sometimes the issue really is that we don’t spend enough time to allow for the learning to occur before placing the student back on the program.)
- Don’t be disheartened if the flag doesn’t disappear immediately. If the student has been stuck for some time, it will take a while. Make a mental note to encourage both the student and yourself.