In Seek of Continuous Improvement

The post and reflection below comes from teaching fellow and 2nd grade Bel Air teacher Denise Sinkel.

As the end of the year approaches, I have spent some time reflecting on this school year and what we can do better next year.  In class we were asked, what is your vision? Where do you see your school going? I have targeted three areas of improvement for Bel Air and more specifically, 2nd grade. My first idea targets our 2nd grade intervention model, while the second and third target the entire school.

First, I want to change our intervention model. Currently, we have a strong focus on fluency and phonics. It seems that the same kids are in intervention for the majority of the year, there is not much flow in or out. We tend to forget about math interventions altogether. In 2nd grade, fluency and phonics are crucial. We are moving toward 100 minutes of phonics instruction a week next year, which I hope will free up some intervention time. Here is what I would like to see done with that time:

When we complete a plan-do-study-act cycle, we are never at 100% proficiency. We make or exceed our goal, but there are still kids who are not proficient. What are we doing for those kids?  The majority of the students are ready to move on, so we need to continue. We always say that we are going to keep working with those students who are not ready, but we need to be more purposeful with how we do that. I would like to see some of our intervention time spent on these students. The interventions would be flexible; whichever standard we focused on for that cycle is what the intervention would be. Maybe 2 days a week we take those students who are not proficient and they receive intervention based on that standard. With this model, we make sure the students who need extra support are getting it. We are not just saying we will keep working with them, we are actually doing it and in a more meaningful way.

The second and third parts of my vision go hand-in-hand. Our population of students with mental illness seems to be growing. I see anxieties showing up in my students on a daily basis. These anxieties are often displayed as some sort of negative behavior. We need support staff at the school to help with the growing mental issues that are presenting themselves. I would love to see a counselor that meets with children throughout their day. We need to be proactive, not reactive when it comes to mental illness. We need more opportunities for social groups. I know many students who would benefit from a daily social group or seeing a counselor on a daily basis.

The final part of my vision is a mentorship program between teachers and students that I think would be wonderful for our school. I want to see every teacher be a mentor to one student who needs extra support. The student could have a mental illness, speak english as a second language, have a chaotic homelife, or be struggling academically. The mentorship would last the student’s entire career at Bel Air and possibly beyond. Imagine the relationship and trust that could be built. I think behavior issues would decrease while academic progress would increase.  Teachers would need time to connect during the school day at least once a week. This could look like having lunch together, helping with homework, taking 10 minutes to play a game or just to have a meaningful conversation. I would also like to see this program extend outside regular school hours at least once a month. Outside of school it might look like going to a museum, having a picnic at a park together, or going bowling. I think this program would have endless benefits for our school and community.