Data Sheets
Data is a huge thing that I and my students focus on in the classroom. These worksheets are used almost daily and have been a huge life saver. This year my focus was to become amazing at collecting data on my students. Since I teach special education all of my students have 3-6 goals that we work on and they have to meet by the end of their year. Last year I did something similar but it felt like such a struggle to make this a priority. This year it has been one of my top priorities to get this routine down and I have been doing pretty well with it.
The best thing about these data sheets is they can be individualized for any student. Whether you teach general education or special education these are a great visual data tool for any student. I have seen general education teachers use these for all students to meet a standard or track their reading. I feel like most kids benefit tremendously from a visual and any student who can see their growth will be even more excited to learn in the future.
Every week I put a list on my white board of all of my students. Then during the week I find 5-10 minutes to test each student on all of their goals. These sheets are kept in a binder with the goal sheet and the corresponding worksheets. For example, if a student is working on letter sounds I have the goal sheet with a worksheet that has the letters of the alphabet. That way I am able to pull both things and have the student work on their goal right then and there. I will have the student say the sound of each letter and will circle the ones they get right. This has made using my data sheets sooooo much easier, it’s crazy.
When testing a student on their goals it is key to keep it positive. This means that if I have the alphabet worksheet I circle the ones they get right. In the past I use to mark the ones they got wrong but it became insanely obvious how down a student can get on themselves seeing all of their mistakes marked up on a paper. When you mark what they got right instead they get super excited and feel proud of themselves for getting something right. That way if a student is struggling and may only get two right you can say, “Hey you got two right!” Instead of them seeing everything they got wrong instead.
Don’t get me wrong, collecting data is no easy task. It was very daunting to me at first but since I have made it my mission this year it has gotten much easier. You should not let data collection overwhelm you, instead try to take it one step at a time to making data sheets or working with just one student on data. I have learned throughout the years that taking small routine steps you can accomplish some pretty amazing things in your classroom that you never thought possible before.
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Happy Teaching :)