Thursday, July 26, 2007

Pyramid of Intervention

Hello all
I have been reading all the blog comments and I can't tell you how pleased I am to see us using it. I wanted to let you all know what has been going on. As most of you probably know Rhianna Presley will not be with us next year and we have been working on filling her position. In addition to that we have been working on getting the new building furniture, and landscaping together. The building looks great and looks like it will be finished on time. I have been working on developing a framework for our pyramid of intervention and SIT teams. I would like to help make our Pyramid/SIT process user friendly and effective for our students. I am very excited to share what I have so far when you all get back to school and to get your ideas on how we can make it better. I have seen many of you dedidicated individuals in here working already and I have enjoyed meeting with you and getting to know you a little bit. Thank you all for making me feel welcome, except Armstrong of course. (just kinding) I would like to have some thoughts on your perspective on the SIT process. Be honest I can take it.

5 comments:

Erin said...

ROCK ON! You can post!!!! That's the best news yet! As far as SIT goes, I really like being able to look back and know that I attempted many things to help a child. The part I don't like is the part that takes up a huge chunk of time, like when you have to spend a large part of class time just documenting whether or not an intervention is working for a kid. "How many times was Joey off task during this class period?" I feel like that's not concrete enough. Or maybe just too hard to figure out when you've got 25 other students in your room that you're supposed to be monitoring too.

Anonymous said...

I think the SIT process leaves a lot to be desired in helping kids. I have done more than one with the end result being that the kid doesn't fit the guidelines from social services. We work hard to try to get help for the kids and very little ever seems to be done beyond what we do in our classrooms. It definitely needs some revamping.

Anonymous said...

I am going to agree with the anonymous post, the SIT process leaves a lot of be desired. I spend majority of my time documenting, trying 100 different strategies, and then go to a meeting where no one can give me any more suggestions and to set a goal they have to look in a book and tell me to pick a number. That does not seem very child centered to me and it is very frustrating as a classroom teacher to have someone tell you, "Good job, keep up what you are doing. They will eventually catch up." That is not acceptable to me. I need something else to help them. It is also frustrating when you have tried a million strategies and then you go to the SIT meeting and are told, "I think you have tried everything you can." Apparently I haven't because the child is not progressing. I am looking forward to the intervention time because I feel this might help to reach these kids that the SIT process does not.

natalie said...

Thanks, Shawn...you're killin' me!

Anonymous said...

In reading the previously posted comments, it sounds like all of us agree that the SIT process needs to be "tweeked and re-tweeked" until it becomes a valuable tool in addressing students' needs. I think that we all forget sometimes that although it's the only avenue we have to see if a child has a special education need, that really isn't the sole purpose of a SIT team! I also think that what our SIT process looks like in the 5/6 building will always be different than what it looks like in K-4 because we are not dealing with the exact same problems. A one year delay in an academic area at second-grade level is a lot closer to "normal/typical" than a one year delay in the same academic area at sixth-grade level. And if that one year delay is only addressed by meetings, documentation of off-task behaviors,and improved home-school communication - and not by specific academic intervention, it will be a two and a half year delay by sixth grade! I know that I've heard teachers say that "this is the second or third year in a row that the child has had SIT meetings", and maybe we could all get better at using the info from all of those previous meetings to direct us? I imagine we all need to know more about Response to Intervention and Curriculum-Based Measurement, so lead us, Shawn! I'm really glad that you've taken this on!