Getting Ready for Back to School

jennifer Partrick
Jun 07, 2010

Why is there an article about back to school before the year even ends? Think of what you can do now, at the end of the year or during the summer, to prepare for next year as you read this article.
As you begin getting ready to go back to school, do you feel bombarded by a multitude of things to do? Classrooms to be assembled, bulletin boards to fix, schedules to work out, books to be checked in, technology to be hooked up, and the list goes on. While all of these are important we must not lose sight of the goal of teaching. The goal is to prepare our students for the next step. What is the next step? The next grade of course. How do we get our students to the next grade? We teach our standards.

To help reach that goal we must know where our students are academically when they enter our classrooms. We know this by looking at our students' portfolios from the last grade in addition to how our students performed last year. We need to know their strengths and weaknesses. The more we know about our students when they enter our classroom the better prepared we will be to give them the support they need.

So, what are we looking for in their portfolios? We want to know how our students scored on their end of grade tests. We want to know the levels at which they passed or failed. Next, we need to know their reading level, because, if they are reading below grade level, that is most likely why they failed the test in the first place. We need to look at writing samples to get a glimpse of their vocabulary use, spelling rules they have internalized, and mechanics. This is an important piece on the literacy radar. Having this information gives us insight into what needs to be taught in order to help students reach proficiency.

With this in mind, you will have an idea of where your students are academically. You can then begin to plan how you will structure classroom time to ensure that whole group instruction in addition to flexible grouping is taking place daily. Students are placed in flexible groups based on their area of need so instruction is focused and direct. Flexible grouping is used to work with students on their instructional level to teach them how to read and the nuances of text. Studying work samples in portfolios and attending to students' work habits in the first couple of weeks of school gives you insight into the skills that you need to teach. Use data collected from interim tests during the year to change and reorganize flexible groups. Knowing this information will help you get organized and will help you with identifying specific skills to teach in order to support students so they can be successful.