Data Binders, Your Student and You…                   

Your students have decided to house their school planners inside of their data binders because they have a great deal of data in them.  This means that their data binder will come home each night and will need to come back each day.  We would like this binder to be used as a communication tool between you and your student.  Here are some thoughts on how…

Bronze, Silver, Gold

            Your student should be able to describe each of their actions that moved them either up or down on the plan.  Ask them about their actions.  It is not enough for them to tell you their day was good because they were gold.

Personal Tally Graph

            During the day each student keeps track of how many times friends in the classroom make them feel good or make them feel sad.  That data is then graphed by day and the total class numbers are recorded on a chart on the back of the graph.  This should give us some indicator of the student’s day and how they are interacting with their friends.  Once again, question them about their number of good and sad tallies.  Ask them how they helped other students feel good to reach our classroom goal.

Bathroom Graph

            Each day we take 2 bathroom breaks that are both timed and lead by students.  Our goal is to keep the time under 4 minutes, but we are always looking to break our record.  Please ask them questions about the varying times. 

Math Folders

            In the student’s math folders there are several pieces of data for you to look over with them.  There is a calendar at the front with colored in days.  These colors indicate their comfort level with the material at the end of the lesson.  Green = mastered, Yellow = somewhat understand, red = very difficult.  We want them and you knowing what they are comfortable with and what they still struggle with.

            There are also daily Mad Minutes.  The Mad Minute is a timed (1 minute) basic math facts practice.  We use it to warm our brains up at the beginning of class and to improve our speed with those basic facts.

Mission Statement, Goals, & Ground Rules

            In the binder you will also find our class mission statement, goals, and ground rules.  All of the students are expected to know these and keep these at the forefront of their thoughts at all times.  Ask them what they are doing to reach their goals or what aligns with the mission.  Ask them to explain the ground rules for you and the purpose for each. 

            Of course, you do not need to do these things with them every night, but these binders should give you a deeper look into your student’s day.  The goal is that you will no longer hear that your student’s day was just bad or good.  You should hear intentional specifics that are supported by data.  If there is additional data that you would like to have please feel free to send a note in or send the idea in with your student.

            Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  This is a process that we are all working through.