In my second year of math intervention, students were assigned to a math class for100 minutes. It was my role to teach the on-level content, as well as set aside time for intervention. My co-teacher would join me for the second50 minutes. This allowed for me to take a bit of extra time with the on-level lesson before switching gears for the intervention portion of the class. It was challenging because all of the students in theclass struggled with mathand had high needs.
After that year, my principal met with us and we brainstormed other options. This quickly became my favorite math intervention schedule. Students attended an on-level math class and then would return to their math teacher at the end of the day for intervention class. In my case, we met 8th period. Here is why I enjoyed this:
- Math intervention students were spread within on-level classes throughout the day.
- All of my students had already attended my on-level math class. This could also work if you met in the morning and had on-level classes in the afternoon.
- My co-teacher came during math intervention time to allow for smaller group instruction.
- Two 50 minute blocks are more impactful that one 100 minute block, in my opinion.
DAILY ACTIVITIES
In order to build fluency with math skills, there were quite a few things that were a part of our daily rhythm.
MATH SKILLS
We would do timed math skills to build fluency. I started the year with a 12 by 12 multiplication table that had empty squares. Each day the missing squares changed. The goal was to build confidence as well as mathematical fluency. As time went on, I moved to fraction, decimal, percent conversions, and other fluency related concepts.
QUICK DEBRIEF OF ON-LEVEL CLASS
I would check in with my intervention kiddos to see how they felt about the lesson and what questions they still had. This was informal, but useful when we had a difficult lesson. It also helped to create a safe place, where some students might not feel comfortable asking in a larger class.
HOMEWORK
Depending on the assignment from the on-level class,I liked to provide about 10 minutes for students to work on homework. This did not always happen, but 10 minutes is the goal.
WEEKLY ACTIVITIES
CENTER ROTATIONS
We typically had four center options in my class:small group with me,computers, and two activity stations. The activities varied but my requirements were that they had to be fairly self-sufficient and I had an incentive tied to a recording sheet.
SMALL GROUP INSTRUCTION
I thinksmall group instructioncan be incredibly impactful in this type of setting. Often, students in math intervention lack motivation and grit. Small group was my opportunity to correct misconceptions,encourage successes, and mostly question them through the process.
PRE-TEACHING OR REVIEW
About once a week, we would focus on a new concept that was coming up in our on-level curriculum. This allowed me to break it down in bit sized pieces and helped students to see it prior to their on-level class.
CO-TEACHER
Another reason this schedule was incredible, was the fact that my co-teacher came during intervention time. It was difficult to give her up during my larger on-level classes, but I think she was better utilized during intervention time. Oftentimes, she would circulate the room to help students while I pulled small groups. Others, she would pull small groups. It was nice to have her in a class that was so hands on!
A STARTER GUIDE TO MATH INTERVENTION
When I conducted a survey for readers at the end of the year, math intervention was one of the most commented items. Often administrators are quick to implement math intervention in order to meet RTI and SPED needs. Yet, there isn’t a formula for what math intervention should look like. I know I felt this way the first time I was assigned an intervention class.
By: Haizle V. Romasanta
