Building a New Program

What I Learned In School Today: There is a level of excitement when building a new program for kids.

This year our school is implementing a new math intervention program for our second graders. One of our teachers will spend half her time delivering small group or one-on-one instructional interventions for students identified as having the greatest need but not receiving other math related services. Similar intervention practices and programs exist in the school, but most focus on language arts, particularly reading.

Developing the program has been exciting. At our core, educators want to positively impact kids and help them grow. Additionally, the prospect of using one’s own knowledge, ideas, and expertise to build something for kids is meaningful. Everything from developing a schedule, determining data used to identify students, selecting instructional materials, and deciding on assessments needs to be examined and chosen as we develop the program. The task is daunting because of its scope and our desire to help our kids, but the work is fun. After working on this, I go home knowing I did something that will make a difference.