How many of you chart your progress like Mrs. Maestra in Teaching Challenging Students? I was just rereading ch 4- Charting Progress.

I sat down and rated my class. According to my initial reactions, my class is at a 2.54. They're fence sitters.

I was just curious to hear other people's experiences charting progress like this.

I realized that I already have 2 leaders in my class, woohoo! But the rest of the class...they aren't bad, they're...awfully distractible.

I like the idea of keeping track so that you can feel accomplishment over progress, and I think it will help me to focus on areas of need.

Allison,
I have been charting for two weeks now. It helps me focus on, maybe the few tiny positive behaviors, a few of my challenging students will display in a day. You want to focus on evolving those behaviors by tiny bits. I have to admit, this is something that I have never done until this year. I am truly a firm believer in its power to allow you to modify and correct certain students without feeling frustrated or defeated.

Heather Hansen
Wbt intern
2011/12

We just finished our second week of school, and I've rated my class (and myself) at the end of both weeks. I created an Excel spreadsheet with an extremely simple averaging formula. Each week has a column and each kid a row. I put the kid's rating for the week in the appropriate cell and it does all the work for me. My class went from a 2.66 to a 3 in a week. I probably rated them too harshly the first week, but that's okay with me.

My own score dropped from an average of 9 to an averaged of 8. There's this one kid who's just really irritating me...so, it's up to me to monitor myself and lead him into the realm of perfection.

Another good tip we got at the last conference was that you really want to focus on raising your score initially be getting your go-alongs to become alphas, then work on your fence-sitters, etc. Start at the top, because that's where your work will be easiest. Since the function of WBT methods is to get the majority of your kids behind you and then use that leverage on your challenging students, the system works best if you really focus on solidifying your high performing kids first.

WBT Intern 2011-2012

Good point Dsudia!
It makes the year so much more enjoyable when you get the fence sitters and go-alongs to hop on the WBT Train!


Heather Hansen
Wbt intern
2011/12