Maybe It's Not About Doing MORE

Recently our team sat looking at the information we had collected about our readers.  We had our most recent benchmark assessment information and anecdotal notes from our classrooms.  As we reflected on student progress, we didn't feel we were seeing the shifts we hoped to see.  It wasn't long until our conversation spun to ways we could do more.  

In the last month I have sat in meetings with other grade levels, other schools, our literacy team, and our response to intervention team.  In each of these instances the conversation seems to quickly spiral into ways we could do more.  Even looking at the assessment information and notes I've obtained from the students I support in reading intervention, I find myself looking for ways to do more.  

The truth is, however, we're already doing more.  Educators have many students that have particular individual and small group plans.  There are plans for intervention that are progress monitored.  There are additional support staff that support some learners and programs purchased with the intention to support and remediate.  We pull learning apart from its larger concepts to its minute skills, drilling into what we think might be needed for these students.

Let's pause, for just a minute...

Let's breathe...

Let's leave the rushed frenzy of our data driven world...

Let's put standardized hurdles aside...

Let's not do more...

As I look at the information I have on my readers and consider the rushed pace of our learning, I realize I can't do more.  They can't do more.  I'm asking the wrong questions and seeking the wrong plans.  What I need to be thinking about is, what can I do better?  What are the essential instructional practices that will support my learners?  What really works?  How do I improve my language so that what I am doing has more power, but leaves them with more time to practice these very strategies? 

Experience has taught me that if I put first things first, the rest will fall into place.  So I'm changing my question to "What can I do better?".  As I reflect I am looking for those essential pieces that matter most, and working to do them well.