You’ll experience many types of learners throughout your teaching career. Although some students seem to always need extra assistance, all students sometimes have difficulties. It is up to us to have a plan to deal effectively with this as it is one of the most important parts of being an educator. Read here for tips on interventions for struggling students.
Interventions as Part of a Classroom Management Plan
As stated, we all know that helping students who struggle is the name of the game. If we didn’t need to do this, then we simply aren’t needed as an educator, but rather as a babysitter. Accepting that most students will struggle at various points of the year and some will struggle constantly is the first step. And understanding that having a plan in place is crucial. If you don’t have a plan, it will affect your classroom management, and kids will suffer in the long run. Viewing interventions for struggling students as part of your classroom management plan will simplify and clarify the process for you. Read on for five specific actions that you can take to assist your struggling students.
Interventions for Struggling Students #1: Groupings
I’m not sure about you, but if I heard one more time that we need to “differentiate instruction”, I was going to scream. That is such a huge, broad topic and I defy any administrator to come up with a plan to differentiate every unit, topic, lesson, and assessment. So, in my mind, I want to be sure that I have kids in appropriate groupings before beginning each topic.
In my ELA class, for example, we cover 10 units for the year. I cover 5 reading and 5 writing units. Each unit is a different skill set, so the same child might be fine in say, a historical fiction reading unit, but have a difficult time with writing a literary essay.
I do a brief pre-assessment for each unit, but it is actually an activity within the unit. I don’t like having these separate, meaningless pre-assessments for students. For example, if we are doing a literary essay, the first activity I do is called an “Essay Boot Camp”. I go through the components of an essay (hopefully, it is mostly review) and then kids complete a “Finish the Essay” assignment. I use that to group my students into three groups. I use these groups as a guideline for myself. Kids always have a partner within a unit, so I use the groupings to pair struggling students with those who might be more on target. I also use my groupings during the workshop time, so when kids are working I might pull over kids who were struggling.
Having this plan of action has proved to not only help my struggling students but has helped my classroom management because now kids who need help have been identified and can get the help they need. We all know that many kids who struggle might create disruptions. Or worse, they sit and pretend to do their work or do it all incorrectly, and then we have to go back and get them on track.
Interventions for Struggling Students #2: Targeted Interventions
Once you have your preassessment roughly mapped out, you can start targeted intervention. I used to cringe when admin suggested this, as in my humble opinion they made it too difficult and too “data-driven”. It doesn’t need to be that intimidating. Here are some suggestions:
- List out skills: Within a unit, there will be some “non-negotiable” skills. For example, when writing an essay, you’ll want kids to know how to write a solid thesis. This is something you can take note of in your preassessment, and jot down the names of kids who struggled here. I would keep the list of skills to just a few and not try to accomplish every little thing within a unit.
- Use your mini-lessons to guide you: As you are teaching a unit, you will most likely use mini-lessons. For example, in a unit on fiction, you might do a lesson on symbolism. As you are checking in with students, you can informally grab a group that seems to need extra help.
- Use exit tickets: If you are teaching a particularly important skill, and/or one that is usually difficult (such as the theme of a novel), give an exit ticket to assess where kids are. Then, jot down those who need extra help.
The moral of the story here: Have a plan, but don’t overcomplicate it. Allow for more casual forms of intervention that let you work with students as issues are revealed.
Interventions for Struggling Students #3: Actionable Goals
Perhaps the best thing we can do for our students is to create actionable goals for them. By this, I mean very, very specific actions that they can take that are attainable and relateable. Here is a list of some common middle school ELA skills and what you can do to help:
- Thesis writing: Give kids a thesis formula (“By examining ___________ (reason 1) and __________, (reason 2) it is clear that _________. (claim)”) Have kids create a bunch of thesis statements for various relatable claims (example: Kids should all have cell phones).
- Using a variety of sentence structures: Have kids highlight 3 sentences in their writing pieces. Have them connect shorter sentences with semicolons to create compound sentences or commas to create complex sentences (might need to add some words to make this work).
- Identifying theme: Give kids a list of common themes (try my free Common Theme Statements if you’d like). Then, have them write theme statements for things that are personal: Theme statement for this school year, theme statement for your group of friends, theme statement for your family, etc.)
- Using symbols in writing: Have students highlight any objects in their writing piece. Ask them to then look at what the object means to them or their character. Giving a list of common symbols would help as well.
The key is to keep it as simple and specific (and relatable) as possible.
Interventions for Struggling Students #4: Getting Families on Board
There are few things that predict student success more than parental involvement. If a student is continuing to struggle with a skill or in general, having a parent conference or making a phone call is vital. Here are some hallmarks of good communication:
- Have a list: Be prepared to go over any specific items with examples.
- Give action items: In general, parents will want to know what help will be given or what they can do to help. For example, you might tell the parent that you will be working with their child in a small group on their essay to check in, and that parents can check in on their end to be sure they are keeping up with the assignment.
- Follow-up: It’s always a good idea to tell parents you’ll send them a quick email next week to let them know how it’s going, and that the parent as well can email you if they need clarification or have questions.
Interventions for Struggling Students #5: Peers
For me, peer help is a controversial topic. I am very hesitant to pair a student with real struggles with a student who is a high-flyer. For one, the student who struggles could be embarrassed or worse, not really get the help they need. Also, the student who has been assigned to help can become frustrated and it can sometimes feel like a burden.
What I do instead is give kids a partner throughout the unit. I might take a student who is struggling with one particular skill and pair them with a student who can assist, but I would still keep my eye on the struggling students.
Our school also offered an after-school program called Peer Tutoring. It was hugely successful because students signed up on a volunteer basis to help other students. It was overseen by teachers as well. Programs like this can prove very helpful to struggling students, as well as build community.
Interventions for Struggling Students: 3 Big Takeaways
- Prevention: Being prepared with a way to identify struggling students is key. Most kids will struggle at some point in the year, so it’s better to just make it part of your plan.
- Caring: Approach struggling students with a caring attitude. At some point, I believe all students want to be successful, but as they hit roadblock after roadblock they become frustrated. Pulling a student aside and telling them that you notice they are having difficulty with a skill and that you are going to help them is a good idea. I would also mention to them that you see all students struggling at some point during the year, and it is your main job to help so it’s no big deal to you.
- Action Items: When a student is struggling, give them a plan of action. This will empower the students and give them tangible things to do to make improvements.
Need More Help? Membership is Open Now!
Doing everything yourself is daunting. So if you are interested, I’ve developed a membership for ELA teachers. This has been highly requested. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do because I know how ill-prepared many new teachers are after college. This has nothing to do with the teachers and everything to do with teachers’ colleges and the lack of good onboarding in districts in our country.
It’s a very robust membership. Some of the highlights:
- Complete curriculum map with access to 9 full-month units for the year
- Access to literacy centers, mini-lessons, a full-year grammar program, choice boards, video lessons, and seasonal activities
- Access to a private Facebook group, where I can answer your questions and go live to help you with more complex units
Click here for more information. As of now, we are in the “founding members” stage. You can lock into the price for as long as you keep up your membership. As I’m adding daily activities and Doodle Notes, the price is going up in January.
Questions/Comments
If you are a new teacher and have questions, please comment below. If you are an experienced teacher, I would LOVE to have you comment with any of your input and expertise on dealing with struggling students. Drop a comment below!
Wishing you all the best this month on your classroom management journey.
-Linda A. “All in One Middle School“
