know how you feel

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2004 : November : 15

know how you feel
By cdg

You sound just like I did 4 years ago, overwhelmed and panicy! I teach Early childhood and I have 8 kids in my class, each with unique IEP goals. Only a few have the same or similar goals (like identifying shapes, colors,
letters, etc.) that can be addressed as a group, and a lot have social (or play) goals (will play interactively with a peer for 5 mins with adult intervention), as well as things dealing with self-help (will remove and hang coat in locker independently).
In order to "track" their goals, I made up a check sheet (or grid) for each child, listing their goals across the top & Monday to

Friday along the side. Each day, I then observe as best I can what they are doing in regards to their goals & make a plus sign if they try it & succeed or minus sign if they are not engaging in the goal activity or fail when attempted. If a goal was not addressed for that day I put a N/A in the box. I keep this clipboard with me all day & will often sit down as the busses leave to review the day in my mind & catch up on any tally's. My weekly tally count is then transferred to a main tally sheet on Friday (goals across the top & "week of" dates down the side), so that I can tell at a glance where a child stands on a goal, in case someone asks for proof. It's usually recorded as 4/5 to indicate 4 out of 5 attempts. When report cards or goal update reports are due, I simply add up my scores on this and figure out the precentages if necessary & make my comments accordingly (making progress, inconsistent, goal met, goal not yet introduced or addressed, etc.)
Of course, you must set the stage for some goal opportunities to take place (play time) or create some activities or games in which goals can be addressed. I also try to set aside some time several days a week to work with one or two of them individually on specific goals.
Also, remember that the goals written up for a child are for the entire year and may also be benchmarked (they have to succeed at the first before they'll move on to the next), so you may not be expected to address all of them. I have one student who has 25 goals. Needless to say, we'll barely make a dent in them by year's end, & some may never even be addressed (if he can't consistently identify 2 colors by 1st qtr., I don't think we'll be identifying 5 by mid-year).
Check with your other special ed teachers and see what kind of record keeping they use, as my method may not work for your age level.
Also, check with your special ed director & see if they have specific goals for you to attain (such as address all of the child's goals each week, once a month or daily, etc.)When I got all panicky my first year, I was reassured that the goals are sometimes written as "pie in the sky" goals, the bar is set very high, but in reality they know that the child will not be able to achieve all of them. I was always told to "do what you can with what you've got". I always felt like I was barely keeping my head above water, trying to stay on top of things, while my fellow (more experienced teachers) didn't keep tally's or anything much record wise. This did come back to bite them after I left that school. Good Luck!