Getting Started with Student Data Notebooks: Series 1

As I start the school year, it is important that we all get our expectations and procedures down. One of the procedures that I want to make sure to start right away are my student data notebooks. Some teachers like/love the student data notebooks and some teachers do not feel them to be necessary. 

Personally I enjoy and truly find the value in using them. My students have used them for several years now.  You can read my original post about them {HERE}. Before I began them, I did a lot of reading as to the why's. I also read The Leader in Me by Stephen Covey

and was inspired by his 7 Habits of Happy Kids. I've linked the site above so you can check it out. I've always been a believer in kids first and giving them the choices in their learning (of course, the teacher is always the facilitator of learning, but you know what I mean!). So, I started reading more about student-led conferences where they were showing their parents their data notebooks and showing their parents how they performed on their tests. I was completely BLOWN away! Students, in upper grades mostly discussing data. Now, I am not going lie, data is not the most interesting thing in the world to discuss (unless you're a statistician) but 8-9 year olds talking about their scores and reflecting on what they needed to improve and score. Brilliant! 

Other reasons:

Students are responsible and accountable for keeping track of their data. 

Students write GOALS  (short term goals that lead to long term) for themselves and make small steps to achieve. 

It's a visual representation of their learning!! 

It's a written plan for success.

It's a great tool for parents.

I'm not here to convince you, truly! And if you are already reading this, then I've piqued your interest enough. I'm here to show you how I use them and how I've set them up. Every notebook is unique and all classroom needs are different. The best thing about these notebooks is that you can collect data for ANYTHNG!! 

Math Facts

Weekly Phonics

DRA

Letter sounds/names

Number recognitions

F&P

Fluency

Science Weekly assessments

Attendance

Anything!! 

So...

It all starts with ownership! My students start off with an "All About Me!" page. Oh, and did I mention, these are firsties doing this?? Yes!!! 1st graders!!! 

My little one helped me. My students have theirs already in their notebooks. I'll take some pictures this week of them. They came out so cute! Here Aidan told me that he likes to play and is really good at Art. For this page, I let them write what they wanted. I wasn't too specific. 

After that we talked about GOALS! This is a HUGE one. I read the book

This is a simple but GREAT book that appeals to kids. After I read the book we retold the story and talked about the small steps that the engine took to go up the mountain. I discussed with them that we all take small steps to reach our GOAL. 

I introduce my data notebooks one subject area at a time. It is WAY too much for me to introduce more than one subject area to my 1st graders. If you are an upper elementary grade, you may be ok with introducing more than one subject area. I start with one and it is for math facts. It is up to you! 

So back to my goal, you could do a goal for the quarter or year. I do one for the quarter (or grading period) and insert this into that particular section. So I had students think about a math goal. "What would you like to accomplish in math this year? What is your goal?" We brainstormed ideas and most students just wanted to pass their math facts and do "times" because they heard my students last year were doing multiplication facts when they left me. So they wrote that down. Again, I let them write a math appropriate statement. 

The statements need to be appropriate for the section you are working in but not so "teacher" driven. If you are directing every statement then that takes the ownership away from them.  I have given given stems such as,

My math fact goal...

My math goal is ....

I hope that these small (doable!!) steps help get you started! I'll be back later this week with Series 2: Setting up and the First Implementation

If you'd like to check out my Data Notebooks, you can view them {HERE}! 

Have a great week! 

How Do You Do Data?

Let's talk data. Student Data. This has always been an area that kinda rattles me. I am going to be honest! As a veteran teacher, I truly pride myself on being well versed (is there room for improvement? YES! of course!) in data--gathering data, providing instructional outcomes and assessments in order to get the data I need to drive instruction forward. A mouthful, right?? Then I take that data and put it into MY data binder (have you seen this one from my sweet blogger sis, Leigh, The Applicious Teacher??). I love this teacher data binder!  

However, in recent years there is something that has always haunted me in my Professional Developmental Plan! Student Driven Data! 

*How do your students keep track of their own data? 

*How do your students know how they are doing?

*Do your students create rubrics to help in their learning?

These are not the exact words used but you get the gist. What do you mean-- kids have to track their own data? 

*Some of them can barely tie their own shoes!

*We are still trying to walk quietly in a line, people!!! 

*Some kids are still trying to write on the line! 

*There are kids who do not even know my name! (ok, that's an exaggeration! LOL!)

Isn't that my job-- to keep track of data? Did you see my cute binder with all their data stored? So the answer to this question is a serious YES! I always got dinged for this particular area. So I began to look into student data and how my kids could track their own data. What were some assessments that we could easily track and not get overwhelmed where Mrs. Hamlin didn't have to go running for the nearest retail store (I believe in retail therapy!!). 

I LOVE Ulta!!! I wanna live there and try on lipgloss all day! 

Of course my quest began towards the end of the year when I couldn't really track that much growth but this upcoming school year, I will! 

Click on the picture to grab it!

I'm here to give you a brief low down dirty on these things! And as our year goes I will give you more insight, tips, and tricks as we go! I really think it's a learning process since our classes are all different! I'm not gonna lie-- it's a process! Blood, sweat, tears, some choice sailor words, smiles, triumphs, whoop-whoops, and hollers will occur! Hopefully more of the latter! It's a guiding principle that will stay with you ALL YEAR!! Your GOAL is to stick with it! 

Step 1: Define What is a GOAL? 

To start this process, I started out with my own little cutie! Gabriel is such a willing participant! Sometimes...We have been reading all summer and my one focus for him is fluency and accuracy! He is such a great reader, has super comprehension BUT he lacks focus sometimes. So to start out, I had to set the expectation of what is a GOAL. This is such a crucial step! I always involve literature of sorts into almost ALL of my lessons and one particular book that I've read. 

Cliche? Maybe... but in our reading, I always stressed that in the end, all the little engine wanted to do was to get up that hill! That was his GOAL! Once we established that we talked about our goal for reading fluency and how the need to read fluently and accurately will increase our readability, comprehension, and stamina! We discussed that you aren't always going to hit your goal the first time but it's important that you try to get close to it! 

Step 2: Let the students set their goals! What do they want to accomplish? 

This is important!! Let them take the guiding principal in their learning! Kids know what they know. If they don't  (like, the ones who say they live in mansion with a million bathrooms! Yeah, me, too, sweetie! LOL!), well, this is their time to shine or not. The purpose of goal setting is to get as close to the the goal as you possibly can given the tools and strategies taught to you. 

Step 3: Administer the Assessment

We have loved using Tamara's Fluency Packs! It's a must! This is what I used with Gabriel this summer but the assessment piece is all up to you. What are you looking at with your students? What data trends would be most helpful to them and you? What areas of growth do you see or areas of improvement are needed? I've given you tons of kid-friendly graphs to choose from and editable files to make your own. The possibilities are endless! 

Step 4: Graph and Reflection

Once they get the assessment back, IMMEDIATE feedback is crucial! In our case, I was able to tell Gabriel his score immediately but in a class of 18 or more that may not always be the case but you'll want to set aside time for them to take a look at their data and graph it and really look at where they are. I'll blog a bit later with the reflection piece and how to guide them in their thinking and how they can put into words how they can improve for next time! 

I am really excited about this project and know that it will benefit my students this year! This is a project that is so dear to my heart. I hope to have this posted soon and ready for back to school! 

I would love to hear if you do data notebooks in your class and how your class has responded to them! 

If you'd like to grab this, click here!