Sunday, September 9, 2018

Documenting Behaviors...Matthew (Matt) Key, Georgia


In order to be effective, teachers must make data driven decisions.  I document phone calls to parents, e-mails, and even how many times a student has been kept for tutorials.  Our administration preaches having a paper trail to be able to justify accommodations atht might need to be made for the student.  When there is some form of unproductive behavior, I keep track of when it is taking place as well.  data in this regard is very meaningful, helps determine whether a problem exists, how serious the problem is, and whether the interventions being used are significantly affecting the behavior.  Our administration uses the documentation collected to be able to support their opinions when discussing a student with his/her parents. 

Documenting students behaviors is important, but it is also important for teachers to document what they do as well. It is important for teachers to document what they do to make sure that we are not contributing to the unproductive behaviors.  We need to look at certain ways we conduct our lessons and the material that is being taught.  Is it age appropriate?  Is there enough for the students to do?  Is it too hard?  These are all questions that we need to answer and document to determine that we are serving the best interests of the students.

Documentation is useful when a parent is in question of a procedure or situation.  When documentation is not present teachers have a tendency to get frustrated because we can not explain why something did not change.  Documentation also helps refresh memories when we need to explain why we handled circumstances the way we did.  Teachers need to make sure that the documentation is precise giving a true account of what is taking place at school.

Matthew (Matt) Key, Georgia

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