Lots of times when I walk into a classroom or look at an IEP, I know I am thinking the same thing many of you think...this is great! It's amazing, thoughtful planning, it's beautiful implementation, wonderful, inspiring teaching and yet...where is it all going? ...and how will we know when we get there?
The answer to these questions lies in the data...the all important, ever elusive, so hard to take and track data. I think data collection and analysis is the one thing I see missing everywhere I go. I learned in school the same thing you all did. Data should DRIVE INSTRUCTION. That sounds so smart, and I can see how that should be the way it works, but man is it ever hard to implement.
Taking data is the single most important thing you can do each day and it is the single hardest thing to do. How many times have you said, "Wait Johnny, can you stop trying to hurt you neighbor, I need to document the antecedent to this behavior..." NEVER! But we will never be able to see the patterns and get ahead of the behavior if we don't track it.
Data analysis is the second most important thing you can do during the day and the second hardest :)
Once we have the beautiful data graphs (that I know you all have) we can then see if our teaching techniques are working, if our behavior plan is appropriate, if we are ready to move on, if we need to take a step back. We can discuss intelligently with parents, administrators and peers WHY we are making the changes we are making and where exactly we think our program is going.
I'm not talking about grades here. I'm talking about measurement of specific skills, behavior, academic, social, adaptive, etc...
Recently, I came across a pinterest post I LOVE. It discusses the importance of data collection and gives a few quick tips (I love the masking tape idea) for data collection on the run. I'm including the link to this post. Just highlight the post and paste it in your web address line. Also, the author of this blog, Christine Reeve, is a behavior analyst and has many wonderful ideas. You may want to use her site as a resource for your classroom. I'm pretty sure she is a genius!
http://www.bloglovin.com/frame?post=1610249983&blog=5668075&link=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hdXRpc21jbGFzc3Jvb21uZXdzLmNvbS8yMDEzLzA5LzMtdG9vbHMtZm9yLWRhdGEtY29sbGVjdGlvbi1nZXR0aW5nLmh0bWw&frame_type=fb
As always, if you have questions or comments, please let me know! I'm always happy to hear from you guys!
