After three years of subbing to get my foot in the door, I finally got my toe in:woot:....I'm a Success Maker Ed. Assistant! I'm really excited....I feel I can really use my teaching skills in the job! Although I'll be an E.A., it is a very independent position. During the interview, the principal mentioned that the school's previous SuccessMaker scores were not showing the success of other schools in the county. I'm very excited at the possibility of making the lab more successful and efficient. I have a few ideas about posters, incentives, etc., but I was wondering if anyone would like to share some things that make your lab successful. Thanks!!!
I've never heard of Success Maker. I went to their website...i like your motivation poster ideas, maybe set up a point system, certificates...how else do you see yourself using your teaching skills in this position?
Classes will come to my room, just like other special areas. For the most part, teachers do not accompany students, because this is a planning period for teachers. I'm looking forward to using my classroom management skills during this time. Students will have a couple of weeks to complete independent work to assess their skills. Once this is completed and they are assigned their own individual levels, I will be able to help the students. The program allows students to work above their grade levels, so I will be able to teach students as new skills arise, as well as guide students through previously introduced concepts. I don't want students to view this a play period, so this is where the motivation comes into play. I want them trying to reach goals. I also want to use every moment of time I possibly can. The class length is 30 minutes, the SuccessMaker program is 25 minutes. I want to have a few tricks up my sleeve for those extra minutes to keep them occupied and practicing.
It will take them a few minutes to settle and log in and then clean and log out. I would definitely set goals with students and post them either in a folder or on a bulletin board. Also you could set class goals and compete the classes against each other.
If they are logging into anything, you should make index cards with their username and password, especially for the little ones. If you seat them in assigned seats, it will make distributing the cards easier, because you will always collect them in the same order. You will want procedures for how to leave their station when they are done (e.g. what to do with headphones and pencils).
We use Success Maker and call the teacher a Learning Strategies teacher. I think Success Maker is one of the better programs. The verbage is a lot like the MCT 2 test we administer to our students. I agree with the advice you'vebeen given by Mopar and smurfette. We went through 2 LS teachers last year. Classroom managment was a big factor. Sounds like you have the right idea. Good Luck.
Just remembered: If your mice have the two buttons for clicking, you can put a dot sticker on the left button to remind the littlest ones where to click. If they have to plug the headphones in themselves, you can mark on the computer where to do that. I drew a black dot above the port on our laptops for the headphones and silver dots where the USB cables plug in. I have a little dollar-store pencil basket at every station where the headphones, mouse, and pencil go. Since we use laptops that have to get charged up, the students have to unplug the mouse every time, but yours won't have to do this if you use laptops. The older kids might like the mouse pad, which is not a big deal. There is a website called Elementary Tech Teachers that has a lot of good advice. I got a lot of ideas here when I started in the lab. Good luck!
Thanks for all the great advice. My wheels are really turning now! The principal phoned...I'm meeting with another Success Maker instructor later this week, and will meet with the sup. of instruction before school starts. I'm so excited! mopar: I'll be working with Kindergarten through 4th grade. I know all of the students, from my three years of subbing.
The SuccessMaker consultants will also be able to give you valuable advice. They train the classroom teachers as well as the lab people, in our district. Motivation is key and most students respond well. You already have some great ideas. Good luck and congrats on the job.
