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Welcome to the Teachers Need Teachers Podcasts, the podcast for teachers who don't want

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to just survive teaching, but actually
drive. I am really excited about today's

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episode because it's something that I've seen
discussed in different Facebook groups and has actually

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been on my mind because I'm always
having to deal with this, and it

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has to do with catching students up
when they're behind. You're two months into

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the school year and you've come to
a stark realization your students are behind.

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It may just be a handful of
students or maybe even an entire class,

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but either way, you've realized that
they are behind, and you don't know

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what to do. You're struggling with
the decision to either slow down and catch

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everyone up or just kind of forge
ahead and hope that those that are behind

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will eventually figure it out. So
which is the lesser of two evils?

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Is there a middle ground? And
let's not forget the added complexity of students

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with IEPs, English learners, those
with learning disabilities or behavior issues that are

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just kind of adding to this whole
picture. So how do we get this

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done? Is it even possible?
In this episode, I'm going to go

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over my method for catching up students, whether it's five or fifty. And

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while you won't be able to catch
everyone up realistically, you can at least

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get them further ahead so that they
don't feel like they just want to completely

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give up. Because let's be real, trying to catch up all students that

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are at varying levels is trying to
run with a handful of sand and not

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drop even one grain. We can
only do our best, but with some

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reinforcements, we can do better.
So the first step in this method is

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obviously identifying the problem. That's not
to say that just being behind isn't a

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problem in and up itself, but
we need to figure out what is going

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on and get a bigger picture.
How can you tell if your students are

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behind? Well, for one,
you can look at assessments, the baseline

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data that you have, so you
can look at where they started on a

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particular scale and what their grades are
now. I would also look at grades

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not only in your class that if
you have access to it, grades in

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other classes or other subjects. And
then also you can look at their behavior,

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because sometimes students check out, not
because they necessarily don't want to learn

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or do something. It's because they're
behind and they don't really know what to

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do. I mean, I,
for one can tell you that I don't

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like to feel stupid. I don't
think anyone likes to feel stupid. But

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a lot of students definitely don't want
to speak up for themselves because they feel

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stupid and they don't want to admit
it. So rather than trying and failing

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and feeling even more stupid, they
would just rather not do any work at

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all and just come off as just
being too cool for it or just thinking

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it's a waste of time. So, now that you've assessed whether or not

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they're behind, and you realize yes, they are behind, there's missing assignments,

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or their grades are really low in
your class or other classes, or

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they're just not getting it. Now
you need to figure out why. And

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this one can be a little bit
tricky. So are they behind because they're

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below level? That's definitely a possiblebility. They could have missed a bunch of

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time from absences, or they might
have come from another district, so that

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other district maybe moves at a slower
pace than yours. Maybe you have to

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look at language proficiency. If you
have English learners, they definitely have a

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possibility of being behind your other students
because not only are they trying to learn

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the content, they're trying to understand
the language. So, as I mentioned

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previously, there could be absences.
So these are absences that are obviously out

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of your control. But if they're
gone because they were sick, or they're

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gone because they just don't show it
for school and nobody notices, or their

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parents decide that they need to go
to Cabo in the middle of the school

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year, that could definitely be a
reason why those students are behind. So

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life circumstances, if the students' parents
are going through a divorce or there was

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a death in the family or an
illness, that definitely will be distracting for

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the student and definitely put them in
a mindset where they don't necessarily want to

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do any work, whether it's in
school or outside of school. Also,

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sometimes a whole class can be behind
because of mandatory events like state testing,

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or maybe there's like an assembly at
your school or some kind of activity that

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you cannot get out of and your
students have to do, and so it

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could mess up your pacing. We
actually had this happen recently because we had

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a very last minute fire slash earthquake
drill and it was just for one class

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period, so that one class was
definitely behind all my other classes because they

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lost about forty five minutes worth of
instruction. So there could just be circumstances

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beyond your control in the school day
that put a whole class behind. And

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then of course we have just plain
old apathy, and that's why a student

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doesn't want to do their work.
They just don't feel like it. Now,

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I'm going to be honest with you
guys. When I come across these

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types of issues where students just don't
do anything, part of me gets kind

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of upset, kind of triggered inside. It's like, why won't you do

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this? And I think this happens
to a lot of us. But we

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also have to be empathetic and honestly
not be hypocrites about it. I mean,

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we all fall into one or two
categories and maybe somewhere in the gray

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area where when you were a student
you either got your work done and follow

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the rules, or you saw no
point in what you were doing and just

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didn't really do much, and maybe
barely past something like that or somewhere in

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between. But my point is,
you have students that just don't want to

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work. They just don't want to
do anything, and it's not necessarily a

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reflection of their parents or of your
teaching. They just don't want to work.

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And if you were that kind of
student, kind of hard to justify

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being really mad at them, because
you get it. You were there for

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me, someone who did get my
work done. It is really frustrating for

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me to see students who just sit
there and don't even try because I don't

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understand their mindset. It's not that
I never found anything pointless when I was

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in school, but I still did
my work because that's what you were supposed

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to do. So we have to
have empathy for these students. We can't

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get overly indignant or take it personally
because they don't want to do the work

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that we assign them. Not saying
that we're going to blame anybody or make

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excuses for these students. I mean, they're behind, and sometimes it is

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their fault and sometimes it's not,
but either way, we just have to

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try to figure out why because that
does influence moving forward to how we're going

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to catch them up. The second
step is to develop a plan. This

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is going to depend on how many
students are behind, and again if it's

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just a few students or if it's
a whole class. So you need to

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ask yourself these questions. Is it
enough for students to just demonstrate proficiency and

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mastery or is it about them getting
the work done and getting the grade for

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it. And you may be asking
why can't I have both? Well,

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the answer is because your students are
behind, so you have to prioritize.

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So either you want the kids to
get the work done and complete it and

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turn it in and give them a
grade no matter how they do on it,

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or you are going to have students
demonstrate proficiency and maybe not get all

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of the work done, but at
least they demonstrate it that they know what

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they're doing. If they're behind,
they don't have time to do both and

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still catch up to the rest of
the class. So you need to have

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that tough conversation with yourself. This
also begs the question what is the bare

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minimum that your students need to do
to catch up and be on pace.

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So, for example, let's say
that you have a math assignment with twenty

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problems, can they do five and
prove whether or not they understand the material.

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Do they need to do all twenty
for compliance or can they just show

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you the bare minimum and still get
full credit. Now you may be thinking,

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well, if I do this all
the time, then students aren't going

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to finish my assignments. But we
need to try to give the students the

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benefit of the doubt and just try
to get them caught up, because sometimes

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what you're battling is the negative mindset. Sometimes you're just battling them telling themselves

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that they can't do it, and
they get overwhelmed. They feel like they're

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drowning in these late assignments and they
won't even try. If you can give

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them a lifeline and tell them that
you know what, show me that you

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can do this, and maybe they
get it done in five or ten problems

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instead of twenty, then they're more
likely to have more of a positive mindset

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moving forward and are more likely to
do your work in the future. Maybe

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you only have like a handful of
students that are behind, you're definitely going

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to have to have a plan and
strategize how you're going to go about this

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so that you're not necessarily creating more
work and creating more frustration. Because I

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get it. There are times when
I'm just really over it and I don't

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want to catch them up because in
my mind, I'm thinking, why do

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I care more about your education than
you do? And then I get upset

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and I don't want to do anything
about it, and I kind of throw

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a mini tantrum, and then I
get over myself because at the end of

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the day, I do care if
they learn. The thing is, the

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further they fall behind, the more
frustrated I become. And maybe you're like,

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fine, just let them fail,
and maybe their parents are like,

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fine, you can just fail.
But at some point I feel like someone

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in their lives, whether it's us
or their family or another teacher, someone

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has to believe in them and believe
that they can do this, and I

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honestly prefer that emi at the end
of the day. So here are the

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things that I actually do. Number
One, I do offer one on one

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assistance. And I'm able to do
this now more so than ever because I

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am using the modern classroom project model
where evidents are more self paced and they're

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working more independently, and so it
gives me more one on one time.

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If you're not doing that model,
you can still build in time where you

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can work with students one on one
while other students are doing group work or

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individual work. So it's really key
that you build this relationship with that students

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so that you can catch them up. And I do my best and not

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get mad at them or take it
personally. I know it sounds weird,

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but sometimes we do take it personal
when a student isn't doing our work.

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We get upset because they're not complying, so it almost feels like an affront

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to us. But we just have
to be objective about it and just see

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that, hey, the student is
behind, the student is not doing the

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work. The student may be below
grade level. How can you get mad

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at someone for being below level?
It's not their fault. And even if

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it is getting mad about it isn't
going to solve the problem. I also

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would have a new set of materials. So some teachers say, well,

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I already gave you that assignment.
I already made that copy for you.

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If I give them the assignment,
they're going to lose it anyway. Give

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them another packet, give them another
worksheet. Seriously, you just want to

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make it so that they can do
the work right then and there. If

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they have to look through their binder
or dig through their backpack through crumpled papers

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to look for that assignment. To
do it, they're slowing things down.

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They're less likely to get that work
done. Give them a fresh, new

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packet and just move on. Have
additional resources prepared if the student is behind

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because they're just at a lower level. So this could mean maybe showing them

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videos, or if you have past
worksheets or assignments that they did before but

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they didn't really get it, have
them do that again. I would also

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have maybe some sites or additional resources
for them to refer to, so that

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it's not just you trying to catch
them up. There's also putting some responsibility

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on them to learn the material in
addition to what you've already taught them.

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It could be frustrating. You're like, I already gave a lecture on that.

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I already taught them how to do
that, and they weren't there for

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that or they didn't pay attention.
So how am I going to do this

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again for one student? If I
gave a twenty minute lecture, Am I

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really going to give a twenty minute
lecture for this one student? No,

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you're not. You're going to find
other lectures online or just other resources so

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that you can stick them aside and
they can learn that material while you're working

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with the rest of your class.
Communicate with the parents that they understand that

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you're trying to catch up a student. There needs to be buy in on

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the parent side too, And well, I know that's not always going to

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happen because there just isn't always parent
involvement. Let them know so that if

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they are likely to help out their
student or be involved or at least hold

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them accountable, you have someone else
on your side who's working with you.

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Sure that you check in with them. This is something that I've been bad

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about in the past, where I'm
trying to catch students up, then I

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forget to check see if they actually
did it. So maybe two three days

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past and it never got done.
Because if you forget about them, they're

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just going to, you know,
slump down on their chair and just try

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to be under the radar again because
they don't want to have to do the

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work. You have to remember that
you're definitely in this self defeating mindset,

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and so just these little wins when
they're getting something accomplished, even if they

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got five problems done and you gave
them ten. That is something. I'll

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even walk around and see student if
they get one problem done, I give

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them a lot of praise. If
it's someone who really doesn't get anything done,

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and I'll say, awesome, you've
got that one question done and it

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was correct. Let's try to get
to five. Okay. After you get

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to five, you can take a
little mental break. And this just gives

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them a goal and they can look
forward to just having a break like I

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promised, And it also encourages them
because they feel like they're actually accomplishing something.

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The third steps to adjust instruction,
and this applies to when you have

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a class or maybe all of your
students that are behind. It's the same

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mindset as with an individual student,
where you have to ask yourself the tough

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questions. Can they just demonstrate proficiency
or mastery? Do you really need them

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to get all of the assignments done? For example, we have grammar worksheets

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that we give out and for each
particular part of speech or something like that,

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there's like twenty questions, So I
really need to do all twenty with

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the students kind of get away with
just doing five and it seems like they

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have it, then we move on. If they don't, let's go to

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ten, and by ten they have
it, let's move on. Do we

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really care more about making sure that
they get it all done and they get

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the grade for that particular assignment,
or do we care more about them just

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knowing the content. There's definitely a
difference when you're trying to catch students up.

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If you are on pace, you
have the luxury of doing both.

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But when you're behind, like I
was with that one class because of the

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fire drill, I had to make
a decision about what I could keep and

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what I had to cut. Then
you want to look at your pacing guide.

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You want to see what are all
the assignments that you're supposed to complete

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before a certain amount of time.
Maybe it's an upcoming assessment, or maybe

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it's like a break or a holiday. Where are your students at and where

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do they need to be by a
certain cutoff point, maybe the end of

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a unit. What is the shortest
path there. Sometimes we're teaching things that

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are must have and are nice to
nose, so you can distinguish between those

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and just kind of cut out the
nice to nose. So maybe you're teaching

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them a particular concept, but you
had like an extension or if one activity

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or a project that you were going
to do with them, Well, we

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got to cut out and just do
the basic meat and votes. It is

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just not humanly possible to teach every
single standard that we're being asked to teach.

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And after you're teaching all this time, I realized that I care more

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about depth rather than rep meaning I'd
rather teach a few things really well and

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go deep with those concepts rather than
just kind of covering everything. And because

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what I've found is that when I'm
just trying to cover a lot of things,

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the students don't necessarily know the material
well. And so when they're assessed,

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maybe with like a district assessment or
standardized testing, the students don't do

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well because I only covered it,
I only touched on it, but they

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didn't really learn it. So the
final step is to seek specialized support.

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It's just not possible to get every
student on the same page and the same

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level, and it's often out of
your control. You're going to get students

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that are one to two grade levels
behind, and you're just going to have

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to deal with it. You'll also
have students with learning disabilities, behavioral or

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emotional challenges, speech or language difficulties, and they just need specialized support in

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general. And yes, we are
trained to help them out with that and

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know how to accommodate for them in
the classroom, but sometimes there are just

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things that we need a specialist for
to show us how to do it.

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For example, there are reading and
language specialists, there are speech therapists.

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In some schools, there's a special
class for English language learners that just came

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to the country. You also have
special education specialists. See specialists can help

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you know how to accommodate and support
those students that need extra help beyond what

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you know how to do. Even
as a veteran teacher, I can't help

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all of them all of the time. I'm not capable of knowing how to

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make up a jillion different accommodations for
all of my students, So I will

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seek help from different specialists. For
example, if I know that my student

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is going to the speech therapist and
they're having a hard time articulating themselves in

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class or with their group members,
I'll ask the speech therapist what has worked

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for that student or in other classes. So I definitely seek out help from

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different people because I know I can't
do it all by myself, and find

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out what options are available if you
want a student to be a sessed for

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special services. So maybe you suspect
that a student needs some extra help.

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Maybe you suspect that they're having difficulty
concentrating and learning. Doesn't necessarily mean that

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they have ADHD, but maybe they
are showing some of the patterns of the

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student that is ADHD. Or maybe
you learn that a student just recently moved

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to this country and does not really
know English and they were accidentally placed in

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your class. In that case,
you want to seek special services for that.

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These are all things that can cause
a student to fall behind, and

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so if you can get them the
appropriate services, or at least get appropriate

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support for yourself, that can really
help you catch them up too. So

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these are some of the basic things
that you can do to at least try

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to catch them up. If the
student is really digging their heels in and

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they don't want to catch up and
they don't want to do the work,

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well, then you just got to
let that go. Even if it's just

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adjusting your expectations, adjusting your instruction
that alone can really catch up students so

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that they feel successful, and then
you can bread the sigh of relief that

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you've kind of done everything that you
could now. This episode is definitely similar

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to a previous episode where I discussed
what to do when students are all at

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different levels. So if you didn't
catch that, be sure to go back

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to episode one thirty four so that
you can hear all about that. Thanks

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for hanging out with me today,
you guys, I will see you next time.