The Clock is Ticking

   

I wasn't sure if I wanted to title this post "The Clock is Ticking" because it sounds so ominous and foreboding, but the seriousness and urgency of this particular subject prompted me to fight off any lingering second thoughts.

Colleagues, if you have not already accessed P4SS to note student concerns and input information, I encourage you to do so at your earliest convenience. As I write this, I am shuttling back and forth between writing my blog and entering student concerns and information into P4SS. It's a lot of work and I find myself needing to take frequent breaks. But the clock is ticking, Friends. And although I still feel like it's the beginning of the year and that these are my new students and I'm still trying to get to know them, the calendar says otherwise. (I realize now that I am way past the first 6-week cycle!)

With lesson planning, meetings, duties and all the other necessary demands on our time, it seems nearly impossible to find a free moment. If the thought of finding a chunk of time to start entering information seems impossible, I propose you write a check-off list and start s-l-o-w-l-y. I suggest that on the first day, you may want to refresh your memory as to how to access the site. Check. Perhaps the next day you can jot down the names of students you're concerned about. On yet another day, check to see whether their last teacher shared the same concern. Double Check. Now, it's time to add students you're concerned about, but who are not on the list. Triple check. It's time for caffeine!

At this point, you'll need to assemble your Intervention logs, search cums for necessary information and/or talk to the previous teacher for each student who resides in P4SS. Don't try to complete all of this in a single time slot or even on a single day. Pace yourself. What you ultimately want to do is get into a regular habit of updating information.

A word of caution: I know it's still waaay early in the school year, but I wanted to share this cautionary tale. A couple of years ago, as I was working my way through the end-of-year checklist, I thought I had all the time in the world to update P4SS information. It turns out I didn't. I discovered that once students left on that very last day of school, I wasn't able to access on P4SS the students I had just said goodbye to. Moral of the story:  Do as I say--not as I did...lol.

Lola Jollie
Euclid Elementary School
Proudly serving 3rd and 4th-grade students