Intervention Environment

During one staff meeting, my principal kept referring to the "bubble kids" in our classrooms. Finally, I couldn't follow along anymore and raised my hand to ask, "Are bubble kids the kids that have a hard time filling in the bubbles on standardized tests?" Amid much chuckles and harassment from my colleagues and a frown from my administrator, I realized this was not what he was talking about. I thought it was a good question because we had just spent hours telling our kids during ISTEP remediation the importance of filling in the bubble heavily and completely. Needless to say, I finally recognized "bubble kids" as students are aren't quite identified as special educated students, but are pretty close to being qualified as such. They are at least one grade level below in their reading ability.

In trying to reach those bubble kids, it is important for teachers to recognize a couple of important components for offering the best intervention strategies.

1. Teachers should offer a classroom environment that has frequent, intensive, explicit, and individualized support for the student. A great way to provide this environment would be to establish an inclusive classroom that does not include the overwhelming demands of teachers.

2. Teachers should also provide students with support and strategies that will help them experience success and gain academic self-confidence they can take with them for life. Sure, not all students may master the art of reading, but at least they can take some strategies they can refer back to throughout their lives.

3. Also, the teachers of these bubble kids need to have a strong background in literacy instruction and in using assessment to guide instruction. They need to be able to provide students with clear and organized mini-lessons, purposeful activities relating to the personal lives of students, and assessments throughout the reading intervention that assess how the student is mastering lessons and comprehending strategies.