HOW TO USE STUDENT DATA FOLDERS IN THE CLASSROOM
Data...it's a huge buzzword in education. Having students track their own data has become something a lot of administrators want to see, and in some cases, it's even a checkmark on our teacher evaluations. I'll be honest and tell you that's why I started them with my students in the first place, but I loved the benefits I saw from using student data folders in my classroom.
Yes, you read that right! ;)
When I first started looking for a data folder, I had a really hard time finding something that was kid-friendly enough for my second graders. Everything seemed to be geared towards the upper grades. Eventually, I convinced myself that my brand new second graders could track their data by each Common Core standard (and that I had the time and patience to manage that), and bought a shiny new pack on TPT and created beautiful Data Folders for each student. I'll tell you that we did open them. Once. *ONCE!*
((As a side-note, the pack I bought was amazing, it was just not appropriate for my second graders.)) I took it upon myself to create something that worked for us.
Tracking student data has huge benefits -- most of all being that students really begin to take ownership for their learning, they're self-motivated to do well, and as a bonus, they will be graphing EXPERTS by the end of the year!!
LET’S TAKE A PEEK INSIDE A STUDENT DATA FOLDER
The first section is for setting student goals. There are plenty of options - monthly, quarterly or trimester. Students will set one academic and one personal goal and think of how they will reach that goal. I like to have students reference this page after we graph in our data folders each week, just as a refresher and reminder of what they're working towards.
Here's the meat of student data folders - where all of the graphing magic happens! I have several pre-made templates for you to use, but the headings and graphs are also completely editable so you can literally make it to fit your classroom needs exactly.
There is also a push in my school to track students’ writing progress, and math fact memorization! Pages for writing samples and math fact mastery are included, so you can print the ones you want to use in your classroom. Again, my goal was to make this fit each teacher’s needs as closely as possible, so it’s easy to customize the pages for you class!
The last part of the data folders are the weekly reflection. Each week takes up a half-page, and students reflect on two positive things they did that week and one thing they can improve on. This is one of my favorite parts, and I love seeing what students pick out each week.
This part took the most practice at the beginning -- I had a lot of kiddos who wanted to write that they did great at reading and math each week. We really practiced being specific and picking out moments they were really proud of.
LOOKING FOR A DIGITAL OPTION?
I recently added a digital version of this same file to the listing on TPT. Now, when you purchase my data folders, you will get a digital copy and printable copy. This way, you can use this same purchase multiple ways, no matter what the school year may throw at you. :)
