What is an Intervention Block?

Five years ago our scheduled changed in a HUGE way!  We were told that every grade level would sacrifice an hour of our instructional time for an “intervention block”.  You can imagine the panic of trying to figure out what this new block was and why in the world it was so important.  What were we going to do?  We already had to try to squeeze everything in!?!  What were they thinking?  Five years later, I couldn’t be more thankful for this “intervention block”.  So, what is an intervention block?  Let me tell you, because you are going to be running back to your school and begging for it!  Trust me!

Say what?

Yes, so we all had to block out a full hour a day for intervention block.  The entire school was staggered so that no intervention block was at the same time.  So if fifth grade had 8:00-9:00, second grade could have 9:00-10:00.  (Now the schedules are put into place by administrators.)  ANY and EVERY student that required or needed pull out services were scheduled during this hour.  The only exception was speech, but they tried to pull during this block as well.

Revolving Door Ended!

So if students get their services all at the same time, your revolving door stayed closed!  Have you ever felt that your door was always being knocked on, your students were always being pulled somewhere, and you never have your entire class for any lesson?  Wouldn’t it be nice if that ended?  An intervention block can maximize your day and keep your students in your classroom for the bulk of the day.  When we first started, it was hard.  I felt like I was stopping my day.  It was SO nice for gifted students, special service students, EIP students, and english language learners to all be served at the same time for pull out services.  I was left with around 14 students!  That was awesome.

What do students do during this time?

All students with IEPs, EIPs, and other services were busy targeting skills and my classroom students also had targeted skills we focused on.  This was a great time for me to pull phonics groups for students that needed to work on this skill.  I also had a fluency group that I met with 3 days a week.  My higher students worked independently with a novel of their choice and a graphic organizer.  I met with them one on one twice a week.

Meeting Needs and Kicking Butt

So while support staff and interventionist were meeting the specific needs of students, I was doing the same with the students in my classroom.  It was a fantastic time to reteach, pre-teach, and extend learning!  Y’all!!!  For real!!!  Life changing!  I got over the feeling that I was sacrificing an hour and looked at it as maximizing my instructional day.  This block has been a life saver now that I am the intervention coordinator.  I work with the interventionist to create schedules where we can really meet the needs of struggling learners during this hour a day.

Have questions about how to set this up at your school?  Comment below or email me at keepingupwithmrsharris@gmail.com.

Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for more intervention ideas and tricks to maximize your instructional day to better serve your students!