Intervention Library

Log as Behavioral > Behavior Reflection. Record student's exact responses to both prompts.

Student articulates both prompts without deflection. Future incidents decrease in frequency or intensity.

NOT THIS: reflection that becomes a lecture. Two-question structure is the entire protocol. If student refuses, reschedule.

Log as Behavioral > Nonverbal Redirection. Note whether student responded to the signal.

Student self-corrects within 10–20 seconds. Instruction continues uninterrupted.

EL: Nonverbal redirection removes language demand entirely — particularly effective for ELs. Signal must be established and practiced in a low-stakes moment first.

Log as Behavioral > Peer Recognition. Note the specific behavior or contribution named.

Student engagement increases following recognition. Peer dynamics shift toward the student.

EQUITY: If interaction counts show same students receiving recognition repeatedly, teacher is recognizing performance not growth. Prioritize students underrepresented in interaction data.

Log as Behavioral > Positive Narration. Note the specific behavior named.

Student continues or increases the named behavior. Nearby students often adjust upward without being addressed.

NOT THIS: generic praise or narration that singles student out negatively. Narration describes — it does not evaluate.

Log as Behavioral > Pre Correction. Note the anticipated trigger and the specific expectation stated.

Student navigates the anticipated trigger without incident or with significantly reduced escalation.

NOT THIS: pre correction delivered publicly or during the triggering moment. Once situation is happening, use Nonverbal Redirection instead.

Log as Behavioral > Reset Routine. Note the triggering behavior and the duration of the reset.

Student returns within expected time in a regulated state and re-engages with the learning task.

ESCALATION SIGNAL: If reset is used more than twice per week for the same student, flag for Tier 2 discussion — reset is managing symptoms, not the underlying need.

Log as Behavioral > Self Monitoring. Record student's self-rating and your independent observation at that moment.

Over time, accuracy of self-rating improves and self-correction increases without teacher prompting.

SPED: Students with executive function challenges may need a visual scale posted at their desk and a predictable scheduled check-in.

Log as Instructional > Extension Challenge. Note the mastery demonstrated and the specific extension task assigned.

Student's extension response shows application to a new context — not repetition at the same cognitive level.

ADV: Extension tasks should increase cognitive demand, not volume. One problem requiring abstraction or transfer — not three more at the same level.

Log as Instructional > Guided Practice. Note where in the task you transferred and where you released.

Student completes subsequent steps with decreasing prompts across multiple interactions over the Sprint.

NOT THIS: guided practice is not doing the work for the student. If teacher is talking more than student is producing, it has shifted to modeling.

Log as Instructional > Mastery Check. Use 5-Color to record proficiency level. Note the specific concept probed.

Teacher has a clear, actionable decision — this student can proceed or needs specific support.

Binary decision only: ready to proceed, or needs reteach. If reteach: identify the specific step that failed and re-enter there.

Log as Instructional > Numbered Heads Together. Note whether student was prepared when their number was called.

Student engages in group discussion more actively knowing any number could be called.

TARGETED: For chronically disengaged students, assign number 1 or 2 and call early — preventing habit of waiting to see if their number comes up.

Log as Instructional > Peer Teaching. Note the concept taught and the quality of explanation given.

Teaching student's debrief reveals deeper understanding — or surfaces a gap not visible before.

ADV: Peer teaching is more cognitively demanding than completing the task independently — requires holding the entire conceptual structure in mind while adjusting to the listener.

Log as Instructional > Quick Write. Note the prompt used and what the writing revealed about student's understanding.

Written response reveals specifically what student understands and what remains unclear — more diagnostic than oral.

ADV: Raise cognitive demand of prompt — move from explanation to analysis, evaluation, or synthesis rather than increasing length.

Log as Instructional > Retrieval Practice. Note what was tested and which elements were recalled accurately versus not.

Student retrieves target content. Any gaps identify exactly what needs brief reteaching before new content is introduced.

FRAMING: Present as 'let's see what your brain has locked in' — not a test. Same learning benefit without performance anxiety.

Log as Instructional > Strategic Questioning. Note the question type used (recall / explanation / application / analysis / evaluation).

Student produces a response one cognitive level above their typical entry point.

EL: Pair strategic question with a sentence frame ('I think ___ because ___') — preserves cognitive demand while reducing language production barrier.

Log as Instructional > Student Conference. Note what student identified as their next step and whether they acted on it.

Student re-engages with the task after the conference with a clear, named next step.

SEL: For students with behavioral or engagement patterns, the conference can address the pattern directly — creating a private, non-escalating space.

Log as Instructional > Think Ink Pair Square. Note whether student contributed in pair phase and in square phase.

Student's written response before pairing is more fully developed than a typical unprompted oral response.

EL: Individual writing step is especially valuable — allows time to organize ideas before social pressure of partner discussion. Allow writing in home language first.

Log as Instructional > Think Pair Share. Note whether student was sharer or listener, and the quality of the response shared.

Student shares a more complete or accurate response after paired discussion than they would have given cold-called.

EL: Allow discussion in home language first if a language partner is available, then ask student to share in English.

Log as Instructional > Academic Language Prompt. Note the informal language used and the academic term redirected to.

Student restates the concept using academic vocabulary. Subsequent written responses use the domain term correctly.

EL PRIORITY: Never frame informal language as wrong — frame academic language as the tool required for this context. Validate home language first, then bridge.

Log as Instructional > Collaborative Annotation. Note the annotation focus and the quality of the student's annotations.

Annotations reveal reasoning beyond surface recall. Students heard processing meaning together, not working in parallel silence.

ADV: Assign higher-order annotation tasks — identify author's craft choices, find counterarguments, annotate connections to other texts studied.

Log as Instructional > Explicit Instruction. Note which step the student mastered and which was the sticking point.

Student completes the identified step independently after explicit instruction on that step.

NOT THIS: re-explaining the concept in different words. Explicit instruction changes the structure — steps must be discrete, sequential, and individually confirmed.

Log as Instructional > Flexible Grouping. Note the reason for regrouping and the composition of the new group.

Student's engagement and output in the new grouping exceeds what was produced in the original group for this task type.

SPED: For students with IEP or 504 accommodations, flexible grouping may be specified in the plan. Document whether the decision aligns with the accommodation.

Log as Instructional > Modeling. Note what was modeled and which step the student stalled on during first independent attempt.

Student's first independent attempt reflects the structure demonstrated in the model — particularly the decision-making steps.

vs. GUIDED PRACTICE: Use modeling when student has no mental model of how to approach. Use guided practice when student has a partial model but needs support.

Log as Instructional > Schema Activation. Note what prior knowledge was activated and how it was connected to the new concept.

Student's response shows integration with prior knowledge — they make connections rather than treating new content as isolated information.

EL: Prior knowledge may exist in home language or from different cultural context. Ask: 'Do you know a word for this in [home language]?' — build the bridge from there.

Log as Instructional > Sentence Frame. Note the frame provided and whether the student produced a response using it.

Student produces a grammatically complete, content-accurate response at a complexity level above what they produce without the scaffold.

EL PRIORITY: CA ELD Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary scaffold. Frame level should match ELD proficiency — more complete for emerging, more open slots for expanding/bridging.

Log as Instructional > Think Aloud. Note whether student was able to replicate the narrated thinking process on the parallel task.

Student verbalizes thinking with increasing specificity and accuracy over multiple interactions.

EL: The think aloud externalizes academic language patterns — EL students hear how proficient readers and thinkers talk about text and tasks.

Log as Instructional > Visual Walkthrough. Note which visual was used and which features were explained.

Student can point to or explain features of the concept using the visual without teacher prompting. Student references visual independently.

EL: Walkthrough should use minimal complex language — point, label, demonstrate. Label the visual in both English and student's home language where possible.

Log as Instructional > Worked Examples. Note the specific feature you directed the student to examine.

Student's next attempt shows structural alignment with the model — organization, format, or content follows the pattern.

EL: Worked examples reduce language demands by making task structure visible. Choose examples with clear visual organization that communicates structure beyond the text.

Log as Instructional > Hinge Question. Use 5-Color to record understanding level. If incorrect: note the specific misconception the answer revealed.

Teacher has a clear, binary, actionable decision: student understands the hinge concept or does not.

NOT A REVIEW QUESTION: A hinge question tests the single concept the lesson depends on. If student misses it, the rest of the lesson won't make sense.

Log as Instructional > Intentional Wait Time. Note whether the extended wait produced a response and the quality of that response.

Student produces a response in the extended window that they would not have produced in the standard window.

RESEARCH: Average teacher wait time is 0.9 seconds. EL students need significantly more processing time — extending to 5–7 seconds produces measurably richer responses.

Log as Instructional > Misconception Correction. Record the specific misconception addressed and whether correction was successful.

Student produces a correct response to a parallel question after the correction. Same misconception does not reappear in subsequent written work.

IMPORTANT: Different wrong answers reveal different mental models — identify the model before correcting. Surface-only correction will resurface.

Log as Instructional > Muddiest Point. Record what the student identified as their muddiest point.

Student names a specific concept, step, vocabulary term, or connection — not a vague 'I don't get it.' Specificity is itself a measure of metacognitive development.

FRAMING: 'Do you have any questions?' produces silence. 'What's the muddiest thing?' signals that confusion is expected and naming it is a competency.

Log as Instructional > One Minute Paper. Record 5-Color based on 'what I learned' response. Note the remaining question.

Student's 'what I learned' response is accurate and names the lesson's core concept — not a peripheral detail. Remaining question is specific.

ADV: Replace 'what I learned' with 'what surprised me' or 'what I would investigate further' — requires synthesis rather than recall.

Log as Instructional > Peer Assessment. Note this student's role (assessor or assessed) and the quality of feedback given or received.

Assessor's feedback names specific elements from success criteria. Student receiving feedback makes at least one revision based on peer input — not teacher direction.

ADV: Assign advanced students as lead assessor. Evaluating another's work against criteria requires and deepens understanding of the standard.

Log as Instructional > Practice Testing. Note what was tested and the accuracy rate for this student.

Student accurately retrieves prior content. Any gaps identify exactly what needs brief reteaching before new content will stick.

FRAMING: Frame as 'let's see what your brain has locked in' — not a test. Students who experience retrieval as performance testing become anxious and accuracy drops.

Log as Instructional > Productive Struggle Maintenance. Note what student was attempting and how long struggle was maintained before resolution.

Student resolves task independently or identifies a specific sticking point. Over time, persistence window lengthens before student seeks support.

DIAGNOSIS FIRST: Productive struggle maintenance is not withholding help from a student who is lost. Requires accurate diagnosis — struggling with the right thing?

Log as Instructional > Self Assessment. Record student's self-rating alongside your independent observation of their actual task performance.

Over the Sprint, self-rating accuracy improves — the gap between self-rating and teacher rating narrows.

OVER TIME: Track self-ratings across sessions. Consistent under-rating may need confidence-building. Consistent over-rating may need more challenge or clearer success criteria.

Log as Instructional > Self Correction Prompt. Record the error type targeted, whether student located it independently, and whether correction was accurate.

Student locates the error type without teacher pointing to it. Reduced frequency of the same error in subsequent work.

DIFFERENTIATION — SPED: Narrow the scope ('look only at this paragraph'). ADV: Widen it ('find all instances, identify the pattern, write a rule explaining why this keeps occurring').

Log as Instructional > Traffic Light Signal. Record this student's signal color for this checkpoint.

Signal color aligns with actual performance on the subsequent task. Over time, student accurately self-signals rather than defaulting to green.

EL: Nonverbal nature removes language demand from the comprehension check — particularly valuable for ELs who understand content but lack verbal expression in English.

Log as Instructional > What's the Question? Note the quality of question generated — whether it reflects surface or conceptual understanding.

Student's generated question reveals understanding of the conceptual relationship, not just surface recall.

ADV: Generating the question requires holding the entire conceptual structure in mind and identifying the gap the answer fills — higher-order than answering directly.

Log as Instructional > Choice Board. Record which option was selected and whether it was directed or student-chosen.

Student's chosen task produces evidence of understanding comparable in quality to the standard task — format flexibility didn't reduce rigor.

PRE-PLANNED: Choice board must be designed and distributed before class.

Log as Instructional > Error Analysis. Record the error type targeted and whether the student located it independently.

Student locates the error type without teacher pointing to it. Reduced frequency of the same error in subsequent work.

DIFFERENTIATION — SPED: Narrow to a single paragraph. ADV: 'Find all instances, identify the pattern, and write a rule explaining why this error keeps occurring.'

Log as Instructional > Exit Ticket. Record 5-Color proficiency after reviewing student response. Note any misconceptions revealed.

Exit ticket response reveals whether student mastered today's learning target. Teacher adjusts tomorrow's opening based on the pattern across responses.

5-COLOR ALIGNMENT: Green = fully demonstrates target. Yellow = partially accurate, one gap. Orange = some relevant content, significant gaps. Red = response does not demonstrate target.

Log as Instructional > Gallery Walk. Record assigned starting station and engagement quality at each stop.

Student's written responses at stations show engagement with content — not just a name and a check mark.

PRE-PLANNED: Stations must be designed and arranged before class. Direct struggling students to scaffolded stations first.

Log as Instructional > Jigsaw. Record the expert topic assigned, participation in expert group, and accuracy during peer teaching.

Student can accurately teach their expert content to peers without referring to notes.

PRE-PLANNED: Expert groups, mixed groups, and assigned content sections must be organized before class.

Log as Instructional > Revision Cycles. Record what was flagged for revision and whether the revision was completed and accurate.

Revised work shows improvement specifically in the targeted element. Student can explain what they changed and why.

ADV: Escalate scope progressively — 'Now that the thesis is revised, check whether body paragraphs support the new thesis.' Progressive revision chains build sustained self-editing skill.