What is S.W.A.T.?

In our school S.W.A.T. stands for School Wide Achievement Time.  It is something that we had approximately about twice a month, where every teacher in the building held an hour long "option" for students.  Most of the options were either an academic intervention or enrichment for students, but there were also some recreational/hobby options.  As teachers, we could pre-register students to attend enrichment or interventions for our courses.  There were many questions and concerns going into this SWAT adventure this year by both staff and students.  As the year is wrapping up, and reflecting on a school year with SWAT, I can only hope that we keep it going.  Having time during the school day to work with only the struggling students, and work at their pace paid off huge.

I was a little nervous to have my 28 greatest struggling students all in one room at the same time and trying to help all of them.  I was worried about behavior, keeping their attention, keeping them engaged and keeping them trying/working.  After every single SWAT this year, I would be smiling and thinking, "this is why I am a teacher, I just made a difference and helped a kid realize they could be successful in math".  About every other week I had my students that were struggling the most with what we were learning, we would practice, review, or sometimes pre-learn concepts before the rest of the class.  I rarely had a behavior issue, they worked hard, they said "I get in now", and they raised their grades.  Most of the kids I had come to my math SWATs would not have come in for extra help before or after school, it just was not an option for many of them.  Being able to give them the extra attention, I got to know the students better.  The students realized that I wanted to see them be successful an was willing to work with them where ever they were at.  Because these students knew I wanted to see them succeed and cared about them, I did not have behavior issues when they were back in their "regular" class.

I hope SWAT sticks around.  Every week we had a SWAT, I dreaded doing the extra planning for it, but after the SWAT I was so glad I did it.  It is nice to hear students walking out the door saying, "Thanks for helping me, I get it now!"