We are all aware that no child learns in the exact same way as another. As education progresses, methods and programs are created and enhanced in order to meet the needs of all the different learners in a classroom. From our discussion last week on ability grouping and differentiated instruction, I began thinking about the newest push in ways to reach all students. There are still plenty of educators out there who remain in the school of thought that you only need to change one aspect of your classroom to be able to meet the needs of all students in the room (generalizing here). In reality, to be an effective classroom teacher and have the most beneficial learning environment you need to be implementing many different things. Grouping needs to be fluid and able to change according to student needs, interest, ability levels, etc., instruction needs to be differentiated according to the method of instruction, product the students are to be produced and guided and reassessed according to formative assessments.
One reasonably new approaches to education is the Response to Intervention (RTI). It has not been adopted in all states and school districts, but I believe it to be a good program. While teaching in NYC, the school I was in began using RTI and I found it to make sense and be extremely useful. RTI states that there are levels to interventions to meeting the needs of all learners, there are constant assessments and reassessments so students are never kept in one intervention when they don't need to be. I like that the teacher is held responsible for documenting and rationalizing what interventions are chosen and why, if they worked and why/why not, and that any intervention chosen after tier one has to have proven research based results to support the use. The link below explains with good visuals how RTI works and how each tier of intervention works together to benefit each and every student. What I like most about the RTI method is that it 100% supports inclusion in the classroom of not only special education students, but also students from diverse backgrounds.
http://www.rti4success.org/whatisrti
Allie,
ReplyDeleteI am inspired by you drive and determination to reach all students. I especially loved in this class conversation how adamant you were about flexible grouping. When I return to the classroom, this class conversation will be one that sticks out in my head. The RTI approach is an important and valid one, one that was used constantly at the school where I last taught. When thinking about incorporating RTI with my instruction in coordination to flexible grouping, the Progress Monitoring piece can be difficult to manage and maintain. The whole purpose of RTI is to see how students respond to intervention over time. At my school, the principal required students to remain in the same group for 6-8 weeks so that documentation could be collected. The more I analyze this, the more I know that alternatives to my Principal's school of thought are necessary. Students don't have to be in one group each day to be able to progress monitor them. I could meet with an intervention group 2-3 days a week and then change up the groups the other 2-3 days. Would you agree?
Also, last year, I tried a different approach to my reading block that I thought was valuable. Its called Daily 5 (found here: http://www.thedailycafe.com/public/department104.cfm). The creators of Daily 5 advocate for NO reading groups. Instead, they have a model of individual student conferences and multiple ways to document student progress. As I ponder and analyze different approaches to reading instruction, I wonder how RTI would fit into Daily 5. Check it out, if you don't already know about it!