At South Side we just finished our literacy work days. I love connecting with the teams and appreciate their dedication to literacy. It seems we are working harder than ever and yet we still feel like something is missing.
South Side became a pilot school for Iowa’s RtI plan called C4K. I hated hearing the news that we were going to be starting RtI as dictated by the state. Mostly because I was fearful of what this meant for my job. I knew the data from our Benchmark Assessment System showed we had far too many students still below grade level.
More meetings, more things to add to the teacher’s already FULL day, more paperwork, more data to analyze, more reading and research to do and the reality of focusing on what is NOT working.
Much to my amazement, I have been pleased with the C4K plan so far. In a nutshell, it is going SLOW! I can handle slow. The first and most important step is to analyze our universal instruction. We have done many things over the past two years to make our literacy programs effective. Luckily, we were ready for the next intensive step....implementing the Iowa Core Standards or the Common Core Standards as the rest of United States calls it. As most of you are aware this has raised the bar for all learners.
Look at the many things we have already begun!
Look at the many things we have already begun!
In Iowa’s C4K plan, schools must determine if their Tier 1 instruction is meeting the needs of the majority of students (80% or greater). If the Tier 1 instruction is not working, then a school is faced with a high number of students that need intensive interventions. A school who has 30-50% of students falling below grade level will NEVER be able to intervene their way out of the pit. Resources such as staff, materials, and funding would never be able to sustain the level of interventions that would be needed. To analyze our Tier I instruction we have given each student a universal screener or test. This will give us a snapshot of the students who are at-risk or who are falling below the grade level benchmark.
What does this mean for South Side? As we already knew from our Iowa Assessments, we have far too many students needing interventions. We would not be able to sustain the level of interventions that would be needed in regards to time, staff and resources available.
Bottom line....we must change, improve and/or strengthen, our Tier 1 instruction. What does this mean since we have already changed almost everything we are doing?! I attended a conference entitled Maximizing Tier I (Wayne Callender) that presented several options that I feel our district needs to address.
Bottom line....we must change, improve and/or strengthen, our Tier 1 instruction. What does this mean since we have already changed almost everything we are doing?! I attended a conference entitled Maximizing Tier I (Wayne Callender) that presented several options that I feel our district needs to address.
Teachers must make their daily instruction the best it can be for ALL students.
Think about this......
Our house represents our classroom. The fires could be the many learning struggles that we must address. I think we would all agree we must prevent the fires from even beginning.
Step 1
Who are our students? What is their background in regards to living environment, income status and language?
Step 2
Data- assessment results
How are the various population of students doing academically? Which group of students are at-risk and in what areas?
Step 3
Does our universal instruction and/or curriculum pieces fit our at-risk group of students?
If YES- Then we ask....Are we delivering the curriculum in the correct format necessary?
If NO- What curriculum pieces should we add or delete? Have we prioritized?
Three ways a school can help to narrow the gap for struggling learners are in the areas of..
Active Engagement - Differentiation -Vocabulary
Here are just a few of the highlights that I shared with teams. Hopefully it will spark an idea or give you a little hope on simple things we can change just by being aware of what our learners need most!
The following are videos by Anita Archer in regards to a few things to keep in mind as we strive to close the achievement gap. Her work and ideas hooked me instantly. I am anxious to read more ideas in her book, Explicit Instruction.
Closing the Achievement Gap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzvPwvxnBrQ
Teaching Choral Response/Turn & Talk-Active Engagement
(A MUST WATCH....NO MORE HAND RAISING IN THE CLASSROOM)
http://explicitinstruction.org/?page_id=92
Being A Relentless Teacher
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY5nYuE6IhY
With differentiation, co-teaching fits beautifully here!
Models of Co-teaching
One Teach, One Observe – one teacher has primary instructional responsibility while the other gathers specific observational information on students or the (instructing) teacher. The key to this strategy is to focus on the observation – where and how the teacher is doing the instruction and observing specific behaviors.
One Teach, One Assist is an extension of one teach, one observe. One teacher has primary instructional responsibility while the other assists students with their work, monitors behaviors, or corrects assignments, often lending a voice to students or groups who would hesitate to participate or add comments.
Station Teaching occurs when the Co-Teaching pair divides the instructional content into parts –Each teacher instructs one of the groups, groups then rotate or spend a designated amount of time at each station – often independent stations will be used along with the teacher led stations.
In the Parallel Teaching approach, each teacher instructs half the students. The two teachers are addressing the same instructional material and presenting the material using the same teaching strategies. The greatest benefit to this method is the reduction of the student to teacher ratio.
The Supplemental Teaching strategy allows one teacher to work with students at their expected grade level, while the other teacher works with those students who need the information and/or materials re-taught, extended, or remediated.
Alternative or Differentiated Teaching strategies provide two different approaches to teaching the same information. The learning outcome is the same for all students however the avenue for getting there is different.
Team Teaching incorporates well planned, team taught lessons, exhibiting an invisible flow of instruction with no prescribed division of authority. Using a team teaching strategy, both teachers are actively involved in the lesson. From a students’ perspective, there is no clearly defined leader – as both teachers share the instruction, are free to interject information, and available to assist students and answer questions.
BUT remember.....co-teaching is a teaching strategy. It can be powerful if both parties are knowledgeable in the beliefs behind the techniques!!
The fun of going to a great conference is seeing the ideas already being implemented in many of the classrooms at South! You will see classrooms using choral response now-THINK/GO ! We will also be searching out the vocabulary issue that we know could make a huge difference for our kids at South Side. Hopefully we can find one that will meet the needs of our struggling learners!
Happy Reading & Have a blessed Thanksgiving- Mrs. Speake
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