Tier One of RTI requires the use of best practice, research-based teaching methods. Research- based strategies, as discussed in Robert Marzano’s Dimensions of Learning, are implemented in the differentiated classroom to provide the best teaching practices for Tier One, thereby reducing the need for interventions.

Given my experience teaching at the high school level as both a special education teacher and a co-teacher who worked within the inclusion model, as well as my experience coaching in middle schools and high schools around the country, I have become convinced that every secondary classroom needs to begin at Tier One: differentiating instruction so that all students can learn.  When teachers differentiate instruction, 80-90% of students are successful in meeting achievement benchmarks. (Hanson 2009)

1. The verbal linguistic, auditory delivery of information where students are expected to passively sit in their seats and take in information while trying to copy notes at rapid speed does not work for all students.
2. The students it does not work for are the students who are not responding to education and are doing poorly in the classroom as well as on their state tests. While this method may work for some teachers and some students, it does not work for the majority of our struggling student population.
3. A consequence of the lack of differentiation at the secondary level is that students who move on to college, whether to engineering coursework or technical school, primarily learned only one mode of studying. When they become college students and are met with challenging coursework, they often lack the study skills to support them in the more rigorous academic environment. This is why we often find that our most successful high school students don’t meet expectations at the college level.

The reality is that until we differentiate instruction at the secondary level, a basic requirement of Tier One RTI, we are shortchanging all our students: English-language learners, students with special needs, trade bound students, or students heading off to college.

Excerpted from RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers by Susan Gingras Fitzell.

Regardless of how you look at the year, I hope that you return to your students this month with a bright new outlook and the resolve to reach as many of your students as you can.  To help with that, I’m very excited about my new, FREE, magazine, Terrific Instruction Tips and Tools.

This magazine is full of articles to help teachers, and parents, meet the goal of reaching all learneres. If you, or your campus, service center, or organization could benefit from this information, please contact us at 603-625-6087 and we’ll get some to you asap!

Here’s to a great year ahead, filled with all the success you wish, for yourself, your family, and your students!

Team teaching is an advanced method of co-teaching that requires both teachers to have compatible personality and teaching styles.  It is also important that both teachers feel competent in the subject area.

There are many ways to use team teaching in the classroom.  Co-teachers can equally present the content being taught, ask critical thinking questions, play ‘devil’s advocate’ in order to make a point, debate with each other and the students, and take advantage of both teachers’ knowledge of the subject.

It is important, however, that students clearly see no difference in hierarchy between the co-teachers using this approach. Normally, team teaching does not occur unless both teachers are comfortable with each other. Usually they have been together for a while and know the topic equally well.

On Standardized Tests:

The easiest questions are at the beginning, the middle more difficult and the end, the most difficult. If a question at the end seems too easy, it’s probably the wrong answer.

On Essay Tests:

• Make notes on back of exam sheet, eg., ACRONYMS, Visual Cues, etc.
• Read directions carefully
• Underline key question words.
• Number all parts of the question.
• Jot notes along side each question as you read it for the first time.
• Pretend the reader is totally ignorant of the topic!

How to Handle Reading Passages on Tests:

• Find the main idea: Each passage has a main idea. Read for the main idea and skim the details.
• Read quickly, answer slowly: Most students do the opposite: read slowly and answer quickly. Read for the main idea and you’ll read quickly.
• Mark as you read: After reading each paragraph, make a brief note of two or three words in the margin. Indicate what went on in the paragraph. Circle important details.

How to Handle Math Questions on Tests:

• Look for shortcuts: For example, you know that an odd number multiplied by an odd number gives an odd number for an answer. If only one of the choices is an odd number, it has to be correct.
• Work in consistent units:
• If one side of a rectangle is given in inches and another in feet, convert them both to feet or inches before you multiply or add.
• Don’t do all the computations in your head.

This is a challenge that faces most secondary teachers or administrators. It’s important to teach students that reporting on a student who is harming himself or someone else is not snitching, it’s reporting. In a short lesson or perhaps in a guidance seminar, explain to students that:

Snitching is:

-Trying to get someone in trouble

-Looking for attention

- Done because you want to get your own way or to damage someone you don’t like

Reporting is:

-Telling someone with authority about a situation that is dangerous.

-Looking our for your safety (both physical and emotional) of yourself and your peers.

-Speaking up because something is really wrong; not because you want someone to get in trouble.

Getting secondary students to report can be extremely difficult. Even when their reporting was justified, they may be targeted by their peers as a snitch if teachers or administrators get involved.  Making reporting safe for students can require some creativity on the part of the adults in the situation–one school nurse who I knew had a smart method. She’d casually leave pen and paper on a table, and point out to her patient that if he happened to jot down the name of the classmate who hurt him he wouldn’t have told her anything. She’d turn her back, the student would write down a name and leave the office. He didn’t feel like a tattletale, and she had the name. You may need to be creative, but it’s essential that you teach students that there are times when they absolutely should speak up.

You can buy a Snitching or Reporting poster by clicking on the link.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

As teachers working in the trenches, we don’t often have the opportunity to step back and evaluate our performance, come up with new strategies to help students, or receive honest feedback on our work in the classroom. Sometimes the only feedback we get is based on standardized test scores or exam grades.

Imagine if you were armed with effective strategies for inclusion, memorization, and engaging students before your first day in the classroom.  These education majors from Carroll University had the opportunity to attend one of my seminars as part of their preparation for going into the classroom. Melissa and Whitney learned a wide range of strategies for teaching in a short period of time – even admitting they may use some of the memorization tips at the college level!

By exposing tomorrow’s teachers to strategies for success before they enter the classroom, we’re improving the quality of teaching in our schools and the chance for our students to thrive.

Once we have stored information in long-term memory, it’s filed away by rules, procedures, pairs, and categories. There are two ways to access that information: recall and recognition.

Recall is being able to remember information on demand. That’s what we ask kids to do on tests: read it and recall it.

Recognition is the process of retrieving pieces of related information and putting them together to complete an idea. When we recognize that something has happened before – that we’ve learned something before – and we can put those pieces of information together, recognition occurs.

Unfortunately, even the best students can have trouble with recall and recognition when tested on material they have learned.  Nerves can reek havoc on even the most prepared students.

There are strategies, however, that teachers and students can use to help assist and promote recall and recognition.

For example, research shows that for kids to do better on tests, it’s best to practice taking tests in the same environment, and under the same conditions, as the real test.

When we condition our students to the testing environment, they experience less anxiety during the actual testing process. Providing a positive environment and promoting positive self-talk with fun practice tests makes the process less stressful for them when it counts

More Strategies to Assist Recall and Recognition

• Allow more time on tests
• Take practice tests when studying
• Organize information when filing in memory
• If info comes in words: Make pictures
• If info comes in pictures: Talk about it

benefit both teachers as well, as there will be less conflict, confusion, and stress.

For teachers who are new to co-teaching, however, knowing what to discuss during the planning process can seem as daunting as co-teaching itself.  To help your co-teaching planning, here are some key discussion points:

Planning time

• How much time do we need to plan?
• When will we make the time to plan?
• What checks can we put in place to ensure we use our time effectively?
• What documentation or materials should we bring to the planning meeting with us?

Instruction

• How will we determine the content to be taught? Will we use curriculum compacting, curriculum mapping data, or state standards to target the most critical content?
• Who will plan what?
• When will the special education co-teacher implement instruction to students with disabilities, without disabilities, both?
• How will the co-teacher implement instruction?
• How will we decide who teaches what?
• Who creates curriculum adaptations, accommodations, and modifications?
• Who adapts the tests?
• How will we use our strengths in the classroom when planning instruction?
• How will we present the content? Will one person do all the direct teaching or will both share responsibility for teaching the lesson?
• Should we rotate responsibilities?
• If working with a paraprofessional, who will train the paraprofessional to use the specific instruction strategies?
• Who will evaluate the effectiveness of the instruction provided by the paraprofessional?

Student Behavior

• What are the classroom expectations (i.e., classroom rules) for students and adults?
• How are classroom expectations communicated to the students?
• What is the plan to address unacceptable student behavior in a timely manner?
• What are the specific roles of the adults in the room in supporting positive student behavior?
• How will we be consistent in managing behavior and support each other’s authority?
• What are our pet peeves? What student behavior pushes our buttons? What can we not tolerate in the classroom?
• If our discipline style is very different, where can we find common ground?

Student Behavior

• How will we ensure regular communication with each other?
• How will we address our communication needs with each other?
• Who will communicate with the parents of students on an IEP? The students who are not on an IEP? Do we share the responsibility for communication equally?
• How should we handle conflict or concern with each other to preserve the harmony of our relationship?
• When one of us wants to share a new idea should we present it in writing first so there’s time to process or just talk about it?
• Who will communicate with parents about: routine daily occurrences, unusual situations, other?
• What do we need to know about each other?
• What do I need in order to work effectively in my classroom?
• What can I absolutely not tolerate in my co-teacher?
• What am I looking forward to in the co-teaching relationship?
• What are my non-negotiables?
• The most important thing to me in our co-teaching relationship is…?
• What are our expectations of each other?
• How do we react to unexpected changes in plans?
• What are our expectations regarding:

1. Class work and homework being done on time, or independently?
2. Grading?
3. Noise level?
4. Small-group work?
5. Differentiating instruction?
6. Giving or receiving feedback?
7. Dividing the work load?

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

In this video, Becky Ramirez from Odessa, Texas talks about a great idea she’s implemented in her classroom – student-built learning stations! Often we think of station teaching as a strategy for teaching elementary school students. I’ve always encouraged teachers to use stations for classes at every grade level, and Becky’s use of stations with her freshman English classes is a great example – with a “novel” twist.

Becky’s class is split into groups; as they work through a unit, each group puts together a station for their fellow students on an assigned portion of the material. One of the rules – and I think this is one of the most important things in implementing stations in the classroom – is that the Center must not be a worksheet. The point of station teaching is getting students involved with the material in unique ways, and worksheets just aren’t effective in engaging students.

Once the stations are ready, each group rotates to work on the activities at the other groups’ centers. Becky’s class had come up with some great ideas for stations; “I’ve had vocabulary quilts, I’ve had timed quizzes, we’ve had Twister with different things, Monopoly-based games on short stories.”

Like all group activities, grading can be a challenge. In Becky’s class, goals for each station are established from the beginning. Once students have finished their stations and visited each of the other stations, the class discusses each station’s activity, pointing out the things they really enjoyed and learned from and providing constructive ideas for how the stations could be more effective. Students grade each others’ work as well as their own, and the final grades take into account how well the students worked together in their groups. As new students come into the classroom, they see examples of previous students’ work so they know what’s expected of them when they create their own stations.

Many teachers don’t implement stations because they can take a considerable amount of time – and creativity – to put together. By allowing students to teach each other by constructing centers for their classmates, this burden is lifted and students become much more deeply engaged with the material as they think up ideas to teach their classmates. As Becky says, “Their ideas are much better than anything I could have come up with, and they love it because they’re ‘owning’ their products.”