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.

In our November newsletter, we offered some examples of ways to motivate students by including them actively in the learning process. Some of my seminar participants have offered additional strategies for motivating students.

One thing teachers can do to keep students enthusiastic is to offer rewards. Ricki Miller uses a bubblegum machine filled with plastic containers. Each container has a slip of paper with a reward such as “sit with a friend for a day,” “homework pass,” etc. The students earn “coins” for chances at the gum machine.

Even the driest topic can be made fun by “acting out” the concepts being taught. For example, when Karen McKibbin of Niles High School in Michigan is teaching States of Matter, she arranges the desks in the shape of a beaker. Then all the students stand inside and behave as particles of a solid, liquid, or gas. The teacher provides the energy to change the particles to a different state.

The possibilities for turning real world situations and current events into a lesson are endless. A journalism teacher that didn’t give us their name teaches about interviewing by “acting out” a press conference. They play the part of the person being interviewed and the students practice being reporters. Then they write an article or press release based on the content of the press conference.

I know you’re all looking at that line and saying to yourselves, “Well of course I’m flexible; I fully intend to be.” However, I’m not talking about your own personality, though that is important too. I’m talking about what you plan together in the classroom. In essence, if you and your co-teacher can come up with some kind of a flexible plan that would meet the requirements of kids with an IEP and, at the same time, meet the requirements of the regular education kids, you’re going to have an easier time making it happen in your classroom.

Of course, this does require some planning on both of your parts, but even just snatching a few minutes during prep time or your lunch break can work wonders. You could also exchange phone numbers and e-mail so you can work together on projects. For the more technologically advanced, consider signing up for Google Wave, where you can actually collaborate on lesson plans together, in real time or whenever each of you has the time to get online.

In the classroom, have a signal planned between the two of you so that, if you need to switch things midstream, the kids won’t feel confused as to who is teaching the lesson.

The bottom line is, like I said at the beginning of this blog post, you just need to be flexible and then everything else will fall into place.

We spent the day discussing teaching strategies and ways to involve all learners in the classroom. At the end of the full day session, Dr. Twomey got up and endorsed the ideas I had spoken about.  He expressed his desire to see the strategies that we covered actually being implemented in the classroom and was so passionate about that desire that he offered an incentive to his staff.  He asked that teachers nominate each other and identify who they saw actually using strategies to differentiate instruction in their classrooms. He promised that he would have periodic drawings  to recognize and reward those teachers for implementing strategies learned in the session.

I  learned late last week that Dr. Twomey had just awarded a FREE day off to each of three outstanding teachers (one from each district campus).  I’m not talking about extra prep time, or a sick day.  This administrator awarded each of these outstanding teachers a day off, with pay, and no strings attached!

So often administrators fail to follow through, or simply don’t know how to support their teachers, or motivate them to be the best teachers that they can be.   I could not pass up the opportunity to recognize Dr. Twomey and the tenacious support he offers his teachers and, in turn, the students of Havana School District 126.

Congratulations to Wendy Saylor, Music Teacher at New Central Elementary, Janet Barker, 5th Grade Teacher at Havana Middle School, and Barb Ramsey, Chemistry Teacher at Havana High School for their hard work and dedication to good teaching!

credit for completing a vocabulary square using the ‘nerd word’.  This process motivates students to explore new words and to experience a larger vocabulary.

Another issue students often face is unfamiliar vocabulary on tests.  I discuss the importance of teaching test vocabulary in some of my seminars, but sometimes students need other options. Rachael Woolbright from Rockwell Charter High School in Utah suggests allowing written responses on multiple choice tests. If a student is unsure of an answer, they can write in another answer they think is correct.  This strategy also benefits extroverts who need to be able to process their answers more deeply than multiple choice testing allows.

Joelle Brummitt-Yale offers some additional vocabulary specific strategies in her article, “Effective Strategies for Teaching Vocabulary.”  Take a look and remember to consider the vocabulary you use  when working with your students.

One teacher explained that she taught her students the song, “What a Wonderful World,” by Louis Armstrong. One day, when everybody was wound up and excited, she started singing the song. The students stopped what they were doing and everyone joined in the singing. They loved the song, knew it well, and they were calmed.

An elementary aide taught her class “The Chicken Dance” during inside recess days. On a day when no one seemed to be listening during clean up time, she turned on “The Chicken Dance” and told the class they had until the end of the song to finish putting everything away. It worked so well that the dance became the song they played every time they had to clean up.

While the first idea supports my comments about the calming and focusing effects of appropriate music, the second strategy also illustrates the value of movement in the classroom. While the example comes from an elementary setting, giving students these little opportunities to move is essential to maintaining good order and discipline in the classroom.

1. In social studies, history, or Government, hold a Party Convention to teach the principles of the democratic process. One teacher in Nebraska organizes a party convention with affiliation to any major party, and then breaks his class up into as many two or three student state delegations as possible. After appointing one student as “the candidate,” students research their state and attend the convention as delegates of their state.

2. Another social studies or history example is to reenact major events, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill, or the Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. As the teacher, you might dress up and set the stage before acting such things out yourself, or you might engage the class more deeply by including them in the process.

3. Math and science concepts lend themselves well to music. Put your students into groups and have them create a song or rap to help remember the concept being discussed. I’ve talked repeatedly about the value of music in remembering information and this strategy bears inclusion again here. Bringing students into the process and allowing them to use music they love motivates them to participate and remember. There are a variety of resources available on my website, but a new resource I discovered recently is http://mrduey.com. Another teacher tuning their love of music to the subjects they teach.

4. Teachers have been using animals like fish, reptiles, and amphibians in the classroom for years to teach students about life-cycle, habitat, and responsibility. The problem with this idea is that, over time, the process becomes more chore than treat for students. Another approach, and something that many communities offer, might be to have service animals brought in during specific days or times. These animals are specially trained for a variety of tasks and service organizations are always on the lookout for ways to help train these animals by offering them opportunities to interact with others. This is an especially good activity for involving students with special needs and can be adapted to a variety of subject areas.

5. Having a cook-off or using food examples is an excellent way for students to apply concepts like fractions, U.S to metric conversions, geometry. Teach fractions using a pizza or cake. Show how a sandwich is a square until you cut it in half and it becomes two triangles.

6. One life skills activity that reaches students can be applied to a variety of teaching moments. Give students an ‘entertainment budget’ and have them use their ‘money’ to purchase a new gaming system with games and extras. Make the budget small enough to be challenging. Many students have no concept of the skills involved in managing money, but they will apply critical thinking to the mathematics with this sort of challenge activity.

7. Hold a mock trial with lawyers, a judge, etc. to examine the judicial process, act out current or historical events, or to deter students from making poor life decision. Many high school criminal justice courses use this activity, sometimes including field trips to actual courtrooms, but the idea can be applied to a number of other courses and ideas as well.

Here in St. Louis (Clayton, actually). Checked in, shuttle driver took me to Whole foods – did groceries, going to polish my co-teaching presentation before bed. Tomorrow St. Louis, Tuesday: Springfield, MO, Wed: Kansas City, MO, Thurs: Minneapolis, MN, and Friday, FARGO!!!

Co-teaching Coaching Last Week

Last week I was working with Permian High School and Odessa High School in Odessa, TX. I love being in the classroom. Both high schools are making great gains in their co-teaching efforts. Not only did I get to work with some awesome teachers and administrators in Odessa, Texas, I attended a Permian High School Football ‘send-off to the state championships’ bon-fire. I also attended an Odessa High Pep rally. They both made it to this past weekend championships in El Paso and they both won! Experiencing West Texas Football and West Texas friendly hospitality is truly delightful. The week flew by.

There are sound gains to be had in a student-centered classroom. But, in educations’ zeal to seize upon new approaches, let’s not forget, and throw out the benefits of a traditional classroom. The student centered classroom fosters critical skills, problem solving, peer interaction and democratic process.  The traditional classroom can foster a respect for and trust of authority, an understanding of and respect for rules that we may not have control over, a security and comfort in ritual, a group cohesiveness, and a larger capacity to learn from the wisdom and experience of the teacher. Important learning occurs in both types of classrooms, although what  is learned depends a lot on the personality and skills of the teacher, no matter the style.  Nothing is black and white.

I am eclectic in my approach to teaching. I believe there is a time for student-centered learning and democratic classroom process.  I also believe there is a time for traditional teaching, with the teacher as a caring authority. I was fortunate to  experience both styles as an adult student. I attended a student-centered graduate school while also training in a traditional martial arts school. In reading Noblit’s account of his experiences, I could not help but draw definite parallels between the way Pam taught and the way a good traditional martial arts school is run.

Pam knew that “…caring in classrooms is not about democracy — it is about the ethical use of power.”   The kung fu school I attend is very traditional. The Sifu (teacher) is kind, tender, protective, exacting, reasonably demanding and a definite authority.  He sees my weak points, physically and mentally, and in a style that is sometimes paternal, sometimes humorous, always understanding, he pushes me to improve.  “In Pam’s classroom, ineptness did not lead to your losing your responsibility.  Instead, it led to a lot of coaching to get it right and a lot of room to figure it out for yourself.”  And so it is in the martial arts class; I have to work to “get it right” and make room in my schedule to “figure it out for myself”. My self talk sometimes grumbles that my Sifu is too demanding. I sometimes feel frustrated. But I know that he is invested in my growth and development as a martial artist. That knowledge buffers the demands with warm acceptance and appreciation. Pam’s students know she is invested in them also. I question whether a totally student-centered classroom could foster that same type of relationship. As Pam praised her students and at the same time maintained high standards, Sifu commends what I do well, but doesn’t let up on my weak points.  He pushes me to be more patient, more focused, to relax more, to practice more, to think more about the meaning of what I am doing, and think less about speed and making mistakes. There is more direct interaction between teacher and student in the traditional classroom when this type of coaching occurs.

Pam’s class is defined as a collective; individuals connected by responsibilities and obligations to the whole.  The “kung fu family” is an integral part of my martial arts environment. Students help and respect each other.  I take private lessons and group classes. The group classes are more difficult for me. In group classes, I’m more distracted and mistakes seem glaringly obvious, however, it is the very structure and routine of the group classes that gives me a sense of security. I know what is expected. There is comfort in the consistency and ritual of the traditional classroom.  Because the environment is stable and supportive, more challenging skills can be taught. This raises the level of expectation for all students, motivating all to push limits and challenge themselves.

My experience as an adult student in a traditional classroom is invaluable. I realize the importance of every challenge that I face in that traditional school.  I learn patience, focus, self-control, and trust.  I learn to trust that authority, continuity, and caring, can be found in the same classroom. I also realize that the traditional classroom can be run by a power driven, self-centered, “teacher” who could not begin to provide the safe opportunities for learning and growth that Pam and my Sifu do. But that is not the fault of the traditional classroom model. A student-centered classroom with such a teacher would yield no better results.

References:
Noblit, “Power and Caring”, American Educational Research Journal, vol. 30, 1993.

The Quippy History Game

Materials Needed

How to play the ‘game’

The Summary Race

Fishing game.

A Strategy using Videos to Cover History Topics

Groups Idea

Give student groups transparencies