Response to Intervention - RtI

So..... what do I actually do in my new job????  A huge part of my job is RtI (Response to Intervention).  Our CPS Team (Collaborative Problem Solving) meets approximately twice a month to discuss the progress of students who have academic or behavior concerns.  I began the year as a novice.  Luckily our school psychologist remained the same so I relied on her amazing knowledge to help me understand the process and effectively lead it.  I learned a great deal (and I continue to each and every day) about RtI and how to help the parents, teachers, and students work together to monitor progress and increase student learning.  Here are my top 10 pieces of information I learned about RtI:

10.  Choose interventions that will meet the needs of the individual students who are struggling.  Choose the areas of weaknesses and find interventions that will increase student learning.
9.  Continuously MONITOR PROGRESS.  If students are placed in an intervention program, assessments must be used to evaluate the success of the intervention.
8.  There are many interventions that can be used.  If a student is not making progress with a specific intervention, try another one.  Ask for assistance if you need recommendations for interventions that could possibly be more beneficial.  What works for some students might not work for others.
7.  Continuously MONITOR PROGRESS.  If students are placed in an intervention program, assessments must be used to evaluate the success of the intervention.
6.  Evaluate the intervention and make changes if necessary.  Successful students who are making progress may need less frequency with the intervention while struggling students may need more.
5.Continuously MONITOR PROGRESS.  If students are placed in an intervention program, assessments must be used to evaluate the success of the intervention.
4.  Graph the data that is collected to see how the students are progressing.  This will enable you to evaluate their progress and compare them to their grade level expectations, classmates, and other students who are also using the intervention that has been put into place.
3.  Share the progress results with parents, students, administrators, and support staff.
2.  Continuously MONITOR PROGRESS.  If students are placed in an intervention program, assessments must be used to evaluate the success of the intervention.
1.  It takes a village to educate children.  PARENTS, TEACHERS, STUDENTS, ADMINISTRATORS, and SUPPORT STAFF must all be involved in the process and take responsibility for educating children.

RtI form used for data collection of academic concerns

RtI form used for data collection of behavior concerns

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Strange title for the end of March?!?  I 100% agree.  I created this blog last year with the intentions of posting in a timely manner.  I honestly admit that I failed.  I actually realized that it has been exactly nine months since I last posted.  I wish I had the excuse that I found out I was having a baby... but with my son in high school and my daughter in middle school, I am busy raising teenagers.  Life became hectic with a new school year and a new job.  I am no longer teaching third grade gifted/high achieving students.  My new adventure began this summer as I became the literacy coach.  With this new position came many new changes to my school... new principal, new assistant principal, new ESE specialist, and new guidance counselor.  YES - the entire administration and support staff are either new to my school and/or new to the position.  I was the only individual of the support staff that had previously worked at my school.  It was crazy but I am happy to say that we survived and I am truly enjoying working in my new position.  I LOVE working with a variety of learners and I LOVE supporting educators.
So... with the lack of posts I feel like I may have let you down.  Enjoy the Color by Number Addition activity sheet below.  It is part of my Color by Number activity sheets that can be found at my Teacher Pay Teacher store.  Since the title of this post is Happy New Year, I am making a resolution to post more.  Wish me luck!  :)

I'm Tickled Pink about Idioms!

     My students truly enjoyed learning about idioms.  Using figurative language in writing enables them to add creativity to their stories.  One of my favorite activities is having students act out the idioms by demonstrating the literal meanings and then writing about the figurative interpretations.

I'm in a pickle.

It costs an arm and a leg.

Caught red handed!

It's raining cats and dogs.

     As a class, we discovered many idioms involve the use of colors.  My class enjoyed illustrating their colorful idioms and explaining the literal and figurative meanings.