Response to Intervention...what does that look like in your district? The district I work in has a plan...but I was never really trained or taught what it is. Thankfully, I read this book and WOW!!! Why haven't I been doing this before???
In my last post, I talked about differentiated instruction and how my students LOVED learning! After reading RTI Success, I have learned that differentiated instruction and the RTI process are 2 peas in a pod and should not be separated!
I never completely understood RTI and I originally thought that it was a special education process that needed to be completed before a child could be referred for testing. Boy, was I WRONG!!! Response to Intervention starts in the general education classroom and it needs to be used for ALL students!
I knew mid year that several of my students were not making the progress that I thought they were capable of, so I asked one of the intervention teachers I work with if she had 30 minutes in her day to spare to help me in my room. Thankfully (with shifting her schedule) she did and together we made a huge difference.
Every couple weeks, I would have my students read a book to me as a "cold read" to find their current reading level using a running record. After completing them, I would look at the notes and group my students based on need. No matter what reading level they were working at, I still grouped them based on their needs. "Miss Amy" "pushed-in" and helped work with this group for 2-3 weeks at a time, only addressing the specific skill they needed extra practice in. After the 2-3 weeks, assessments were given to see if progress was attained. If so, new groups were formed, if not, she would continue to work with that group of students.
She SUPPORTED what I was doing in the classroom, which is a HUGE component to RTI success.
Thank you "Miss Amy" for helping me to "carry out" what RTI is supposed to "look like" in the general education classroom.
I highly recommend this book as another summer read!
