Chapter 3: Quality Core Instruction: A Necessary First Step
“It shouldn’t go without saying that all students need access to quality instruction. Without high-quality initial instruction, significant numbers of students will require supplemental instruction and intensive intervention that are costly and time-consuming.” p. 29
How can we ensure that all students are receiving quality instruction? I think the feedback sheets that Marianne and Joe are going to use will help.
The first part of quality instruction is establishing a purpose. We expect teachers to post and go over Today You Will Learn but I don’t think this has been implemented with fidelity. I like how today we decided that TYWL needs to be in a complete sentence and use a skill/verb and concept/noun. This will make it more clear for students and teachers. The students need to know what they are learning and why.
Teacher modeling is a critical component of releasing responsibility to the students. Teachers must provide an example of what they are thinking when they “solve problems, read, write, or complete tasks.” Modeling is NOT a “detailed explanation, nor is it a time to question students; rather, it is an opportunity to demonstrate the ways that experts think.” p. 34 Teachers need to model how they comprehend, solve unknown words, and use text structures (grammar) and features (charts, figures, etc).
The next part of quality instruction is guided instruction-the “we do” of the lesson. Guided instruction should be based on the teacher’s check for understanding. “Guided instruction provides teachers with an opportunity to engage students in thinking without explicitly telling them what to think.” p. 39
Quality core instruction involves productive group work (you do together). Students must first be taught how to work together. “Students learn more and retain information longer when they work in productive groups.” p. 40. I think group work is essential but how to we ensure that it’s being used effectively? I know some teachers used Becky and Amanda’s different colored marker idea.
Next, students must work independently (you do alone). The independent work should be a review and reinforcement of what was previously taught. It should not be based on new. This step allows students to build confidence. Homework should be based on content that students have been exposed to for at least 3 to 5 days.
Chapter 4: Supplemental Interventions: A Second-Level Defense
Remember, 75-85% of students should make sufficient progress through core instruction alone. Tier 2 is supplemental intervention and approximately 10-15 percent of students at one time or another requires supplemental instruction in addition to the core instruction. This chapter focuses on Tier 2.
One takeaway point I think we all need to keep in mind is “providing every student with the same thing a every other student isn’t fair; providing each student with what he or she needs is fair.”
I like this analogy: “Supplemental instruction is much like the medication that doctors order. The prescription comes only after a careful analysis of the symptoms and the patient’s medical history. A treatment is prescribed, and the patient’s progress is monitored. The dosage and duration of the treatment are determined in advance, but that doesn’t preclude the doctor from running further tests if the medication does not seem to work.” p. 52-53. This is where continuous checks for understanding are vital. We need to monitor the effectiveness of the intervention.
Interventions should include:
*A feedback mechanism for student and teacher to continuously foster learning gains
*Peer interaction to further scaffold student understanding
*Explicit instruction that emphasizes skill building
*Contextualized instruction that emphasizes skill application
*A process for informing parents of gains so that they can celebrate success and offer praise and encouragement (p. 53)
The interventions need to be aligned with the quality core instruction and delivered by a highly qualified teacher. When implementing interventions, students should be working in small, similarly skilled groups and given. The interventions need to be in addition to quality core instruction-not take it’s place. Page 54 offers some times that supplemental intervention could be used.
One point I found that contradicts what we have to do is the tutoring. It should be aligned with the core instruction. In the tutoring that we offer, we are doing programs that are not related to what is being taught in class. I’m not sure how this is supposed to help the students.
Making sure the TWYL is written well, with an explanation and discussed in class is important. I would hope our 7th and 8th graders know this routine VERY well by now. Do most teachers do this? Do they do some components of it?
ReplyDeleteGroup work is great when done well. I know that is one thing I need to work on and would benefit from more modeling from other teachers and how they get it to work successfully. I've tried it several different ways, but would love more ideas.
Chapter 4 seems to fit really well with data teams. We have already been figuring out who needs extra interventions, however we might not be providing them exactly as they suggest.
I totally agree that it doesn't seem to make sense to do non-curricular material during tutoring. They need more exposure and assistance with the curriculum. Can we change this? Who will be picked for tutoring?
Great summaries, Jen!
ReplyDeleteReading these chapters again really made me realize that we are so focused. I feel that I am reassured with each "thing" we have chosen to take on this year. They all work TOGETHER!!
A few things that stuck out for me in these two chapters were:
-The quality indicators on page 45, 49-50. This might be a good thing to introduce when we show the staff the “new” structure for instruction that works lesson plan format and observation sheet. This list really does give teachers a good checklist so they know what is expected in each part of the lesson.
-Figuring out when and where Tier 2 instruction and intervention will occur is a concern - especially for the intermediate level. Is it fair to take away exploratory classes in order to provide this ETEH? I think we found in the past that that is not a good choice, or were we approaching it the wrong way before?
-The academic intervention plans/learning contracts are interesting… Similar to what we tried to use in advisory last year. Is there a way to tweak ours? Is the district requiring anything like this?
-Figure 4.5 on page 74 has some very good reminders for teachers. All kids learn differently and just because there is not an IEP in place, does not mean that accommodations are not needed for that student to be successful.
The importance of quality initial instruction is again the focus of these chapters. If we are successful meeting the instructional needs of 85% of our students with initial instruction then meeting the needs of approximately 5% of our students requiring intensive interventions will be more manageable. When the gradual release model is implemented with integrity and an emphasis on productive group work, teachers will have some time to meet with small groups or 1:1 with students for interventions. Establishing a purpose that includes both a content goal and a language goal was an "aha" for me...specifically the difference between specialized words and technical words...something staff should be aware of when looking at vocabulary instruction. Teacher modeling through think alouds is critical. Teaching and modeling for students comprehension,word solving, text structures and text features through the think aloud process is another area of focus particularly as we look at teaching how to read textbooks. Another "aha" was teachers modeling when they are reading and notice they are losing meaning...this will help prevent students using the strategy of "skipping" text they don't understand. Key points for our focus will be establishing purpose, modeling, and guided practice emphasizing productive group work....whenever we can model this on Wednesdays. Teachers need to understand that the guided practice is most effective in small groups and allows for appropriate scaffolding based on formative assessments.
ReplyDeleteWhen implementing the most intensive interventions the best person is the teacher. We need to figure out the best structure for this to happen. Increasing time and intensity of interventions is key, but remember this should be only 5% of the students...in 8th grade that is 4 students based on current enrollment. We should consider the recommendation for homework...spiral review of content taught.
I agree that tutorials need to be aligned with curriculum and carefully selected to not confuse our most struggling learners.
-Marianne
I highlighted most of what everyone has already said. I agree that teacher modeling is crucial! If we want students to be successful, we have to show them how. We cannot make it a guessing game. One connection I made to the word solving section occured in my READ 180 training last week. Our trainer was discusssing how to teach new vocabulary and she made it extremely clear that we must NOT let students guess the definition of an unfamiliar word. Her reasoning was that if students think or hear the wrong definition, it will take them 20 some times to hear it correctly before they know the true definition of the word. That was an "aha" moment for me. In the past, I thought I was doing the right thing by asking students for their guesses on vocab definitions. As the book says on page 36, "expert teachers model the ways in which unknown words are discovered."
ReplyDeleteI also really liked the section on text structures and features since we want to incorporate more non-fiction into our text. "It helps readers remember what they read and organize their thinking about a text" (36).
Jen did a nice job of summarizing the key components of the gradual release model. We must find ways to add more productive group work into our curriculum. Becky and I did try the marker strategy, but looking back on it, we do not think we had true collaboration going on. Even though all members of the group contributed, it was still isolated. One person wrote their thought, then another wrote theirs. We were missing the discussion and communication that we wanted. We will have to find a solution and give opportunities for all of us to observe each other as Kristin noted. When we find something that works well, we should want to replicate it!
Again – great summaries Jen! I think chapter 3 really reminds us not only what we should be doing but WHY we should be doing it! Chapter 4 really helped me to visualize what RTI2 should look like. A few things stood out to me…
ReplyDelete- TYWL is not just for the students. It’s also there for us to make sure we are formatively assessing our students accurately.
- I liked how they explained what modeling is and is not. It is not explanations, it is think alouds.
- Text structures and features are going to become increasingly important as we encourage teachers to use textbooks and other authentic texts.
- Guided instruction should be based on assessment.
Since we are lucky enough to have more paras in the building this year – this really stood out to me: “The best use of paraprofessionals provide the teacher with more time to work with higher-needs students and support students achieving at or above grade level.” (pg. 55). This makes a lot of sense. We are the experts and should be working with our struggling students. Paras should provide support to the students who are doing well.
After re-reading chapters three and four, reading Jen's blog, and everyone else's comments...something Kristin said really jumped out at me. Chapter 4 does seem to fit really well with what we are doing in data teams, which is how I think we need to introduce RTI (in conjunction with data teams). Kristin noted how we have already been figuring out WHO needs extra interventions; and we do a good job of this, but so what? We must begin to focus on WHAT interventions they need, WHEN and WHERE they will receive those interventions, and HOW they will be delivered. Unfortunately, those questions are much harder to answer then the question of who. Easier said than done. I will reiterate what others have said about having extra para-educators and other support staff that other buildings lack, should definitely be an opportunity that we find ways to maximize.
ReplyDeleteEric Ewald is Anonymous for this particular comment...
I have seen and talked to a lot of teachers that struggle with writing the TYWL, and I agree with everyone that it is important to both the teacher and the students. It keeps everyone focused. I think that unwrapping the standards will help us to turn the TYWL into a standard. In fact, I would like to take apart the standards and write them in the TYWL sentence so that I can have them all ready to slap onto my board and be ready for the day. I just wish I had another week before school starts to do so.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that stood out to me and was mentioned before is how to make the interventions work in all classrooms. Obviously this will be easier to do in the 10-5 rooms. The paras can help, but they are not in all of our classrooms, and what will their schedules look like?
I think we need to offer more ways to make small groups and interventions work effectively. We have a lot of different personalities in our building, and need to provide them a lot of different options to make this work for our students (and our teachers).
Katie
I agree that it fits really well with our data teams. I think that as a math teacher I need to take the data team process and begin using it with a more math focus. Identifying the tiers of students and providing the appropriate interventions.
ReplyDeleteAs a math team we have decided to havbe better communication with our critical friends (sped teachers) who can help us make good decisions with strategies which should bring higher achievement for struggling students
Becky mentioned the use of para's and allowing them to help us DI and meet all student needs. We need to remind teachers that this does not mean sticking the low-level students with the para's!
TYWL with the skill and concept written in a complete sentence will help students understand what they should walk out of the room being able to master.