Diagnosis: The Missing Ingredient in RTI Assessment

According to the article RTI or Response to Intervention is an approach to identify students as learning disabled. I could not disagree more. Response to Intervention should be the platform to identification of gaps in a students learning. All students should be labeled as exceptional. No child is identical to another child, therefore, the way each child learns is specific and unique to that child. Each child should be taught by a teacher that knows their strengths and weaknesses. RTI is the process in which we should examine, evaluate, and implement a plan of instruction for each child in our classroom.

The model that we use in Georgia is very effective if used properly! Tier I of the RTI pyramid is for the general population in your classroom. Again, this does not mean that you give everyone in the classroom the same "prescription". Tier II of the RTI pyramid is small group interventions. Here there are a lot of programs that could help students at this level such as: READ 180, math enrichment programs, and other reading enrichment programs. These programs have been effective for some, but I tend to think that they would be more successful if the classes were much smaller. Having fifteen struggling readers in one classroom is not conducive to any intervention that I know of. The same can be said for fifteen struggling math students. Tier III should be individualized interventions or the SST tier. The problems I see here are the teachers are not adequately trained on strategies that are effective for struggling students. They don't know how to identify and assess the needs of the students, much less develop an individualized map of interventions that would put the child on the road to success. If we utilized the pyramid at level two as we should, there would be fewer students referred to tier III and tier IV (special ed and gifted) would be a true reflection of learning disabilities, not just gaps in learning

I totally agree with this article on the fact that some school systems are adopting the enrichment programs and identifying "bubble" students, as a one-size-fits-all philosophy of fixing our test scores and helping children to meet their potential. Well, what happened to No Child Left Behind? I'm sorry, but that whole program got the boot from the get-go. Our government took a  wonderful program that worked in Texas and turned it into something that it wasn't intended to be! That just goes to show you that something that works somewhere doesn't mean that it's going to work everywhere.

According to this article, matching students' needs with instruction by using "if-then" thinking is at the heart of effective and efficient assessment instruction and is essential if RTI is going to make a difference. Can I say amen?! RTI is our road map to help each child in our classroom reach their potential. I hope I am making sure that I take the time to evaluate each child and give them a prescription that will cure their ailments, not just the symptoms.

Brain Based Curriculum - Help4Teachers.com

I found a very informative web site that has a wealth of knowledge about brain-based learning. The site offers teaching tips and ideas. It has sample curriculum lessons and how - to videos and articles. The site even includes a 15 min. tutorial on layered curriculum. The site is facilitated by Dr. Kathie Nunley  and is linked to Brain.org. I hope you take a look at this site; I am very fascinated by the information that is available here.

Rejecting Instructional Level Theory by Tim Shanahan

In this article Dr. Shanahan shares his view on the Common Core Instructional Level Theory. The common core is moving toward teaching reading by using more difficult and complex texts. Dr. Shanahan feels that there is research that provides us with a evidence that contradicts this theory.

Becoming a successful reader is a combination of the learner interacting with the text and the teacher. The instructional level theory claims that text difficulty level is relative to the student reading level and this is the factor that makes everything "click". However, this totally ignores the teachers strategies, scaffolding, and support that is offered to the student on the basis of their individual needs.

Common Core denotes that students learn best when they receive the least teaching. This is contradictory to the studies that suggest that kids can learn from text written at very diverse levels, even when the text difficulty causes the teachers to give the students support of background knowledge among various other techniques.

Although, Shanahan claims that Lexile assessments have improved readability assessment. He still believes that students learning quality will depend on the amount and quality of instructional support from the teacher or parent.

NBC News Today Interview with Dr. Sally Shaywitz

Dyslexia is one of the most widespread learning disabilities today. It affects one out of five children. Many children go undiagnosed or receive substandard support in overcoming reading difficulties. Dr. Shaywitz is a neuroscientist at Yale University School of Medicine and is one of the nation's leading researchers in the scientific study of dyslexia. Dr. Shaywitz is also the author of "Overcoming Dyslexia".

Dyslexia is an unexpected difficulty in learning to read. A person that has the intelligence, the motivation, and the proper schooling needed to be a successful reader, but cannot read, probably has dyslexia. People with dyslexia have trouble reading; it's not just letter reversals or reading things out of order. Dyslexics also tend to have problems sounding things out, they avoid reading things out loud because it takes forever.

Dr. Shaywitz recommends that parents intervene early in childhood. Children who have early intervention have higher rates of success. Brain scans of dyslexics before intervention and after intervention are considerably different. Waiting too long can cause the child to get further behind and risks the student becoming so frustrated that they stop trying and give up. Dr. Shaywitz also recommends scientific proven reading programs, good schools, effective teachers, and advocates educating parents in order to overcome the disability.

Reading in the Disciplines by Carol D. Lee and Anika Spratley

I chose this article because as a middle grades teacher, I see students who are struggling with the comprehension of the higher-level texts that they are required to read. On top of that, the quantity of material that is assigned makes it twice as difficult for the struggling reader to absorb the in-depth content of the text.

Students in middle school and high school are required to make inferences and predictions from the material that they are reading. Most students do not have adequate critical thinking skills to master comprehension of the text and transfer that knowledge to the activities, discussion, or evaluation in the classroom.

Cross curricular activities build on concepts gained in other disciplines and subjects. This enables students to develop critical thinking skills that assist in comprehension and problem solving. "The ability to comprehend written texts is not a static or fixed ability, but rather one involves a dynamic relationship between the demands of texts and the prior knowledge and goals of readers." A lack of content knowledge does affect comprehension and other approaches become necessary.

Good readers use the following strategies as they read:
          1) Asking questions
          2) Making predictions - middle school students have a lot of difficulty with this
          3) Testing hypothesis
          4) Summarizing
          5) Monitoring understanding and deploying fix-it strategies as needed

Reading in Science

Tables, diagrams, and maps make it difficult for emerging readers to comprehend scientific texts. Technical vocabulary of science often has Greek or Latin origin. It is necessary for cross curricular activities in order for students to comprehend the material. Support of students in a wide variety of scientific genres, text that emphasizes cause and effect, sequencing, and evaluating theories, and scientific reasoning are the skills for comprehending scientific text.

Reading in History

Primary sources in history include:
     1) Political documents
     2) legal documents
     3) newspaper articles 
     4) letters
     5) diaries.
Challenges:
    1) Failure to make logical connections
    2) Use of references that are indirect
    3) Information that is irrelevant to main ideas
    4) Density of ideas inside sentence structure.
Historical texts can be described as "inconsiderate texts" making it necessary for classroom routine to include deciphering text features, syntax, vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and background knowledge discussion and summarizing. Reading instruction must meet the needs of diverse student abilities and instruct students to reason.

Reading in Literature

The Socioeconomic status of students has an impact on comprehension of literature. Symbolism in texts should be modeled so that students from diverse backgrounds are able to detect or reconstruct inferences that incorporate various points of view. Understanding and prior knowledge of literary works: 1) text structures - short story, novel, poetry, drama, realism, science fiction, allegory,
fable, myth, mystery, haiku, sonnet, ballad, and epic; human practices and behaviors that internal status trigger; 3) reconstruct a figurative message; and 4) ability to make inter-textual links. Works that capture human experience and dilemmas from the past can cause difficulty for the struggling reader due to syntax, pronouns, and vocabulary that are no longer common in language today. "Reading deeply complex literary texts offers unique opportunities for students to wrestle with some of the core ethical dilemmas that we face as human beings." 

Reading in Math

Parents, teachers, and students do not expect reading problems to occur in math. However, most struggling math students lack the vocabulary that would enable success in the subject. It is important for students to be able to understand the language, logic (I"m sure this is where I fall short on the math spectrum - comprehension of logic and the vocabulary dealing with logic) of mathematics, and the mathematical text language.Advanced mathematics is not accessible without this comprehension. Math classrooms with inquiry-based instruction (cross-curricular instruction in science) with goals of assisting students to think mathematically and to value both the aesthetics and applicability of math, generate lifelong interest and support mathematical reasoning and encourage higher level thinking skills.

In conclusion, building for transfer across the curriculum is an effective tool to assist students in comprehension and critical thinking skills that are needed to be successful in reading and in life. Taking the approach from reading across the disciplines to the cross-curricular teaching of reading across the curriculum is a different way of looking at this material. However, I wonder if teachers looked outside of the box more often, if we could see that some of things that we have always done and are still not working, could be re-thought? I also wonder if the kinds of assessments that we offer have anything to do with the way students are reading textbooks....? When I was in school, we discussed the text in the classroom AND on evaluations. I do believe that multiple choice questions are not a true measure of comprehension. Cross curricular activities build on concepts gained in other disciplines and subjects. They enable students to develop critical thinking skills that build comprehension and trigger problem solving. 

As a Fine Arts educator, I see the correlation between literacy and the arts. Arts curriculum offer learning opportunities in a wide-range of perspectives. Literacy can be taught through the arts and assist students to develop values and understandings in social and cultural contexts. Learning in each art-form caters to all students, regardless of physical, social, intellectual, developmental, or emotional needs. Focusing on arts content and pedagogy, literary is enhanced through creating, appreciating, and experiential learning. Literacy is about understanding the meaning of human codes. Meaning can be conveyed through words, signs, or symbols.

According to the National Art Education Association, "Literacy is more than being able to read and write. It is the ability to decode and encode in any form through which meaning is conveyed. What cannot be conveyed in words is often possible in the visual, auditory, or choreographic form."

Picture Book Lessons

All of my articles that I read dealt with read alouds so, I chose read aloud picture books for each of my lessons. The books that I used were: When Marian Sang by: Pam Munoz Ryan; Moses - When Harriet Tubman Led her People to Freedom by: Carole Boston Weatherford; Martin's Big Words by: Doreen Rappaport; and Ella Fitzgerald -The Tale of a Vocal Virtuoso by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney. I used different strategies with each lesson and had a good deal of success with each lesson.  I think the students really enjoyed looking at music from a different persepctive than performance.  The following lesson was my favorite. We actually got to discuss a lot of social studies in this lesson.  It's great for students to see what battles have been won so, that they can enjoy the liberties and freedom that they have.

Lesson #1

Read Aloud

Performance Standard: MMSIC.7 – Evaluating music and music performances

MMSIC.8 – Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts

MMSIC.9 – Understanding music in relation to history and culture

Essential Question: What is the relationship between music, history, and visual arts?

Objectives: Identify and describe relationships between music, history, and visual arts.

Identify and comprehend new vocabulary used in the text.

Demonstrate literacy skills through reading and discussing musical settings of varied literature.

Supplies: When Marian Sang

By: Pam Munoz Ryan

Alpha Boxes worksheet

1. Read the story aloud, showing the pictures after reading each page.
2. During the read aloud, the teacher references many songs in the text by singing the lyrics. The students joined in singing “My Country ‘tis of Thee” during the reading of the text.
3. Students discussed the new vocabulary notated in the alpha boxes and developed a definition of their own with a partner.
4. The class discussed all of the new vocabulary words that they encountered in the reading of the text. Student-created definitions were shared and discussed and the book was summarized through student-led discussion.
5. Vocabulary: opulent; trepidation; metropolitan; momentous; and contralto

Lesson Two

When Marian Sang

Performance Standard: MMSIC.7 – Evaluating music and music performances

MMSIC.8 – Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts

MMSIC.9 – Understanding music in relation to history and culture

Essential Question: What are the stylist techniques in Marian's vocal performance?

Objectives: Identify and describe relationships between music, dance arts, theatre arts, and visual arts.

Demonstrate literacy skills through reading and discussing musical settings of varied literature.

The students will study the correlation of reading phonemes and singing phonemes.

Discuss stylistic characteristics of a varied repertoire, including world music and analyze vocal performance.

Discuss the relationship between music, world events, history, and culture.

Supplies: When Marian Sang

Comprehension Worksheet
Recording of "Deep River"

1. The students will independently answer the questions on the worksheet.
2. The class will discuss the answers to the questions.

Extension activity: Students will listen to a recording of Marian Anderson's "Deep River" to analyze the techniques used and observe the opulent range that is displayed in the song. The Students practiced the techniques using “My Country ‘tis of Thee” from the book. The vowels of singing were discussed and the syllables were broken down into phonemes. The students practiced these to develop correct singing diction.  This method works very well for ESOL students as well as English speaking students. We use hand signals for the vowels and extended the vowels sounds into syllabic formation. This made it very easy for all my students to accomplish.

The next time I teach this lesson I will focus on the comprehension of the text and use a different worksheet for vocabulary. I feel that the KWL chart might be more helpful with the content that I want them to focus the most on. The alpha boxes were not as functional for the higher level vocabulary. Having some vocabulary in the beginning would have served as a great hook for the story (even though the students were enthralled in the story)!

Reflection: I loved seeing how the different methods of teaching vocabulary had an impact on how the students learned the material and responded to the material. Talking about prior knowledge and terms that students might encounter in the text, gives them a "heads-up" on what to look for when listening. Sometimes students have a hard time listening if they don't have something to listen for; listening should always have purpose (spoken like a true musician)!

Discussion of the content from this book led to many ideas about how history has a direct correlation with art and music. Students that did not have a American cultural background were able to grasp what it was like in the early nineteen hundreds and how things have changed over the course of a century. Students with different historical and cultural backgrounds were able to share about the similarities and differences between American history/culture and their own history/culture. This helped to encourage respect for other cultures. People who respect others and have the courage to stand up for their beliefs are the people who knock down barriers!

Revisiting Read-Aloud: Instructional Strategies that Encourage Students' Engagement with Text"

This article was very detailed and gave so much wonderful information that included activities that can be tried in the classroom. I found it very fascinating that the data collected from this research concluded that social activity and social collaboration are essential to cognitive development. I whole-heartily agree with this. I think that I should be teaching in a Montessori school somewhere, due to the fact that I think learning is "hand-on" not "hands-off-sit-behind-the-desk-and-be-quiet-and-never-say-a-word-to-another-kid". Many teachers buy into this philosophy and it is not a productive one. People are social creatures and we are designed to communicate.

This article relates the idea that reading is a transactional process. Meaning does not reside in the text alone or in the reader alone, but it occurs when the two transact. Readers draw from several knowledge sources in order to assimilate meaning. These include: comprehension strategies, prior knowledge, making connections, question answering, question generating, and presenting alternative perspectives.

Read Alouds increase literacy learning and significantly impact vocabulary development and comprehension growth. Read Alouds motivate students to read and builds knowledge that is essential in the development of successful writing skills. This strategy supports listening and speaking abilities, which enhances overall language development.

Strategy engagement fosters meaning. Alpha boxes, making connections, and discussion webs are great strategies that encourage comprehension development. These strategies paired with small group collaboration will promote motivation, interest, and retention of knowledge.