Pyramid Response to Intervention

On Friday I had the privilege of attending a RTI workshop led by Austin Buffum.  It was a very engaging presentation that encouraged a TON of discussion and reflection on your schools RTI practices or non-practices.

Here are some of the ideas that I came away with:

• The 4 C's of RTI- Collective responsibility, Concentrated Instruction, Convergent assessment, Certain access.
• RTI is not separate or in addition to the work that I am already doing as a part of a Professional Learning Community- RTI works hand in hand with PLC's especially in regards to: How do we respond when a student does not learn and What do we do when a student already knows it?
• I can not control what experiences my students have outside of school- but I can control the experiences they have inside of school- I need to take responsibility for ensuring that all students will learn.
• RTI is built around the identified essential skills- it is not something that you have to do for every single standard.

The biggest a-ha for me was to target the cause and not the symptom.  I heard an analogy once that went something like this: Two doctors were hiking next to a river when they saw a body float by.  Immediately they pulled the body out of the river and began CPR when another body floated past.  Again, they went into the river and pulled out the body attempting to help when a third body floated past.  One of the doctors jumped back into the river and the second doctor started running up river.  The doctor in the river got mad and yelled for the second doctor to stay and help.  The second doctor replied that he was helping, he was going up river to see what was causing all of these people to be put in the river!  I think that story completely applies to me as an educator.  So often I feel the pressure of meeting state standards and passing our state assessment that instead of giving the time to dig deep and find out why my students are struggling- I am just throwing interventions at them hoping that one will stick.  It is important for me to remember to dig deep and figure out the cause of their misconceptions/misunderstandings and then develop an intervention that is intentional.

I got an award!

Many thanks to Tammy at Forever in First  for the One Lovely Blog Award!

I am super excited about this because it is my first award!  Okay, here are the rules:

The rules:

1. Link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Pass the award onto 15 other lovely bloggers.

3. Follow the person who sent it to you. 

Well, I already follow Tammy and I have already linked back to her lovely blog SO here are my 15!

Dani at It's Grow Time 

Sheri at First Grade Rocks!

Sam at A Teacher's Looking Glass

Amy at The Resourceful Room

Lori at Conversations in Literacy

Tracey at Our Cool School

Tanya at A Class Act

Rebecca at The Teacher's Chatterbox

Melissa at DillyDabbles

Jessica at Apples and Papers

Alright, I spent the day at a wonderful RTI workshop and I am pooped! I will post all about it soon! Happy Friday!

A full week off!

I know, I know, be jealous, last week I had a week long vacation!  Don't be too jealous though, as much as I wanted to spend my vacation like this:

I actually only spent it like that HALF of the time! :)

I decided this was my week to ORGANIZE the classroom!  I am usually a very organized person and if you walked into my classroom you would most likely find it neat and tidy.  But, I have my "secrets" too.  Mine are just behind closed doors and curtains!

Yuck! That was my extra paper storage shelves- after I had already begun cleaning it (I wasn't sure it was blog worthy yet).  It was difficult to find anything in there and when I pulled out one thing everything else tumbled out!

My stack of unopened packs of loose leaf paper.  I don't really use this type of paper but it is on the third grade supply list for my teammates so I have just been hoarding it for years.  Two coworkers were in the building the same day as me and they had already taken armloads of the stuff- it was out of control!

My other paper area of embarrassment!  Especially because this one sits out in the open!  I have no idea why I even had it- it just kept junk and scrap paper mostly- so it had to go!

My junk all laid out- YIKES!

Well, I recycled some of the paper that should have been recycled long ago and the rest has found new and happy homes.  I gave up the blue shelves (that I should have given away long ago) and condensed my collection to the built in shelves.

Tada! My 9 x 12 construction paper is in the file crate along with extra lined paper (I couldn't give it ALL up) and extra copy paper.  The paper holder is the home for my 8 1/2 x 14 size paper.  The bottom shelf has the 11 x 17 construction paper and graph paper.  I think it looks MUCH better- even if it is normally covered by a curtain!

Boring post I know- but I have been following the clutter free classroom and I am inspired to keep organizing!

BINGO!

I saw a class management linky party over at Journey of a Substitute Teacher and it gave me the perfect excuse/reason to pretty up my management system.  We use a BINGO system for positive behavior support.  The BINGO board is posted and anytime the class gets a compliment- we pull a BINGO card, anytime I notice the class following our school guidelines of Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible- we pull a bingo.  When we have earned a BINGO the class votes on the reward- it might be extra time on the playground, free choice time, revisiting a game that they have played in the past- I let them come up with the ideas.  The beauty of this system is that I control what BINGO cards we are pulling from, meaning that in the beginning of the year (or if I have a more difficult class) I can guarantee that every time they earn a pull it results in a card on the board.  As the year goes on, I can add cards that are not on our board and then it takes longer to earn the BINGO.  When I first started using this system I thought that as soon as we pulled cards that were not on our BINGO board the students would lose interest- I was happy to see that I was wrong.  The key element is knowing if your class is ready to move on to that level or not- with my group this year, I added in the extra cards within the first month.  With my group last year- I didn't add extra cards in until after winter break and then I would periodically take them out again when the class was having a hard time making positive choices.  It all depends on your class!

You can download my BINGO board with boarder from Over the Pond Graphics

Student Teacher

Question for anyone in blogland that is reading this, what advice can you give me about hosting a student teacher/ practicum student?  My school has not met AYP in a while and because of that, we haven't taken any student teachers or practicum teachers.  However, we are located within walking distance of a local university and so my principal is encouraging collaboration with them.  I have been asked to take a practicum student 3 times/week and then possibly host a student teacher next year.  I really feel like I need to do a fantastic job- to show that even though we have struggled with AYP we are a fantastic school, to help my principal build the connections, and to inspire whoever is placed with me.  I have never had a student teacher before so I am nervous!  I really want to do a great job as a mentor teacher- any tips, advice, or websites to check out would be greatly appreciated!

Defying Gravity

Each year the staff at my school has a back-to-school "retreat" and my principal picks a theme to focus our activities around.  Last year, her theme was "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked.  That theme really stuck with me as a way to talk with my kiddos about setting goals and pushing ourselves to achieve more than might be expected of us.  It worked so well that I did it again this year and I wanted to share the bulletin board we created.

This is a board that stays up all year.  The art work was created in the first week of school and the goals change as they are met.

The title of the board is "Together We Will Defy Gravity" and I also have a "Shoot for the moon..." poster on there.

The students created art work of rocket ships in out space.  It was a bit involved but they turned out beautifully and the kids are still proud of it- which is good because it stays up all year!

They started by using oil pastels to draw up to 5 circles of different sizes on their paper.  They could color these any way that they wanted to make planets.  Then, they painted the paper black.  When the paint was dry they added stars using oil pastels/clear glitter paint.  The rocket ship is just a clip art print out which they colored any way they wanted and we used tissue paper to add the flames.  The final touch is the photo of the student.  We went outside and I took a picture of them either, jumping or hanging off the monkey bars.  They cut the picture out and glued it onto the art. PHEW! It certainly sounds like a lot of work when I type it but really it was fun. I PROMISE (if you like to do art projects)!

The students' goals for math/reading are written on a slip of paper and when they are met, the student gets a prize and then sets a new goal for themselves.  I only help them in the beginning of the year if they set a goal that is too easy or too hard but they are pretty good at setting their own goals.  It is also up to the student to let me know that they met their goal.  I really want it to be something the kids take ownership of and if you ask them what their goal is, they can tell you.  So, I might hint that they have met their goal but I wont give them their prize or tell them that they have met it- they need to tell me themselves.


One last look...enjoy your day off!

Mid Winter Break

I have a whole week off!  I wish I could say that I don't know what to do with it but, I have a plan that includes being at school!  In a way though, I am excited about being at school without the kiddos and without any distractions so that I can really concentrate and hopefully get a lot done.  This is all inspired by the realization that next year will be my first year as a looping teacher.  I have taught third grade in the same classroom for the last four years.   While I like to keep my things organized- I realized that next year I will be teaching second grade.  I am going to need to make space and have separate sections for each grade level.  Also, I will be in the same classroom, but my curriculum and district provided materials that are third grade specific are going to have to be moved to the new third grade teachers room and will be traveling each year.  So, I know that it is only February but I want to get a move on it and be prepared.  I also have a bit or re-arranging I want to do with my materials and furniture.  I am very excited to teach second grade next year.   It will be a challenge for me but it will also be nice to try something new.  Is anyone else a looping teacher?  What are the pros/cons?  Next year my whole school will loop K-1, 2-3, 4-5.