The 3 Things Teachers MUST Do Before Intervention Planning

3 things teachers need to do before referring a student for intervention planning

So, a teacher has a student that is not making progress, and wants to address those issues at a problem solving team meeting.   From an administrative perspective,  teachers will consistently use best practice approaches in the classroom to address the basic learning needs of their students.   Unfortunately, this is not always the case.

What are the 3 things teachers can do to demonstrate the use of best instructional practice in the classroom? 

The Basics of Differentiated Instruction

While we cannot meet all of our students needs in all content areas at all times, key instructional strategies can be implemented by all classroom teachers.  These strategies can be defined under the heading of differentiated instruction.

Differentiation is simply tailoring instruction to help reach students with diverse academic needs and learning styles in order to ensure that they are able to master the academic content.  Here are some quick and painless ways to begin to differentiate instruction right away:

1. Vary the way content is delivered to students using a variety of modalities

·      Lectures and discussions (auditory presentation)

·      Demonstrations and media support (visual presentation)

·      Experiments and exploration (kinesthetic presentation)

·      Graphic organizers to help students understand concepts

(Move from the whole-to-part or part-to-whole)

2. Vary the materials to add interest

·      Use fiction and non fiction texts

·      Incorporate technology (video clips, apps, webinars, etc)

·      Integrate real life artifacts into lessons when possible

·      Provide an array of media articles that reflect student interests or culture around the content/concepts being taught

3. Vary assessments to address the strengths and weaknesses of students in your classroom:

·      Alter the length of time a student has to complete an assignment

·      Allow for various assessment tasks (written assignment, oral presentation, digital presentation, etc

·      Use rubrics to help empower students to identify the criteria needed to demonstrate mastery

Differentiation won't fix every learning problem - but it's a good place to start

Tomlinson (1999) points out that efforts to differentiate are most successful when they are combined with the use of a high-quality curriculum, research-based instructional strategies, well-designed activities that address the needs and interests of students, active learning, and student satisfaction with the lesson.   Differentiating instruction by itself will not automatically improve student performance but it is a great place to start!

References

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Willis, S., & Mann, L. (2000, Winter). Differentiating instruction: Finding manageable ways to meet individual needs. Curriculum Update. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved January18, 2007 from http://www.ascd.org/ed_topics/cu2000win_willis.html

Kathy Steffens is a Special Educator with 20+ years experience.  She is available for questions regarding district RTI implementation and staff development training.  You can reach her at RightResponsetoRTI@gmail.com