RTI

Judy Willis Brain Research Workshop MCIU 4/25/2008 Brain research PowerPoint

Notes from 4.21 CCIU session B

From Jean : A quick reminder that you will find a page on my website that links many samples of materials. I added a link to the Dibels website where you can set up a free account to download materials as well as a pdf file of all the most recent norms. As we continue with talking about dibels, we should keep in mind that was can choose any or all of the measures we feel are needed and that there is no charge to use the materials with any number of students. The only charge would be if we used Aimsweb or Dibles to track our data. Jen’s Excel spreadsheet would do the trick and entering the data would not be cumbersome (by hand).

[|dibels website]

[|aimsweb]

==__Essential questions to consider during planning for RTI__: RTI is about change. What are the implications on an organization when change is happening? How are we preparing for that change? Who will this change affect and how? Will this look the same across each building? Will the same people in each building be impacted? How will it be determined who does what in each building?...... What is the vision that we have for __all__ students? What needs to be happening in every classroom in order to make that vision a reality? What needs to be happening for every student in order to make that vision a reality? How do we know if we we say needs to happen __is__ happening? What needs to be done to determine where change is needed? I s RTI a goal or a means toward an end? What understandings need to be created for our teachers? How will we prepare our teachers to deliver the type of instruction needed by all students?==

"To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." -Anatole France

__Components of RTI__ "The only valid RTI approach is one in which the child responds successfully."
L.R.D.C. Principles of Learning 1. Learning is an active process in which the learner uses sensory input and constructs meaning out of it. The more traditional formulation of this idea involves the terminology of the active learner (Dewey's term) stressing that the learner needs to do something; that learning is not the passive acceptance of knowledge which exists "out there" but that learning involves the learner's engaging with the world. 2. People learn to learn as they learn: learning consists both of constructing meaning and constructing systems of meaning. For example, if we learn the chronology of dates of a series of historical events, we are simultaneously learning the meaning of a chronology. Each meaning we construct makes us better able to give meaning to other sensations which can fit a similar pattern. 3.The crucial action of constructing meaning is mental: it happens in the mind. Physical actions, hands-on experience may be necessary for learning, especially for children, but it is not sufficient we need to provide activities which engage the mind as well as the hands. 4. Learning involves language: the language we use influences learning. On the empirical level, researchers have noted that people talk as they learn. On a more general level, there is a collection of arguments, presented more forcefully by Vigotsky, that language and learning are inextricably interwined. 5. Learning is a social activity. Our learning is intimately asssociated with our connections with other human beings. 6. Learning is contextual. We do not learn isolated facts and theories in some abstract ethereal land of the mind separate from teh rest of our lives; we learn in relationship to what else we know, what we believe, our prejudices our fears. 7. One needs knowledge to learn. It is not possible to assimilate new knowledge without having some structure developed from previous knowledge to build on. The more we know, the more we can learn. Therefore any effort to teach must be connected to the state of the learner, must provide a path into the subject for the learner based on that learner's previous knowledge. 8. It takes time to learn: learning is not instantaneous. For significant learning we need to revisit ideas, ponder them, try them out, play with them and use them. If you reflect on anything you have learned, you soon realize that it is the product of repeated exposure and thought. Even, or especially, moments of profound insight can be traced back to longer periods of preparation. 9. Motivation is a key component in learning. Not only is it the case that motivation helps learning, it is essential for learning. The idea of motivation as described here is broadly conceived to include an understanding of ways in which the knowledge can be used that may be instilled in us eve nby the most severe and direct teaching.
 * This is a growing list...**
 * Shared vision
 * Principles of learning
 * There has been much written about the principles/underlying philosophies
 * Action Plan/timeline
 * An understanding and application of principles of learning
 * Effective classroom instruction in every classroom...identification of the components of effective classroom instruction...Development of a model for classroom instruction...create a common understanding for administrators...then teachers
 * Teacher Expertise - the lowest performing students need the most skilled teachers
 * Programs that are research-based and rated "best"
 * An intervention plan - tiered model that ensures early identification for all children struggling with learing
 * A schedule that provides time for focused extending learning opportunities
 * High quality, sustained professional development
 * Plan for collecting data and monitoring student progress
 * A multi-tiered problem-solving team

A Set of Learning Principles taken from Schooling By Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe p. 113-114 1. A key goal of school learning is fluent and flexible transfer--successful use of one's knowledge and skill, on worthy tasks, in situations of importance. 2. Engaged and sustained learning, a prerequisite for understanding, requires that learners constantly see the value of their work and feel a growing sense of efficacy when facing worthy challenges. 3. Success at transfer depends on understanding the big ideas that connect otherwise isolated or inert facts, skills, and experiences so that new challenges can be met and new experiences understood. 4. An understanding is a learner realization about the power of an idea. Understandings cannot be given; they have to be engineered so that learners see for themselves the power of an idea for making sense of things. 5. Learners need clear, completely transparent priorities and a practical understanding of how learning goals are to be met in terms of work products and standards of excellence. 6. Learners require regular, tiimely and user-friendly feedback iin order to understand goals, to produce quality work, and to meet high standards. 7. Understanding can be attained only by regular reflection, self-assessment, and self-adjustment in trying to apply prior learning to new situations and tasks via activities and assessments that demand such reflection and transfer. 8. The capacity to deeply understand depends greatly on the capacity to think things anew (and other related habits of mind), because any insight typically requires the refining of earlier ideas. Becoming willing and able to rethink requires a safe and supportive environment for questioning assumptions and habits. 9. Because achieving understanding and transfer require a willingness to think, rethink, and push beyond one's normal comfort level, learners need a safe and supportive environment for intellectual risk-taking and questioning assumptions and habits. 10. Learning is enhanced when it is personalized--when the learners' interests, preferences, strengths, contributions, and prior knowledge are sufficiently honored.

=__Meeting Minutes __=

==__Resources__ Oregon Response To Intervention: Technical Assistance to Schools 2007 http://www.ttsd.k12.or.us/district/student-services/oregons-response-to-intervention/handouts/ploneexfile.2007-12-19.3042332205/== This is a new resource that has been provided by PDE http://www.rti4success.org/

Using Title I Funds for RtI http://www.thompson.com/public/newsbrief.jsp?id=1710&cat=EDUCATION

There is a great article in The Reading Teacher, November, 2007. //A Child's Response to Interention Requires a Responsive Teacher of Reading.//

[|http://www.whatworks.ed.gov]

Great website for UbD http://www.authenticeducation.org/ubd.html

This is a great article that addresses the change aspect of RTI. http://www.learningpt.org/greatlakeswest/newsletters/0407RTIfeature.pdf

This PowerPoint illustrates a nice model for RTI http://www.k8accesscenter.org/documents/RTIwebinar6-20_000.ppt (this one has good sample documents)

http://www.ode.state.or.us/initiatives/elearning/nasdse/rti_tigardtualatinsd.ppt#256,1,Implementing

NASDSE (National Association of State Directors of Special Education) Explains Response to Intevention http://cenmi.org/focus/downloads/nov06/GATA06-07.pdf

Interesting website for learning more about change and processes...fundamental things that need to be in place to initiate any initiative http://www.learningfocused.com/index.php?page=107

This [|site] has links to many articles on RtI

A report on RTI From Education Evolving

Webb's Depth of Knowledge and Bloom's taxonomy