Tier 2 Interventions: Take RTI to the Next Level

Now that you've got differentiated instruction down pat and your RTI essentials in place, it's time to get to the heart of this instructional trend: reaching those students who are still struggling.

Your school met the state deadline for implementing Response to Intervention. As a classroom teacher, you are using a variety of differentiated instructional and assessment strategies. Universal screening and progress monitoring tools are in place. You are using the resulting data to guide your instruction and to determine which students need Tier 2 interventions. You know that in order to be effective, those interventions must not be “more of the same,” since the strategies you used in your Tier 1 classroom did not work for these students. Your challenge is to meet the needs of each Tier 2 student while maintaining the instructional integrity of your general education classroom.

If the above scenario sounds familiar, your school is probably in the second phase of RTI implementation. (See below for a suggested time line for RTI implementation.) You and your colleagues have progressed beyond the “basics” and are no doubt looking for ways to take the design and implementation of Tier 2 interventions to the next level.

To do this, consider the following two questions:

• How can I design effective Tier 2 interventions?
• How can I differentiate targeted interventions to meet the needs of each of my Tier 2 students?

Read Tier 2 Interventions: Take RTI to the Next Level

Top 12 Things Teachers WON’T Miss During Summer

12. Scrubbing red (or purple) ink off your fingers after 9 months of copious grading

11. IEP meetings, staff meeting, parent/teacher meetings, and the like

10. The stress, dear God, the stress

9. The battle scars of a classroom – cracking hands from dry chalk, thigh-level bruises from running into desks, and a chafed nose from more colds than you can count

8. Eating your lunch in exactly 17 minutes

Read Top 12 Things Teachers WON’T Miss During Summer

The Teacher Who Couldn't Read: John Corcoran's Story

John Corcoran was a teacher with a bachelor's degree in education and business administration. He attended school for 35 years of his life, half of them as a professional educator. He accomplished all this while hiding the fact that he was illiterate.

Learn about John's incredible struggle to read and his dedication to promote literacy in this exclusive TeachHUB interview.

Yours is an incredible story of survival. What has the experience of being functionally illiterate, learning to read late in life and finally becoming a published author taught you about yourself?

I bought into a big lie in childhood by believing that I could never learn to read or write. My experience as an illiterate who eventually became a published author is living proof that we should never give up on ourselves. If you think something is possible, it probably is. Against all odds, a small part of me never gave up hope that I might someday learn to read. Now my mission is to share hope with little boys and girls, adolescents, and adults who are just like me.

Read The Teacher Who Couldn't Read: John Corcoran's Story

Web 2.0 Tool of the Week: VoiceThread

Give your classroom and your students a global voice with VoiceThread!

You can use this Web 2.0 tool to share your classroom experiences in a very easy and useful way. VoiceThread combines images, videos, text, documents, audio and YOUR voice into an easily published multimedia slideshow. You can also comment in 5 different ways, so it's great for all learning styles!

Do you have a bit of information you want to share with parents or your community? Are your students creating a project you want to share? This is a really easy way to make your classroom available online.

Read Web 2.0 Tool of the Week: VoiceThread

Memorial Day Video Writing Prompts

K-2: Being Brave
Soldiers have to overcome their fears everyday. They are very brave. Do you remember a time when you had to do something that made you nervous or scared? What happened? Draw a picture or write a sentence describing a time you were brave.

9-12: Choosing to Serve
Unlike many previous eras in American history, military service is a citizen's choice rather than an obligation. There is no draft calling upon citizens to go to war, whether they want to or not.

Why do people volunteer for this dangerous job that takes them far from home? Explain at least three reasons that enlistees choose a soldier's life.

Watch the video and find more Memorial Day Video Writing Prompts

5 Ways to Promote Summer Reading

You and your students have worked too hard this year to let the “summer slide” erase their reading progress. Rather than just assign books for the fall, the most effective way to make summer reading a reality is to MAKE IT FUN!

Try these five simple strategies to spark your students’ interest in summer reading.

Get Students Hooked on Reading
Whether it’s an addictive book series, comics or even sports blogs, use the knowledge you have of your students’ interests to get them.

Have students share their favorite book and start summer reading lists of their own. It helps to frame this more as a fun opportunity to read books their classmates like than as a summer reading assignment.

Reading teacher Franki Sibberson recommends leading students in a bookshare so they can prepare their own summer reading lists.

Read 5 Ways to Promote Summer Reading

Shakespeare Doesn't Tweet: Is Texting Killing Grammar?

Somewhere out there is the mind that will produce the next great American novel. If, however, that would-be author is under the age of 18, the words they write may be more of “SOZ” and “TGGTG” than beautiful, flowing prose.

“We have a whole generation being raised without communication skills,” says Jacquie Ream, former teacher and author of “K.I.S.S. Keep It Short and Simple” (Book Publishers Network). She contends text messaging, tweeting and instant, mobile communication are destroying the way our kids read, think, and write.

A National Center for Education Statistics study reports only 1/4 of high school seniors are proficient writers. A College Board survey of the nation’s blue-chip companies found only 2/3 of their employees are capable writers.

Whether they're texting, tweeting or updating their facebook status, the majority of kids' communication consists of 140 characters or less. It's a reality, but that doesn't mean you have to "like" it.

Read Shakespeare Doesn't Tweet: Is Texting Killing Grammar?

NFL Player Turned Substitute Teacher

Here's one substitute teacher who won't have to worry about discipline problems in his class? David Bruton, safety for the Denver Broncos, is turning the NFL lockout into an opportunity to teach.

Bruton returned to his home town of Dayton, Ohio to sub for his old high school. The Notre Dame grad fills in to teach social studies and credit recovery classes, according to Yahoo! Sports.

One one level, I really enjoy the novelty and the spirit behind a professional athlete getting involved in school. On the other hand, there are a lot of qualified, talented teachers out of work or fighting for their jobs. Does this media image of Bruton playing teacher downplay the profession?

Read NFL Player Turned Substitute Teacher

Original Outdoor Learning Activities

Keeping kids’ attention is hard enough, but what do you do on those days when the weather is perfect and no one – including you – wants to be inside?

Happily, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the beauties of summer and teach valuable skills at the same time.

Get Inspired by Your Surroundings
Teaching language arts? Use the outdoors to inspire new writing assignments. Have students write poetry about the weather, or take them on a “field trip” to the playground or field and then have students write about something they observe. It’s great practice for using adjectives and writing description. Or be creative: have students observe ants, snails, birds, or other animals and then write a “day in the life” from the animal/insect’s perspective.

Sidewalk Chalk Activities
Sidewalk chalk can be a useful tool on a nice day, no matter what age your students are. Here are a few ways to use the sidewalk chalk medium for your learning activities.

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Top 12 Things Teachers Miss During the Summer

12. Holiday-themed bulletin boards, student projects around the room and the other evidence of your teaching brilliance

11. Homemade cards, small presents and the occasional gift cards from grateful students and their parents

10. The ever-present stash of snacks and baked goods in the teachers lounge

Read Top 12 Things Teachers Miss During the Summer

Stage Swagger & Swordplay: Adapting Shakespeare for Kids

Brendan Kelso is the mastermind behind the Shakespeare for Kids collection, the book series of Shakespeare plays adapted for children that are creating a young fan base for the Bard.

Learn how Brendan's creative plays are making Shakespeare infectiously fun for you and your students in this exclusive TeachHUB interview.

Where did your passion for Shakespeare stem from?
11th grade - I entered a Shakespeare competition and did a soliloquy from Midsummer - it was Bottom's speech, "Methought I was..." out of 120 kids, I received honorable mention - there was something about that moment in front of the judges where I just clicked. I felt like I rose to another level. I could see and think about what the audience was doing, while still performing - it was like I was in two places at once. Serious dose of adrenalin there! And my 12th grade year, I went to the Ashland Oregon Shakespeare Festival, best in the country.

How did the Shakespeare for Kids Books come to be?
About 7 years ago, I took a year off of work to be with my newborn son. Soon, my wife basically said, "you need to bring in some cash". She was already in with the Parks & Rec as a after school science program, so she got me to do "Hamlet in a can". I wrote up my first script. The kids LOVED it.

My first group wanted to do another play and, at the same time, a home school group requested that I teach their kids. At that point, I started doing session after session with kids constantly returning for another dose of the Bard. I got approached by two different theater groups who paid me, so they could use my scripts with their kids. It was clear there was a demand for this, so I found an on-demand publishing house and went to it.

Read Stage Swagger & Swordplay: Adapting Shakespeare for Kids

Would You Like Being a Student in Your Classroom?

It was a simple question really. "Would I like being a student in my own classroom?" It stopped me in my tracks.

Last year, when the students had left, the chairs had been put up, and the exhaustion hit, I realized that no, this was not the type of classroom I would have wanted to learn in. And so began a quest of soul-searching, revising, and rethinking, in order for myself not to become a statistic; another new teacher who quits.

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Sparking Students' Creative Thinking

Creativity is unfortunately lacking from many content standards, and yet I feel engendering creativity from all of our students is one of the only ways we’re going to be able maintain the standard of living that this country has gotten a little too comfortable taking for granted.

Here are some other safe and quick warm-ups to get the kinks out of a students' creatively stiff neck.

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"My Classroom is a Hot Mess" Photo Contest

At the beginning of the year, you were brimming with pride at the perfection of your bulletin boards, the splendor of your classroom decor and the clean desks lined inneat little rows (or pairs, or a U, whatever your preference).

Now, all that's left is in shambles. I blame the students. It's all their fault.

Show us what a hot mess your classroom has become to earn some well-deserved Back to School cash to start the 2011/2012 school year off right.

Get full details & enter the My Classroom is a Hot Mess Photo Contest

The Essential Classroom Management Checklist

Often teachers are told, “You need to do a better job with classroom management.” Or “You need to do a good better job of differentiating instruction.” But how do we really “do” classroom management, or how do we really “do” differentiated instruction…better yet, how do we really “do” teaching?

In observing teachers, I’ve collected my list of these “grain-level” (1) classroom management practices that master teachers do every day in their classrooms, whether they’re aware of them or not.

As we approach year’s end, it’s a time to reflect on our actual, tangible, teacher-behavior done (or not done) in the classroom. Review my checklist to see what you’ve mastered and what you need to integrate to truly “do” teaching.

Read The Essential Classroom Management Checklist

12 Ways to Keep Kids Motivated at the End of the School Year

Keeping kids motivated and on task at the end of the year is challenging at best, especially after state tests are over. In fact, the more we prep kids for tests, the harder it is to keep kids on task after testing ends. Yet keeping kids motivated at this time of year is actually much easier than you might think. Since kids are more chatty and restless at this time of year, it’s just a matter of funneling that energy into something constructive

Here are 12 effective strategies to turn students' end-of-the-year energy into instructional success.

Each of the twelve suggestions below is meant to spark your creativity rather than to provide detailed instructions. If you’re not already familiar with the strategy, you may need to do a little more research before you begin. To save you time, I’ve included links to helpful online resources from around the web.

Learning Centers
One of the easiest ways to keep kids on task is to create some simple learning centers and allow students to rotate through the activities with a partner. If you haven't used learning centers before, you might be surprised at how easy they are to implement. Here are some additional ideas and strategies on my learning center page.

Literature Circles
If your students are bored by reading a basal text or doing test prep worksheets, they will definitely enjoy Literature Circles. The easiest way to get started is with Classroom Book Clubs, a relaxed and fun method that’s perfect for the end of the year.

Class Scrapbooks
Creating a class scrapbook is a terrific way to wrap up the school year. Let each student design his or her own special page. The front of the page can include their name, a photo, illustrations, and other personal touches. Have each student write you a letter about the school year and glue it onto the back of his or her page. Add a student-created cover, laminate all pages, and bind the finished product with plastic comb binding.

Read 12 Ways to Keep Kids Motivated at the End of the School Year

The Difference Teachers Make: Cindi Rigsbee Interview

Former teacher of the year and author Cindi Rigsbee makes a difference, both in the lives of her students and in the lives of teachers.

After being named the North Carolina Teacher of the Year in 2008, Cindi began a year of reflection on what it means to be a teacher. This led her on a journey to find the teacher that changed her life, Mrs. Warnecke. Cindi wrote Finding Mrs. Warnecke about her favorite teacher and how she found the inspirational, life-changing teacher in herself.

Cindi shares her experiences and insights into teaching with us in this TeachHUB interview.

Read The Difference Teachers Make: Cindi Rigsbee Interview

Are Standards Failing Student?

I had a conversation recently with a colleague of mine who asked one of her AP Biology students why they didn't seem to care about passing the class. The surprising response is an indictment of what we're doing to our kids in today's "high-stakes" public school environment. This student said that he doesn't care because somebody's got to flip burgers.

Someone has got to flip burgers. What a sad commentary for a high school student to make. Here's a student who sees the futility of his schooling. Here's a student who is so disconnected from the fantasy of public education to the reality of the world. Maybe he's lucky that he "gets it" in that he knows that public school is never going to give him the tools to meet the challenges facing him after graduation. Maybe he already knows that what you learn in school has no relationship to what you need after graduation. And I know he's not in the minority.

Too many of our kids find school mind numbing with little connection to their lives. Far too many of our kids are conditioned like Pavlovian dogs to take state mandated tests based on state mandated curricula that have little or no value after graduation. And then we complain that high school graduates have lost the ability to do critical thinking.

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Spark Class Spirit with Tie-Dye T-shirts Project

Having students create tie-dyed T-shirts is a great way to build class spirit. If you choose a class color or color-scheme, it’s also a wonderful way to keep your students together on a field trip or locate them during school activities.

No more searching in vain for your students among hundreds of kids at an event—just look for the tie-dyed shirts that belong to you! In addition, tie-dye shirts give your students a sense of pride during special events like Field Days or Class Kickball Tournaments, and kids can keep them as a memento of a great school year together!

There are several ways to do this project, but many of them are messy and time-consuming. Fortunately, I’ve learned one way that’s quite easy while still being fun for kids.

In this method, the students will tie their shirts themselves, but they won’t actually put the dye on the shirts. Instead, you will dye the entire batch of shirts in a washing machine. Don’t worry—you can get the stains out of your washer by filling it with water, adding detergent and a cup of bleach, and running it through a wash cycle. I’ve done it many times without a problem.

Get direction for Sparking Class Spirit with Tie-Dye T-shirts Project

Top 12 Ways to Enjoy Your Job

You work hourly, daily, continually, and purposefully toward creating a school experience that is satisfying for your students. But what about you? What are you doing to ensure that your school is a wonderful place to teach as well as learn?

With summer drawing near, it's the time to stop counting down the days until break and start enjoying your job.

Here are 12 tips to help you make the most of your school days:

Amp Up Your School Social Life

1. Don’t Hunker Down: Escape from your classroom once in awhile.
While sometimes we need to insulate ourselves, take a quiet moment or maximize our classroom downtime, it’s also imperative that we actively, consistently, and intentionally seek time and space with peers. Use this brief change of scenery and moment away from the classroom to come up for air.

2. Let’s Do Lunch: Eat lunch with your peers, not alone at your desk.
The time you have in school is rarely your own. Lunch is one moment in your day when you get to seek others out. Don’t let this daily opportunity escape you.

Read Top 12 Ways to Enjoy Your Job

The Teacher Spillover Effect

Great teaching is contagious, according to a new study.

A recent study from the National Bureau of Economic Research has shown that adding an accomplished teacher to a teaching team or department has a strong beneficial effect on student achievement. Many have reported this as “old news”, since most teachers could tell you that good teachers help students to do better work.

What is the Teacher Spillover Effect?

But, there is a more significant message in the paper--the effect on student performance was indirect. That is, the other teachers on the team became more effective due to the presence of a skilled colleague. The authors attribute this change to raised standards and opportunities to observe and learn from highly capable teachers nearby.

Read The Teacher Spillover Effect

Fun, Effective End of the Year Activities

Ah, the end of the year. Everyone’s tired and losing focus. Some tests are behind you (state tests, AP exams), some may be ahead of you, and probably no one – you or your students – is really at their best. So what’s a teacher to do?

Choose a goal to make the last month of school an effective one.

Goal: Review What We’ve Learned
You’ve got one last chance to review your material before exams (or the great mind-eraser of summer vacation). Why not…

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Top 10 Teacher Super Powers

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, we want to recognize the superhuman feats teachers perform every day.

Here is the top 10 list of Teacher Super Powers:

X-Ray Vision

Superman’s X-ray vision has nothing on you. You can see eyes roving onto their neighbor’s test, covert texts, uniform infractions or a dozing student from a mile away.

Super Educational Gadgets

Batman’s known for his gadgets, just like those techie teachers who rock the projectors, interactive whiteboards and all things e-learning to live up to 21^st century expectations… and beyond.

Elasti-teacher

Physics can’t explain how you’ve stretched yourself to do everything a crazy classroom requires – from differentiating instruction for every student, finishing mountains of paperwork in a single bound, keeping in touch with parents, researching new teaching tools and techniques, attending innumerable meetings and much more.

Read all Top 10 Teacher Super Powers

Putting a Teacher Spin on Admin

Having completed a Masters in school leadership, I’ve officially taken the first step towards crossing over to the other side: administration. While I intentionally do not refer to it as “the dark side” as many teachers would, I can’t help but still call it the “other.”

However, having taken on some administrative duties over the years, I see more similarities than differences when it comes to instructional administrators.

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Osama bin Laden Killed Video Writing Prompts

6-8: Impact of 9/11
How have the 9/11 attacks impacted the way you see the world? What does it mean to you that Osama bin Laden has been killed?

9-12: Results of bin Laden's death
How do you think the death of Osama bin Laden will affect United States citizens? Consider how this will affect public safety, the war in Afghanistan or the economy. How does it personally make you feel to see the world celebrating a man's death?

Watch Obama's address and read all related writing prompts