The article highlighted the practices of one kindergarten teacher, who was also a trained reading recovery teacher. I was impressed by "Leah's" approach and her thorough attention to her students. She has a well-thought-out plan for assessing her students and evaluating their needs. She uses the assessments to group students and teach the skills that her students need most. I like the idea of targeted teaching.
The more I learn and teach, the more I realize that a "one size fits all" approach to reading instruction does not work for all students. Children learn in different ways, and their instruction needs to be tailored to fit them, whenever possible. Right now, that seems to be a daunting task for me, a new teacher.
I also realize that using RTI requires teachers and administrators to work together to make it successful. Teachers need to feel that they have the resources and skills necessary to teach effectively. My school supposedly uses an RTI approach, but it's very loosely managed. In first grade, we don't have a formal process to follow for RTI. Perhaps the school trusts us as professionals and thinks we can ensure (sp?) achievement for our students!
Source:
Mokhtari, K., Porter, L., & Edwards, P. (2010). Responding to Reading Instruction in a Primary-Grade Classroom. The Reading Teacher, 63(8), 692-7. Retrieved from Education Full Text database
Eve - I agree that it would be helpful for us, as new teachers, to have a more structured program for a response to intervention to work successfully. You are so right that for each child you need to select a different approach. With everything else we need to learn and absorb as new teachers, it would be helpful to have some assistance in developing a reading plan for each student. One thing we are trying at our school is to develop a matrix for each student. The matrix lists each child's strengths and weaknesses. It is pretty time consuming but in the end it will hopefully prove to be beneficial and help us tailor our instruction.
ReplyDeleteEve,
ReplyDeleteI also came across an interesting article on RTI in my project research. This article examined its use with adolescents in secondary schools. Reading at this level is obviously very content focused and when students struggle with reading it sets back their learning in every subject. The article highlights tier 1, general classroom instruction and intervention as the most important step in the intervention. If this is done well, the other steps are likely not necessary. The problem on the middle and high school level, however is that most classroom teachers are subject specific and not trained in literacy. The resources and training are often not in place to help students in the general classroom at this level.
I think your point about teachers and administrators working together is especially true when it comes to an RTI approach. As you said, there is no “one size fits all” approach but communication, training, and support is necessary to put struggling adolescent readers back on track and prepare them to be successful students and graduates.
Brozo, W. G. (2009). Response to intervention or responsive instruction? Challenges and possibilities of response to intervention for adolescent literacy. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(4),
277 -281.