Chris Rogne
- Simplifying Response to Intervention: Four Essential Guiding Principles
- By: Austin Buffum, Mike Mattos, Chris Weber
- A synthesis of my understanding of the book and how I plan to apply them in the coming school year
- A New Way of Thinking
- What were your biggest takeaways from the book?
- The purpose of learning is to ensure high levels of learning for all students
- Our traditional system is outdated
- It was created at a time when the educator worked in a one-room school
- Targeted time + instruction = learning
- A single teacher can’t do this alone
- What connections did you make to your current classroom?
- We know what to do differently
- It is not a student issue, it is a systems issue
- What application do you see for your classroom moving forward?
- Our new economy is driven by technology, innovation, and service
- We are preparing students for jobs that don’t exist
- We must teach them the skills to learn anything
- We will refocus our building leadership teams and student success teams to support high levels of learning for all students, regardless of time
2. Collective Responsibility: Why Are We Here?
- What were your biggest takeaways from the book?
- “High School Plus” = every student will graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge required to continue to learn
- We must take collective responsibility for student learning
- What connections did you make to your current classroom?
- Are we here to teach, or are we here to ensure students learn?
- Does ‘all’ really mean ‘all’?
- Yes, if they are expected to be financially independent adults someday
- What application do you see for your classroom moving forward?
- Provide the why before the what
- Build staff ownership, not necessarily buy-in
- Create a doable plan, adjust as needed, and establish mutual accountability
- Leadership is not a solo act
3. Building Structures for Collaboration
- What were your biggest takeaways from the book?
- Teams, not groups
- Time needs to be made for collaborations
- Simple and effective forms can help guide the work
- What connections did you make to your current classroom?
- Time needs to be made for collaborations
- Simple and effective forms can help guide the work
- What application do you see for your classroom moving forward?
- We need to rethink the structure of the day to provide time for meaningful teacher collaboration
4. Concentrated Instruction: Where Do We Need to Go?
- What were your biggest takeaways from the book?
- Create a focus - When everything is important, nothing is
- Teach less, learn more
- What connections did you make to your current classroom?
- What is it we want our students to learn?
- How will we know they are learning the essential skills?
- How will we respond if they do not learn?
- How will we enrich and extend the learning for students who are already proficient?
- What application do you see for your classroom moving forward?
- Continue to align standards and learning targets
- Continue to reflect on the rigor as it fits into proficiency scales
- Continue to work on a system to provide targeted intervention
- We must also teach desired behaviors
5. Convergent Assessment: Where Are We Now?
- What were your biggest takeaways from the book?
- The best intervention is prevention
- Use universal screeners to make quick transitions to interventions
- What connections did you make to your current classroom?
- Simple and effective forms can help guide the work, but make sure teachers aren’t formed too much where it takes away from core instruction
- One size does not fit all… Relationships are important
- The solution to helping all students does not come in a box
- What application do you see for your classroom moving forward?
- Target causes, not symptoms
- Monitor progress and return to tier 1 quickly
- Establish a protocol for targeting behavior interventions, not just punishment
6. Creating a System of Interventions
- What were your biggest takeaways from the book?
- RTI is not a program you can buy
- Talking louder and slower is not an intervention
- What connections did you make to your current classroom?
- There is no research to suggest that retention is effective
- Interventions must be mandatory
- What application do you see for your classroom moving forward?
- We need to make changes to the master schedule to provide appropriate time for interventions, re-teaching, and re-assessment
- Are students grouped by the cause of their struggles, or the symptoms?
7. Certain Access: How Do We Get Every Child There?
- What were your biggest takeaways from the book?
- Certain access guarantees all students will get the interventions that they need
- Interventions can be led by teacher teams and school-wide teams
- Core, plus more
- What connections did you make to your current classroom?
- We need a system that helps all students, not just those at-risk
- What application do you see for your classroom moving forward?
- RTI done right leads to personalized learning for students
- We must move from the “traditional” system to one that personalizes learning for students and provides them with “what they need” to be successful and create the habits to be self-directed learners for post-secondary success
