Week 4-The Structure of Intervention Sessions

Assignment #1 (a) Describe your understanding of RTI and its structure of intervention in details. What other questions do you still have about RTI? (b)Provide comments and feedback on at least two your peers’ blogs

Response to intervention (RTI) is an academic strategy for struggling learners. RTI is an approach teachers can use to ensure struggling learners receive the intervention and support they need. RTI has three tiers that consist of tracking, monitoring and managing intervention. Tier one is a lesson that is taught to the entire class. If a student is struggling or falling behind in this lesson the child should be moved to tier two. In tier two the child will receive tier one intervention as well as additional instructional time as well (example-student will receive extra help in a smaller group from the teacher or a teacher’s aid at an intense level). If the child is still struggling they will be moved to tier three. Tier three the students will receive the most intensive evidence based interventions individually or in small groups by a specialist or special education teacher. Again these interventions supplement the instruction provided at tier one.

RTI is a great academic strategy for teachers to use. It allows students to receive the extra intervention and intense instruction they need to be successful. It allows teachers to catch the students who are struggling before they fall too far behind. RTI allows students to receive the extra help they need without being labeled as having special needs. One question I have about RTI is do children move back down the ladder of tiers as they moved up it? So if a child is improving do they stay at the tier they are or do they move back down it getting less intervention and intense instruction? 

Assignment#2 Create a Power Point Presentation to explain your understanding on the structure of the reading interventions and relate to what you’ve learned from these intervention programs.

Power Point

Assignment #3  Describe the use of QRI 5 in your own words to demonstrate your understanding.

QRI5- Qualitative Reading Inventory-5 is an individually administered informal reading inventory designed to provide information about (1) conditions under which students can identify words and comprehend text successfully and (2) conditions that appear to result in unsuccessful word identification or comprehension.

QRI5 provides

*Graded word lists and numerous passages designed to assess the oral and silent reading and listening ability of students from the pre-primer 1 through the high school levels

*A number of assessment options-results can be used to estimate students' reading levels, to group students for guided reading sessions, or to choose appropriate books for independent reading

*Information for designing and evaluating intervention instriction

*Can be used to document student growth

Week 3 The Structure of Intervention

Assignment#2 

Discuss what assessments are needed to measure students' learning outcomes and how teachers can address these common core learning standards if you have students of various reading levels. (Note: This exercise will help you familiarize with Common Core Standards and think about how you can use assessments to inform your instruction.)

There are many ways teachers can assess students that follow along with the common core learning standards. Teachers can create their lessons by using the common core standards as a guideline. Teachers can create each lesson by first thinking of what the overall goal of the lesson is (what they want their students to take away from the lesson) then the assessments are created after this step (backward design). Another way teachers can assess students who have various reading levels are to assess them throughout the lesson, not just at the end of the lesson. This will allow the teacher to know which students need extra help and which students need to be challenged more. Teachers should all ready have planned this out when they were creating each lesson (how they will get the students who need extra help to reach the overall goal of the lesson...and how they will challenge the students who need to be challenged a little more). By having different options will allow all the students to succeed and hit each standard.

Assignment #3 

What is QRI5? 

The Qualitative Reading Inventory-5 is an individually administered informal 

reading inventory (IRI) designed to provide information about (1) conditions under 

which students can identify words and comprehend text successfully and (2) conditions 

that appear to result in unsuccessful word identification or comprehension. 

 What is the purpose of using QRI5?

- To determine a students reading ability and comprehension. 

- Assess the oral and silent reading and listening ability of students from the pre-primer 1 through the high school levels.  

- Estimate students’ reading levels, to group students for guided reading sessions, or to choose 

appropriate books for literacy circles, reading workshops, and independent reading.

- Provides information for designing and evaluating intervention instruction.

-Can be used to document students growth.

Have you seen similar assessment activities like QRI5? What are they?

The only activity that I have seen that is like the QRI5 is the "Running Record." 

What is your impression of QRI5?

The QRI5 seems like a great method to determine a students reading ability. It also provides teachers with different techniques and methods of reading assessments. It is a great way to record a students growth and progress. 

Assignment#1

Answer the following anticipatory questions on the Discussion Board

·         Why do we assess reading?

We assess reading so teachers know what level each child is on in their classrooms. By assessing each students reading, we can tell the child’s strengths and weaknesses. By assessing the child’s reading the teacher can then make the work more challenging to push the child or give the child extra help to bring the child up to the reading level they should be on. 

·         What do we assess when we assess reading?

There a multiple ways to assess reading. A few ways teachers can assess reading is to look for letter and sound recognition, reading fluency, phonemic awareness, word recognition, and reading accuracy. Teachers also assess children’s reading by the child’s comprehension of what they are reading as well.

·         How (and where and when) do we assess reading?

There are multiple ways that teachers can assess a child’s reading. Teachers can assess reading as a group or individually. Assessing students individually is great, because the child can focus and not be distracted well testing. Some informal assessments I mentioned in the previous question above (letter and sound recognition, reading fluence…ect). Teachers should assess reading throughout the entire year. Starting in the beginning of the year: to see what reading level each child is on, throughout the year: to see the child’s progress, and at the end of the year: to see how far each child came. Assessing each child throughout the year can tell the teacher if the child needs extra help or tells the teacher to challenge the child more.

What reading assessments do you know of?

A few examples of assessments are running record and DIBELS.

·         Did you observe any reading assessments in the classroom? Explain type of the assessment and the procedures. 

I’m not certified yet, but I did running records. I had a student read a passage and while they were reading I marked my copy of the passage with symbols that determine their reading accuracy.

Assignment#2

What new assessment practices will you use in your classroom?

I would assess throughout the entire day. I would assess students individually and also in groups. I would use running records to assess students. Running records will assess the students reading performance. It will give me an outline of the student’s word recognition and comprehension.

In what ways do you plan to use the results of your assessments?

The results of my assessments would show me what level each student is on so I can create lessons that will challenge each student. The results would show me what areas students are struggling with and what students need to be challenged more.  

What assessment practices do you want to know more about?

I would like to know more about assessing students who have special needs and students who speak English as their second language.

What are the challenges you still face in assessing and recording student achievement and progress in reading and writing?

I’m currently not teaching yet. If I had to guess some challenges that I may face in the future, it would be students who speak a foreign language would be challenging to assess and record achievement and progress in reading and writing.

Assignment#3 

It’s never too early to start reading to children. The website showed me just how important a parent's role is in their child's reading ability and their desire to read. Just speaking to children when they are babies is teaching them to distinguish sounds and words from one another. This allows children to recognize words that sound alike from one another. Children start understanding the different sounds of speech as new born babies. I also find it interesting that at 1years old children start becoming specialists at their native language.  “Print awareness is the earliest understanding that written language carries meaning.” Print awareness is the foundation to reading. Starting at a young age parents should point out print every chance they can get. In the video an example they used is the mother taking the child to the grocery store and pointing to all the different words and reading them out loud. This is a great way to show children that letters and words have meaning. This also will encourage children to learn how to read and become interested in reading. Reading books out loud to your children will increase not only their ability to read but also their love of reading. This is important to communicate to children that books and reading matters. Children's parents who practice these techniques with them will have a head start when they enter school.