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What is MTSS? Part 3
This is the time to revisit the inventory taken at the beginning of the adoption process and consider building a resource library. You may find that current instructional methods require only slight modifications to be considered tier 1 and tier 2 practices.
Read MoreResponse to Intervention (RTI): Part 2
In my first post on Response to Intervention (RTI), I provided a brief introduction to this framework. In summary, Response to Intervention (RTI) is a strategy geared towards students who face learning challenges. The premise behind “interventions” is to ensure that students receive the supports they need so that the gaps in learning are not…
Read MoreWhat is MTSS? Part 2
In the previous blog, I outlined the first step of initiating MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports), a framework designed to meet the needs of each and every learner in a school district. When your school community has completed its inventory of instructional tools and supports for academic, behavioral, and social-emotional learning, it is time to…
Read MoreCommunity Engagement Through Analytical Processing
Data in schools is based around which instructional methods are working and how instruction needs to be changed and improved. We use data every day as teachers to guide and execute our instruction. Administrators use data every day to make decisions about their schools. Data can also feel overwhelming and chaotic. Data, however, can also…
Read MoreIs All This Data Analysis Making a Difference?
At the elementary school where I taught for 13 years, we would have twice a year meetings called Data Days. Our grade-level team would meet with the principal, the literacy coaches, and the special needs teachers to analyze all the assessment data we had on all the students in our grade level. We took this as…
Read MoreI Hope I Get a Good Class this Year
Any elementary teacher who has taught for any length of time knows the experience of having one of “those” classes. The class that is imbalanced with challenging behavior students, students who should have been separated but weren’t, too many struggling readers, or any other combination of students that can make teaching a real challenge. These…
Read MoreThat’s the Way We’ve Always Done It
On March 15, 2022 the U.S. Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act. This bill would make daylight savings time the new, permanent standard time which would end the twice-annual changing of clocks. Daylight savings time has been observed in most states since 1966 with the passage of the Uniform Time Act. Sen. Marco Rubio (R.,…
Read MoreCreating Fair and Equitable Classes Doesn’t Have to Bring You to Your Knees
Where does it hurt? When it comes to assigning elementary school students to their classes, it’s the knees, the back and the head. Why? Because the vast majority of elementary school educators are still using blue and pink paper cards, sticky notes, and oftentimes the floor to come up with class rosters. The result is…
Read MoreThis Principal Starts Each Day with a Morning Assembly and is Seeing Amazing Results
Why not start the day with a centered purpose? Learn how one principal is starting each day with an assembly and the impact it’s having on the school.
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