RTI Part 2

  So back to the question of what is important for high school RTI?

One thing is to make sure students have acquired fluency in their math facts.  I discussed a few reasons for this in yesterday's blog.

According to a presentation on RTI, developing math fact fluency is important for the student understanding of higher level problems.  In addition, they can internalize the math and manipulate numbers in their head, increasing their intuitive understanding of properties such as the associative properties.

The three essential elements of student learning include:
1. They are offered academic opportunities to respond by answering a question posed by the teacher or solve a word problem.
2. They actively respond such as completing a problem assigned by the teacher.
3. They receive timely feedback on their work.

These four goals should be established in any high school RTI program.
Goal 1: Create a supportive math instructional environment.  The classroom should include explicit instruction, use accommodations, and provide strong core instruction.

Goal 2: Develop classroom formative assessments so as to adjust instruction to meet the needs of students.  Why teach one student their core math facts if they already have them down?  If the teacher uses the results to individualize instruction.  One way is to create modules so students only need to study the areas they are weak in, rather than reviewing material they already know.

Goal 3: Develop a menu of math interventions which can be used to better meet the needs of students.  Not every intervention works well for every student. 

Goal 4: Motivate the student to take charge of their learning because the self-motivated student is more likely to succeed.

By meeting these four goals, students are more likely to advance further, faster.  You will see a decrease in misbehavior because they are no longer bored studying material they already know, effort and attendance is likely to increase, success in higher math classes increases, and they are more likely to graduate.

Another aspect of RTI is to give students a chance to learn to think aloud while they work.  One reason for this is students who can verbalize their thinking tend to do better in math because they are clarifying, reflecting, and focusing on completing each step, one at a time.  It also helps them identify what they do and do not know and it slows them down so they check their overall understanding.

Later in the week or next week, I'll spend time on how one teaches "Thinking Aloud" in math.  Let me know what you think.  Have a good day.

RTI

  I have a superintendent who is very evidence based results. The only problem is that it took till earlier this year for the district to get a school wide assessment which included high school.  We've had others but not for the high school.

We know we have students who are missing key components in their math foundations so they struggle with high school level mathematics.  I will be teaching a foundations of math class next year for these students.

Since its basically a Response to Intervention (RTI) course, I needed to more about applying it to these students.  I've attended a few RTI things but they've been geared more for reading than for math.

I realize this should have started in elementary school but the local elementary school has focused on other things so many students slipped through the cracks mathematically. High school is a bit late but if I can help them become better, that is great.

After a bit of research, I found a lovely report which provided some great information for this topic.  According to the report universal screening, explicit and systematic instruction methods, and data based decision making are the 3 most important practices applied to mathematical intervention.

There is evidence for having students practice fluent retrieval of basic mathematical facts at least 10 minutes a day.  In addition, it is recommended research based programs be included using technology to help engage students.

Another paper, lists 6 reasons students are unmotivated in class which is one reason they may need intervention.

1.  They are unable to do the work due to lacking certain basic skills.
      Students need to be taught the missing skills in order to do the work. One way is to make sure the material in the lesson is is matched to the students ability.  One should open the lesson with a brief review of basic concept or material previously practiced. State the goals for the current lesson, and break all material into small manageable steps.

The other 5 reason can be countered through the use of various methods such as improving lessons to make them more engaging,  assign a choice of problems so students have more control, etc.

2.  The response effort is seen as too big an effort. 
3.  Classroom instruction does not engage student attention.
4.  Student does not see adequate payout for doing the work.
5. Student lacks the confidence they can do the work.
6. Student does not have a positive relationship with the teacher.

In a couple of days, I'll look more at specific RTI techniques for high school math as that is one we often have to deal with as teachers.  I have students who are absent 30 to 60 days a semester so they are missing out on vital information.

Let me know what you think.  I'd love to hear.

Not enough data

Today I got done with a 6 hour meeting on what we got out of the RTI (Response to Intervention) conference so we can do a presentation to the rest of the staff on Monday.  When all was said and done, we decided we didn't have enough diagnostic data to have our teachers begin the first steps in implementing RTI so we put it on the back burner.
This experience lead me to think about the tools I already have at my disposal to create and use data for RTI.  I have some diagnostic tests in a book but I have no way to really use them because I would have to analyze the individual questions.  So a big ah-ha hit me that I can place the info in a test program such as testmoz.com and then use the info from the reports to analyze my student's weak places.  Once I get Exit Ticket figure out, I can use that for on-going formative data collection. 
While at the RTI conference, I was given two websites that are free and which will help me monitor students work but they only go up to 8th grade at the highest and I teach high school.  That said, I can use the websites to help my more struggling students. 
Teaching has changed so much since I began.   Now its considered the dark ages with chalkboards and film projectors.  I'll investigate the websites and report back on them.

Understanding math and a first impression of an app.

I just got back from attending a Response to Intervention conference and came back with some really awesome things.  The one thing that stood out and agrees with a recent comment from the NCTM is simply we need to have students learn to communicate how did the problem.  Not just using the mechanical means but using writing or verbal explanations.   They highly recommended complex tasks or performance tasks that give a scenario like you have dogs and chicken for a total of 40 heads.  Each dog has 4 legs and each chicken has 2 legs, how many dogs are there?  This type of question is open in terms of how they will solve it but it can help us as teachers figure out misconceptions.  This website talks about misconceptions that students have and these are the same ones I've seen my own students have.  I may try this exercise in class later this week to see what my students have to do.
As for apps, I discovered on that uses algebraic tiles at a high school level.  So far, I am finding that it is frustrating for me when I try it and I know the answer is correct but the app tells me I have the incorrect tiles.   Its a math app called Algebraic tiles from the center for algebraic thinking.  It uses tiles but until I can figure out how to use it fully I cannot have my students use it or they will get frustrated.  The other thing is when I tried the factoring choice, the x^2 square was the same size as the x and the constants so the students are unable to see how the x^2 is different from x and it is something they need.  I will get back to you all on this app.

Too much to do and not enough time.

I am heading off to Response to Intervention (RTI) Training tomorrow.  I also got the paperwork filed so I can present at the statewide Technology in Education conference next month.  I am doing a one hour session on integrating the iPad into the High School Math classroom. So I've been trying to work out the details of using certain apps in the classroom.  That is one reason I've been working on getting my Exit Ticket app up and running.  I got the date corrected for a practice session but I think I forgot to unhide the ticket so I have to check on that.  I'm excited about this particular app if I can get it running.
I've also got to work out the fine nuances of Showbie and Edmodo so I'm ready for my presentation.  I found a couple apps I need to play with that will be fun to put talk about.  I am excited.  I am going to hopefully be back on come Monday and I hope to report back about a few new apps I'm looking at.