Reciprocal teaching uses a four-step method – often referred to as the “Fab Four” – to help students better understand text. These steps are: summarizing, question generating, clarifying and predicting. There are lots of resources on the web that detail exactly what each step entails, and I’ve added links to some of those resources below.

Studies have proven that reciprocal teaching greatly influences student comprehension skills. They also found that students became readers that are more independent, better summarizers, predictors, and critical thinkers. As an additional benefit, they found that students who participated in reciprocal teaching groups displayed fewer behavior problems.

One of the best ways to use reciprocal teaching is to practice a questioning strategy in which the reader reads the text, processes the meaning, makes connections to prior knowledge, and finally generates a question about the text.

Learning Objectives of the Questioning Strategy:
– Identify the different types of questions
– Formulate different types of questions
– Work in cooperative groups to practice reading comprehension strategies
– Synthesize information in order to respond to a variety of questions.
– Interpret text and demonstrate higher level thinking skills in creating various types of questions
– Enhance comprehension through questioning
– Apply questioning strategies in many curricular areas

Below is more information about reciprocal teaching, as well as lesson plans and helpful materials to implement this method in your classroom.

Information:
https://literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/bonus-materials/507-chapter-3.pdf?sfvrsn=4
https://education.wm.edu/centers/ttac/resources/articles/teachtechnique/reciprocalteaching/index.php
https://www.slideshare.net/evansjenb/reciprocal-teaching-day-1-45540155
http://www.moedu-sail.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Tech-in-the-classroom-infographic-June-2016.pdf
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1114674.pdf

Lesson plans:
http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewResourceLesson/Preview/39835
http://olms.cte.jhu.edu/olms2/data/ck/sites/1943/files/Reciprocal%20Strategy%20Lesson%20Plan.pdf

Materials:
https://www.nbss.ie/sites/default/files/publications/reiciprocal_teaching_strategy_handout__copy_2_0.pdf
https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/files/2017/11/Reciprocal-Teaching-Figures-KATHY-GLASS-y2x375-q5q59k.pdf
http://www.moedu-sail.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/RT-infographics-June-2016.pdf
http://www.moedu-sail.org/reciprocal-teaching-materials/

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When chunking lesson plans, which is a strategy whereby you divide your lesson plan into chunks of approximately 10 minutes or less, you can have a 10-minute chunk of time with three ability-based groups, each doing work at their level of instruction. In this scenario, one group could be your specially designed instruction, or reteach group, another group might be working on practice items while the third group would be working on enrichment activities that challenge and accelerate learning.

While teachers typically focus on the group of students who are receiving specially designed instruction, or being re-taught the material, other students need activities that keep them engaged and behaving appropriately. It’s typical for students to work on practice activities after instruction in the classroom without much need for teacher attention. This group is not much different than the group that might be doing the odd numbers on page 35 after a lesson on how to work an algebraic equation. Teachers are used to this scenario and may lightly supervise students in this group. In reality, this doesn’t change the chunking strategy. The difference is that teachers are teaching one group of students while their other students are engaged in the practice activity.

The real challenge is what to do with the students who are ready to move beyond the current level of instruction. How do you give those students something that’s more challenging, that enriches their learning, but doesn’t cause them to feel resentful that they’re doing harder work, more work, or boring work?

It seems logical that we might give these higher achieving students more difficult problems to solve, more challenging work to accomplish, longer and more demanding essays to write. They’re capable, so the temptation is to challenge them with these types of assignments. However, what often happens is that students become resentful, start to misbehave, and then go home and complain to their parents that they are being discriminated against because they have to do more work than other students in the classroom. The key is to give students challenge activities that are fun, engaging, and take learning up a level in a way that they find stimulating and motivating.

These activities can be used to challenge students for a 10 to a 12-minute chunk of time while you are reteaching another group of students.

10 Minute Acceleration Center Enrichment Activities For Use Across All Content Areas

1. A WebQuest Challenge: Send students on a WebQuest to answer an open-ended question about the topic you just taught. WebQuests move students beyond just the facts. They require students to use prior knowledge and stimulate curiosity that promotes an investigation of the topic at a deeper level.

A WebQuest provides students with the goal, or quest. They then have to research the given topic on the Internet to find information about that quest and analyze what they find by reading, watching videos, listening to audio, viewing images, etc. in order to synthesize their research and come to a conclusion.

An excellent resource for Web Quests can be found at Tommarch.com. Also, check out http://webquest.org/

2. Be a Character Detective: Research a key person (scientist, author, historical figure, mathematician, etc.) to come up with a theory as to why they are notable. What prompted them to do what they did? What events or people in their life influenced them? Where would the world be if their lives had been different? Students can present their findings and conclusions in a quick presentation (via screencasting, a skit, a song, an iMovie or Animoto trailer, or a mind map).

3. What’s the Source of that Theory? Use Wolfram Alpha to research background information on a theory in geometry, algebra, or science, and present that new information to the class in a creative manner.

4. Visual Research and Analysis (Math): In math, use Google images to find structures that include a specific shape, such as a parabola, and determine the formula for that particular shape. Possibly, consider how a shape might contribute to the structural integrity of objects such as chairs or tables.

5. Video Curation and Analysis: Find videos on the topic of instruction that present the knowledge in a unique or entertaining way. For example, find music videos that explain the difference between metaphor and simile. Or find videos, for example, that present the prologue to a Shakespearean play in three different styles (a skit created by students, professional production, a dramatization uploaded by a teacher). Analyze how the different presentations provide the viewer with differences in perspective on the piece of literature.

6. Analyze that App: Provide students with a rubric to analyze a device app, or a video, or an instructional website. Have them use the rubric to create a “top three” list of resources for the other students in the class on any given topic.

7. Create a Whiteboard Movie (Screencasting): Instruct students to create a whiteboard movie using an app such as Explain Everything, and show two sides of an issue, both sides of an argument in a debate, or two different characterizations of a social situation.

8. Karaoke Mnemonics: Students choose a karaoke version of a popular song so that they have the music without words. Create new lyrics to sing the concept just taught so that they will remember the lesson.

9. Dramatize Dry Text in Person or with Video: Show students an episode of Real Actors Read Yelp and have them use the movie app on their device to dramatize content area reading that would typically be very dry, similar to what the actors have done with the Yelp reviews.

Next week, I’ll share six more great ideas from real teachers who use the ideas they share in their own classrooms. Don’t miss it!

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The post 15 Challenge, SDI, and Enrichment Activities to Keep Challenge Groups Engaged in the Mixed-ability Classroom – Part 1 appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

MTSS, Multi Tiered System of Supports,  encompasses several approaches, one of which is Response to Intervention (RTI). Here are a few strategies for classroom implementation at the secondary level.

1. Tier One of RTI requires the use of best practice, research-based teaching methods. Research-based strategies implemented in the differentiated classroom reduce the need for interventions.

2. Using frequent progress monitoring, teachers determine where a student is lacking and then seek Tier Two interventions that might be appropriate for that student. Often, Tier Two interventions can be researched-based practices used in Tier One, but with three modifications:

• Specific students receive more intense instruction and application of strategies.
• Students are given more time to practice and implement the strategies.
• The intensity of implementation may increase.

3. Having adequate time to implement interventions is often the greatest challenge faced at the secondary level. When teachers routinely implement small group work, flexible grouping, or center teaching, interventions in Tier Two fall right into place in the general educator’s lesson plan.

4. Rather than forcing teachers to follow a script from a published program, teachers are encouraged to use their professional skills, experience, and an understanding of student needs and data derived from frequent progress monitoring to determine appropriate interventions. The key is using a problem-solving model to hone in on possible interventions.

5. An option for delivering Tier Two instruction that works well for students at the secondary level is a tutored study hall combined with in-class, frequent, immediate interventions made possible by Chunking Lesson Plans^®.

6. Tier Three is not as delineated as Tiers One and Two in literature on Response to Intervention. School districts define Tier Three requirements as follows:

• Interventions are more intensive, based on problem-solving models, and implemented through a combination of means including classroom instruction, outside-of-school instruction, or in-school instruction outside of the general classroom.
• A combination of intensive interventions implemented in general education as part of a wrap-around approach to meeting a student’s needs.
• Some school districts, as well as books on the topic of RTI, consider special education to be part of Tier Three.

7. How we assess students to determine their understanding of content is critical to the Response to Intervention process. Keep it simple, frequent, and efficient. Authentic assessments incorporate a variety of measures into the evaluation process and focus on formative assessment. Types of authentic assessment include rubrics, exit cards, curriculum-based measurement, student self-evaluation, and documented observations.

Originally published and copyright© 2012. Excerpted from RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers by Susan Fitzell, Corwin Press ©2011. www.responsetointernventiononline.com

For more information on differentiation and Response to Intervention, see Susan Fitzell’s book, RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers.

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Response to Intervention is a process that involves providing struggling learners with academic interventions that match their needs in order to help all students master the curriculum. My experience in secondary education has convinced me that every secondary classroom needs to begin Response to Intervention at the Secondary Level at Tier One of RTI: differentiated instruction.

Essentially, differentiating instruction means using a variety of methods within a lesson plan to reach multiple ability levels and learning styles. When teachers differentiate instruction, 80% to 90% of students successfully meet achievement benchmarks (Hanson, 2009). In this way, RTI simply becomes “Really Terrific Instruction,” allowing every student to benefit from differentiated instruction strategies.

RTI is Really Terrific Instruction

As a high school special education teacher and a co-teacher working within the inclusion model, I noticed that RTI must consider the very nature of secondary education. For example, RTI interventions must be used across the curriculum at the secondary level since high school students take classes on a variety of subjects. Also, middle and high school students are more socially aware – they are much more reluctant to be pulled out of a class or singled out. This means that interventions need to be implemented during class time.

One way to provide RTI interventions in the general classroom is through the use of acceleration centers (Nilson, 1998). Since they address a wide range of abilities, they are an effective tool for delivering Tier Two and, possibly, Tier Three interventions. They also help to encourage student engagement and combat the apathy so often found at the secondary level.

The acceleration center I’ve developed is not the same as an elementary learning center. I have taken several “station” methods, combined them into a model appropriate for secondary students, and created what I call the Fitzell Acceleration Center. It’s not a product to be purchased; rather, it is a way of using center teaching at the secondary level.

What are Fitzell Acceleration Centers?

Fitzell Acceleration Centers are similar to the concept of a learning center except that teachers do not create a separate center for every unit they teach. There is no holiday center, for example, or math center created for a specific lesson plan. Instead, teachers focus on a curriculum strand taken from their state standard that aligns with the Tier Two intervention needs of students in their classroom.

That strand might address the standards with which your students had trouble on the state test the year before. The activities in the center range from the very basic skills in the strand (Tier Two interventions for struggling students) to high-level skills (Tier One activities and strategies for all students), and possibly even college-level material (enrichment curricula). Overall, though, the focus of the center should be based on assessment data collected by the general education teacher and, if there is one, the RTI team.

A Fitzell Acceleration Center is a designated area, crate, file drawer, or pocketed bulletin board that provides students with standards-based learning activities at a range of ability levels. These centers are not just more worksheets. Rather, they are hands-on activities that may involve creative tasks, research, or challenges that require critical thinking at varying levels, taking into consideration student learning style. Ideally, they also incorporate computer-based instruction, taking advantage of any computers the classroom might have.

Once developed, each center remains in place for the entire year. The center only needs to be prepped once and then activities can be added or changed throughout the year. The only continuous management is student assignment and assessment. The goal of RTI is to give all students the opportunity to succeed. The Fitzell Acceleration Center is a useful tool for supporting this goal within the general classroom.

Watch the Video: How To Engage In Their Own Learning Quickly And Easily With Student Made Learning Centers

Here are some links to help you get started:
1. Fitzell Acceleration Centers
2. Implementing Fitzell Acceleration Centers – Addressing the Challenges
3. Accelerate Learning in Your Classroom

RTI and Accleration Center Resources:

Fitzell, S. G. (2011). RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Hanson, H. M. (Director). (2009). RTI and DI: Response to Intervention and Differentiated Instruction [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][DVD]. Port Chester, NY: National Professional Resources. Available at http://www.nprinc.com/rti/drtd.htm.
Nilson, L. B. (1998). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors. Bolton, MA: Anker.

For more information on differentiation and Response to Intervention, see Susan Fitzell’s book, RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers.

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Sometimes though, I meet an innovator. During a co-teaching conference I spoke at in Chicago recently, I met Jesse Steffen, an Algebra teacher at Central Noble High School.

Jesse used the SMARTboard™ in his classroom and a Bluetooth™ microphone to record his Algebra lessons. Then he uploaded the videos to iTunes University so that his students can have access to all of his lessons whenever they need a review. He also uses the videos during class so that he can spend time helping students who need extra attention during the “lecture.”

Here are some websites with great ideas for using using Interactive White Boards in your classroom. Please let us know your great ideas too!

• SMARTboard™ Activities from Bristol, VA
• 4 Creative Ways to Use Your SMART board
• Ten Ways to Us the SMART Board in Your Classroom

The other piece of what Jesse is doing is the use of iTunes University to host and share his lessons. I have spent a lot of time in the last year learning how to use iPads in the classroom to support Really Terrific Instruction and iTunes University is a great resource.

Finally, some of you may have noticed that several of my little notes in the last few months have been stories or experiences from teachers, just like you, who have been kind enough to share their experiences and their successes.

What success stories would YOU like to share?

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