What if we designed classrooms around how the brain learns best; not just standards, pacing guides, or coverage goals? As schools shift toward inclusive education, teachers need approaches that reach a wide range of learners without lowering expectations. One practical way to do that is to combine brain-based learning principles with a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and microlearning. Together, they strengthen Tier 1 instruction, reduce cognitive overload, and build the self-regulation students need to become successful, independent learners.

Susan Fitzell’s School House Model provides a visual framework for aligning instruction with student needs. This model reminds us that academic instruction, represented by the “Functions” or nuts and bolts (the curriculum), must be supported by two critical structures. The foundation is based on building a strong community, connection, and cooperation. Above this foundation is the “Framework,” which must be based on current brain and educational research and an understanding of how students learn. MTSS and microlearning work together to support this comprehensive, whole-house approach—from foundation to function.

Brain-Based Meets Tier-Based

MTSS is a multi-tiered system that incorporates Response to Intervention (RTI), with a core goal of failure prevention. The foundational element, Tier One, demands the use of best practice, research-based teaching methods, including differentiated instruction, for all students (80–90% of the population),,. Implementing brain-friendly strategies in Tier 1 benefits all learners, ensuring instruction aligns with how the brain naturally processes and retains information.

A traditional reading lesson might involve extended reading and a standard writing prompt. However, a brain-friendly approach leverages microlearning techniques to maintain engagement and retention:

• Color-coding vocabulary to support memory encoding: Color is a powerful memory tool, helping students retain information better than black and white text. Using color to categorize or highlight text makes the information unique, aiding visual recall,. Color-coding the parts of speech, for example, assigns nouns a unique color (like red, relating to a stop sign) and verbs a movement color (like green, relating to ‘go’).

• Paired think-alouds to encourage interpersonal interaction and verbal rehearsal: Verbalizing concepts is crucial for learning, as students often discover gaps in their understanding when they attempt to explain information to others. Strategies like Think-Pair-Share or Thinking Aloud Paired Problem Solving (TAPPS) engage students in active rehearsal.

• Chunked instruction, where students process one paragraph at a time using graphic organizers: The brain’s capacity for holding new information in short-term memory is limited to roughly three to four chunks at a time. Breaking down content into smaller, manageable pieces prevents cognitive overload. Using graphic organizers, flowcharts, or mind maps during this process visually categorizes material and helps students see patterns and relationships, supporting deeper understanding.

• Doodling key ideas as a form of nonlinguistic representation: Nonlinguistic representation, such as drawing or visualizing concepts, is a research-supported strategy that requires students to process content in new ways. This “production effect”—speaking or drawing during recall—further strengthens the encoding and memory consolidation process.

All these methods employ differentiation (Differentiated Instruction or DI) that is “good for all” students and “critical for different learners”, making instruction effective for everyone in the general classroom environment.

Self-Regulation: The Secret Weapon

The goal of instruction is to move students from being struggling learners to being successful learners by fostering self-regulation. Self-regulated learning is the most important characteristic of expert learners. These learners implement a plan that includes setting clear performance and process goals, employing clear strategies (including time management), controlling their motivation, and monitoring their own progress.

Microlearning supports these metacognitive habits. For instance, perceptive students often procrastinate, seeking information until the last minute. Teachers can mitigate this by breaking assignments down into small chunks with specific due dates, teaching students organizational strategies and self-monitoring skills. When students practice strategies frequently for short amounts of time, it is more effective than overwhelming the brain with too much at once, accelerating the learning process.

Beyond Remediation

Too often, struggling students are pulled out, slowed down, or given “easier” material, creating lower expectations that diminish their chance to achieve their greatest potential. But what if the problem isn’t the student—it’s the size of the instructional bite?

Instead of relying solely on remediation after failure, MTSS encourages adapting Tier 1 instruction to prevent failure from the outset. By intentionally structuring lessons using small, brain-aligned chunks—such as the Chunking Lesson Plans™ approach,—teachers ensure that instruction matches the capacity of the brain to learn and process new concepts effectively. This way, students who might otherwise be labeled “at risk” or “learning disabled” can remain in the rigorous general classroom environment, benefiting from high expectations and specialized instructional support embedded seamlessly into the daily lesson.

FAQ

1. How does microlearning support MTSS, especially Tier 1?
Microlearning fits Tier 1 because it makes strong, research-based instruction easier for all learners to process and retain. Instead of long, overloaded lessons, teachers deliver content in smaller chunks with frequent practice, which aligns with working memory limits and reduces cognitive overload. This improves engagement and retention for the 80–90% served in Tier 1, and it helps prevent failure before students need more intensive tiers.

2. What brain-based strategies in the article are most useful for differentiated instruction in a general classroom?
The article highlights four practical strategies that scale well in Tier 1 while still meeting diverse needs: color-coding vocabulary or parts of speech to strengthen encoding and recall; paired think-alouds like Think-Pair-Share or TAPPS to build rehearsal and reveal misunderstandings; chunked instruction using graphic organizers to manage working memory limits; and doodling or drawing key ideas as nonlinguistic representation to deepen processing and improve recall.

Why does “chunking” matter from a brain-based learning perspective?
Because working memory can hold only a small number of new “chunks” at once, long passages or multi-step directions can overload students, especially those who struggle. Chunking instruction into smaller parts, like one paragraph at a time, helps students process information without the system collapsing under cognitive load. Pairing chunking with visual tools like graphic organizers helps students see patterns and relationships, which supports deeper understanding.

How do think-aloud strategies improve learning and assessment at the same time?
When students verbalize their thinking, they rehearse the content, which strengthens learning. At the same time, explaining ideas out loud often exposes gaps in understanding that silent work can hide. Structures like Think-Pair-Share or TAPPS create a routine for interpersonal interaction, immediate feedback, and active processing, which supports both comprehension and retention.

How does this approach shift MTSS away from remediation and toward prevention?
Instead of pulling students out, lowering expectations, or giving “easier” work after failure, the article argues for improving Tier 1 instruction so more students succeed in the rigorous general classroom. By designing lessons around small, brain-aligned instructional “bites,” and embedding supportive strategies as part of everyday teaching, students who might otherwise be labeled “at risk” can keep up with higher expectations while receiving targeted support inside the core environment.

Bibliography

Burnett, S. (n.d.). The A-Z of Differentiated Instruction.

Cowan, N. (2010). The Magical Mystery Four: How is Working Memory Capacity Limited, and Why? Current Directions in Psychological Science a Journal of the American Psychological Society, 19(1), 51–57. http://doi.org/10.1177/0963721409359277

Fitzell, S. G. (n.d.). 360 Inservice, slide 3.

Fitzell, S. G. (n.d.). 360 Inservice, slide 165.

Fitzell, S. G. (2011). RTI Strategies for Secondary Teachers. London: Sage Publications.

Fitzell, S. G. (2017). Special Needs in the General Classroom: 500+ Teaching Strategies for Differentiating Instruction (3rd ed.). Manchester: Cogent Catalyst Publications.

Marzano Debra J. Pollock, Jane E., R. J. P., Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom Instruction That Works: research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.Wong, B. (2010). Points of view: Color coding. Nature Methods, 7(8), 573–573. http://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth0810-573.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

The post Building Brain-Friendly Classrooms with MTSS and Microlearning appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

When students in your classroom are not progressing at the same rate or better as their peers, supplement their learning with researched based strategies that increase achievement. These are also Tier Two interventions for Response to Intervention.

How to Respond to Students’ Needs While Making Progress Together

When students in your classroom are not progressing at the same rate or better as their peers, supplement their learning with research-based strategies that increase achievement. These are also Tier Two interventions for Response to Intervention (RTI).

Use classroom adaptations that do not reduce content, yet make the curriculum more accessible using readability tools and scaffolds:

• Ensure instructional materials are accessible using readability tools and adjust where appropriate.
• Ask students to repeat instructions to ensure understanding.
• Use books on tape to allow students who benefit from extended time or auditory supports to keep up with the reading.
• Provide an outline or a copy of notes and teach students how to make notes memorable rather than taking class time to engage students in the mechanical act of copying.
• Encourage the use of word-processing software with auditory feedback so students can use higher-level cognitive skills without being hindered by writing difficulties.
• Use proofing aids: proofreader buddy, spell checker, a grammar checker.
• Use tools that support visual organization and reduce cognitive load: graph paper, vertical lines, darkened horizontal lines.

Streamline Instructions for Clarity and Equitable Access

Look for confusing directions in handouts, tests, and especially project descriptions. Even if unclear aspects are discussed in class, some students will miss the clarification. Provide the opportunity for success by ensuring the written instructions are very clear.

• Look for confusing directions in ready-made handouts.
• On worksheets, put each specific instruction with the activity being instructed.
• Do not put all the instructions for one worksheet at the top of the page with two or three activities below it when each activity requires a different instruction.
• Use simple terminology in the instructions. Words with double meanings cause confusion. Some students will struggle to demonstrate their understanding because they did not understand the language in the instructions.
• Break instructions down into bullets. Paragraph form invites the student to miss instructions.
• Provide examples whenever possible.
• When assigning projects, use exemplars to clarify expectations and reduce ambiguity. How often do we, as adults, need to see examples of resumes, letters, finished décor, constructed furniture, etc., before we can do it ourselves? Yet we routinely require students to create results from purely verbal instructions.

The Power of Explicit Expectations

My perspective on expectations shifted when I began tutoring students using another teacher’s assignment materials. I found myself asking the same questions my students had. What exactly does the teacher want here? Is this a formal paragraph, or a list? Do they want a citation? It was a humbling reminder: when instructions are unclear, students are left guessing. Now, I consistently double-check my own assignments—not just for content accuracy, but for clarity of expectations.

Pattern Recognition Strengthens Memory and Deepens Conceptual Understanding

One of the most underutilized learning tools is pattern recognition. Students remember information more effectively when it’s grouped and connected in meaningful ways. Use storytelling instead of lectures. Integrate timelines, cause-and-effect diagrams, or sequencing activities that help students visualize relationships. These aren’t just supports—they are tools that strengthen conceptual understanding and transfer learning into long-term memory.

Amplify Feedback with Audio Coaching

One of the most innovative ways to provide feedback is through audio recordings. This approach allows students to hear your thinking in real time and review your comments multiple times. Simply have students submit a flash drive (or use a shared cloud folder) with their drafts. As you review, record audio notes about content, grammar, or revision strategies, then return the audio files along with the written work. Students experience your feedback as a conversation, not just a critique—an approach that builds trust and fosters growth.

Conclusion: Progress Without Compromise

The myth that we must choose between supporting struggling learners and maintaining high expectations is outdated—and harmful. With strategic, accessible adaptations, we can make space for every learner to grow. Responding to student needs doesn’t mean slowing down the entire class. It means ensuring that each student has what they need to keep moving forward.

The challenge isn’t whether we should adapt; it’s whether we’re willing to believe that all students are capable of success when instruction aligns with how they learn best. We don’t need to lower the bar. We just need to build better ladders.

📣 Call to Action

If this article resonates with your classroom experience, don’t wait for a formal IEP meeting or benchmark report to guide your next steps. Choose one adaptation or strategy to implement this week—just one. Then observe what changes: in engagement, in comprehension, in confidence. And when it works (because it will), share it. With a colleague. On your school’s PD day. In the break room. This is how we scale transformation: one student, one strategy, one shift at a time. Let’s move forward—together.

Ready to make your classroom a space where every student can thrive?

👉 Try one new strategy from this post in your next lesson.

👉 Share your results or insights in the comments—what worked? What did you adapt?

👉 Want more strategies that help struggling learners succeed? [Subscribe here] or [download your free Differentiation Toolkit] to get started.

Let’s keep building a classroom where all learners move forward—together.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!. Bring Susan to your campus! Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

The post Meeting Student Needs and Moving Forward: Strategies That Work appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

I started using mind mapping after reading I Can See You Naked: A Fearless Guide to Making Great Presentations by Ron Hoff (1988). My first presentation was drawn out like a colorful board game with a route to follow, arrows, and picture images of what I was going to do.

I remember thinking how much easier it was to use than index cards with a text script written on them. It was also much less restricting. I did not feel tied to reading the cards. Rather, I looked at the picture and went from memory. It saved me from the plight of many presenters: that of being tied to a script.

The technique worked so well for me that I started expanding the idea into my teaching efforts. As I read selections from English texts to my students, I drew the events out on paper in a map and graphic format. I would often interject silly ditties and exclamations of passion into the effort to make what I was reading to them stick out in their memory.

Given that my students were at the ‘cool’ age of ‘teen,’ they would often look at me and say, “You are crazy!” My pat answer was always, “Yes, I am, but you’ll remember this because of it.” Moreover, they did.

Students learn and remember graphic organizers better if they create them out of their own mental images and patterns. As a parent who has spent my children’s lifetimes trying to teach them how to learn, I was very excited when I walked into my daughter Shivahn’s college apartment and found mind maps, mnemonics, color, etc. all over one of her walls.

Now, it’s not unusual to find mandalas on her door or on her walls or flashcards scattered about, but this was a huge mind map made from recycled 8.5 X 11-inch pieces of paper. I had no idea what it all meant, but I do know it helped her to get an A in the course. My daughter co-wrote a book with me, Umm…Studying? What’s That?, so it’s reassuring to know that she didn’t ‘just’ write the book but also used the strategies and shared them with her peers.

Research Background for Mind Maps, Etc.

Many experts agree that developing cognitive maps and using advanced organizers increases critical thinking skills.

Long-term memory files information in the brain through patterns, procedures, categories, pairs, and rules. A mind map uses at least three of these five ways to store information, therefore helping the brain remember information better.

A classic mind map begins with a word, phrase, or idea typically placed in the center of a piece of paper. As the author of the mind map expands upon the word or phrase in the middle, the mind map expands to include various ideas that come to mind when considering that central prompt.

Graphic organizers enable the brain to categorize information. A mind map is a non-linguistic representation method of organizing information that enables students to file the information away in long-term memory in multiple modes or memory packets.

The post Mind Mapping: An Effective Strategy for Differently Wired Brains appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

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/

Bring Susan to your campus!

Would you like to reprint this article, or an article like it, in your newsletter or journal?
CLICK HERE to visit the articles page.

The post Use Reciprocal Teaching Strategies to Dramatically Boost Reading Comprehension appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

OK, I’m sure you’re thinking, “Woah! RTI wasn’t even around way back then!” You got me! You’re right. The term RTI didn’t exist, however, really terrific instruction *did* exist. It’s how I was taught to teach at Rivier College, Nashua, NH. Sister Joseph, the head instructor of the teacher preparation program would have it no other way! Believe me, you didn’t do anything less than really terrific instruction or there was hell to pay. We didn’t mess with Sr. Joseph!

The idea that EVERY high school classroom needs to begin with RTI may sound a little bit radical. However, when teachers use differentiated, high-quality instruction, consistently, 80 to 90 percent of their students are successful in meeting achievement benchmarks. Further, using Tier One strategies right away reduces the need for Tier Two and Tier Three interventions.

Here are my reasons for why we should be focusing on RTI Tier 1 at the secondary level:

The traditional verbal linguistic/auditory delivery of information, where students are expected to passively sit in their seats and take in information while trying to copy notes at rapid speed, does not work for all students.
The students it does not work for are those who already are not responding to education and are doing poorly in the classroom and on state tests.
Students who move on to college, who did not get differentiation at the secondary level, often have trouble. This is because they learned only one mode of studying. When they are met with challenging coursework, they often lack the study skills to support them in a more rigorous academic environment. That’s why we often find our most successful high school students don’t meet expectations at the college level.

Applying Tier One teaching practices in all general classrooms is useful for a number of reasons:

• The high-quality, research-based instruction that students get will give them an edge as they move toward graduation.
• It will provide improved study skills that will carry students through college.
• Tier One strategies can have a dramatic and positive impact on students.

Additionally, Tier One strategies incorporate multiple modes of assessment. Teachers use a variety of measures to clearly identify what the student knows and doesn’t know.

By using teaching strategies that support all learning styles – whether it’s Fitzell Acceleration Centers, station teaching, or flexible grouping, teachers will have an arsenal of differentiated instruction methods that they can use to keep students engaged and learning no matter what their level.

Until we differentiate instruction at the secondary level, a basic requirement of RTI Tier One, we are shortchanging all our students: English-language learners, students with special needs, trade-bound students and students heading off to college. By differentiating instruction in your classroom, you will not only help those students struggling to understand course material but will also help all students achieve more success throughout their secondary and post-secondary education.

Extra bonus: You will love the feeling you get from seeing students succeed beyond all our expectations!

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!.

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

Would you like to reprint this article, or an article like it, in your newsletter or journal?
CLICK HERE to visit the articles page.

The post When Traditional Instruction Doesn’t Work: Use Tier One Teaching Strategies so All Students Succeed appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

Why is this? Mainly because there is very little evidence of anything related to learning and brain cognition. Research on the brain and how it works is still in its infancy and neuroscientists are not going to definitively say that the current body of research proves or disproves any theories. Not yet.

Yet, as teachers, we are all aware that learning styles – or learning preferences – do seem to exist. They have an effect on learners, and ways of learning information are often unique to each student.

I’ve listed the common theories of multiple intelligences, brain-based learning, and learning styles as related to the Myers-Briggs personality indicator in my book, Special Needs in the General Classroom – 500+ Teaching Strategies for Differentiating Instruction. The idea behind Myers-Briggs is that certain personality preferences may also have specific learning preferences.

Despite current arguments against it, Myers-Briggs has been heavily researched and, therefore, a good deal of evidence, both for and against its use, exists.

A concern I see expressed most consistently against learning styles is that teachers, students, and parents should not learn or teach only to a student’s perceived learning style. To that, I agree. One should know themselves and how they learn best. When we and our students know how we learn, we also know that we learn in a variety of ways – NOT just one way.

Teachers do not need to teach differently to each child in the classroom based on each student’s perceived learning style. In my opinion, that’s simply ludicrous and impractical, and it is not consistently possible.

Rather, it is important that teachers employ a variety of strategies in their classroom, sprinkled throughout their lesson planning. By doing so, the teacher is more likely to meet the needs of all learners in the classroom. Some experts call this Universal Design for Learning. Some call it Tier One.

I call it common sense.

CLICK HERE to discover a wealth of teaching strategies and resources for maximizing student success!.

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Differentiation Strategies to Reach ALL Learners in the Inclusive Classroom

Would you like to reprint this article, or an article like it, in your newsletter or journal?
CLICK HERE to visit the articles page.

The post Should We Burn Books on Learning Styles? appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

Studies have shown 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, 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 appropriate for the lesson
• Formulate different types of focused 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

Take a few minutes to click the link above and watch some of the great videos on this technique, and don’t forget to share your great ideas in the comments, below!

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

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Response to Intervention (RTI) Strategies

Would you like to reprint this article, or an article like it, in your newsletter or journal?
CLICK HERE to visit the articles page.

The post Reciprocal Teaching – A Strategy to Improve Reading Comprehension appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

2. The structure of middle and high schools is very different from that of elementary schools – this means that the structure of RTI, too, must be different. Students are no longer in one classroom for the entire day, allowing teachers the opportunity to give individual, differentiated instruction to those who need it through the course of the day. Instead, secondary students move from class to class, with each class being equally important, therefore not leaving much in-school time for interventions.

3. Secondary students are more socially aware – middle and high school students are much more reluctant to be pulled out of a class and singled out as a student who needs extra help.

4. High school students are required to earn a certain number of credits – If a student is in need of reading or math interventions that take away from his or her regular class time, the number of required credits may not be met in the typical four-year time period. It is important to consider the time student’s need to complete graduation requirements when planning how to structure your RTI program.

5. At the secondary level, before and after-school RTI instruction may be needed. Since students have so many requirements to graduate and may be reluctant to be pulled out of class, teachers and administrators must be flexible when finding time to help students outside of class. Just as teachers may offer extra help to students before and after school, a successful secondary RTI program may need to be implemented outside of the school day.

6. It is important that the interventions implemented in a secondary school be both age and developmentally appropriate for middle and high school students, as students are assessed on their mastery of grade-level content. If a student’s differentiated instruction does not help them to learn that grade-level content, they will not have the tools they need to succeed.

7. Identifying and implementing RTI strategies that work across the curriculum is very important at the high school level as students take many different classes in a variety of subjects. While RTI at the elementary level is typically used for students with literacy issues, it is not uncommon for secondary students to need interventions in other subject areas as well, such as math or science.

8. It is important to understand that the roles of both general and special education teachers change when RTI is implemented. Students that may have previously been assigned to special education will now be in the general classroom and need differentiated instruction. Depending on how your secondary school implements RTI, general education teachers may need to be trained in techniques that support more targeted instruction. Special education teachers, on the other hand, may find that they now need to team teach in a general education setting or provide professional development for their general education colleagues.

9. Every student can benefit from RTI strategies. Tier One, and even some Tier Two strategies can be used in the general classroom and will benefit those students in need of such instruction without hindering the progress of other learners. Even students who may not need RTI strategies can experience greater learning through differentiated and focused instruction.

10. Since high schools have departmental structures, the collaboration and coherence required by RTI models can often be challenging in a secondary setting. It is important to ensure that the various groups of educators have opportunities to meet and discuss student progress and intervention strategies across departments.

11. Professional development is critical to an RTI model’s success at the secondary level. It is important that all teachers, both general and special educators, have had introductions to RTI, as well as training in assessment processes, intervention strategies, effective teaching strategies, and methods of monitoring student progress.

12. Parents should be included. High schools implementing RTI should be sure to keep parents informed on what RTI is, how it will or will not affect their students, and what they can do to help. Parent and community support is very much needed for a newly-implemented RTI model to succeed.

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

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Response to Intervention (RTI) Strategies

Would you like to reprint this article, or an article like it, in your newsletter or journal?
CLICK HERE to visit the articles page.

The post 12 Things to Consider When Implementing RTI in Secondary Schools appeared first on Susan Fitzell.

Condense information into a picture and embrace the power of color. Teachers often present information verbally and linguistically. However, many of our students are visual learners. A substantial amount of our brainpower is devoted to visual processing. When teachers add visual learning strategies to what they are teaching, student recall improves.

For example, after teaching for five or six minutes (or up to ten minutes in a high school class), give students three to five minutes to draw a picture, diagram, or symbol of what they just learned. This visual learning strategy lets students take the verbal linguistic information we just taught and turn it into visual information. This lets the brain process and use information in a different way that, in turn, helps students better remember what has been taught.

When we use drawing exercises in the classroom, we often encounter resistance from students. They complain that they can’t draw. One way to address this is to draw badly when we draw in the classroom. Use stick figure drawings and emphasize the importance of simple line drawings over drawing well. The point is to create an image that helps us remember what we’ve learned, not to get graded on our art.

If students say they can’t draw, pair them up with someone who doesn’t mind drawing. It would be a shame to lose students because of their initial resistance to doing something so different from what they are used to doing in school.

Snapshot Devices

Another way to present information visually is to use a snapshot device. Snapshot devices take the concepts we have already talked about to another level; their purpose is to take a snapshot of information and represent it visually so students will remember it. For instance, you’ve taught about how the West was settled and explained that certain inventions were involved, such as the six-shooter, the windmill, the sod house, the locomotive, and barbed wire.

A snapshot device is a picture with all of the things you have taught in it. It’s a scene, not just a collection of individual pictures. If you draw pictures of a six-shooter, a windmill, and a sod house with no way to relate these things to each other, then you are drawing ‘unconnected’ images. With a snapshot device, you take the information and make it into a scene to think about. Students will remember the cowboy with the six-shooters and the train coming down the hill behind the sod house. They will see the scene in their mind’s eye.

Assessing with Visuals

When students engage in drawing what they have learned, teachers have an opportunity to walk around the room and assess understanding by looking at students’ drawings and asking questions for clarification. Document your observations and you will have a form of authentic and immediate ongoing assessment.

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

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Response to Intervention (RTI) Strategies

The post Visual Learning Strategies that Support Really Terrific Instruction (RTI) 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.

Bring Susan to your campus!

Featured seminar – Response to Intervention (RTI) Strategies

Would you like to reprint this article, or an article like it, in your newsletter or journal?
CLICK HERE to visit the articles page.

[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

The post MTSS and RTI – Seven Keys to Success appeared first on Susan Fitzell.