Tuesday, January 31

Today we began the class period with a discussion of our assignment from Chapter 3 which deals with RTI. Before answering the homework questions, I had never really understood what this mysterious RTI was. Having a mom in the school system means that I had at least heard the term before, but I had never questioned its meaning or how it could potentially affect my level of instruction. 

RTI, as I now understand it, is actually a useful tool implemented in the classroom to identify students who may require differentiated levels of instruction. This could simply mean that the student needs extra help with literacy or it could be as severe as determining whether or not they should be placed in a special needs classroom. Before reading this chapter I did not realize that so much was already in place to determine whether students need help or not. I just assumed that teachers or counselors who knew the student before suggested that a student would need extra help. 

After our discussion of RTI, we divided into groups to discuss the journal article concerning high stakes testing that was due today. I really enjoyed dividing into groups and discussing the different articles that we had each researched. I think it was more of a learning experience to discuss the articles with my peers than if we had just turned the assignments in because it was insightful to hear their comments as well as the teacher's additions. Perhaps this will be a strategy I can implement into my classroom someday.