TOSA Tribune Nixa Public Schools

Intermediate
April 2010
Volume 4, Issue 6
RTI and Differentiated Instruction
Inside this issue:
Go Hand-in-Hand
RTI and DI Go Hand- 1
Response to Intervention integrates assessment and interven- in-Hand
tion within a multi-level prevention system to maximize student
achievement and to reduce behavior problems. With RTI, schools
identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor stu-
dent progress, provide evidence-based interventions and adjust the Proactive Planning 2
Differentiated Seating
intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a student’s
Arrangement
responsiveness, and identify students with learning disabilities or
other disabilities. http://www.rti4success.org/ Differentiated Ap- 3
pointment Partners
Differentiated Instruction is a way to plan/deliver the curricu-
lum in Tier 1 of RTI’s multi-level prevention system. In the first tier,
teachers should be using research-based, differentiated instruction Anchor Activities 4
to meet the needs of 80-90 percent of their learners. Differentiated
Instruction includes [but is not limited to] assessment, learning
profiles, multiple intelligences, cooperative learning, tiered instruc-
tion and flexible grouping. It’s consistently and proactively creating April, already?
different pathways to help all students become successful.
Where has the
year gone?
 Proactive Planning
A Differentiated Seating Arrangement

In the seating arrangement above, students are in groups of four. The Early Readiness [ER] learners
are seated next to Readiness [R] learners. The Advanced Readiness [AR] learners are seated next to
Readiness [R] learners. When the teacher asks shoulder partners to work together, the students are
seated with peer tutoring in mind. When the teacher asks face partners to work together, the students
are also seated with peer tutoring in mind. In this seating arrangement, the Advanced Readiness
[accelerated] students are not face partners or shoulder partners with the Early Readiness [struggling]
students. Students are also numbered from 1-4. Notice that all the 1s are Early Readiness, all the 2s are
Readiness, all the 3s are Readiness and all the 4s are Advanced Readiness. When the teacher calls for
numbers to meet, he/she knows that the number 1s will need more teacher direction than the 3s.
Considerations:
When you change seating arrangements, rotate the readiness levels so students don’t associate
Number 1s with Early Readiness.
Readiness levels vary subject to subject. You may want to base the seating chart on reading readi-
ness levels and use appointment calendars [a.k.a. clock partners] for math.
If you prefer a two-by-two seating arrangement, students can all be facing forward. In seconds, they
can push their desks together or pull them apart to form a group of four.

TOSA Tribune Intermediate

 Differentiated Appointment Partners
When the teacher asks 11:00 appointments
[similar ability] to meet, he/she will know that the
early readiness [struggling] partners need more
assistance. This is a perfect time to pull a small
group of early readiness appointments together
for an intervention group because the other stu-
dents will already be paired with advanced readi-
ness [high/high] and readiness [medium/
medium].

Appointment partners easily allow for flexible

grouping beyond the seating arrangement. To dif-
ferentiate your appointments, allow students to
choose three or four partners [ see random part-
ners below]. The rest can be filled in at a later date
by the teacher with student ability in mind.

Considerations:
*Students should not be made aware of how ap-
pointments are labeled; they simply need to know
who their partners are. Their appointments have
names; the teacher’s appointments have ‘codes’
like the ones to the left.
*Gradually add partners and your appointment
calendars will last for months.
*A secondary teacher told me she imported her
appointments into Excel Spreadsheets to elimi-
nate students ‘losing’ their appointments.

Volume 4, Issue 6 Page 3

 Anchor Activities
Remember: Anchor Activities ANCHOR Learning and can be worked on independ-
ently. Oftentimes, teachers teach the activity to the whole-class before offering it as
an anchor activity.

Think-Tac-Toe:
http://www.rcs.k12.tn.us/rc/instruction/ttt/ttt.htm
http://www.rcs.k12.tn.us/rc/instruction/ttt/think_tac_toe_writing.pdf
http://www.eht.k12.nj.us/~Jonesj/Differentiated%20Instruction/Tic-Tac-Toe.htm

R.A.F.T. (Role, Audience, Format, Topic):

Easily tie content into writing. For example, a decimal could write a fraction a
friendly letter explaining their relationship.
http://www.readingquest.org/strat/raft.html

Frayer Graphic Organizer for Vocab. Development:

(Consider adding a section for brain-pictures)
http://rocksforkids.com/WebQuest/VVocabGraphicOrganizerFrayer.htm
http://www.tandl.leon.k12.fl.us/lang/Elementary/Anchorvoc.html

Cubing:
http://www.eht.k12.nj.us/~Jonesj/Differentiated%20Instruction/Cubing.htm
http://www.eht.k12.nj.us/~Jonesj/Differentiated%20Instruction/cube%20to%
20make.htm

http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/files/nagc_cubing__think_dots.pdf

Volume 4, Issue 6 Page 4