Struggling Student?
As teachers we must intervene with our struggling students. Response to Invention (RIT) has a distinct learning plan in small groups for those children using research-based resources.
The rest Of The Class
What are the remainder of the students supposed to do when the teacher is busy with those struggling learners? Maybe a better term for the Response to Intervention time would be What I Need “WIN”.
For each student to get what they need during RIT, the teacher needs a plan. Other students should not be stuck with busy work. They also should get what they need.
How does a teacher juggle it all? Create challenge folders for all learners. Challenge for a struggling student is going to be different for a typical learner and different for an advanced or gifted learner.
Challenge Folders
What is in a challenge folder? Using data, the teacher can find a starting point each student in order to create a challenge folder.
- A beginning reader might need phonics or short passages.
- A typical student might need word work or reading comprehension passages or contextual math work.
- An advanced or gifted learner might benefit from logic puzzles, more advanced reading comprehension passages, or more advanced contextual problems.
When a student gets what is just right at his/her instructional level, he/she will feel challenged and eager to complete the work!
You start with a limited amount of material in the challenge folder. After the student completes their challenge folder, you review it to determine if the material was too easy, too hard, or just right. Based on that you put the next set of the material in the challenge folder.
Challenge folders not only work during RTI, but anytime a student might complete their work before the other students. Shortly after school starts each year, discount stores often sell three-hole folders for a very low cost. I purchase whatever they have and store them in my cubbies for when I need them. Sometimes I make two for each student, one for language arts, and one for math.
Free Resources
We’ll be sharing free original resources that your students can look forward to completing in their challenge folders! Make sure to regularly visit K5Teachers.com for more!
Pause To Ponder!
During time set aside for Response to Intervention, can every child in the class say, “I am getting What I Need?”