RTI Monday

Today we had all of second in for our weekly RTI meetings. There are so many good things happening with our kids in second and at Rann, that you wonder what it is that is causing them to lag behind. In second they are beginning to make the transition from phonics to becoming a fluent reader, and understanding the comprehension of a text or book. The RTI committee began discussing this in between teachers, trying to pinpoint what exactly was holding our kids back. We began talking about Guided Reading Groups and how they looked in the classrooms. We came to the conclusion that perhaps this was an area that probably needed to be addressed as a campus. As a campus we all need to reflect upon what Guided Reading looks like in our rooms and share in a group setting. Some of the RTI committee said that Rann had training on this several years back, and there weren't many left from that initial group. The components of Guided Reading can be very powerful if done correctly, and our students could really benefit from this program. In order for us to improve we must look at the cold hard facts set before us,and examine them closely for ways to improve. In the book, The Other 90%, Robert Cooper tells this story, "An interviewer visiting Thomas Edison's laboratory asked him, "What are the rules you want me to observe while I am here?" "XXXX,there are no rules around here!" Edison replied. "In this laboratory we're trying to accomplish something!" That is the way we feel in these RTI meetings. We have no rules or perfect answers, we're just trying to accomplish something and find what works for each kid, experimenting often. I know this year we have tried many different things in the grade levels to meet our students where they are, let's continue thinking out of the box and trying new experiments!

Here we go...

Just created a blog for us to use when we have discussions about various topics at Rann. We are all super busy and I thought this would be a good way for us to communicate after hours. That seems to be the only time we have a little time to breathe. If any of you have ideas or topics you would like to discuss just post them on our new Rann's Ramblings blog. I hope this is very beneficial for all and it becomes second nature for us to check on a weekly basis. This is new to me so we'll see if I get it all going right.

melonie