EDU-EDU8607 - Response to Intervention: Reading Strategies That Work

Course Description

Whether you're working with struggling readers in kindergarten or 12th grade, you will find that these strategies work with a full 80% of students, without the need for special pull-outs or extra IEP intervention. Why? Because RTI gets to the root of the problem—quickly. If you're eager to learn the right ways to help your struggling readers make steady progress throughout the year, you will find that this course gives you the power to teach flexibly and creatively, without the need for extra training in literacy or fluency. As an added bonus, there's nothing quite like helping students discover the pleasures of reading.

You will discover tools like Elkonin Boxes, alphabetic arcs, Bloom's Taxonomy, and new and exciting graphic organizers. Whether you're working with struggling readers in kindergarten or 12th grade, you will find that these strategies work with a full 80% of students, without the need for special pull-outs or extra IEP intervention. Why? Because RTI gets to the root of the problem—quickly.

If you're eager to learn the right ways to help your struggling readers make steady progress throughout the year, you will find that this course gives you the power to teach flexibly and creatively, without the need for extra training in literacy or fluency. As an added bonus, there's nothing quite like helping students discover the pleasures of reading.

Course Outline

Lesson 01 - What Is Response to Intervention?

• Have you been searching for ways to help your struggling readers? Well, wonder no more. Response to intervention is here to help. Your first lesson explores how response to intervention uses research-based and tiered strategies to help students overcome roadblocks to literacy. You will discover how these strategies will help you meet your adequate yearly progress goals.

Lesson 02 - RTI's Problem-Solving Model

• Response to intervention is based on a problem-solving model, which means that you get to be a scientist while you're teaching reading. You will begin by giving students a universal screening, deciding which intervention tier will be most helpful, trying several strategies, and then tweaking as necessary. Of course, you're also constantly evaluating how well your plan is working and whether students could benefit from more or less support.

Lesson 03 - Phonemic Awareness Strategies

• Did you know that most adults aren't sure just what phonemic awareness is? You definitely won't be one of them after this fun lesson on the smallest units of sound a word can be divided into. First, you will learn about how to identify phonemes (/c/a/t/), and then take a look at how Elkonin Boxes and alphabetic arcs help students build phonemic awareness for simple and complex words.

Lesson 04 - Phonics Strategies

• Phonemic awareness is the key to phonics instruction, so this lesson continues your journey by building a bridge between the two. When you teach students phonics, you're helping them understand the relationship between the word's sounds and the letters that represent them. Soon you will be able to identify phonemes (/c/a/t/), and then take a look at how Elkonin Boxes and alphabetic arcs help students build phonemic awareness for simple and complex words

Lesson 05 - Fluency Strategies

• When many readers read, they don't need to pause to decode what they are seeing on the page. While you might take this for granted, it's an experience that's completely foreign to most struggling readers. So, in this lesson, you will explore the ways you can help struggling readers build fluency with direct and indirect approaches. This will help them learn to read with more automaticity.

Lesson 06 - Vocabulary-Building Strategies

• Have you ever sat down to read a thermodynamics text just for fun? Probably not. Many readers prefer to read text with words they know. But for many of your students, that means only a handful of texts will fit the bill. What's the solution? Helping students build three tiers of vocabulary, from the common sight words on up to complicated words with prefixes and suffixes. You will learn how to do that in this lesson.

Lesson 07 - Comprehension Strategies

• This lesson tackles comprehension by engaging students where they are so they can build a bridge to where they're going. You will learn about several powerful comprehension strategies, like Making Connections and Bloom's Taxonomy. With a little practice and a lot of coaching, your struggling readers will be making meaning in no time.

Lesson 08 - Content-Area Strategies

• Get ready to meet a powerful strategy to help students who are struggling with content area reading. Have you heard of SQ3R? With such a complicated name, it looks like it belongs in science fiction, but it can actually help students decode ordinary math, science, social studies, and language arts text. In this lesson, you will discover how to survey, question, read, recite, and review.

Lesson 09 - Writing Strategies

• Do any of your students suffer from Blank Page Syndrome when it's time to write? In this lesson, you will learn how to counter this difficult problem with some creative and fun ways to take the monotony out of putting ideas on paper. Get ready for Doodles to Details, brainstorming, quick writes, and more.

Lesson 10 - Differentiating Strategies

• Perhaps you have already found a strategy you love, but you want to tweak it a little bit to better meet your students' needs. Well, that's what differentiation is all about—adding some extra spice to the classroom. This lesson covers how to tailor powerful response to intervention strategies to different students' learning styles, multiplying the choices you can offer your students.

Lesson 11 - Enhancing Teamwork

• Are you eager to turn your school into a professional learning community? Great. This lesson delves into effective collaborate by exploring how you can use teamwork to build a more cohesive classroom and create more meaningful learning experiences. If you've been wondering just what goes into a strong team and how to get one started at your school, don't worry—you will soon have all the answers.

Lesson 12 - Cementing RTI Interventions

• While you can perform literacy miracles at school if given enough time, ultimately, you need to involve parents if you want your efforts to last. In this final lesson, you will explore some smart strategies for getting parents on board including the best ways to communicate, share, and answer any questions that come up in the process.

Learner Outcomes

• Meet your adequate yearly progress goals
• Evaluate how well your plan is working and whether students could benefit from more or less support
• Identify phonemes and identify how Elkonin Boxes and alphabetic arcs help students build phonemic awareness for simple and complex words
• Help struggling readers build fluency with direct and indirect approaches
• Help students build three tiers of vocabulary, from the common sight words on up to complicated words with prefixes and suffixes

Notes

This is an asynchronous online course offered through the third party vendor ed2go. This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook. The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online. There are twelve lessons in the course, and two lessons are released each week on Wednesdays and Fridays. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your coursework, including the final exam.