MULTI-TIERED SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS MEETING THE NEEDS OF HIGH ABILITY STUDENTS IN THE GENERAL CLASSROOM A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP FOR EAST HIGH SCHOOL PREPARED AND PRESENTED ORIGINALLY TO THE EHS SOCIAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT

SESSION GOALS 1.Discuss MTSS as it relates to high achieving students in our classrooms and our interventions for making sure students are challenged at appropriate levels. 2.Learn about two options for relatively easy integration of differentiated activities and assignments. 3.Work collaboratively (or independently) with course-alike teachers to create one or two activities using Think Strips or Dice Roll options.

WHAT IS MTSS? MTSS stands for Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, an educational decision-making model designed to meet the academic and/or behavioral needs of all students. It is an updated model, based upon Response to Intervention (RtI) practices already explored at East High School. The name has changed to be more inclusive of all stakeholders in the building.

WHAT IS MTSS? (CONTINUED) All students will invariably need support beyond initial instruction in classes. The MTSS model proposes three tiers of educational service –Tier 1 includes instruction and intervention in the general classroom setting –Tier 2 includes small group instruction and remediation/enrichment –Tier 3 includes individualized instruction and more radical remediation and acceleration For the majority of students, this support is designed to help student achieve grade-level standards in class.

MTSS REALITY: INTERVENTIONS IN THE CLASSROOM For most teachers, interventions for students will take place in the classroom. The model below shows the vast majority of students being served in the universal core—your classroom

WHAT CAN WE DO THAT’S QUICK AND EASY? Differentiation gets a bad reputation because it’s often used as a buzzword—a magical action that suddenly solves everything, bringing every student to high levels of achievement. It also carries with it real concerns about teacher time commitments and a lack of training. While we will use PD time for considering differentiation for an entire unit, our goal today is provide a couple different ways to quickly increase the level of complexity or depth to a classroom activity of assignment.

DIFFERENTIATED ACTIVITY 1— THE THINK STRIP Think strips give students (or teachers) choice over the activities students do to demonstrate learning. A think strip can offer students choice based on learning preferences or modalities (written work, creative work, analytical work, kinesthetic learning, etc.) Think strips can also use increasing higher levels of thinking based on learning taxonomies, like Bloom’s.

BASIC THINK STRIP

BASIC THINK STRIP—SRG IMPLICATIONS Think Strips can easily be adapted for standards-referenced grading. –Activities can be created that capture Level 2, Level 3 (grade level), and Level 4 (exceeding standards) –Perhaps this Think Strip can require students to complete 2 of the activities. Based on pre- assessment and formative assessment data, some students could be assigned to complete Option 1 before choosing 2 or 3 –Gifted students may be assigned only one option OR could be responsible for creating a 4 th option that meets (preferably exceeds) the standards.

DICE ROLL The Dice Roll activity builds on the work of Dr. Tamra Stambaugh, as presented at the Iowa Talented and Gifted Association Conference in Des Moines, October 19-20, –Her “Social Studies Connections Wheel” is the genesis of this idea, synthesizing her activities of adding complexity and depth through concepts. As social studies teachers we are responsible for meeting ELA standards as part of Common Core. We can meet writing standards and content standards in the same assignment, and the Dice Roll (or spinner spin or random number generator) can quickly give us variety in student response and complexity.

DICE ROLL Select a topic for a student written assignment (This can also be a different kind of product, but works well for meeting ELA writing standards). You can have two (or more) writing prompts that get at the same concept if you want to give students more choice. Provide a list of over-arching concepts, such as the following –Economics –Environment –Culture –Power and politics –Geography –Individual Responsibilities –Gender roles –ETC.

DICE ROLL Number these major concepts 1-6, or compile multiple lists of 1-6 Based on pre-assessment and formative assessment data, decide how complex each student’s work needs to be. For struggling students: Choose one of the major concepts they must use in their answer to the prompt; have them roll a die to decide what other concept they need to connect to their answer. For more advanced learners, add more concepts. Understand the goal is not to create a paper for advanced students that takes LONGER than struggling students to write; it is merely designed to increase complexity by addition of concepts. –You have the power as the teacher. Using SRG, a scale can clearly show what kind of work shows each level of proficiency. Your goal is to have students demonstrate mastery of the standards AND be able to connect learning across disciplines and concepts.

COLLABORATION TIME Work with your course-alike colleagues (or independently for single-sections). Create a think strip for an upcoming assignment OR design a written work (or other product) that a dice roll could add varying levels of complexity. REMEMBER: Gifted students are gifted all day long, not only when they are in special classes at Central or working on independent study. Your class can be a place that stretches them, even if they are already able to meet standards or can meet them with minimal effort. Design your activities with the goal of meeting the needs within Tier 1 of our MTSS model— the Universal Core.

RESOURCES In lieu of a specific list of books, consider researching these authors. There are dozens and dozens of resources available to guide your differentiation practices. Many are available for a 2- week checkout from Heartland AEA’s Library, found at Carol Tomlinson Richard Cash Diane Heacox Carolyn Coil