Across the country, educators are beginning to expand RTI to secondary schools. Middle, junior, and high schools are very different places from elementary schools and, in fact, different from each other. Whether or not your school is presently implementing RTI, you will want to be prepared to ask and answer key questions regarding the opportunities RTI presents in high school settings.

Informational resources and tools available to guide those who wish to establish or strengthen an Response to Intervention program in grades K-5.

Across the country, educators are beginning to expand RTI to secondary schools. Middle, junior, and high schools are very different places from elementary schools and, in fact, different from each other. Whether or not your school is presently implementing RTI, you will want to be prepared to ask and answer key questions regarding the opportunities RTI presents in high school settings.

Teachers often find it difficult to monitor the frequency of problem student behaviors. In this clever behavior-management strategy, the teacher uses keeps track of student behaviors using rubber-bands placed around the wrist.

This practice guide will help teachers understand the ways rules and routines support learning and how to equip students with the skills to participate in routines that support their learning.
This practice guide will help you reflect and take action to develop your practice with a greater understanding of:

*the ways rules and routines support learning
*how to equip students with the skills to participate in routines that support their learning

Scanning is a skill that supports and maintains positive student behaviour. Scanning is the practice of consistently and intentionally monitoring all students. It allows you to gather information efficiently and regularly about students’ behaviour and participation in learning.

In this resource, you will learn what routines are and how to establish them in your daily schedule, how to decide how much time you spend on a section of your day to increase instructional time, and the importance of including brain breaks throughout the day.

Students who are defiant or non-compliant can be among the most challenging to teach. They can frequently interrupt instruction, often do poorly academically, and may show little motivation to learn. There are no magic strategies for managing the behaviors of defiant students. However, research shows that certain techniques tend to work best with these children and youth: (1) Give the student positive teacher recognition. Even actions as simple as greeting the student daily at the classroom door or stopping by the student’s desk to ask ‘How are you doing?’ can over time turn strained relationships into positive ones. (2) Monitor the classroom frequently and intervene proactively to redirect off-task students before their mild misbehaviors escalate into more serious problems. (3) Avoid saying or doing things that are likely to anger or set off a student. Speak calmly and respectfully, for example, rather than raising your voice or using sarcasm. (4) When you must intervene with a misbehaving student, convey the message to the student that you will not tolerate the problem behavior—but that you continue to value and accept the student. (5) Remember that the ultimate goal of any disciplinary measure is to teach the student more positive ways of behaving. Punishment generally does not improve student behaviors over the long term and can have significant and lasting negative effects on school performance and motivation. (6) Develop a classroom ‘crisis response plan’ to be implemented in the event that one or more students display aggressive behaviors that threaten their own safety or the safety of others. Be sure that your administrator approves this classroom crisis plan and that everyone who has a part in the plan knows his or her role. One final thought: While you can never predict what behaviors your students might bring into your classroom, you will usually achieve the best outcomes by remaining calm, following pre-planned intervention strategies for misbehavior, and acting with consistency and fairness when intervening with or disciplining students.

Hyperactive students tend to have a very high energy level, act impulsively and can be behaviorally distracting. They may fidget, play with objects, tap pencils so loudly against their desk that kids from across the room look over at them, or blurt out answers to teacher questions before the instructor is even finished asking them. When working with students who are hyperactive or impulsive, teachers should keep in mind that these students are very often completely unaware that others view their behavior as distracting or annoying. Teachers working with such children can greatly increase their own effectiveness by clearly communicating behavioral expectations to students, by encouraging and rewarding students who behave appropriately, and by being consistent and fair when responding to problem student behaviors. Here are teacher ideas for managing impulsive or hyperactive students who display problem motor or verbal behaviors:

tudents who have chronic difficulties paying attention in class face the risk of poor grades and even school failure. Inattention may be a symptom of an underlying condition such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. However, teachers should not overlook other possible explanations for student off-task behavior. It may be, for example, that a student who does not seem to be paying attention is actually mismatched to instruction (the work is too hard or too easy) or preoccupied by anxious thoughts. Or the student may be off-task because the teacher's lesson was poorly planned or presented in a disorganized manner. It is also important to remember that even children with ADHD are influenced by factors in their classroom setting and that these students' level of attention is at least partly determined by the learning environment. Teachers who focus on making their instruction orderly, predictable, and highly motivating find that they can generally hold the attention of most of their students most of the time.

This practice guide will support you in setting behaviour expectations for your students when completing learning tasks, to create a safe learning environment and minimise disruption. Students undertake learning tasks individually, in pairs, in small groups and as a whole class. It’s important to set clear behaviour expectations for learning in each of these ways so all students know what is required of them and are better able to take responsibility for their behaviour.

This classwide program can help to reduce noise levels and head off disruptive behaviors before they occur.

This online module will provide strategies to manage cooperative and problem-based learning in the classroom

This seminar is offered concurrently with the student teaching practicum.  Weekly sessions will focus on 1) topics related to student teaching; 2) professionalism; and 3) career development. 

This practice guide will support you in establishing methods for students to gain your attention to request assistance, ask a question or share information. This is important for creating a safe and supportive learning environment and minimising disruptions.

The number of students in a classroom means that a signal is needed to gain the teacher’s attention rather than students calling out and moving around the room. Teaching, rehearsing, and reinforcing the signal students use to gain your attention will help to meet students’ needs, manage interruptions to teaching and learning, and create a positive and supportive learning environment for all students.

This practice guide will support you in refining an effective routine for students moving through the school. This is important for maintaining a safe and orderly school environment in which learning time is maximised.

Establishing a clear routine before students move between their classroom and other areas of the school ensures they’re aware of what is expected of them. Using clear communication, teachers explain, model, monitor and reinforce expectations for behaviour to support safe and organised movement to other areas of the school, such as to assembly or a specialist lesson.

Instructional expert Jim Knight visits Michael Covarrubias to observe a lesson on context clues, discuss the classroom management techniques he is using already, and share some ideas to increase student engagement. Michael and Jim discuss emphasizing effort, getting students attention before asking questions, using response cards, and planning back-up activities.

Teacher praise is one tool that can be a powerful motivator for students. Surprisingly, research suggests that praise is underused in both general- and special-education classrooms (Brophy, 1981; Hawkins & Heflin, 2011; Kern, 2007). This guide offers recommendations to instructors for using praise to maximize its positive impact.Effective teacher praise consists of two elements: (1) a description of noteworthy student academic performance or general behavior, and (2) a signal of teacher approval (Brophy, 1981; Burnett, 2001).

7th Grade Math Teacher Chris McCloud from the School of the Future in New York explains how he talks to students about lost class time and how a few minutes each day adds up to a lot of time over a week or a month. He quantifies wasted time doodling or not being focused for 5 minutes in 1 class period to losing 100 minutes in a month, which comes to about 2 full class periods lost in a month.

Learning Assistants are used to facilitate student discussion in peer instruction during clicker questions (i.e., classroom response systems), by asking Socratic questions, emphasizing reasoning, and probing student thinking.