Academic Methodology | Christina Thatcher

Progress Monitoring

Progress monitoring is a an essential element performed during Response to Intervention (RTI). Teachers initially decide what will be monitored and how it will be monitored. This pertains to the student's academic or behavioral goal. During RTI, teachers will collect data on student performance and document the data. This progress should be reported to parents at decided intervals. Depending on the direction of progress, teachers can adjust instruction during intervention to address the student's needs, whether that is more intense intervention or pulling back support in favor of student successful independence. This helps teachers decide if a student should move up or down a tier in MTSS system, or if they should continue in the current tier that the student is currently being served.

Reading Comprehension EBP

Activating prior knowledge before reading a text is a beneficial tool to help students with reading comprehension. Using background knowledge in addition to providing students with graphic organizers to identify and organize important information can help students break down the entirety of a text into smaller portions of important information. Finding answers to comprehension questions from a graphic organizer can help to connect the passage as a whole.

Basic Reading Skills EBP

Helping students to decode words is part of basic reading skills. Teachers can model how to break up words and provide sounds to corresponding letters with systematic phonics instruction. After modeling, teachers give students an opportunity to repeat what was modeled. Teachers may model as often as necessary, and allow students multiple opportunities for practice. Providing immediate feedback and correction on missed sounds is imperative.

Math Calculation EBP

Explicit, systematic instruction with visual representations is beneficial in math calculation. For example, the teacher models addition by drawing shapes to represent the quantity given. Questioning students during modeling is acceptable. Modeling self-correction and performing think-alouds while solving the problem promotes student comprehension. Guided practice with corrective feedback of math calculations follows modeling.

Math Problem Solving EBP

Schema based instruction invites students to use what they know about patterns in problem solving. By identifying schema and vocabulary from a problem, students can diagram what they know. A diagram can lead to connecting a pathway to solve a problem.

Writing EBP

Writing conferences allow students to share their writing throughout the revision process. This occurs in a whole-group setting or can be broken down into smaller groups. Students share their writing samples while peers offer suggestions for improvement as well as positive feedback to promote confidence. Collaboration amongst peers improves comprehension.

List of Resources

To view examples of articles that explain evidence-based practices in a variety of subjects, please view my annotated bibliography.