Moving Forward with RTI: Reading and Writing Activities for Every Instructional Setting and Tier: Small-G roup Instruction, In

"If you’re a teacher trying to incorporate RTI into your day-to-day classroom practices, but you don’t quite know how to manage it, then this book will be a cherished, well-guarded resource you’ll want to chain to your desk." —Sharon Taberski

How do I keep the rest of the class engaged while I teach small groups?

"In the course of implementing RTI, teachers invariably search for ways to promote literacy learning and actively engage students in rich teacher-supported, peer-supported, and independent experiences. They need easy-to-adapt, open-ended options that will support and extend learning in any setting or context."
—Mary Howard

In her first book, RTI from All Sides, Mary Howard alerted teachers to the merits and potential missteps of Response to Intervention. In this follow-up guide, Mary provides teachers with the flexible literacy activities they need to move ahead with RTI and implement effective differentiated instruction in a variety of settings—including whole-group, guided practice, small-group, partner work, and independent learning. Through these instructional and reinforcement activities teachers gain the freedom to work with small groups of students and the confidence that all their students are on-task with meaningful, high-level work.

"We can’t warehouse students with decontextualized worksheets that promote passive learning and waste valuable time," Mary explains. &qhot;I developed response forms as a vehicle for thinking using teacher modeling, partner work, and collaboration that revolves around rich dialogue. These concrete tools are deeply rooted in research-based reading, writing, and discussion practices that serve as a springboard for learning." Each form and assessment sheet is carefully designed to cultivate daily rituals that introduce and support new learning while creating opportunities to promote student independence, encourage personal accountability, build long-term word knowledge, and make reading more purposeful and thoughtful. While ideal for tier 1 classroom instruction, these forms can be easily adjusted for tiers 2 and 3 when more intensity and teacher support is needed.

Building on her long-held belief that the key to RTI success is knowledgeable and empowered teachers, Mary Howard’s Moving Forward with RTI is designed to help you manage your class using a variety of interactive teaching and learning tools within and beyond the literacy block.

The forms in Moving Forward with RTI include:

• Daily Choice Folder
• Golden Book Basket Response
• Student Anchor Chart
• Personal Pondering Pad
• Focus Cards
• Summary Preview
• Dictionary Redefinition
• Adopt-a-Word
• "Living" Vocabulary
• Stoplight Words
• Five-by-Five Partner Reading
• My Sharing Bookmark
• Vocabulary Jigsaw

…and many more "kid-tested" resources to fill your RTI instructional toolbox.

Mary Howard is the author of the Heinemann titles Good to Great Teaching, RTI from All Sides and Moving Forward with RTI. A "teacher's teacher," she's been an educator for almost four decades. Mary combines extensive experiences as a special education, Title I, and Reading Recovery teacher with continued in-school support as a reading consultant and literacy coach. She understands the realities of today's classroom and supports teachers across the country in creating high-quality literacy experiences for every child.