Choosing Prevention Before Intervention
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Preassessments provide information for small-group work as well. As teachers focus on learning targets, students can form flexible groups based on who was proficient or not proficient on a target-by-target basis. This process focuses instruction and saves time.
One thing all teachers can agree on is that time is a limited commodity, especially given the depth and breadth of the standards. A careful analysis of how teams use time is required to meet all of these demands. Consider these team questions. • How do we spend the limited time we are given? • Is this the right lesson for these students right now? • Given the school year time frame, is this learning experience worthy of the time it will cost? • Is there another way to approach this learning that might work better for these learners or be more efficient in moving them along? As teams answer these questions, they are critically analyzing how they allocate their limited instructional minutes. Some activities and lessons are retained while others may need to be dropped or replaced with more targeted instruction. This ensures closer alignment to the essential or priority outcomes.
A Final Note Why do we need to differentiate? Because the students we serve require differentiation to learn. The question is not whether we should differentiate but how we do this given the academic diversity in classrooms, the time restraints, and the overwhelming amount of standards and content required. Collaboration is the key to meeting all learners’ needs. No matter how excellent a teacher is, the students in the class are still limited by what he or she brings to the learning process. When teachers work in teams, the options and opportunities grow exponentially for the students that they serve. Tier 1, first-best instruction, requires a team effort. Collaborative, proactive planning ensures solid core instruction every day in every classroom. The power is in the team! Rick Wormeli (2006) says it this way:
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Beyond preassessments, assessment research is clear that the checks for understanding on a minute-by-minute basis are the most effective ways to respond to student learning (Hattie, 2012). These in-the-moment data allow teachers to meet learners’ needs before they become problems. Checking for understanding saves time by minimizing the need for remediation later.