Best Practices at Tier 1: Daily Differentiation for Effective Instruction, Elementary (RTI at Work: Implementing Brain-Friendly, Evidence-Based Strategies in a Core Curriculum)

Improve core instruction to ensure learning for all. Created specifically for K-5 educators, this book provides proven response to intervention strategies to differentiate instruction, engage students, increase success, and avoid additional interventions. Discover how to identify essential power standards to include in Tier 1 instruction, create a brain-friendly learning environment, shift instructional processes to support collaboration, and more.

Benefits:

• Understand the power of RTI to enhance core instruction and provide timely, targeted, and systematic interventions for students in need.
• Gain effective strategies to differentiate learning, and understand the variety of ways students learn.
• Incorporate the four Cs--communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking--into curriculum design.
• Shift from teacher-centered to student-centered instruction to enhance learning.
• Use formative assessment and preassessment to plan for instruction and extend learning tasks when necessary.
• Raise the bar for all learners by enhancing rigor and providing learners opportunities to grow.

Contents:
About the Authors
Introduction
Chapter 1: Shifting to Collaborative Core Instruction
Chapter 2: Creating Brain-Friendly Learning Environments
Chapter 3: Finding Each Student s Learning Sweet Spot
Chapter 4: Developing a Powerful Core Curriculum
Chapter 5: Differentiating Instruction Through Pluralized Teaching Strategies
Chapter 6: Using Data to Inform Instruction
Chapter 7: Building Cognitive Rigor, Depth, and Complexity
Epilogue: Embracing the Journey
References and Resources
Index

Gayle Gregory has extensive experience as a staff developer and administrator. She consults internationally on brain-friendly differentiation, research-based instruction, block scheduling, assessment practices, early literacy, gifted instruction, and facilitating school change. Gayle has worked with many districts developing school teams to build internal capacity. She has taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels as well as in university settings. Gayle is coauthor of Differentiated Instructional Strategies: One Size Doesn t Fit All, Teacher Teams That Get Results: 61 Strategies for Sustaining and Renewing Professional Learning Communities, and Think Big, Start Small. In addition, she was featured in an edition of the Video Journal of Education focused on differentiated instruction. She is committed to lifelong learning and professional growth for herself and others.

Martha Kaufeldt is a professional development specialist and author. Since 1984, her specialty has been applying educational neuroscience into classroom practice. She travels internationally conducting workshops and trainings on curriculum development, differentiated instruction, school restructuring, assessment, and brain-friendly strategies for teachers. She serves on the Transformative Education Forum Board and has been a trainer and coach for the Mid-California Science Improvement Project.

Martha was a classroom teacher for over twenty-three years in California. As an elementary teacher, she created brain-compatible learning environments for a diverse student population. In the middle grades, Martha was a core teacher on an interdisciplinary instructional team. Her curriculum included integrated project-based and service learning, and she emphasized social and emotional well-being. Martha has also been a district staff development specialist and gifted education program director. For her work in the San Francisco Bay area, Martha was awarded the Mason-McDuffie Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award.

She has written several books including Begin With the Brain: Orchestrating the Learner-Centered Classroom, Teachers, Change Your Bait! Brain-Compatible Differentiated Instruction, and Think Big, Start Small.

Mike Mattos is an internationally recognized author, presenter, and practitioner who specializes in uniting teachers, administrators, and support staff to transform schools by implementing response to intervention and professional learning communities. Mike cocreated the RTI at WorkTM model, which builds on the foundation of the PLC at WorkTM process by using team structures and a focus on learning, collaboration, and results to drive successful outcomes. Additionally, he is an architect of the PLC at Work model.

He is former principal of Marjorie Veeh Elementary School and Pioneer Middle School in California. At both schools, Mike helped create powerful PLCs, improving learning for all students. In 2004, Marjorie Veeh, an elementary school with a large population of youth at risk, won the California Distinguished School and National Title I Achieving School awards.

A National Blue Ribbon School, Pioneer is among only thirteen schools in the United States that the GE Foundation selected as a Best-Practice Partner and is one of eight schools that Dr. Richard DuFour chose to be featured in the video series The Power of Professional Learning Communities at Work: Bringing the Big Ideas to Life. Based on standardized test scores, Pioneer ranks among the top 1 percent of California secondary schools and, in 2009 and 2011, was named Orange County's top middle school. For his leadership, Mike was named the Orange County Middle School Administrator of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators.