Real Talk Intervention

Accountability measures force us to take students not just from where they were to somewhere better but all the way We have been very vocal here at Real Talk Intervention about our support of school accountability measures, standardized testing in general, and the high school STAAR EOC tests specifically. Last month we took action and spoke before the Texas legislature in support of school accountability, specifically against HB 1333 The Teaching Over Testing Act. When we returned to our school from that trip, word of what we had done traveled fast. Many of our colleagues cheered on us, others weren't such fans of our opinions though they appreciated our moxie. But what really struck us was the reactions of the students - ours and other teachers - who watched the video of our testimony. A group of students came to both of us, stood before us, and said "Thank you. Thank you for telling them we weren't ready to graduate." Once students exit the doors of our high...

Recently we attended one of Marzano Research Group's online webinars - Designing and Implementing a Personalized K-12 Competency Based System . This revolutionary way of designing curriculum removes the structural barriers that stand in the way of your student's success, with a full school redesign that does away with whole group classrooms filled with students at different ability and competency levels. You can view the recording of the webinar here , and then listen to our podcast where Stefanie and I discuss how, even though you may not be able to redesign your entire school, you can still dramatically improve student success through implementing a personalized, standards-based system in your OWN classroom right now. You can listen to our podcast here Real Talk Intervention is on iTunes and Stitcher for Android. Search for us on your Podcasts app or download the Stitcher app to listen on your mobile device.

By: Stefanie Garcia In the world of Texas English assessment at large, and here at the smaller world of Real Talk Intervention, there has been a debate on whether or not a test can actually assess an author’s intent. As an English teacher would like to weigh in on this – no, it cannot. Yes, it is impossible to know exactly what an author was thinking. As an author myself of many terrible high school emo poems, I understand that sometimes, an author uses a word, or a structure, or a simile, instinctively and without guile or intent. Sometimes, the author’s intent is just to get the feelings out. However, we are educators and we are not here to have esoteric conversations about individual authors and what they wanted me to think about their poem. They already got to write it, and now it is my turn to have a go at this text, whose rights were knowingly sold to the STAAR test creators. I am first and foremost a teacher and the educational reality is that discussing and, ye...

Last week Texas released the preliminary school grades under their new A-F accountability system. Superintendents across the state have come out publicly condemning this system. To say this one is controversial is putting it mildly. Stefanie and I researched the new accountability system for you, and we lay out some of the details of how this new system works. We also discuss what we think of this new ratings system, what it means for school districts, and what it means for intervention. You don't want to miss this one! Listen to our conversation here ! Follow us on Feedburner: feeds.feedburner.com/realtalkintervention Music provided by The Creative Commons. http://www.bensound.com

It's the first full episode of Real Talk Intervention - the podcast! Tune in to hear our conversation on standards-based education and the standards-based classroom. Should you be writing your student expectation on the board every morning? All along has THIS actually been the secret to high levels of student engagement? Probably not! But listen to find out what we think. Stefanie shares an intervention success with ELL learners and shares some curriculum suggestions for ELLs and other struggling English learners. You can follow us at http://feeds.feedburner.com/RealTalkIntervention Or listen to the episode here: The Standards Based Classroom If you want to be a part of our next episode, please leave feedback here or on our Facebook page: Like us here! Music courtesy of the Creative Commons www.bensound.com

Who are we? We are a community of secondary educators implementing Response to Intervention in middle school and high school settings. Why are we here? I don't know about your Google search history, but this is what happens to me... Don't get me wrong; we all know the basics. RTI is this federally mandated initiative at all grade levels. So there ain't no party like a response to intervention party because a response to intervention party is  mandatory . But how do we actually DO it in the complicated environment of secondary education? The rules and regulations, the paperwork, the meetings, scheduling - all of it quickly becomes Sisyphean, especially in the secondary setting where we are dealing with an extremely high number of students, in larger and larger classroom settings, with a huge range of both skill and will. Secondary educators - we need HELP. And what sort of help are we actually getting? Are you tired of hearing intervention strategies that sou...