transition program credit program optional credit cathy oresnik [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
TRANSITION PROGRAM
5-10 At Risk Students
Grade 9 to Grade 10
Individualized
Half Day Program
Flexible Time and
Assignments
Built onRelationship
and Community
RIT IN TRANSITION PROGRAM
• Independent Programming– Student topics/ genre of choice– Appropriate level of material– Modeling and think-alouds– 7 Strategies bookmarks– Discussions– Connections to community– Building confidence
Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
CREDIT PROGRAM Designed for at-risk students
Failed course previouslyCourse work was incompleteRecently moved to country or catchmentNeed credit to graduateAre unsuccessful in regular classrooms
RIT IN CREDIT PROGRAM Working on a subject (English, Social
Studies, Family Studies) and RIT outcomes simultaneously.
RIT strategies are used to make sense of curricular material.
Assessments measure curricular outcomes and RIT thinking ‘big ideas’.
As a result, student will receive both credits.
RIT AS AN OPTION CREDIT 12-15 students per class
Teacher/case manager/ parental recommendation
Student choiceMixed class in terms of
grade ability engagement in learning
COURSE FOCUS Individual choice within a structured
class Community building
COURSE STRUCTURE RIT big ideas of Thinking about Self, Text and
the World are interwoven throughout the semester
1. Identity building, goal setting, reflecting 2. Independent Reading3. Strategy instruction Inquiry Project
1. GOAL SETTING AND REFLECTING Interest inventories, bio poems, reading
identities Conferencing on goal setting at
beginning, midterm and end of course
2. STRATEGY INSTRUCTION Gradual Release of Responsibility
Teacher modeling/think alouds/talking to the text
Student practice: groups, partners Individual work: journals, think sheets,
handouts, discussions
Content and Scaffolding
Current events, print and onlineLeveled texts Published seriesStudents’ own textbooks
INQUIRY PROJECT
FOCUS The goal of the inquiry project is to help
students put into practice the strategies we have been working on, and learn skills that will help them complete projects in other subject areas.
Students work on following the inquiry model through exploring a topic or question of their own choice.
Topics may be related to individual interests or may tie into a course the student is taking.
INQUIRY TOPICS Hockey lockout Basketball teams Human cloning Cyber bullying Homophobia Environmental
protection Water rights Animal welfare Art vs graffitti
Iraq (history) Chess Gambling Professional
athlete salaries Drugs in sport
3. INDEPENDENT READING
Develop a reading identity Set goals Explore genres Read at own level Share experiences with other students
INDEPENDENT READING ACTIVITIES
Journals (paragraph/double entry/reading logs
Shelfari book cards Big Ideas Books Book talks Group activities: dinner party, title
cycles, six word memoirs, card sorts (genre, narrator, setting, etc)
ASSESSMENT continuum conferencing portfolio of student work RIT big idea tracking sheet
IN CONCLUSION RIT allows for the flexibility our at- risk
students need to succeed. In our option course, we allow lots of
choice in reading material for independent work but still include many group, community building activities.