This artifact showcases a theoretically informed narrative intervention designed for Tier 1 and Tier 2 instructional support. The intervention draws on both Schema Theory and Vygotsky’s Social Constructivist Theory (Language Development Theory). Schema Theory highlights how learners use their mental frameworks to organize and make sense of new information, while Vygotsky’s work emphasizes how these frameworks are strengthened through interaction and language. Together, both theories inform my own teaching practice by helping guide me to design learning experiences that bring forth students prior knowledge, build new understandings through meaningful dialogue, and scaffold learning in ways that support diverse learners through tiered instruction.
This line of thinking grew from the annotated bibliography completed while researching narrative intervention and the use of tiered instruction. An important source to highlight was Kuhl’s (2000) A New View of Language Acquisition which both challenges and extends Noam Chomsky’s theories by emphasizing the role of experience, interaction and social input in language development. This perspective helps reinforce the value of using both Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports, as it highlights how language skills are strengthened. By applying this framework to my own teaching practice, I am encouraged to create learning opportunities that are interactive, responsive to students and explicitly structured to support language growth through varying levels of need.