Unit 4: Differentiating Instruction in an Inclusive Classroom

3 Components of Systematic instruction.

1- Goal driven Set clear, specific, challenging, & measurable learning goals for students • make goals of whole class, instructional groups, and individuals • goals based on data (goals are listed in IEP for sped students) • teacher should explicitly communicate goals to students • daily goals should connect to long term goals • be clear about what constitutes success, and the steps needed to get there 2- Logically sequenced Organize & sequence lessons logically to target broader goals • explicitly state how the lesson fits within the bigger picture • activities should be structured to support learning goals • less complex content comes before more complex • frequently used content comes first • teachers explicitly teach procedures & skills needed to succeed • confirm background knowledge • reteach as needed • goals broken down into smaller increments as needed but goals should remain clear and relevant 3- Supported and scaffolded Support students in organizing new knowledge by providing scaffolds & structures for learning • make explicit connections between content and skills • show a variety of ways to interact with or demonstrate the skill or concept being taught • use manipulatives and other tools (like graphic organizers & visual aids) to support student organization of new information • teachers must explicitly teach students how these aids can be used to support learning • model how to use tools and allow for guided and independent practice with tools •IEP will say which tools are required for sped students

Steps for Curriculum Compacting

1- Pre-assess to see what students already know. Pre-assessment is the first step in determining what students know and how to meet their needs. 2- Match assessment results with curriculum to determine what to eliminate. Your decision about what content to cover or eliminate for your gifted students must be tied to what those students know based on assessment. 3- Select appropriate substitute activities to provide students enrichment. You should identify alternative activities that will better meet your students' needs. 4- Formatively assess to ensure students remain challenged, engaged, and learning. Even when you have made adjustments, continue to monitor and assess to ensure your plan is working.

Effective feedback is...

1- goal directed 2- constructive 3- immediate 4- respectful & positive

5 research based tips for providing students with meaningful feedback

1. BE AS SPECIFIC AS POSSIBLE Provide learners with information on what exactly they did well, and what may still need improvement. 2. THE SOONER THE BETTER Feedback is most effective when it is given immediately, rather than a few days, weeks, or months down the line. 3. ADDRESS THE LEARNER'S ADVANCEMENT TOWARD A GOAL Effective feedback is most often oriented around a specific achievement that students are (or should be) working toward. When giving feedback, it should be clear to students how the information they are receiving will help them progress toward their final goal. 4. PRESENT FEEDBACK CAREFULLY Sometimes even the most well-meaning feedback can come across the wrong way and reduce a learner's motivation. 5. INVOLVE LEARNERS IN THE PROCESS Students must be given access to information about their performance.... At the broadest level, students need to know if they actually have mastered the material or not.

16 elements of explicit instruction

1. Focus instruction on critical content. Teach skills, strategies, vocabulary terms, concepts, and rules that will empower students in the future and match the students' instructional needs. 2. Sequence skills logically. Teach easier skills before harder skills. Master prerequisites to a skill before teaching the skill itself. 3. Break down complex skills and strategies into smaller instructional units. Teach in small steps. 4. Design organized and focused lessons. Organized lessons are on topic, well sequenced, and contain no irrelevant digressions. 5. Begin lessons with a clear statement of the lesson's goals and your expectations. Tell learners clearly what is to be learned and why it is important. 6. Review prior skills and knowledge before beginning instruction. Verify that students have the prerequisite skills and knowledge to learn the skill being taught 7. Provide step-by-step demonstrations. Model the skill 8. Use clear and concise language. 9. Provide an adequate range of examples and non- examples. 10. Provide guided and supported practice. Start with easier questions. provide lots of guidance. When mastered, you can gradually increase task difficulty as you decrease the level of guidance. 11. Require frequent responses. Plan for a high level of student- teacher interaction via the use of questioning. Having the students respond frequently (i.e., oral responses, written responses, or action responses) helps them focus on the lesson content, provides opportunities for student elaboration, assists you in checking understanding, and keeps students active and attentive. 12. Monitor student performance closely. Close monitoring also allows you to provide feedback to students about how well they are doing. 13. Provide immediate affirmative and corrective feedback 14. Deliver the lesson at a brisk pace. The desired pace is neither so slow that students get bored nor so quick that they can't keep up. 15. Help students organize knowledge. Because many students have difficulty seeing how some skills and concepts fit together, it is important to use teaching techniques that make these connections more apparent or explicit. Well- organized and connected information makes it easier for students to retrieve information and facilitate its integration with new material. 16. Provide distributed and cumulative practice. Distributed practice refers to multiple opportunities to practice a skill over time. Cumulative practice is a method for providing distributed practice by including practice opportunities that address both previously and newly acquired skills. Provide students with multiple practice attempts, in order to address issues of retention as well as automaticity.

3 questions involved in any learning situation (UDL)

1. How does learner pick up information? no one way to present information. need multiple representations so everyone will be able to learn. done often in math with written numbers and math manipulatives. 2. How do they express and act on that information? students vary greatly in how they can express what they know. how they can act skillfully (in language or drawing). need multiple means of action and expression. 3. How are they engaged by the learning situation? if don't engage students in learning, don't make it important to them, make them motivated for it, then they don't learn. need multiple means of engagement.

Principles of Explicit Instruction

1. Optimize engaged time/time on task. The more time students are actively participating in instructional activities, the more they learn. 2. Promote high levels of success. The more successful (i.e., correct/accurate) students are when they engage in an academic task, the more they achieve. 3. Increase content coverage. The more academic content covered effectively and efficiently, the greater potential for student learning. 4. Have students spend more time in instructional groups. The more time students participate in teacher-led, skill-level groups versus one-to-one teaching or seatwork activities, the more instruction they receive, and the more they learn. Breaking a large class into smaller groups allows for more practice and repetition, as well as for closer monitoring. In addition, students who are taught in groups rather than tutored have more opportunity for peer interactions and more practice in academically related skills, such as turn taking, listening to others, and making contributions. 5. Scaffold instruction. Providing support, structure, and guidance during instruction promotes academic success, and systematic fading of this support encourages students to become more independent learners. 6. Address different forms of knowledge. The ability to strategically use academic skills and knowledge often requires students to know different sorts of information at differing levels: the declarative level (what something is, factual information), the procedural level (how something is done or performed), and the conditional level (when and where to use the skill).

5 examples of UDL in the classroom

1. Posted lesson goals Having goals helps students know what they're working to achieve. Examples: Post goals for specific lessons in the classroom. Have students write down or insert lesson goals in their notebooks. Have teacher refer to lesson goals during the lesson itself. 2. Assignment options Multiple ways to complete an assignment. There are tons of possibilities for completing assignments, as long as students meet the lesson goals. Examples: Students create a podcast or a video to show what they know. Draw a comic strip. 3. Flexible work spaces Flexible work spaces for students. Examples: Spaces for quiet individual work, small and large group work, and group instruction. If students need to tune out noise, they can choose to wear earbuds or headphones during independent work. 4. Regular feedback Students get feedback — often every day — on how they're doing. At the end of a lesson, teachers may talk with individual students about lesson goals. Students are encouraged to reflect on the choices they made in class and whether they met the goals. If they didn't meet the goals, they're encouraged to think about what might have helped them do so. 5. Digital and audio text If students can't access information, they can't learn it. Materials are accessible for all types of learners. Students have many options for reading, including print, digital, text-to-speech and audiobooks. For digital text, there are also options for text enlargement, along with choices for screen color and contrast. Videos have captions, and there are transcripts for audio.

6 Teaching functions of explicit teaching

1. Review a. Review homework and relevant previous learning. b. Review prerequisite skills and knowledge. 2. Presentation a. State lesson goals. b. Present new material in small steps. c. Model procedures. d. Provide examples and non- examples. e. Use clear language. f. Avoid digressions. 3. Guided practice a. Require high frequency of responses. b. Ensure high rates of success. c. Provide timely feedback, clues, and prompts. d. Have students continue practice until they are fluent. 4. Corrections and feedback a. Reteach when necessary. 5. Independent practice a. Monitor initial practice attempts. b. Have students continue practice until skills are automatic. 6. Weekly and monthly reviews.

Accommodation

Accommodations allow students with disabilities to access the same assessment that students without disabilities complete. An accommodation, for example, might entail providing extra time or large print on the same assessment other students complete.

Action and Expression (UDL)

Action & Expression (the how of learning, which aligns with strategic networks): physical action, expression and communication, and executive function • way teacher assesses how students demonstrate their skills and knowledge Example: • offer students multiple ways to present (in class or pre-recorded) • provide opportunities for feedback and revision through out class • increase low-stakes assignments that help learners work toward course outcomes • multiple types of activities so students can respond in the way that suits their learning style • modify activity so students with disabilities can physically participate • choose between taking an exam and completing a project. The action gives students more than one way to interact with the material.

Variability (UDL-Related concept)

All learners are different, and instruction should address these differences. Variability requires that learning experiences be designed to meet the needs of all diverse learners—even when those needs are different. • Acknowledging the variability in learner background knowledge and experience is important for educators, because each learner brings a unique blend of experiences and expectations to each learning event. • learners do not learn in one linear pathway.

Alternative Assessment

Alternative assessments are offered to those students whose disabilities are significant or who are gifted and are completing different curriculum and activities. Alternative assessment would involve entirely different questions and content.

Assessment Accommodations

An assessment accommodation is defined as a change in how an assessment is presented or how the applicant is asked to respond. Accommodations may include changes in the presentation format, response format, assessment setting, timing, or scheduling.

Describe when compacting or accelerating is appropriate to meet the needs of gifted students.

Compacting • The curriculum is adapted to include fewer introductory activities and less repetition. Adaptations should be made based on pre-assessment of content knowledge. The time saved may be used for more advanced content instruction or to participate in enrichment activities. This practice does not necessarily result in advanced grade placement. Accelerating • Students are placed in classes with older peers for a part of the day in one or more content areas. Students could physically move to a higher-level class for instruction, or they could use higher-level curricular materials within their original classroom.

Curriculum Compacting

Curriculum compacting is a content acceleration strategy that enables students to skip parts of the curriculum they have already mastered and move on to more challenging content and activities. • requires teachers to organize the curriculum so that students work through those sections of the curriculum that comprise new and challenging information for them. • Eliminating some material that students already know is called compacting and is an appropriate practice for gifted learners. • Research has found positive effects on student achievement even when 50 percent or more of the curriculum is compacted for gifted learners. • Examples: A gifted student in science class completes additional labs instead of the vocabulary unit he already has mastered. Gifted students have a homework choice board with options from the second half of the unit, as they did not study the first half.

Differentiated Instruction (vocabulary mod 7)

Differentiated instruction is a teaching approach that tailor instruction to all students' learning needs. • All the students have the same learning goal. But the instruction varies based on students' interests, preferences, strengths, and struggles. • With differentiated instruction, teachers evaluate student progress and make instructional adjustments throughout the lesson.

Engagement (UDL)

Engagement (the why of learning, which aligns with affective networks): interest, effort and persistence, and self-regulation. • ways to make content interesting, relevant, and motivating for students to learn Example: • offer both group and individual work • design engagement online and face-to-face • allow them to choose topics • minimizes distractions in the classroom and fosters collaboration through community-building

How to differentiate: content

Examples of differentiating content at the elementary level include the following: • Using reading materials at varying readability levels • Putting text materials on tape • Using spelling or vocabulary lists at readiness levels of students • Presenting ideas through both auditory and visual means • Using reading buddies • Meeting with small groups to re-teach an idea or skill for struggling learners, or to extend the thinking or skills of advanced learners

How to differentiate: learning environment

Examples of differentiating learning environment at the elementary level include: • Making sure there are places in the room to work quietly and without distraction, as well as places that invite student collaboration • Providing materials that reflect a variety of cultures and home settings • Setting out clear guidelines for independent work that matches individual needs • Developing routines that allow students to get help when teachers are busy with other students and cannot help them immediately • Helping students understand that some learners need to move around to learn, while others do better sitting quietly

How to differentiate: process

Examples of differentiating process or activities at the elementary level include the following: • Using tiered activities through which all learners work with the same important understandings and skills, but proceed with different levels of support, challenge, or complexity • Providing interest centers that encourage students to explore subsets of the class topic of particular interest to them • Developing personal agendas (task lists written by the teacher and containing both in-common work for the whole class and work that addresses individual needs of learners) to be completed either during specified agenda time or as students complete other work early • Offering manipulatives or other hands-on supports for students who need them • Varying the length of time a student may take to complete a task in order to provide additional support for a struggling learner or to encourage an advanced learner to pursue a topic in greater depth. Other ways to differentiate process include: • Differentiating student activities in a lesson • Use differentiation to create a range of student activities that meet students' different backgrounds, interests, or needs. • Students can choose the activities that help them learn the content best, allowing each student to use a different process to master the material. For example, in one lesson, students might show their learning by participating in a discussion, writing a paragraph, or recording themselves acting out a concept.

How to differentiate: products

Examples of differentiating products at the elementary level include the following: • Giving students options of how to express required learning (e.g., create a puppet show, write a letter, or develop a mural with labels) • Using rubrics that match and extend students' varied skills levels • Allowing students to work alone or in small groups on their products • Encouraging students to create their own product assignments as long as the assignments contain required elements.

Explicit, Systematic Instruction

Explicit Components During this highly structured instruction, the teacher: • Clearly identifies the skills or concepts to be learned, which might include highlighting important details • Connects the new content to previous learning • Gives precise instructions • Models concepts or procedures in a step-by-step manner and includes "think alouds"— the teacher verbalizing his or her thought process while demonstrating the concept or procedure • Provides opportunities to practice, using the following scaffolded instruction sequence: ○ Guided practice - Students and the teacher work problems together, with the students gradually solving more of the problem. ○ Independent practice - Students work independently or in small groups to solve problems. • Encourages the student to verbalize the strategy he is using to solve the problem and his reasons for doing so • Offers specific feedback about correct and incorrect actions, followed by time to correct errors; includes reteaching and clarifying instructions • Checks for and promotes maintenance Systematic Components During this carefully planned and sequenced instruction, the teacher: • Presents lessons that build on one another, moving from simple skills and concepts to more complex ones or from high-frequency skills to low-frequency skills • Breaks complex skills into smaller, more manageable chunks, a method also known as task analysis. • Prioritizes and sequences tasks from easy to more difficult • Scaffolds instruction by providing temporary supports (e.g., manipulatives, written prompts or cues)

Alternative assessment activities for gifted students.

Gifted students benefit from assessment that allows them to show their unique skills and knowledge. Alternative assessment is a particularly appropriate way to assess authentic, project-based learning. Performance-based assessments • Focuses on real-world applications or tasks. • Asks students to complete a task that is often linked to real-world applications (students may make, do, or analyze something). ○ criteria call for open-ended, focusing on higher level thinking and problem solving, and stressing articulation of the thinking processes employed.

Assessment Accommodations Categories & Examples

IDEA raised the standards for students with disabilities by requiring that they have access to the general education curriculum, and by requiring that they be included in state assessment programs with appropriate accommodations. These higher expectations for students with disabilities have increased attention to providing the accommodations students need to have full and equal access to educational opportunities in instruction and testing. Test modifications must be based on individual student needs. Timing Example: Allowing extended time to complete a test Receiving extra breaks Untimed test. Test at best time for student Setting Example: Completing assessments in a separate room (individually or in a small group) In sped class With special lights or acoustics Place with minimal distractions Presentation Example: Having an aide read questions or text aloud. Providing test material in Braille. Large print. Standard directions read several times at start of test Key words underlined or highlighted Additional examples Fewer items per page Student cued to stay on task Assistive technology Device to screen out extraneous sounds Response Example: Writing answers on paper rather than using a computer. Using a dictionary during assessments. Student dictates and proctor records Student audiotapes response Spelling, punctuation, and paragraphing requirements waived Arithmetic table Calculator Spell check or grammar check

Unit 4 Summary

In this unit, you have learned about numerous approaches to differentiate instruction and assessment for your diverse students within an inclusive classroom setting. You have read about UDL and differentiation, reviewed examples of these practices in classroom settings, identified evidence-based approaches such as explicit and systematic instruction, reviewed strategies for supporting learners with gifts and talents, and learned how to differentiate assessment practices. As you continue to reflect on what you have learned, remember that teaching does not occur in isolation. The information contained in this unit is most meaningful when it is applied in the context of your own experience, your students' needs, and what you have learned in other units throughout this course.

Scaffolded Instruction

Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centered learning, which tends to facilitate more efficient learning than teacher-centered learning. This learning process promotes a deeper level of learning than many other common teaching strategies.

Modification vs. Accommodation

Modifications change what a student learns, and accommodations change how a student learns.

Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners

Offer the most difficult first. Most Difficult First" is one manageable way for teachers to compact the curriculum for their high-ability students. With compacting, students get to "throw away" the part of the curriculum that they already know, while receiving full credit for those competencies. This frees up students to work on more challenging content. Prepare to Take It Up. Use standards as a baseline. Have several piles of activities there that take a concept up or down." Optional challenge work is available to anyone who wants to try it. Speak to Students Interests. Offer menu of options. Allow students to tailor a project to their interests. Enable Gifted Students to Work Together. It boosts their academic achievement and benefits other students in the classroom, as well. When gifted students work together, they challenge themselves in unexpected ways. Plan for Tiered Learning. Planning lessons or units at different tiers of difficulty. Develop deep and complex activities for high-ability students at the same time that plan lessons.

Progress Monitoring

Progress monitoring involves reviewing data to determine what type and intensity of support is needed • use of ongoing assessment and decision-making based on assessment is characteristic of progress monitoring. • process in which teachers collect useful assessment data and use those data to make instructional decisions.

Methods of curriculum-based measurement Progress Monitoring

Reading requires students to read a passage aloud for one minute with the instructor determining the number of words correctly read. The student should have one copy of the passages to read from, and the instructor should have another to note the number of words read correctly. (Something student never read before and at the student's instructional level) Spelling asking students to spell words from dictation for two minutes. Instructors then count the number of correctly written letter sequences. (Spelling words represent the skills students are expected to master by the end of the school year.) Math answer computational problems for two minutes. Instructors then count the number of correct digits. (Problems should represent the skills students are expected to master by the end of the school year.)

Representation (UDL)

Representation (the what of learning, which aligns with recognition networks): perception, language and symbols, and comprehension. • ways teacher provides materials and resources using a range of presentation formats and techniques Example: • offer text, visual, and audio information (integrate readings, videos, visuals, infographics, and lectures) • provide rubrics that offer detailed instructions and performance examples ○ record class sessions (in whole or in part)

Reteaching

Reteaching is sometimes appropriate, and individualized practice allows students to work on the skills most needed or to move ahead if appropriate. • Example: At the end of the lesson, you collect an exit ticket and notice that only 40 percent of your students have met the objective. Begin with a brief reteaching of the content in question, and then allow students time for individual practice in areas where they most need it.

Scaffolding in explicit instruction

Scaffolding instruction can be applied by using several elements of explicit instruction: 1. Taking a complex skill (e.g., a multistep strategy) and teaching it in manageable and logical pieces or chunks. 2. Sequencing skills so that they build on each other. 3. Selecting examples and problems that progress in complexity. 4. Providing demonstrations and completed models of problems. 5. Providing hints and prompts as students begin to practice a new skill. 6. Providing aids such as cue cards and checklists to help students remember the steps and processes used to complete tasks and solve problems.

6 steps for designing systematic instruction

Step 1: Define the instructional objective. Identify your objective first and then break it down in to a single step or a chain of steps to complete. Step 2: Choose an appropriate teaching/prompting strategy and materials. Find a way to teach or prompt them through the process to eventually get to the instructional objective and complete the skill on their own. Step 3: Determine the data collection method. Track how students are progressing. Step 4: Implement the instructional strategy and collect data. It is imperative that you also determine an appropriate reinforcement strategy. . You can make learning fun by reinforcing the benefits of correct skill usage and support students along the way. Step 5: Evaluate your data. You should do this to find out whether the strategy you are using to teach a skill is effective and whether there is an increase in student comprehension or capability Step 6: Refine the process and make decisions based on data. You should always take the results you are seeing in your data into consideration when determining whether you should adjust your instructional strategies

Process of Progress Monitoring

Student progress monitoring is a fairly simple process. 1. First, instructors identify the curriculum material they expect students to master over the school year. 2. Instructors then use the identified material to develop or select appropriate, curriculum-based measurement assessments, which are also called 'probes.' 3. Then instructors assess students frequently-once a week is recommended. 4. Finally, student scores are charted on a graph, and instructors base educational decisions on the data culled from each probe

features of systematically designed instruction

Systematic instruction has several key defining characteristics, such as being goal-driven, following a sequence, and incorporating scaffolds and supports.

Systematic Instruction

Systematic instruction provides teachers with a road map to design and organize lessons that help students master content and skills. Instructional intensity increases depending on individual students needs (students w/ disabilities need more). Systematic instruction should follow a logical sequence (lessons build on one another) to help students meet the goal. Examples: • A teacher collects data to ensure his activities have prepared his students to meet the learning goal. Systematic instruction is goal-oriented and often involves collecting data to monitor student learning. • Students writing a paragraph may use graphic organizers and word banks as needed to meet the lesson objective. This activity includes supports and scaffolds and is geared toward meeting the lesson goal.

4 elements of a lesson to differentiate

Teachers can differentiate at least four classroom elements based on student readiness, interest, or learning profile: Content - what the student needs to learn or how the student will get access to the information (example: use preassessment to determine where instruction should begin and match student with appropriate activity, give different resources based on comprehension, or teacher uses material with different reading levels) Process - activities in which the student engages in order to make sense of or master the content (example: different amounts of teacher support during the lesson or setting up workstations) Products - culminating projects that ask the student to rehearse, apply, and extend what he or she has learned in a unit (example: several types of assessment) Learning environment - the way the classroom works and feels. (example: student sits at front of class or create places in the class where students can work quietly)

best practices for ensuring students with disabilities participate in formative assessments and succeed

Teachers can use scaffolding, such as providing clear models, offering opportunities for students to check work or think-pair-share, and using active learning approaches that tie to the objective or goal. • Need clear learning target for every lesson to succeed • Explain importance and relevance of learning target • Show sample work at various levels of achieving learning target • Student's work shows where they are in achieving the learning target • Each lesson should include something for the students to do, make, say, or write that embodies the learning target. Just listening to a teacher talk does not constitute such an activity. The students must do something that helps them actively pursue the learning target and at the same time gives them evidence of how they are doing • Provide success criteria (as rubrics, guiding questions, a list of "I can" statements, a checklist, etc.) that are more specific and descriptive than the learning target statement. • Have students explain the learning target or criteria for success in their own words. Or think-pair-share. Or another activity so they can understand the learning target and criteria.

Student choice as part of UDL

The use of student choice builds engagement and offers multiple avenues for action and expression; you have incorporated supports as needed and allowed students to choose what to use. Example: You allow your students to choose whether to complete a worksheet or a video journal, and you offer them a word bank and vocabulary chart if they need support.

I do, we do, you do

This sequence incorporates the "I do, we do, you do" approach that is typical of explicit instruction. Explicit instruction requires a clear presentation of the target skill and opportunities for practice.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

UDL is an instructional framework for challenging, supporting, and engaging learners. • teaching approach that works to accommodate the needs and abilities of all learners and eliminates unnecessary hurdles in the learning process. • When using UDL, classroom instruction and the environment are evaluated prior to the lesson and in the beginning of the lesson. With differentiated instruction, teachers evaluate student progress and make instructional adjustments throughout the lesson • The UDL framework emphasizes that the classroom environment must be tailored to the student. • While UDL can be particularly effective for students with exceptionalities, it can help teachers to provide effective instruction for all students from all backgrounds and with different learning styles.

Steps of Explicit Instruction

Use a logical sequence Teacher action: You plan your lesson based on the curriculum goal for your unit. You begin each lesson where the previous day's lesson finished, and the lessons build toward preparing your students for the summative assessment. You are aligning all activities to a goal and making sure each lesson builds toward the same overall aim and follows the lessons before it in a logical pattern. Provide clear models and samples Teacher action: You are hoping to have your students complete a writing assignment. In preparation, you pass out a student paper from last year, ask the class to critique it, and then distribute another exemplary paper they can refer to as they work. You use a paper from last year as a model, allow students to interact with it, and then provide a second model for students. Offer opportunities for practice and feedback Teacher action: As students complete their classwork, they ask a peer to check it with them and then, when they are finished with peer discussion, they raise a hand so that you can come over and review any questions with them. You have provided opportunities for practice, peer feedback, and teacher feedback through peer review and teacher conferencing. Provide a range of examples and non-examples Teacher action: As students are learning a new concept, you give them several illustrations of how that concept works in different settings, along with examples of issues that are not related to that idea. Students see how your concept works in real life and, also, have concrete examples of ideas that are not relevant to the concept.

Formative Assessment

a process of evaluating the students' knowledge as they learn. It is a method of on-going assessment and it involves putting together a series of quick-fire questions and exercises to help you monitor the learner's progress during the course.

Summative Assessment

a type of course evaluation that happens at the end of a training or program. It is the process of assessing the student's knowledge, proficiency, and performance by comparing what they know with what they should have learned.

3 Principles of UDL (Universal Design for Learning)

multiple means of representation show the information in different ways • present content and information in multiple media • provide varied supports • use graphics and animation • highlight critical features • activate background knowledge • support vocabulary multiple means of action and expression allow students to approach learning tasks and demonstrate what they know in different ways. • give plenty of options for expressing what they know • provide models, feedback, and supports for different levels of proficiency multiple means of engagement offer options that engage students and keep their interest. • give students choices to fuel their interests and autonomy • help them risk mistakes and learn from them • if they love learning, they will persist through challenges Multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement are the pillars of UDL design. These three core elements of UDL represent the "what," "how," and "why" students learn.

Acceleration

• Acceleration provides access to higher grade-level curriculum moving at a faster pace. Students completing accelerated curriculum do more advanced work at a faster pace than their peers. • Acceleration offers students the opportunity to move beyond grade-level curriculum that has already been mastered. • Examples: Gifted students complete work for the year during the first semester and then move on to the next grade level's curriculum. A gifted ninth grader is approved to take tenth-grade English.

UDL (Universal Design for Learning) at a glance

• Curriculum that can be used and understood by everyone. • Always keep in mind the learning goal • Make learning goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone. • Get rid of barriers caused by the curriculum • Keep the challenge where it belongs. • Students need to gain knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for learning. • Students are motivated when they see purpose in learning, educators present content in a variety of ways, and students use a range of methods to express knowledge.

Describe how differentiation enables teachers to meet the individual learning needs of students.

• Differentiation helps teachers to tailor, or differentiate, lessons to the needs of their learners. • Differentiation allows student to demonstrate knowledge in the way that works best for her. Differentiating process, product, content, or environment would allow the student to show her mastery of the material given her unique learning needs. • Differentiation can be helpful for students with and without individualized education plans. As with UDL, differentiation is often particularly powerful for students with IEPs or 504 plans, or students who are ELs. But teachers can differentiate for any learner, even those who do not have specialized learning needs. • Teachers can use both differentiation and UDL simultaneously; there is no need to choose one or the other. • Differentiation is not about lowering the bar or reducing student learning but about delivering content in the way that works best for the student.

Explicit Instruction

• Explicit instruction is a whole-class approach that focuses on systematically modeling and steps to complete a skill and includes multiple opportunities for students to practice the skill and receive teacher feedback. • Requires a clear presentation of the target skill and opportunities for practice • Provides a series of instructional supports or scaffolds first through the logical selection and sequencing of content then by breaking down that content into manageable instructional units based on students' cognitive capabilities • Instructional delivery is characterized by clear descriptions and demonstrations of a skill, followed by supported practice and timely feedback. Initial practice has lots of teacher support. when students understand support is systematically withdrawn until student can work independently. • "I do, we do, you do" pattern • Explicit instruction should be a consistent mainstay of working with students both with and without learning difficulties • Explicit instruction is underscored by a learning theory known as the information processing model. It is based on the assumption we only remember what we think about, and keep thinking about.

Summarize how explicit instruction addresses the needs of students with learning difficulties.

• Explicit instruction is particularly useful for students with learning disabilities because it makes content clear and provides students with opportunities for practice. • Multiple opportunities for success give students more opportunities to master content and build student self-confidence. • Guided practice can allow students to work together and practice the skill with feedback from one another. • Models, examples, and non-examples show student with learning difficulties what their work should look like • promotes active student engagement by requiring frequent and varied responses followed by appropriate affirmative and corrective feedback • assists long-term retention through use of purposeful practice strategies. • students with mild learning disabilities need well-organized and explicitly taught content. Need (1) clear expectations about what is to be learned, (2) clarity of presentation, (3) multiple opportunities for student responses, (4) active teacher monitoring of these responses, and (5) frequent evaluation and feedback. • explicit instruction has consistently shown positive effects on the math performance of students with mathematical difficulties

Explain how to differentiate assessment for students with exceptionalities.

• Formative classroom assessment for students with disabilities should include engaging activities just as instruction should. Formative assessment can be engaging and can involve students; it need not be focused on rote response or memorization and recall. • Differentiated assessment allows more accurate measurement of what students know Example of differentiated assessment: • Tell students the topic, and allow them to select from a menu of product options that they could complete to summarize their knowledge about the topic. This option is differentiated on the basis of students' preferred types of activity and allows them to choose the product that best shows their knowledge and works for their learning profile. • An exit ticket with options to complete different questions, of varying difficulty, is differentiated on the basis of content. Students are working toward the same standard or objective but work with different content in doing so. • A choice board could be an appropriate assessment differentiated on the basis of students' learning profiles. Students could select the items on the choice board that best fit their learning needs.

Task Analysis

• Involves breaking information or steps down into their component steps or sub-tasks. • Breaking a task or piece of information into smaller steps or pieces of information so that students can more easily master it. • Part of systematic instruction • Task analysis helps teachers determine the components of a task in order to identify the most productive way to teach and reinforce them Example: Sample Task Analysis Task: adding two two-digit numbers Step 1: Add the numbers in the one's column. Step 2: If the sum is less than 10, write the number under the one's column. If the sum is 10 or greater, write the one's digit under the one's column and write the ten's digit on top of the ten's column. Step 3: Add the numbers in the ten's column. If applicable, be sure to include the number you carried. Step 4: Write the sum of the numbers under the ten's column.

Recommend best practices for instruction of gifted and talented students at various grade levels.

• It should involve supported risk-taking with assurance that occasional failure is acceptable. Effective instruction should support students in taking risks and occasionally falling short as part of the process of meeting high expectations. • Create an alternative activity with higher-order thinking questions and extension activities for students who answer pre-assessment questions correctly. Alternative activities that challenge students and encourage them to continue thinking about content are an appropriate extension of learning for gifted students. • Beginning with the most challenging material. As independent learners, gifted students may need less scaffolding or direct instruction than typical students, and beginning with more challenging material can help teachers determine what they should do next. • For gifted students, collaboration and self-monitoring are two strategies that can lead to engagement and learning. Meaningful, challenging group work, coupled with self-monitoring so that students are aware of their own strengths and progress as learners, can help keep gifted learners engaged. • Students who are gifted can remain in general education classrooms as long as teachers plan differentiated activities for them. As with all learners, the general education classroom can be an appropriate setting for gifted education as long as the classroom teacher provides challenging opportunities to learn at each student's skill level.

Describe strategies for academic progress monitoring.

• Often linked with response to intervention (RTI), but it can apply to many different types of assessment and data analysis, based on the needs and grade level of the students in question. • Students can and should be involved in tracking their own growth in age-appropriate ways. • Progress monitoring is most easily implemented with elementary students but can be conducted effectively at any level. While elementary school teachers may find it easier to collaborate, to analyze data across subjects, and to administer short objective probes, progress monitoring can be conducted at any grade level and should occur at all stages of a student's career. • Progress monitoring should occur for both academics and behavior. • Progress monitoring also works well with students who have an IEP plan ○ instructors can work with curriculum goals and state standards to develop each student's individual goals ○ individual goals can be easily measured and tracked with curriculum-based measurements that break down the goals into smaller, measurable steps that are assessed weekly • Regularly measures all skills to be learned • Enables instructors to continually evaluate their instructional methods and make informed decisions about how to improve instruction.

Describe strategies for implementing systematic instruction.

• Scaffolding Graphic organizers and self-monitoring checks can be considered examples of scaffolding, an important element of systematic instruction. • Coherent Sequencing For each new activity, explain how it ties to the activities completed earlier. Tying activities to previous work helps students see a coherent sequence in the lesson. • Move from Easy to Complex Systematic instruction involves moving from easy to complex content or skills so that students can see the logical sequence in their own learning and can master each subskill as it is presented. • Data Collecting Collecting data allows teachers to ensure students are meeting the lesson goal. It also allows teachers to make adjustments so that all students can meet the goal. • Task Analysis A task analysis will help you identify potential areas of difficulty so you can offer more intensive supports. Identifying areas of confusion and providing appropriate supports is consistent with systematic instruction.

Describe the underlying principles of explicit instruction.

• Students with disabilities often benefit from instruction that is clear, direct, and explicit. The focus of this approach is to make clear to students exactly what they need to know and how to perform the targeted skills. • Explicit instruction is based on principles of effective instruction. • Use skill-based small groups extensively. Skill-based, teacher-supervised small groups allow students to remain engaged, learn from each other, and interact extensively with content, promoting learning. (Explicit instruction often uses small group work, but it does not always need to incorporate group work.) • six core functions: review, presentation, guided practice, feedback, independent practice, and ongoing review. • When presenting a new skill, it is important to model the skill and provide examples and non-examples to aid student understanding. • Includes teacher feedback in some form. Teachers may provide feedback in a variety of ways, but explicit instruction requires teacher feedback as students transition to guided practice and independent performance of the skill.

Plasticity (UDL-Related concept)

• The brain can change and develop over time. Plasticity means that the brain can grow and develop. Well-designed lessons can help that process so that students become skilled and independent learners. As a classroom teacher, you will want to consider how your students' brains are developing and changing so that you can meet their instructional needs based on where they are at that moment. • learning is a constant growth process constructed over time. • formative feedback and opportunities for active learning create and strengthen the connections within our learning brains.

Explain evidence-based practices regarding how the type, delivery, and timeliness of feedback impact learning.

• The nature of effective feedback may vary depending on the type of activity or assessment the student has completed. For example, feedback should be different for formal assessments, informal reading assessments, and class discussions. • Written feedback should include specific comments and a general discussion of error patterns. Written feedback should address any specific errors and general patterns of student performance. • Praise what they do well so they are confident and don't give up. Praise specifically what they are doing right. • Provide feedback that clearly and explicitly identifies what needs to be improved in order to move learners forward and promote students' understanding of concepts. To best meet students' immediate learning needs, teachers should use this evidence to adapt instruction in real time

Goals (UDL-Related concept)

• The nervous system responds positively to motivation. Having goals improves focus; the brain responds positively to knowing what the goal is and having the support to accomplish it. As a classroom teacher, you will want to ensure that you set clear goals and communicate them to your students so that they are able to remain focused on learning. • Recognizing that our brains are goal-driven is important for educators, because if we don't make learning goals explicit to our learners, they have no way of knowing what the target is, how to reach it, or when they've achieved it.

Explain how assessment data inform changes in practice.

• Using assessment data to make changes teacher's instruction to better meet students' needs. May need to build background knowledge or reteach a concept. Assessments show when a particular student needs remediation or intervention to build a skill. • Targeted, differentiated support will ensure these students have necessary accommodations and reteaching to meet the grade-level standard. • Assessment data should be used to ensure instruction is within the student's zone of proximal development, or at a level just beyond where the student currently is. Effective instruction will ask students to push themselves and grow, and assessment data help identify the most efficient way to do that. • Assessment data can be used to help teachers and students set meaningful goals. Assessment data can identify where students are now, and therefore it is a helpful way to determine where they should be in the future. • In addition to collecting classroom assessment data, teachers should ask students for feedback about their learning. Student reflections, feedback, and observation can be valuable additional sources of data, collected through informal assessment processes.

Apply UDL principles to meet the needs of exceptional learners.

• allow for multiple means of expression let student with disability select the method of expressing knowledge that works best for her and does not allow her struggles to get in the way of her demonstrating understanding. • offer all students support and a menu of enrichment activities to complete. This approach offers learning supports to all students, not only the student with a disability, and provides all learners choices for enrichment and extra challenge. This approach meets the student's needs in an inclusive fashion without singling him out. • UDL can be especially helpful for teachers in diverse general education classrooms, but it is appropriate for any setting, with any group of learners. • Consider Goals, barriers to learning, student traits in the UDL-based lesson-planning process. Any UDL lesson should be based on the goals students need to achieve, should seek to minimize barriers to learning, and should be aligned to the strengths and needs of that group of students. • Providing dictionaries, calculators, and memory aids can be a useful UDL strategy for students with exceptionalities. Providing support with memory-based or fluency-based tasks such as spelling and computation can free students up to focus on higher-order thinking tasks. • Accommodations can be included in UDL-based lessons. They can be made available to all learners when appropriate, such as when teachers allow all students to use a laptop or calculator, or they can be provided to individual students within the context of an inclusive lesson.

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) Assessments Progress Monitoring

• the most widely known method of progress monitoring • Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) instruments, or probes, typically include a short sampling of items from the curriculum. CBM probes include items from across the curriculum to provide a representative indicator of the student's skills. • Immediately useable information. CBM provides information about how the student is mastering skills being taught at the moment.

Explicit Instruction includes

○ a clear teacher model for the new skill or concept ○ multiple chances for guided practice with appropriate scaffolding, frequent and direct teacher feedback ○ examples and non-examples ○ independent practice.