EDSP 622
Special Education
Task 2: Instruction Commentary
Task 2: Part B – Instruction Commentary
Respond to the prompts below (no more than 8 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored. You may insert no more than 2 additional pages of supporting documentation at the end of this file. These pages may include graphics, texts, or images that are not clearly visible in the video; a transcript of inaudible comments or unclear sign language communication in the video; or translations of words and/or phrases in a language other than English or sign language that appear in the video. These pages do not count toward your page total.
1. Which lesson or lessons are shown in the clip(s)? Identify the lesson(s) by lesson plan number. Describe any changes in the lesson plans for the lessons shown in the clip(s) and the reasons for those changes.
[The video attached shows Lesson 1. The only changes in the lesson were specific pictures shown to the focus learner, as only certain picture cards were available. The Expanding Expression Tool (EET) curriculum comes with a limited number of pictures and those are used by the teacher for assessments only. Those have the name of what is on the picture, and they are more realistic, such as what I have included in the baseline data and the summative assessment on the assessment records document (Task 3B). For Lessons 1-3, I used generic picture cards, and even though they were more like clip art or drawing, the focus learner could still easily tell what it was. The picture cards shown to the focus learner and used in lesson 1 are as follows, in this order—rake, bus, bee, and yo-yo—see image at end of this document.]
2. If applicable, provide any additional information (beyond that provided in Planning Task 1) needed to understand the learning environment or interactions seen in each clip.
a. Identify the district, school, cooperating teacher, or student teaching requirements or expectations (e.g., prescribed reading curriculum) that affect your instructional delivery related to the learning goal described in Planning Task 1.
[The focus learner’s IEP goal for writing specifically centers around the use of the Expanding Expressions Tool, a curriculum that teaches and uses different elements about objects to help students get detail into their writing (Smith, 2007), so that was the basis for my instruction. The first lesson’s objective was to get the focus learner to write a simple introduction to her writing piece, which very much needs to be an automatic response of hers when she is presented with a writing task, whether in her IEP progress monitoring assessments, or even in the general education classroom. Her IEP assessment writing rubric has a possible two points for having an introduction, and while this is not necessarily one of the elements of the EET tool, it must be present in every writing assignment. In talking with her teachers and speech/language pathologist, this is something they all agreed that she needed work on.]
b. If more than one learner appears in a clip, provide information to identify the focus learner (e.g., clothing, position in setting).
[No other learner appears in the clip.]
3. Promoting a Positive Learning Environment
Refer to scenes in the video clip(s) where you provided a positive learning environment.
a. Describe how you demonstrated respect for and rapport with all learners.
[ During the lesson, I situated myself next to the focus learner, yet with plenty of space for her to work and also to be able to see the visuals that are consistently used in all the lessons taught at the table. I also let her make all of her own corrections on both the whiteboard and paper instead of erasing or writing for her. This may take more time, but it shows respect for her space and her work. If students are going to be proud of work they have done, they need to have ownership of it.
At 0:35, when I was introducing the goal of the learning segment to the focus learner (i.e. writing an introduction, she began going through the manipulative, saying, “Green Group, Blue Do…” and so on. Instead of stopping her, I said them with her and then continued on with my objective. At 2:20 in the video, she did the same thing, right after I did an example, and I said to her, “You know those so well! I’m glad.”
At 3:35 – 3:50, when the focus learner writes the word “bus”, she writes the wrong vowel at first on the whiteboard, so I repeat the short “u” sound (/u/) and she is sounding it out with me. She is positioned so that she can see me, hear me, and also able to easily look up at the vowel sounds that are posted on the wall behind me. She was able to catch the mistake just with the verbal cue and I like whiteboards for practicing because it’s so much easier to wipe off and re-do than pencil, paper, eraser. In this exchange, I told her, “Good fixing!” and we did not spend a lot more time than that on any errors, but just moved on to the next thing.
Toward the end of the lesson, (7:43 in the video) after the second guided practice (writing the sentence, This is a bee., I gave her a high-five and told her that she was getting good at introductions.
Throughout the lesson, I also gave her time to write and didn’t rush her. I tried to give her enough time to complete each task so that she could think and write without talking in the background. If part of my goal for her is to be able to verbalize what she is thinking and then write it, there has to be time to do that. There has to be quiet space and a quiet environment in which to do that. ]
b. Describe how you provided a positive learning environment that both supported and challenged your focus learner in relation to the learning goal, moving the focus learner toward self-determination.
[ At the very beginning of the lesson, I introduced our objective by explaining to the focus learner exactly why we are doing it. I first talk about the writing assessments that we give her and then explicitly tell her at 0:19 – 0:34 in the clip, that one thing we have to work on is writing an introduction before we can start working through the Green Group, Blue Do…etc. (the EET tool). Because of her past assessments and her difficulty with writing down her thoughts, it was important to support this learner in being explicit and in the case of writing an introduction, to give her the words to the say. The introduction needed to be simplified, not only for the purpose of her writing assessments, but also so that she could use this skill in her classroom writing. Being able to get an introductory sentence down on paper and know that she has a good start to her writing assignments and assessments gives the focus learner confidence and will move her toward self-determination. Now she will be able to begin her writing confidently and then use the EET tool with greater effectiveness.
Another example of my providing a positive learning environment that supported and challenged my focus learner in relation to the learning goal, was modeling the skill for her. At 1:04 – 1:40 in the clip, I showed her how to introduce the rake. When I turned the card over, and she saw that it was a rake, she said, “A rake!”. I immediately said, “This is a rake!” so that she could hear right away, what is expected. We will see the picture and we will say, This is a ____. Every time. This will move her toward writing the introduction—making her first thought about the picture card a proper sentence that introduces the card. I proceed to tell her that the first thing we need to do is introduce it, and then I write it on a whiteboard and then on the writing paper. When I get the paper out and I tell the focus learner that I have to write about the rake (at 1:54 – 2:13) in the clip, she says out loud as I write, “This is a rake.” She is showing already that she is starting to connect the first thought to the first task of writing assignments.
At 6:00 – 6:08 in the video, I show the picture card of a bee, and she doesn’t know what it is, so I just made a buzzing sound and motion like a bee was landing on her, and she responded, “Bee!”. She likes motions and sounds, so I think this helped her to feel like she figured it out, which gives confidence for the next part of the lesson, which is the actual objective—to introduce the bee picture.]
4. Engaging and Motivating the Focus Learner
Refer to examples from the clip(s) in your explanations. For group instruction, you may refer to interactions with other learners as examples of collective strategies accessible to the focus learner.
a. Explain how your strategies engaged and motivated the focus learner to develop and apply the knowledge and skills related to the learning goal.
[ The learner was directed to write the introductory sentence on a whiteboard first and then on paper, which gives opportunity to say it, write it, and read it twice for each example used in instruction. At 6:15, the focus learner writes the sentence This is a bee., first on the whiteboard and then at 7:05 on her paper, when I say, “It’s writing time”. This is her second guided practice before the independent practice.
The lesson was set up to have modeling (I Do), which was the rake, shown at 0:50 – 0:53, and then a guided practice in which we did a couple tasks together (2:25 – 2:27—the bus, and 6:06—the bee) and then she did one on her own. When we wrote the introduction for the bee, her second guided practice, I asked her how we could write it in a sentence instead of just saying it, and she really did a great job of saying and then writing, “This is a bee”. She had gradually learned this and was ready then for one on her own. At 8:14 – 8:18, the focus learner was simply given a piece of writing paper and asked to write about the picture of a yo-yo. At first she is not sure what the picture is, but gets it within a couple seconds. We had to cover how to spell yo-yo, but she got the introduction and at 9:43 – 9:50, when I asked her to read me her introduction, it was spot on.
I think one of the main strategies that motivates this focus learner is one that we don’t often write down or think about, because it’s usually thought of as a support, but it is giving one-on-one attention. Many students lose motivation as soon as the teacher moves to another learner. To be able to give a student eye contact and undivided attention can really help them develop a skill more quickly. For my focus learner, this is even more important when considering her hearing impairment and her age. It is gratifying to help her develop and solidify this skill.]
b. Describe how your instruction linked the focus learner’s prior learning and personal, family, cultural, and/or community assets with new learning related to the learning goal.
[The learner has been trained to know what the components of the EET writing tool stand for, but does not yet consistently use a topic sentence in her writing. As mentioned in 3.a. of this Instruction Commentary, the focus learner was encouraged in her prior knowledge of this tool, and then directed to add an element before she uses the EET manipulative. At 5:06 – 5:15, after she wrote the introductory sentence, This is a bus., I told her that before we even start to describe the bus we just said that “This is a bus”. And then I moved her paper up so that the sentence she wrote was above the “green group” bead of the EET visual. She has been using the EET tool with the speech therapist, so both she and the general education classroom teacher also mentioned that the focus learner has not been utilizing introductions in her writing. This lesson is designed to explicitly teach this skill through visuals, modeling, direct instruction and practice. This skill will be able to be generalized across learning environments and both of those teachers liked this idea and will encourage it’s use in their rooms.]
c. Describe the strategies you used to move the focus learner toward independently initiating and/or maintaining active engagement in learning tasks related to the learning goal.
[To move the focus learner toward independently maintaining active engagement in the learning tasks, I used an “I Do, We Do, You Do” approach. I first showed her one (1:04), then we did one together (2:25), and after one more together, using both the whiteboard and the paper/pencil, she does one independently without the whiteboard step (7:53). At 7:59 – 8:15 in the video, for her last task, I told her that we did not need the whiteboard and I told her in the same way that I would for the assessments, to write about that picture. I gradually led her to doing one on her own. In addition, after every sentence that she wrote during the lesson, I asked her to read what she wrote, and sometimes to say it out loud as she was writing it. This will help her to stay engaged in what she is producing—from thinking, to writing, to reading—ultimately showing that these three aspects must be consistent.]
5. Deepening Learning
Refer to examples from the clip(s) in your explanations. For instruction in a group, you may refer to interactions with other learners that informed application of learning by the focus learner.
a. Explain how you elicited and responded to the focus learner’s performance to promote application of learning related to the learning goal.
[Starting at 7:37, I asked the focus learner to read me what she wrote on her paper. When she read, “This is a bee,” I gave her a high-five and told her that she was getting good at introductions. And then at 7:45 – 7:50 I told her, “You are introducing the picture…That’s the first thing you need.” Throughout the lesson, we talked about introducing, and how it is the first sentence. By the end of the lesson when she is simply asked to independently write about a new picture (the yo-yo), she starts writing without any hesitation (8:27 – 8: 30). Aside from helping her with the spelling of the word “yo-yo, she produces the introductory sentence “This is a yo-yo”. She has applied all of the knowledge from modeled tasks and the guided practices to her own work.]
b. Describe opportunities provided to the focus learner to apply feedback to improve performance related to the learning goal.
[When the focus learner used the wrong vowel in the word “bus” in the guided practice, I made the sound of the short u and asked her if she could hear that sound. She looked up at me and then she immediately knew what vowel to use. She does very well with looking at the shape your mouth is making at the same time she is hearing the sound. I also directed her to the visuals of the vowels that are posted on the wall and connected that sound to the ones that they have learned. The clip of this exchange happens from 3:43 – 3:50.]
c. Describe how you moved the focus learner toward self-evaluation or self-correction to improve performance related to the learning goal.
[At 3:09 – 3:35 in the video, I encouraged the focus learner to say the sentence as she was writing it, as this helps the learner to match what she is thinking and saying to what she is writing. In addition, at 3:57, I reminded the focus learner what was the last thing she needed on her sentence, and right away, she said “period”, and added it. Before each task, she is asked to say it out loud, as well as during writing, and afterwards to read it. While reading it, she sometimes catches errors and corrects them, before I can even ask her to check them, such as in the exchange listed above when she corrected her spelling of bus (3:43 – 3: 50).]
6. Supporting Teaching and Learning
Refer to examples from the clip(s) in your explanations.
a. Explain how your materials, planned supports, and instructional strategies facilitated the focus learner’s progress toward the lesson objectives for the learning goal and how they reflected the learner’s development, age, strengths, and needs.
[ The materials I used are directly related to the focus learner’s assessments based on the EET writing rubric. I used the visual that she will be using for those assessments (8:07 shows the materials that are used in her actual writing assessments—a picture card, writing paper and the EET visual.
For this lesson, I used the whiteboard in guided practice as a support and a way to reinforce the skill, by giving one more step of practice. By the end, it was removed (8:00). The focus learner, in her previous assessment, did not have the introductory statement about the picture card first on her paper, so she lost two points on the rubric This is a need of hers in order to be successful at her assessments. At her age and development, she needs time and practice to develop this skill, and lots of practice capitalizes on her strength of being a hard-worker and persistent. She will strive to do everything that is asked of her.
The instructional strategy and support of modeling the task gives the focus learner a script that she can use for all of her writing assignments. At this stage in her writing development, she is still learning grammar and struggles with spelling, so creativity is not the objective or goal in writing at this point. Yes, the EET tool helps students to put details in their writing, but at this stage it really is giving them something to write and it is more important at this stage of the focus learner’s writing that she has a solid (albeit simple) introduction and is confident in writing it. There is no reason for her to move on with the more complex skills of descriptive writing when she cannot consistently write an introduction.
The summative assessment shows that the focus learner incorporated writing an introductory statement into her piece. She still needs to use more elements of the EET tool, but has a much better start now. It will take time, and she will eventually need to learn to write a conclusion as well.]
b. Describe how your instructional strategies, planned supports, and/or materials facilitated the development or application of a self-directed learning strategy for the learning goal.
[At 1:25 – 1:36 in the clip, it was nice to hear that the focus learner was repeating after me when I was saying what I was writing when modeling how to write an introduction to the picture card of the rake. Saying out loud (or even whispering it to herself) what she is writing will help this focus learner immensely and will be an important, self-directed learning strategy of thinking aloud. Not only will the focus learner be able to hear if the sentence sounds right, she will be able to more easily sound out words in order to spell them and compare what is on the paper to her thoughts. There are times in the general education classroom, according to her para, that the focus learner speaks answers that are correct, but struggles to write them down the way she said them. The more she can learn to write what she thinks, the more she will get answers right and have confidence in herself. Developing this strategy can be helpful in error correction as well. Developing this strategy happens throughout the lesson, whether the student is writing her sentence on the whiteboard or on the writing paper. As seen in the video at 3:08 – 4:02, the focus learner says the sentence out loud that she is writing: “This is a bus”. She is able to catch herself writing the wrong vowel and fixes it because she knew the short /u/ was supposed to be there. She also added the period to the end of the sentence.
In this same clip, a support that you can’t hear is the silence of the waiting. It is so important to provide a student the space and wait time to complete a task, so there are quiet spaces where she is thinking and working. This might be one of the most important aspects of this focus learner’s ability to apply any learning strategy. Her hearing impairment makes it difficult to focus when people are talking or there is noise going on in the environment. As a teacher, it is hard to stay quiet and wait. The natural tendency is to fill every space with teaching and talking. However, students will solidify skills if they have truly done it themselves.
At 10:28 – 10:36, when reviewing all of our work from the lesson, I reiterated that before we started describing the bus (using the EET tool), we said that this is a bus that we are writing about. I used the words introducing, introduction, and introductory sentence throughout the lesson, so that when she is directed to write about a picture card, she will associate being handed the card with thinking and writing, “This is a _____.” ]
7. Analyzing Teaching
Refer to examples from the clip(s) in your explanations.
a. What would you change about the teaching seen in the clip(s) to better support or extend the focus learner’s performance and/or move the focus learner toward maintained, generalized, or self-directed use of knowledge and/or skills related to the learning goal?
[ At 1:15 – 1:25 in the clip, I am modeling for the focus learner the first thing that she needs to do when she is given her paper for a writing assessment or assignment. I write [This is a rake.] on the whiteboard but then I try to get her to repeat after me, “I need to introduce this.” Having her repeat this part was, first of all, not something that was necessary to the lesson, and then, when she didn’t really do it, I moved on. It was wasted time and words. I should have just moved on with what I said at 1:25 in the clip (“How am I going to introduce it?”) I also could have said something like, “Great! I looked at my card, I said what it was, and now I will write it on the whiteboard and then on my paper, just like I will do when I get an assignment!”.
At 3:57, when I asked the focus learner what was the last thing she needed on her sentence, I should not have been so explicit and rather said something like “Check over your sentence and make sure you have everything you need.” I also could have simply given her a few more moments and just asked her to read it and check it.]
b. Why do you think these changes would improve the learning of the focus learner in relation to the learning goal? Support your explanation with evidence of the focus learner’s performance related to the learning goal, as seen in the clip(s), and principles from theory and/or research.
[ In the clip mentioned above (1:15 – 1:25), when I try to get the focus learner to repeat after me the phrase, “I need to introduce this”, I am partially modeling by using a think-aloud, but should really use this time to only say what I am thinking and not necessarily have her repeat anything after me. If I am modeling and using a think-aloud strategy to show the learner how I am thinking, I need to make these thoughts concise and purposeful, with few side notes or “rabbit trail” thoughts. In fact, when modeling, it might be best to script each word carefully and not stray from that script. I am also not choosing the best thing for her to memorize. Teachers must choose carefully what they encourage students to memorize, as that is what will go into their long-term memory. In many places in this lesson, the focus learner says the introduction itself out loud when presented with a picture card, and that is the skill that should be encouraged, modeled and repeated. I do model that well, for the most part, but it’s too easy to think that adding extras in will be helpful, and sometimes it is done without thinking.
Not being so explicit with my feedback (at 3:57) about putting a period at the end of the sentence would have allowed her to think about the whole sentence, instead of leading her to the last part. I could have even reminded her that every sentence we write we want to check it and re-read it. Scaffolding is important in these kinds of tasks, but the premise of scaffolding is that it is eventually and gradually removed so that the learner becomes independent. This particular skill is one that she is usually proficient in, so I did not need to scaffold as much as I did.]
Picture Cards used in these lessons:
Reference:
Smith, Sara L. (2007). Expanding Expression: A multi-sensory approach for improved oral
language and writing. Sara L. Smith: Bay City, MI.
Copyright © 2018 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 7 of 7 | 8 pages maximum
All rights reserved. V08
The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is permitted only pursuant to the terms of a written license agreement.
Copyright © 2012 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 1 of XX
All rights reserved.