Credential of
Competency for
Paraeducators
Standard # 4:
Instructional
Strategies
Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN)
Local Policy
Your local district’s policies regarding
Paraeducator job descriptions, duties,
and responsibilities prove the final
word!
Agenda
• Introduction, learner outcomes and
definitions
• Basic instructional and remedial
strategies and materials
• Assistive technology for individuals
with exceptional learning needs
• How students learn reading
• How students learn mathematics
Standard # 4 Knowledge Areas
• K1 Basic instructional and remedial
strategies and materials
• K2 Basic technologies appropriate to
individuals with exceptional learning
needs
• K3 How students learn reading
• K4 How students learn mathematics
Standard # 4 Skill Areas
• S1 Use strategies, equipment, materials, and
technologies, as directed, to accomplish
instructional objectives
• S2 Assist in adapting instructional strategies
and materials as directed
• S3 Use strategies as directed to facilitate
effective integration into various settings.
• S4 Use strategies that promote the learner’s
independence as directed.
• S5 Use strategies as directed to increase the
individual’s independence and confidence.
Learner Outcomes
Participants will be able to:
• List principles of effective instruction.
• Identify basic instructional strategies.
• Discuss issues related to using appropriate
assistive technology with students in special
education programs.
• Describe the “big ideas of reading
instruction.”
• Describe how students learn mathematics.
Basic Instructional and Remedial
Strategies and Materials
Basic Terms
• Instructional Strategies support students’
acquiring knowledge or skills.
• Effective Instruction means knowing how
to approach a task, what we want to
teach within that task, and the most
effective ways for a student to learn.
Instructional Strategies
Examples of Instructional
Strategies
•
•
•
•
•
•
Antecedents
Reinforcement
Scaffolding
Modeling
Shaping
Wait time
• Active student
responding
• Grouping
• Instructional
Prompts
• Skill
Generalization
Instructional Strategies
Antecedents o What actions or events that occur before a
behavior
o Used to set a child up for success
o Examples include:
• Structuring the environment
• Setting clear expectations
• Avoiding “triggers” for negative
behaviors
Instructional Strategies
Reinforcement –
o A consequence for a behavior or activity
that increases the likelihood that the
behavior will occur again.
o As an instructional strategy, specific
feedback increases the likelihood of
another correct response or a response
closer to the desired response.
Instructional Strategies
Scaffolding
-
o Interactions with students in which an
adult guides and supports the student’s
learning by building on what the student
is able to do.
Instructional Strategies
Modeling
–
o The strategy of teaching a child to do
something by demonstrating the task.
What something looks like or sounds like.
Instructional Strategies
Shaping o The strategy of accepting closer and closer
approximations of a behavior until the correct
response is demonstrated.
Instructional Strategies
Wait time o Providing sufficient time between when a
question is asked or a request is made and
when the student responds.
Instructional Strategies
Active Student Responding o Occurs each time a student makes a
detectable response to ongoing instruction
Instructional Strategies
Flexible Grouping –
o The strategy of grouping students according
to the intended outcome of the lesson.
Groups should be flexible and changing.
Instructional Strategies
Instructional Prompts –
o Types:
• Verbal prompt
• Pictorial prompt
• Gestural prompt
• Model prompt
• Partial physical prompt
• Full physical prompt
Instructional Strategies
Instructional Prompts (cont.)o Fading Prompts:
• As the student acquires skill with prompts,
decrease the level of assistance you
provide.
• Use the prompt hierarchy to gradually
withdraw support until the student
becomes independent.
Instructional Strategies
Skill Generalization o Allows the student to use a skill in more
than one setting and/or with different
people.
Instructional Strategies
Skill Generalization (cont.) o After the student has learned the skill in
one environment:
• gradually fade out reinforcement for
correct skill performance.
• provide practice opportunities in a
variety of settings and with a variety
of different people.
Assistive Technology For
Students With Learning
Needs
Instructional vs. Assistive Technology
Assistive Technology
(AT). . .
is for students who
have functional
access needs.
• Consideration of need
for AT tools required
by IDEA.
• If required by the
student’s IEP to
access his/her
curriculum, AT tools
are not optional.
Instructional
Technology. . .
• does not require an
IEP.
• may be selected by a
teacher to enhance
and expand the
educational
experience.
• use as a teaching
tool is optional.
What is Assistive Technology?
• Assistive Technology Device: any item, piece
of equipment, whether acquired
commercially off the shelf, modified or
customized, that is used to “increase,
maintain, or improve functional
capabilities of individuals with
disabilities” (IDEA ‘04, Section 602)
• Assistive Technology Services: any service
that “directly assists a child with a
disability in the selection, acquisition, or
use of an assistive technology device”
And that means…..
Assistive Technology can be any tool
that helps to accommodate a
student’s needs
When does the student need
to use AT?....
When student needs to:
• communicate: question, answer, repeat,
tell
• turn on, click, highlight, point to
• write, type, check off
• read, look at, see, comprehend, define
• listen to, process, find
• walk, change classes
• interact with, remember
AT Continuum from No/Low Tech
to High Tech
Assistive
Technology
No/Low
Tech
Mid Tech
High Tech
*Simple
*Little Maintenance
*Limited/No Electronics
*Some Maintenance
*Some training
*More Electronics
*Complex Electronics
*More training
*More Maintenance
No/Low Tech
Mid Tech
High Tech
When you need help with AT….
Tell somebody !!!
Regular Instructional
Technology also comes
with benefits….
How Students Learn to Read
Literacy Development
o Language and reading/writing are
NOT age or grade dependent.
o We need to teach students from where
they are, building on what they know,
along the steps toward where they
need to be.
“Language is natural; reading is not.”
Building Literacy Skills
• Storybook Reading (reading,
listening)
• Print Awareness (book knowledge)
• Language Play (songs, poems)
The Five Essential
Components of Reading
Instruction
( 5 Big Ideas)
The Five Big Ideas of Reading Instruction
Fluency
Vocabulary
Phonics
Phonemic Awareness
Comprehension
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is the
ability to hear, identify,
and manipulate individual
sounds in spoken words
Phonemic Awareness Skills
Less Complex to More Complex
Rhyming
Sentence Segmentation
Syllable Blending & Segmentation
Onset-rime blending & Segmentation
Blending & Segmenting Individual
Phonemes
Phoneme Deletion & Manipulation
Elkonin Boxes:
Hearing Sounds Activity
The Five Big Ideas of Reading Instruction
Fluency
Vocabulary
Phonics
Phonemic Awareness
Comprehension
Phonics
Phonics instruction teaches
children the relationships
between the letters of written
language and the individual
sounds (phonemes) of spoken
language.
Phonics Skills
Letter-Sound Correspondence
Advanced Word
Analysis Skills
Reading in Texts
Regular Word
Reading
Irregular Word
Reading
Adapted from Reading and Language arts
(2002)
Elkonin Boxes:
Hearing Sounds Activity
The Five Big Ideas of Reading Instruction
Fluency
Vocabulary
Phonics
Phonemic Awareness
Comprehension
Fluency
The ability to read text with
speed, accuracy, and
expression.
Take a Deep Breath
.nworb emoceb seye eht, detisoped si
tnemgip elbaredisnoc fI .roloc evitinifed sti
semussa siri eht ,ecafrus roiretna eht no
raeppa ot snigeb tnemgip eht sA .roloc
yarg-etals ro hsiulb a fo tceffe eht gnivig
yllausu, eussit tneculsnart eht hguorht
swohs reyal tnemgip roiretsop ehT .siri eht
of ecafrus roiretna eht no tnemgip on ro
elttil si ereht htrib tA.
Fluency Skills
o
o
o
o
Automatic recognition of words
Speed
Accuracy
Expression
Modeling Fluency
What do we know of these people
who lived so long ago? Today,
archeologists call these people
Mound Builders. This general
category includes various groups
of Native Americans who lived at
different times and had different
cultures.
Fluency
Sample Activities
o Repeated Reading with a purpose
• First reading to become familiar with passage
• Second reading to identify storyline, make
predictions
• Third reading to build speed, accuracy, and
expression
Fluency
Sample Activities
o Guided Oral Reading (with corrective
feedback)
o Read Aloud (with teacher modeling)
o Shared Reading (teacher/student)
o Taped Reading (listening and
following along with the text)
The Five Big Ideas of Reading Instruction
Fluency
Vocabulary
Phonics
Phonemic Awareness
Comprehension
Oral and Reading
Vocabulary
Learning, as a language-based activity,
is fundamentally and profoundly
dependent on vocabulary knowledge.
(Baker, Simmons, & Kame’enui, 1998)
Vocabulary Activities
o Definition Mapping
o Frayer Model
o Semantic Mapping
Vocabulary: Definition Mapping
What is it? Definition
What is it like?
The
Word
™
What are some
examples?
Vocabulary: Definition Mapping
What is it? Definition
What is it like?
rodent
The
Word
™
What are some
examples?
Vocabulary: Definition Mapping
What is it? Definition
What is it like?
mammal
rodent
The
Word
™
What are some
examples?
Vocabulary: Definition Mapping
What is it? Definition
mammal
What is it like?
2 sharp front teeth
Gnaws on hard objects
rodent
Smooth, short fur
The
Word
™
What are some
examples?
Vocabulary: Definition Mapping
What is it? Definition
What is it like?
2 sharp front teeth
mammal
Gnaws on hard objects
rodent
Smooth, short fur
The
Word
™
mouse
rat
squirrel
What are some
examples?
Vocabulary: Frayer Model
Definition
Characteristics
Word
Examples
Non-examples
Vocabulary: Frayer Model
Characteristics
Closed
Plane Figure
More than 2 straight sides
2-dimensional
Made of line segments
Definition
A mathematical shape
that is a closed plane
Figure bounded by 3 or
More line segments.
Word
Polygon
Examples
Hexagon
Square
Trapezoid
Rhombus
Non-examples
Circle
Cube
Sphere
Cylinder
Cone
Vocabulary: Semantic Mapping
The Five Big Ideas of Reading Instruction
Fluency
Vocabulary
Phonics
Phonemic Awareness
Comprehension
Comprehension
Comprehension is the ultimate goal of
reading. It involves extracting ideas from
text and integrating them with relevant
prior knowledge in order to construct
meaning.
Comprehension Skills
o Primary Grade Skills (K-3)
• Literal comprehension
• Sequencing
• Summarization
Comprehension Skills
o Skills Grades 4-12
• Connecting ideas within the reading
• Comprehending complicated sentences
• Critically reading passages
Comprehension Activities
o Prereading
o During reading
o Postreading
Comprehension:
Pre-reading Activities
• Preview the text
• Make predictions
• Connect to prior knowledge
Comprehension:
During Reading Activities
• Stop periodically and summarize what you
have read.
• Focus on the main idea and supporting
details in each paragraph.
• Visualize
Comprehension:
After Reading Activities
• Delete trivial information
• Delete redundant information
• Use single category labels to replace a list
of smaller items/actions.
• Summarize paragraphs
The Five Big Ideas of Reading Instruction
Fluency
Vocabulary
Phonics
Phonemic Awareness
Comprehension
How Students Learn
Mathematics
How Students Learn
Mathematics
o
o
o
o
Goals for Students
Five Content Standards
Five Process Standards
Effective Mathematics
Instruction
o Five Strands of Proficiency
Goals for Students
o Learn to value mathematics
o Become confident in their ability to do
mathematics
o Become mathematical problem-solvers
o Learn to communicate mathematics
o Learn to reason mathematically
Content and Process
Complete Mathematics
Curriculum
Content
Process
Five Content Standards
o
o
o
o
o
Numbers and Operations
Measurement
Geometry
Algebraic Concepts
Data Analysis and Probability
Five Process Standards
o
o
o
o
o
Problem-solving
Reasoning and Proof
Communication
Connections
Representation
Basic Idea in Math
Mathematics makes sense!!
What do we mean by “making
sense?”
Let’s look at Handout #13
Effective Mathematics
Instruction
Function of three elements:
1. Teacher’s knowledge and use of
mathematical content
2. Teacher’s ability to work with diverse
learners
3. Students engagement in and use of
mathematical tasks
Effective Mathematics
Instruction
Highly Effective Teaching Strategies:
o
o
o
o
Explicit teacher modeling
Ensuring a quick pace with varied
instructional activities and high levels of
engagement
Student verbal rehearsal of strategy steps
Provide corrective feedback
Five Strands of
Mathematical Proficiency
o Understanding Concepts
o Using Procedures quickly, accurately,
and appropriately
o Applying Strategies to various problems
and situations
o Developing Reasoning Skills
o Seeing Math as Sensible, Useful and
Worthwhile
Learner Outcomes
Participants will be able to:
• List principles of effective instruction.
• Identify basic instructional strategies.
• Discuss issues related to using appropriate
assistive technology with students in special
education programs.
• Describe the “big ideas of reading
instruction.”
• Describe how students learn mathematics.