Special Education Students and Common Core

1. Special Education Students and Common Core Direct Instruction: Even More Important What teachers need to know!

3. “The Common Core State Standards initiative provides a historic opportunity to improve access to rigorous academic content standards for students with disabilities!” Dr. M. McLaughlin, Univ. of Maryland & Pres. CEC

4. Preparation for …..

5. It’s about access!!

7. Common Core Standards

8. What’s a Conative Skill?

9. Conative Skills“Mental Toughness” • Resiliency • Cultivating a growth mindset….”I’ll give it my best shot….” • Avoiding negative thinking • Taking various perspectives • Conflict resolution • Handling controversy

10. Cognitive Skills for CC • Generating conclusions • Identifying common logical errors • Presenting and supporting claims • Navigating digital sources • Problem solving • Decision making • Experimenting • Investigating • Identifying basic relationships between ideas • Generating and manipulating mental images

11. Cognitive & Conative SkillsImplications • ASSESS – determine deficit areas. • TEACH these skills in step by step, strategic lessons. • NAMEthe skills as they are being taught and practiced. • Set GOALSfor deficit skill areas.

12. Math Practices

13. Executive Function gets you… to this….. From this…

14. Executive Functioning Skills

15. What are Executive Functioning Skills? • Organization • Planning / prioritization • Meta-cognition / “thinking through problems” • Assignment completion • Note taking • Goal directed persistence • Working memory • Flexibility • On task – Focus • Time management • Self-control • Emotional Control • Response inhibition • Sustained attention • Task initiation

16. Implications • Assess in the area of Executive Functioning • Develop IEP goals for Executive Functioning • Determine the Executive Functioning skills required for CC lessons • Build in pre-teaching of the Ex F skill • Build in reinforcement for the demonstration of the Ex F skills

17. Collaboration Strategy:The Score Skills Steps for SCORE Share ideas Compliment others Offer help or encouragement Recommend changes nicely Exercise self-control From: The Score Skills: Social Skills for Cooperative Learning – Sue Vernon

18. Direct Instruction, Common Core and Special Education Students Structures

19. Research Based Instructional Sequence Step 1: Attend/Intend • Teach critical content • It is important because… • We need to remember… • The most important idea is… • Review

20. Instructional Sequence Continued Step 2: Organize • Problems • Actions • Outcomes • Graphic Organizers Step 3: Rehearse • Repeated practice • Judicious practice

21. Common Core Shifts ELA • Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction • Reading, writing and speaking is grounded in evidence from literacy and informational text • Regular practice text and associated academic vocabulary Math • Focus will be on the concepts that are prioritized in the standards for each grade and course • Standards and math practices are designed with a coherent progression from grade to grade • Major focus areas for each grade level build rigor and conceptual understanding of key concepts

22. Shifts and Implications for Special Education • Higher text complexity – non-fiction text at higher Lexile levels! • Intensive reading intervention • Access to higher level non-fiction text through Universal Design strategies • Technology solutions – text to speech

23. Lexile Consideration. • Intensive reading intervention to increase the functional lexile level • For informational reading, keep the essential concepts but reduce the lexile level to the independent reading lexile level • Consider technology solutions….

24. Shifts and Implications for Special Education • Academic Vocabulary Focus • Use of multi-means and strategies for teaching and using academic vocabulary.

25. Academic Vocabulary • Collaborate with General Educators • Unwrap Anchor Standards – isolate academic vocabulary critical to Anchor Standards • Teach strategies for academic vocabulary comprehension • Use technology to support the learning of academic vocabulary

26. Marzano Academic Vocabulary Lists • Google -

27. Academic Language: Key Steps for Learning

28. Vocabulary Journal Strategy • Select word from reading • Provide a think aloud (model) how to construct meanings from words • Use resources available (thesaurus, dictionary) • Find illustrations or diagrams • Use context clues • Determine relationships (synonym, antonym) • Explore meaning • Record ideas

29. Understanding vs. Defining TORNADO • The word tornado means thunderstorm in the Spanish language. • Lightning is part of a tornado. • Cumulonimbus Cloud • Tornadoes begin in these clouds. They are made up of warm and wet air. • Rain and hail are part of ‘a’ tornado. • Hail comes down as ice balls. • Winds in a tornado are strong and fast and dangerous. • They can pick up speed and force

30. Shifts and Implications for Special Education • Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction • Access to general education – project based collaborative projects.

31. Content Rich Non-Fiction Text

32. Complex Text

33. Building Curious Readers through Questioning Using Leveled Questions (Depth of Knowledge) Level 1 • Questions to understand information Level 2 • Questions to support analysis of information Level 3 • Questions to understand an author’s position

34. Shifts and Implications for Special Education • Math concepts prioritized and “spiraling” across grade levels. • IEP focus on math Learning Progressions and Anchor Standards. • Use of technology!

35. Conceptual Understanding

36. Steps to Concept Development Step 1: State the concept or pose a question Step 2: Identify the critical attributes Step 3: Classify or group the attributes Step 4: Provide examples of the concept Step 5: Provide non-examples of the concept (don’t meet critical attributes) Step 6: Define the concept based on the attributes Step 7: Apply the definition to examples and non- examples

37. Shifts and Implications for Special Education • Computer based Next Generation Assessments with increased rigor & application base. • Digital Literacy goals • Frequent practice with application based problems.

38. Shifts and Implications for Special Education • Instructional practices focused on projects, collaboration, & flipped classroom models. • IEP goals for Executive Functioning & Social Skills for group projects.

39. Shifts and Implications for Special Education Skills critical to success in school with Common Core! Assessment in: • Executive Functioning • Group work social skills • Digital Literacy skills • Communication skills • Cognitive and Conative abilities

40. Universal Design for Learning • Reduces barriers in instruction • Provides appropriate: • Accommodations • Supports • Challenges While maintaining high expectations for all students

41. UDL Framework

42. UDL Teacher Support Links to Strategies

43. Supporting Special Education Studentsin Common Core

44. It’s about access….

45. Questions? Thank you! Becky Wetzel Bridges to Educational Excellence Bridges.wetzel@gmail.com