Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Selected Interventions for Classroom Academic & Behavioral Problems Jim Wright, Syracuse (NY) City Schools

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Workshop Goals… In this workshop, we will learn about:  ‘Difficult-To-Teach Kids’ and what instructional techniques work best for them  Student motivation tips to help teacher to ‘find the spark’ of learning  Ideas to make reward systems more effective  Specific academic and behavioral interventions to improve learning

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Selected PowerPoint Slides:

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Difficult-To-Teach Students Experience greater difficulty with learning and retention of information May also have behavioral problems Fall along a continuum, with some students showing more severe needs than others

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Difficult-To-Teach Students: The Numbers One in ten children in schools is classified as Special Education 3-5% of students may qualify for ADHD In 1998, about 40% of 4 th grade youngsters fell below grade-level on a national reading test

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools ‘Curriculum Train’

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Difficult-To-Teach Students “An increasing body of evidence supports the need for students with disabilities to be directly taught the processes and concepts that nondisabled children tend to learn naturally through experiences.” --Office of Special Education Programs 21 st Annual Report to Congress (1999)

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Difficult-To-Teach Students: What Works (OSEP, 1999) Adequate range of examples to exemplify a concept or problem-solving strategy Models of proficient performance—e.g., step-by- step strategies Experiences where students explain how and why they make decisions Provide the student with:

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Difficult-To-Teach Students: What Works (Cont.) Frequent feedback on quality of performance and support so the student persists in activities Adequate practice and activities that are interesting and engaging Provide the student with:

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Instructional Hierarchy (Haring, et al, 1978)

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Instructional Hierarchy Acquisition Fluency Generalization Adaptation

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Instructional Hierarchy Acquisition phase: period between first appearance of the desired behavior and the reasonably accurate performance of that behavior

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Instructional Hierarchy Fluency phase: period between first reasonably accurate performance of behavior and student’s ability to perform rapidly and with proficiency

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Instructional Hierarchy Generalization phase: recently acquired behavior is displayed (a) across multiple settings and/or (b) in the appropriate context in which the student is expected to demonstrate the behavior

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Learn Unit (Greer, 1996; Heward, 1996)

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Learn Unit (Greer, 1996; Heward, 1996) Step 1: Teacher presents or manages the presentation of instructional tasks, materials, or information Step 2: The student responds Step 3: The teacher provides feedback about the correctness of the response, acknowledging, praising, or correcting as appropriate.

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Introducting Academic Strategies to Students: 4 Steps

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Introducing Academic Strategies to Students: A Direct Instruction Approach 1.“Show them!”: The teacher demonstrates to students how to use the skill.

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Introducing Academic Strategies to Students: (Cont.) 2.“Watch them & praise them!”: Students practice the skill under teacher supervision.

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Introducing Academic Strategies to Students: (Cont.) 3.“Make them use it!”: Students employ the skill independently in real academic situations.

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools Introducing Academic Strategies to Students: (Cont.) 4.“Expand their horizons!”: Students use the strategy in all appropriate settings or situations.

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools One ‘Big Idea’ About Student Learning… Student learning problems may stem from different ‘root causes’. Find the probable cause of the learning problem and you stand a much better chance of designing an intervention that really works…

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools The student is not learning effectively because he or she… Has learned the basic skills necessary to complete assigned academic tasks but works very slowly or haltingly (fluency stage of instruction). Is quite fluent in using academic skills but does not practice them in other settings—e.g., the student who never reads outside of school (generalization stage of instruction). Is placed in curriculum material that is too difficult or too easy (Poor instructional match). Has not yet acquired the necessary skills to complete assigned academic tasks (acquisition stage of instruction).

Jim Wright, Syracuse City Schools The student is not learning effectively because he or she… Does not receive regular corrective feedback on his or her schoolwork and as a result learns more slowly or ‘mislearns’ material. Does not have a firm sense of key ‘big ideas’, or unifying concepts, that could help the student to tie together his or her day-to-day assignments within a meaningful context. Lacks individual modifications that would make learning or completion of assignments significantly easier (Instructional scaffolding). The lecture or instructional presentation is disorganized or moves at too slow or too fast a pace.