Lecture Notes

Module 4, Session 4

Assessment of Levels of Interpersonal Skills

1. Topographical
   1. Parallel—individuals shoot baskets separately yet close enough to be aware of each other
   2. Interactive—individuals shoot at same basket
   3. Cooperative—shooters take turns to accommodate others
   4. Organized/Abstract—shooters play a game together with common rules
2. Ecological
   1. Preferred—activity or environment relationships that are sought out repeatedly
   2. Assigned—function of assignment
   3. Infra-structured—intramural or recess activity
   4. Extra-structured—inter-school or community activity
3. Social
1. Surrogate peer—individual will shoot baskets with a trusted staff member
2. Preferred peer—individual will shoot baskets with a trusted peer
3. Assigned peer—individual will shoot baskets with a staff-selected peer
4. Random peer—individual will shoot baskets in an activity where activity mate choices occur naturally or as a function of the structure of the activity

Analysis of the 4 levels of the 3 dimensions: 64 interactions

1. Used to determine the level of complexity at which an individual typically functions
2. Staff can devise activities and strategies to support and interventions so that the individual can move into more complex activity levels
3. Lowest Level of social complexity: Parallel + Preferred Setting + Surrogate Peer
4. Highest Level: organized/Abstract + Extra Structured + Random Peer

Strategies to Intervene in the Assessment Process

1. Monitor to make sure students are on the right track
2. Allow them to answer orally if they are having difficulty expressing their knowledge in writing
3. Lower the anxiety, make sure students know that attendance, class participation, and homework affect their grade, not just the test
4. For short essay answers, ask students to use graphic organizers or other prewriting to help organize answers.
5. ELL answers may be much shorter than native speakers’ answers.
6. Stress content over form.
7. Read test directions and/or questions aloud
8. Allow more time for processing information
9. Check for understanding; the questions may be more difficult than the material being tested).
10. Help students reword questions
11. Allow use of foreign language dictionaries
12. Bold or underline key words in the questions.
13. Use graphics, charts, illustrations, diagrams to help students understand the questions
14. Encourage the use of organizers/illustrations to accompany written answers
15. Allow students to demonstrate their understanding through pictures and charts.
16. Vary the number of test items and/or modes of representing answers.
17. Be selective about the questions you have them answers; select the most relevant questions.
18. Allow for group testing.
19. Strategies to minimize the element of surprise
    1. Allow students to prepare an outline
    2. Provide “practice” tests and/or study guides so students know what to expect
    3. When appropriate, allow students to help construct the test; these tests will be worded in language most students understand.
20. Assessment through Text Retelling
    1. Construction—select appropriate text for level
    2. Administration
       1. Teacher reads aloud
       2. Students listen for main ideas, sequence, vocabulary
       3. Students must be able to understand text
       4. Reread (teacher or students)
       5. Students take notes
       6. Retell orally or written (can be cooperative activity)
    3. Scoring
       1. Did students identify main idea, in proper sequence, using appropriate vocabulary or key words?
       2. Did students have input and rate peers?

Instructional strategies to maximize learning and minimize frustration

1. Word identification skills can be developed by:
   1. identifying and blending together individual phonemes in words
   2. noticing and blending together familiar spelling patterns or morphemes
   3. recognizing whole words as units—sight words
   4. making analogies to words already known—cart by seeing car/t/
   5. developing large vocabulary of sight words that can be recognized automatically is the key to fluent reading—effort can be focused on complex processes involved in constructing meaning, not trying to figure out what a word is
   6. generalizing phonics skills for students with phonologically based reading disabilities (but not for others)
   7. shooting for error rates less than 1 word in 20
   8. associating phonetic reading skills with more fluency, which is associated with better reading comprehension.
   9. not recommending using clues from context
      1. skilled readers do not use context
      2. poor readers use context clues for identifying words more than skilled readers do
      3. context by itself is not a very accurate way to identify words in text (only about 10% of the words can be guessed from context alone)
2. Content Instruction
   1. Alignment of instruction with curriculum standards
   2. IEP team must identify key concepts and determine prerequisite skills needed for entry level instruction
   3. Modifications may be needed to obtain a teachable goal
   4. Goldilocks principle—not too hard, not too easy, just right
   5. Assessment should focus on:
      1. critical vocabulary
      2. critical concepts
      3. critical skills
   6. Consider percent of student learning time spent
      1. building knowledge through listening & demonstration
      2. building knowledge through reading
      3. building skills related to content area
      4. demonstrating knowledge through speaking
      5. demonstrating knowledge through writing
   7. Vary instructional formats
   1. whole class
   2. clustering
   3. individualized instruction: balance basic skills instruction with basic knowledge instruction with the cognitive, language development, and attention span of the student

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