Active Learning Study Group - May 2016 This video is posted online with the following chapter markers: Chapter 1. Live Binder Resources Chapter 2. Assessment Review Chapter 3. Setting Goals Chapter 4. The Science Lesson Chapter 5. Active Learning Approach to Goals Description of graphical content is included between Description Start and Description End. Transcript Start Chapter 1. Live Binder Resources [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Outreach Programs Content: Active Learning Study Group May 24th, 2016 facilitated by Kate Hurst, Statewide Staff Development Coordinator hurstk@tsbvi.edu and Matt Schutlz, Deafblind Consultant schultzm@tsbvi.edu Description End: [ Music ] Narrator: Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Outreach Programs, Active Learning Study Group, May 24th, 2016, facilitated by Kate Hurst, Statewide Staff Development Coordinator at hurst-k at t-s-b-v-i dot e-d-u, and Matt Schutlz a Deafblind Consultant, shultz-m at t-s-b-v-i dot e-d-u. [ Slide end: ] Kate: Good afternoon, welcome to our final... Active Learning Study Group. I'm Kate Hurst... Outreach Staff Development Coordinator and my colleague-- Matt Schultz. I'm a Deafblind Consultant. Kate: And we're really happy that you're here with us today. I just want a quick sort of thumbs up, thumbs down... from you folks that have been involved in our functional scheme or in our active learning Study Group this- this year, and tell us if you feel like this has been helpful to you in... learning to use the functional assessment tool. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Poll #1 Content: Have you found these webinars useful in helping you learn to use the Functional Scheme assessment tool? Yes/No Description End: And if you would, just go ahead and vote in the poll pod that's coming up. [ Slide end: ] So our results from the poll-- Oh, good! Three of you think that this was a good deal. [ Laughter ] Matt: The rest of you didn't vote. Maybe you're new to this session-- Kate: You may be new to the session and that's okay... But I-I hope that it has been helpful to you. I will say for me and I'm-- I think Matt feels the same way, I feel like with... the insight from Patty, and the discussions that we've had, in this group, I feel like, now I can go do a functional scheme assessment and come up with fairly decent results. I feel like I know what I'm doing. And I don't think that I would have been able to do that as well, without the information that we hatched out of this group, because Patty had some great insights. Matt: Yeah, Helping with our interpretation of the items on the assessment has been great. And also, kind of giving us the confidence to... know how to move forward, with the understanding, but also sometimes saying "Oh, it's okay if we don't know exactly what this means, keep working toward the greater goal." Kate: Keep going, exactly. And just little reminders, like, you know, be really mindful of what field you're in when you're looking at the items. Cause that really-- once I got that in my brain, it became much easier to kind of score the student in that. So-- Matt: Yeah, it's a coping strategy now. Kate: Yeah, yeah, it is. [Laughing] Exactly. Exactly. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Poll #2 Content: Would you consider participating in another series of webinars on Active Learning in 2016- 2017? Yes/No Description End: Okay, let's go ahead and pull up our second poll. And that is... it says, "Would you consider participating in another series of webinars on Active Learning in 2016 and 2017?" If you would, just let us know. There are a few more of you that say you would. [ Slide end: ] We do have plans to have another Active Learning Study Group, next year, and we're very excited, because Matt and I are gonna each be presenting, or facilitating the discussions for two of those Study Groups, but we're also going to have Charlotte Cushman from Perkins, eLearning... facilitating one, and Patty Obrzut is also, from the Penrickton Center, is going to facilitate one. And we're going to have five in all, and the the fifth one we'll sort of leave as a surprise to you guys, on how that one's going to play out... But I think it's going to be a great year. Okay. Well, jumping right into things... I want to... have you first... go take a look at our LiveBinder. If you have a computer you can go to our LiveBinder. [ Screen start: ] Description Start: Title: LiveBinder Content: http://www.livebinders.com/edit/index/1781034?tabid=6b8f8bd0-10f7-fa99-8868- 51a13eb5863b# Description End: There is a link in your handout, and you will need a key to access it and that key is Lilli Neilsen with a capital L and a capital N, and I'll put that code in the chat room, so you can get in there. But... what we-- I want to make sure and show you-- what we're going to be using a lot today are documents in the LiveBinder. [ Screen end: ] [ Screen start: ] Description Start: Title: LiveBinder Content: Documents Tab Description End: And we're going to go straight to the tab that says Documents. And you will notice in these documents, a variety of tools that are very Texas tools. But I think those of you-- I know we have a few folks... joining from other states, and I think maybe even someone... from another country joining us today... But I'm sure that you have similar types of things in-- that you use in your school systems, as well. The first one on the left, if you will go to that one. [ Screen end: ] [ Screen start: ] Description Start: Title: Texas' Early Learning Pathways Content: PDF document Description End: This is a document, that I don't know if all of you are familiar with, but I really want to encourage you, if you're not familiar with it, you want to visit this, you can download it and print it out. But... a little later on, you're going to see how Matt and I use this document in... helping to think about goals and objectives, and aligning things to TEKS; which is a very important thing for us-- that's, for those of you who are not from Texas-- that is our state's... core curriculum... standards and guidelines. So... do check this item out. We'll be looking at that in more detail later. [ Screen end: ] [ Screen start: ] Description Start: Title: TEA website Content: http://tea.texas.gov/curriculum/teks/ Description End: Another one that we are guided to use is the TEKS. If you can take-- click on that one. Just to show you guys. This is... the curriculum, the core curriculum in Texas. And if you'll scroll down just a little bit... you can see that there are different subject areas there, like, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies... we're going to be looking at some of those as well today. If you want to click on the Science one, just so that people can get a notion of how that looks, when they get to it. You have different grades... grade levels. And so, for example, if we go to grade 5 and click on that. I think it's the one just above-- right there, that should be the one. Then it gives you the whole... curriculum, and so we're going to be taking a look at that as well. Another document that we're going to reference today-- go back on the LiveBinder to the... top tabs. Documents. [ Screen end: ] [ Screen start: ] Description Start: Title: TEA website Content: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter112/index.html Description End: Is the one that is called... The Essence Statements. It's the next yellow tab- tag. This is another... document that we're guided to look at... and we'll get into that more and then the-- I think those are the main one that's we're going to look at today, but these other documents can be of help to you as well. [ Screen end: ] Going back to our slides, what we wanted to talk about today is, you know, we've spent all this year trying to learn how to do this Functional Scheme Assessment and... we were able to complete most aspects of the assessment with our group out in Bastrop. Thanks to their hard work... and diligence, and we really appreciate that. So, what we want to do is... sort of take us through today, thinking about-- now that we have the assessment data, how do we figure out goals and objectives, and then how do we think about aligning it to the TEKS, and also thinking about Expanded Core Curriculum areas and how we align to that. And, then, how does that look, or how might that might look in instruction. And we're going to do it real quick, [Laughing] today. But, just to let you know, in next year's series of webinars we're going to go into all of this in much greater detail. So, this is just a taste for what's to come next year. Chapter 2. Assessment Review All right. So... the process that we used when we... were doing this-- this is not to say that we have the perfect way to do it. But we did do a lot of reading... we did talk to people in the low incidence disability network... about, you know, were we using the right approach. So, we feel pretty confident in saying this is an okay way to approach this. Matt: Uh‑huh. Kate: we took our assessment and we looked at the developmental ranges for our student. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Process We Used Content: • Assessment – find developmental ranges • PLAAFP • Compare to Texas Early Learning Pathways’ developmental ranges in various domains • Select domain and reference Essence Statements from TEKS • Find grade related TEKS and select TEKS knowledge and skills that relates Description End: And for our student... she was... is currently functioning between zero and nine months, but primarily zero to three months in most areas. And so... when we got that information in mind, we went-- we're gonna go-- we would look at the Pathways document, back in our LiveBinder; and we'll show you how we- we use that, and then from there, we selected a domain... from the TEKS, and we looked at the Essence Statements in the framework to get some more... information. [ Slide end: ] And then... finally we found grade‑related TEKS, and selected our TEKS for knowledge and skills, and developed our goals and objectives related to those things. So, that's generally what we did, and it seemed to work okay, and... so, we're going to now show you how- how we did that. So, the first thing that we looked at, as we said, was the assessment. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Assessment of levels of function as of May 2016 Content: refer to Assessment table in handout Description End: And so, in our first slide-- and you have this in your handout-- you can see the yellow represents the areas where... our student is currently functioning. And so you can get a sense of that, you know, predominantly she is in the zero to three month level. So, she certainly... is doing, beginning to show... skills in- in the three to six month levels, in a lot of the gross and fine motor stuff. She's-- you know, it's emerging, but she's not there yet. So, what we learned in this year's Study Group, is when we are doing our programming, we want to start where they are, not where we want them to be. So, after looking at that... we thought that the next thing that we needed to do is try to pull this together and we created, Matt and I, a sample PLAAFP. [ Slide end: ] [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Sample PLAAFP Content: • 12 year-old ONH, no vision right eye, and some vision left eye. • Tracks, uses visually directed reach • Additional motor, health issues • Tube-fed, tastes food, minimal use of lips, mouth, tongue • Between 1 and 9 months developmentally Description End: And if you look on your handout you will see some of the components of the sample PLAAFP. You know, we know that she has O-N-H, we know there's no vision in her right eye, and we're not quite sure what kind of vision she has in her left eye. There's been delays, for a variety of reasons, on getting updated eye medical reports, and things that will allow us to get a little bit better information. But we know that she has some very usable vision in her left eye, and seems to use it very well. She seems to be tracking... and we know she's usually a visually directed reach. We know that she has some additional motor... challenges, both fine and gross motor. We know she has some additional health issues. She is tube‑fed, though she is tasting some food, and... actually eating some puddings and yogurts, I think a little bit. But we also have seen minimal use of her lips, and her mouth, and her tongue... in- in any capacity for exploring, for tasting... to play with sounds and vocalizing; that's just not really happening a whole lot right now. We know that she's between nine-- one and nine months developmentally [ Slide end: ] [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Sample PLAAFP Content: • Non-ambulatory • Use hands, arms to reach, grasp objects, and pull • Interested in adults/peers, does not consistently seek contact • Communicates - behavioral responses, receptive undetermined • Responds to specific sounds, certain voices Description End: that she is non‑ambulatory, though she's beginning to... move herself around a little bit more. We have seen some of that progress this year. She is using her hands and her arms to reach and grasp objects and pull things. And a lot of that has really come about this year, while we've been doing assessments. [ Slide end: ] She wasn't necessarily doing it, that much, at the beginning of the year, when we first met her. So, I think just having opportunities to do Active Learning have changed our assessment results already. [Laughing] Matt: Well, I think it speaks to the-- that there's two kind of mechanisms how this information gets translated. While the team was doing assessment, it was informing their daily instruction in real‑time. Kate: Mm-Hmm. Matt: But then it was also informing this-this... the IEP process. How the assessment makes the information into the present levels... and into the formation of an IEP goal. So it's nice to know that both things can happen at the same time. Kate: Really. And-and I think, you know, one of the things that you notice when you go through this, it talks about, you know, does this or that in certain Active Learning environments. And I think that's really how this document is intended to be used. It's not like you can't do anything in Active Learning until you know everything about the child. Matt: Yeah. And the process of collecting the information-- using the team-- helped inform the team members about areas that maybe were outside of their domain. Kate: Yes. Matt: But they were able to apply it to their instruction. I think that process-- that was a magic that we saw make its way to Kamryn's instruction, with her making almost immediate improvement. Kate: I agree, it was pretty amazing. And I think the team, you know-- and team, you're out there-- speak up. I hope-- I think you're out there. You know, put in your two cents. But I think that... a lot of... that-- just the process of collaborating, and thinking about, and talking about what the student did led to a lot of sort of cross‑training between team members. And I certainly felt like I learned a lot in thinking about this from working with people who have a lot more expertise in certain areas than I do. And so I thought that was really very, very nice. So... just quickly running through the rest of some of our PLAAFP. We know that Kamryn is really interested in adults and peers. And at first we weren't sure if she was sort of seeing them as tools, but the more we were around her-- she has-- she takes definite pleasure from just sort of getting an adult and- and some peers' attention. And-and so, I felt like it wasn't about just doing things for her, but actually taking... joy and satisfaction in just the interaction itself. And that turned out to be one of her higher areas. Matt: I was going to say, it showed up in the assessment. Kate: Yeah, yeah, it absolutely did. Though, we didn't feel like, that she was very consistent in seeking attention. I think in some respects a lot of that had to do with sort of her overall personality, but also... the fact that her communication is not very far developed. And she has sort of limited vehicles for communication, because she's not using her voice a lot. She's not able to use her hands and her arms a lot to do, you know, sign language or tangible systems, or things like that. So, I think all of those things have kind of worked against her communication. We don't really have a good idea of what she understands either. Though we feel like she's probably understanding more than maybe we have given her credit for. But we are having to sort of backup and say, "We don't know." So, we're going to assume that we're going to start from just- just the basics, and try to work our way forward as we go on with this. We know that she really has... a strong... auditory channel. She's very motivated by auditory information. But, again, we're not necessarily clear about how she is using that auditory information. Does it really have meaning for her? You know? And I think to a large degree it doesn't at this point. And so that's one of the other things. So, for me, as I thought about all of this, I started listing some priorities that I had in my mind. And I don't know... what you guys think, but I would be interested in hearing some feedback from those of you who sort of stuck with us, or who just given this information, if you would concur on some of the priority areas that... I listed... from my perspective. And Matt, you can give your feedback, too. Matt: Sure. Kate: So if you will show the next slide. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Priorities Content: • Improve fine and gross motor skills • Improve self-concept and emotional skills • Improve oral motor skills for feeding, vocalizing, exploration • Improve body awareness • Improve use of audition to recognize and localize sounds • Increase foundational concepts related to object properties and functions • Improve use of vision and other senses to locate and identify objects, locations, and people • Improve expressive communication Description End: So, you know, for me I think we all know that so much of what... we want for Kamryn has to start out in those fine-- with those fine and gross motor skills, you know. We know that, in typical development, a lot of the other things come with the- the improvement of fine and gross motor skills. So that's certainly a big area. Of course, we want to make sure that we're looking at the- the sort of an improved self-concept. You know, this notion of she can do, and is motivated to do, and then she feels safe and... comfortable from her environment, and not stressed. So improving the self concept and emotional skills. I would personally like to see a little bit of gain made in some of her oral motor skills. Not just for communication or exploration, but also for feeding, because I feel fairly confident, you know, that if I were the parent, you know, being able to... eat without a feeding tube with be a personal goal for me as a parent. So I feel like that would be good. Certainly would like to see improved... body awareness. [ Slide end: ] Because one of the things we sort of noticed from her, this year, is that it's like she's discovering body parts as we go along, you know. It's like, as she begins to do things with her hands, more, in the Active Learning environment, it's like, "Ah! I have hands!," you know? At first we didn't see her playing with her hands, but now she's doing that regularly. And I think the same thing with, like, her legs and her feet. I think she's beginning to become more aware of them, and more aware of what she can do. But, also, I think there's a part of it, when I think about body awareness, is just where is she in space, because I don't have a real good sense if she does have a good sort of ability to orient within her environment. And I would like to see-- try to figure out more about that. And, again, get her more mobile. She's got to have more body awareness, I think, to do that. [ Slide start: ] Repeat previous slide. Also audition... that's a-- it seems to be-- her hearing seems to be intact, as best as we can tell... and she is very tuned in to sounds, but, you know, I would like to see her begin to have more recognition of specific sounds, and- and to have more sense of being able to localize sounds... for a variety of reasons; part related to communication, part related to orientation and mobility. Of course, always those- those-- the need to just increase those foundational concepts that are related to objects, properties, and functions-- that's huge. [ Slide end: ] Matt: I think it speaks to the need for her to gain a better understanding of her environment. Kate: Yep. Matt: So she can feel more connected to it. Kate: Mm-hmm. Matt: But so-- also, so that for us as her teachers, we can have a better understanding of what she connects to the environment, and we can use those- that information to increase our conversation-- Kate: Mm-hmm. Matt: with... Kamryn, to where she knows what we're thinking, and we know what her thinking is. And... we know that that helps that social, emotional development that she has already, you know, has some skills in that area. So, to me it's- it's looking at all of those priorities, Kate, and-and thinking about how they work their- themselves to how she can become a better communicator and a better conversational partner. Kate: Uh‑huh, I think that that is really true. And you know at this point, you know, a lot of that is just that basic interaction level. You know, does she want to be with you? Is she open to engaging with you? You know, can we begin to... see her, in time, trying to imitate in some way what you do, what you say, how you move, you know, all of those are real important for communication. They really are. So... and then of course the improved use of her vision, and other senses... to locate and identify objections and locations and people. And a lot of that-- I mean, besides just knowing where you are, and how to get around, is that's what motivates you to do things, and to keep going, and to keep learning. So... that's a- that's a pretty all encompassing list of priorities. [laughing] Chapter 3. Setting Goals So... so... what do we do with all of that? So oops! We need to... think about what we're required to do, in terms of setting goals. So, you want to talk a little bit about that, Matt, because I know you really spent some time thinking about this. Matt: I did, yeah. And I think that... that... this is an area that we're going to- to continue to work on next year, because I think there is- there's some information that's out there, that... provides educational teams in the State of Texas with- with guidelines, you know. But we need to talk about them, and figure out, you know, what they look like for our kids... and clarify in our districts what our local school districts are-- how they're interpreting the guidelines, and what that means for the kids. We know... that- that the Texas Education Agency has asked for every student in the state of Texas to have measurable, annual goals. And that means measurable, they define by having a time frame, having a condition, having a behavior, and having a criterion. Those are four pieces that are-- that need to be seen in every goal. Kate: Mm-hmm. Matt: And then that there's two types of measurable goals. There's Academic Goals that are measurable and there's Functional Goals. The difference between academic and functional, is simply that the Academic Goals are tied to a TEK. Kate: Mm-hmm. Kate: We will explore what that means. Kate: Mm-hmm. Matt: But just know that academic just means that it's tied to a TEK; so, it's standards based. A functional goal is not tide to a TEK. It's not standard based-- it's measurable; and our students... can have functional goals. Kate: Cool. That is great. And... so, are we given any guidance about, you've got to have x number of academic and x number of functional, or does that- is that decided by the ARD committee, or the IEP committee? Matt: It's decided by the ARD committee. Kate: Okay. So there's absolutes that it's got to be one way or another. Matt: There's not. It seems like districts are interpreting broad guidelines, and sometimes saying, "Yes, we want you to have a standard based,"-- which means tied to the TEK goal-- "in these content areas." So, you have to have, you know, five academic goals. Some districts aren't going- aren't saying that. So, I think it's important for us to inquire... with our school districts and say, "What is our requirement," you know, in regard to academic goals. Meanwhile, we're learning about a process that we can tie quality assessment information to the TEKs, and that it can be done. Kate: And it's really not as... far flung, or as hard as... one might think. It really isn't. Matt: The other point that we wanted to make that... TEA asked us all to write goals that are- that are tied to the general curriculum-- that's the academic piece. But, also for students with visual impairments, we need to be writing goals that address the Expanded Core Curriculum. Kate: Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. So, given that, let's get right into it, and talk about it. So, the first thing that we're going to talk about is the part that makes everybody in Texas, that I've met, a little bit queasy; which is those... linking it to the TEKS or our... general curriculum. And as I said, when Matt and I got started with this, the first thing that we did, after we looked at our assessment, is we went to the Texas Early Learning Pathways... document, and we began to go through that document. If you'll go ahead and... if you are in the LiveBinder, you can look at this... but let's go to the next slide and I'll show you an example of... what we did on- on-- in one area. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Texas' Early Learning Pathways Content: refer to PDF document; page 15; table, Pathways of Cognitive Development Description End: Okay. So, the area that's marked in blue is... says infants zero to eight months. So, we know that our student is functioning in approximately that range. Across the board. And as we look at the things in the science, which relate to physical science, life science, and earth and space science; we see that the things that we're talking about have to do with... Puts objects in mouth, touch and taste. Looks at or touches objects to feel them or make them move. Begins to repeat actions to get an effect. These are all of the things that are really good examples of things that we're seeing. We're not necessarily seeing-- especially about putting objects in their mouth to touch and taste-- that we're seeing with Kamryn our student. If we go up just a little bit to the 8 to 18 month old, it talks about, plays with and explores toys that move or make sounds over and over. And we're not seeing a lot of exploration of toys or objects, yet, from her. [ Slide end: ] So, we know that, you know, we're right at- at... you, know, our assessment put us at the right level. And then, if you look at this... and you follow it across, as it moves from... older infants to toddlers, to three‑year‑olds, to pre-kindergarten; [ Slide start: ] Repeat previous slide. at this point we are into science, and we're doing things like investigating and describing properties and characteristics of common objects; [ Slide end: ] we're naming and describing life cycles-- we're talking about life cycles; we're naming and discussing earth materials... and objects in the sky. So, if we think about that, okay, what we know is that we're looking at properties of objects, we are looking at cycles in plants and animals, and we're looking at... the names and materials that we find in earth and sky. Okay? So... then we went and we took a look at the Essence Statements... and at her grade level or the coming grade level-- grade level five. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Essence Statement Content: Science: STAAR Reporting Category 4 • 5.9: Knows that there are relationships and characteristics within environments that support organisms. • 5.10: Knows that organisms undergo life processes and have structures that help them survive within their environments. Description End: And in the Essence Statements, these were the two things that are talked about. Knows that there are relationships and characteristics within environments that support organisms. And knows that organisms undergo life processes and have structures that help them survive within their environment. [ Slide end: ] So, again... we're talking objects, they have properties, and they have functions, and that they have live processes, if they're a living thing. Same stuff. We're still talking the same stuff. Curriculum-- yeah, go ahead. Matt: We've traced it now from the assessment, to the Early Learning Pathways, to the Essence Statements. Kate: Yeah. Okay. So, then, we go to the Curriculum Framework, which is another document that we're told to reference, and we look at the Pre-requisite Skills that we find there. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Curriculum Framework Pre-requisite Skills in Science Content: Energy & Matter: Characteristics and Properties of Matter • compare and contrast a variety of mixtures and solutions such as rocks in sand, sand in water, or sugar in water • measure, compare, and contrast physical properties of matter, including size, mass, volume, states (solid, liquid, gas), temperature, magnetism, and the ability to sink or float Organisms & Environment: Identify How Organisms Meet Their Basic Needs • identify and compare the parts of plants • identify parts of plants such as roots, stem and leaves and parts of animals such as head, eyes, and limbs Description End: So, again, we're looking at things about the earth, and matter, and organisms, and the environment. So, under matter and energy... when I went and looked at the... pre-skills, there were several, and I just picked a couple that jumped out at me. And one of them was comparing and contrasting a variety of mixtures and solutions; such as rocks in water, sand in water, or sugar in water. We're also talking about measuring, comparing and contrasting physical properties of matter; iIncluding size, mass, volume, states, temperature, magnetism and the ability to sink or float. Then, when we go to organisms in the environment... under those prerequisite skills... we talk about-- there's two different prerequisite skills that say, one is to identify and compare the parts of plants. Another one is to identify the parts of plants; such as roots, stems and leaves, and the parts of animals; such as head, eyes and limbs. [ Slide end: ] So, again, couldn't be-- I mean, they're all lining right up and- and all making sense to me, there. Then the other document we have to finally tie this to, is a specific TEKS. So, if we go into the TEKS, and we look in science, and we look in fifth grade; [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: TEKS §112.16. Science, Grade 5, Content: (C) Within the living environment, students learn that structure and function of organisms can improve the survival of members of a species. Students learn to differentiate between inherited traits and learned behaviors. Students learn that life cycles occur in animals and plants and that the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle occurs naturally to support the living environment. Description End: the things that they're supposed to be doing in fifth grade science is, within the living environment students can learn that structure and function of organisms can improve the survival of members of a species. Students learn to differentiate between inherited traits and learned behaviors, and students learn that life cycles occur in animals an plants, and carbon dioxide cycles occur naturally to support the living room environment. Well, that's pretty darned high level. [laughing] For our student. So... it's not that she's going to do that. But if you look, again, at the pieces of that, we see, again, the structure and function of organisms, and we see that cycles occur in animals and plants. [ Slide end: ] So we're looking at the same exact things. So, giving- given that information... Matt and I came up with a... sample goal that we might have. And, by the way, this goal is going to address science, but it also happens to... address the Expanded Core Curriculum area of Sensory Efficiency. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Sample Goal Content: Addressing Science and ECC Sensory Efficiency By the end of the IEP completion date, given a variety of materials used in various Science units as well as other objects in combination with perceptualizing aids, Kamryn will tactilely explore the properties and characteristics of organic and inorganic objects using her mouth, lips, tongue, hands, arms, legs and feet for at least 20 minutes of a 30 minute period. Description End: So it says, by the end of the IEP completion date, given a variety of materials used in varies science units, as well as other objects, in combination with perceptualizing aids-- I hope you remember that perceptualizing aids are the pieces of equipment, specifically designed by Lilli, to be used in active learning-- Kamryn will tactilely explore the properties and characteristics of organic and inorganic objects, using her mouth, lips, tongue, hands, affirms, legs and feet for at least 20 minutes of a 30 minute period. [ Slide end: ] So, Matt, does this meet our- our pieces and parts of a goal that we're supposed to have? Matt: I see a timeline. I see a condition, behavior and a criterion. Condition is just what is presented. So, the perceptual aids are presented; that described the condition that the student is... is presented with. The student's behavior is listed; Kamyrn will tactually explore the properties and characteristics; and the... criterion, which is at least 20 minutes of a 30 minute period. That's a measurable goal. Chapter 4. The Science Lesson Kate: Okay. So, we've got a decent science goal. Okay. Now, given this goal... we have to think, well, how do we teach that? Now, I know that if a student is going into a regular science class, they may not be able to do everything in an Active Learning environment. However, what you could be doing, prior to their going in, is giving them some opportunity to become familiar with the materials that will be used in that inclusive setting, through an Active Learning experience. And so... what I want to show you is something that many of you, if you went to the Active Learning conference... recently... saw, was an example of a science lesson that... Patty Obrzut... put together... to talk about the... the life cycle of plants. And... if you remember what she talked about-- her challenge was that... one of her students-- or several of her students, actually-- actually, Patty let me ask you to share what the setup was, as far as the way this lesson was taught in a typical classroom, that you visited. Patty: Sure. I mean the classroom had previously, besides what I observed, they had planted seeds in cups. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Special Guests from Penrickton Center for the Blind Content: left-side photo: Patty Obrzut right-side graphic: Penrickton Center logo right-side text: Patty Obrzut & Jessica Russell Description End: So each student had a cup and dirt-- over time they were letting the seeds grow. But on the occasion that I was there, they were reading a story... I can't remember the name of the story, but it was how sunflowers grow. And the teacher was reading the story to approximately six students and going around, they were in a circle, and then she would read the story to approximately six students, and going around-- there were in a circle, and then she would read the story. And when she got to the parts about the sunflower seeds, she had a zip lock bag with sunflower seeds, and let the children touch the seeds, one at a time, for about-- I would say three seconds, each. And then, when she got to the point about the flower, she let them touch the piece-- it was a very small flower, about two inches high. So, the kids got the opportunity, but it was all done hand-over-hand, to touch the plant, and again they had, probably three seconds, each, to touch the plant, before she moved on to the next student. And then... she did the same thing with water. She had a misting bottle, and would squirt the kids in the air, you know, so their hands could feel the water. She did that, each, one time each per student. And then... the last thing was-- I don't think they had dirt in this session-- Oh, she pulled the plant out and let the kids touch the root of the plant. Again that was all done hand over hand. And that was done over a period of about 20 minutes, that the activity took place; that each student got to participate, but they only got to participate hand over hand. [ Slide end: ] Kate: Okay. So... after... observing this lesson, Patty came back... to Penrickton, and she decided to look at how you can do this same lesson using an Active Learning approach. So, now we're going to go take a look at the science lesson, which is available on the Active Learning Space website. And there is so much good information up there. Patty and Charlotte and I are working as hard and as fast as we can to add more. So I want you to encourage you to visit there frequently... and- and you're gonna just to find amazing new stuff going up... constantly. So, check it out. But let's go right to the science lesson and take a look at it. [ Video start: ] Description Start Video is open-captioned and has auido-description by narrator, below. Description End Narrator: The Science Lesson. In a typical classroom setting, a teacher might have a lesson on the parts of a plant and the growth cycle from steeds to plants. This would take place, usually, in a small group activity where each student has only a brief time to examine the various materials, with some amount of wait time, as the teacher moves from one student to another. The teacher might show the student sunflower seeds, talk about what the seeds need to grow; such as soil, water and sunlight. She might let them touch a few seeds, dirt and water briefly as she goes from student to student. Students might plan the seeds with help from the teacher or aide, and care for them. They might briefly examine the plants that emerge, remove the plants to discuss the various parts; such as roots, stem, leaves and petals. In this video, we will see how to take an Active Learning approach on the same topic. This activity takes place in a large room of Penrickton Center. There are many other students in activities around Kyra, our student, talking and making noise, which you will hear in the background. Kyra vocalizes several times during this session, but she is non-verbal for the most part. She is almost seven years old at the time of this recording. She has retinopathy of prematurity, high myopia, optic nerve pallor in both eyes, and sees best in the left eye in the inferior position. Kyra has had a swallow study done that says she can eat regular, bite-size food and drink thin liquids. She has been diagnosed with spastic hemiplegia, cognitive impairments, microcephaly, and epilepsy. She has cerebral palsy, with her lower extremities more affected than her upper extremities. Kyra can roll over, sit for approximately three minutes on the floor or ESSEF Board without support, but has poor balance skills. She does not walk independently. She likes to fall over and she laughs when she does this. She has good head control. She also has poor safety awareness. When the video begins, Kyra is in a HOPSA dress on a track. Below her feet are a tub of sunflower seeds, a container of soil and pine cones, a tub of water with sponges floating in it, a bucket with a large hosta plant, and a tub of rocks. We see Patty Obrztu tucking a number of hosta leaves in the HOPSA dress that Kyra wears. These plants were chosen by Patty because they are edible. [students vocalizing in background] Kyra is barefoot so that she can feel and explore with her feet, and be motivated to move from one item to another. First, we see Kyra turning slowly in the HOPSA dress while her feet trail through the tub of seeds. She moves briefly to the tub of soil and explores it before retuning to the seeds. Time passes and she discovers... the hosta plant Patty has placed in the HOPSA dress. The angle of the camera shits and we can see that Kyra is chewing on the leaves using her left hand to bring the leaves up to her mouth. We hear her giggle. She uses her left hand to pull off another piece of leaf and goes to put it in her mouth, only to discover that there was a piece already there. She giggles again. She continues to chew on the leaf that she is holding, until all that is left is the stem. As she spins in the HOPSA dress, finally she takes the stem and plays with it along her lips before dropping it onto the ground. She uses her feet, once again, to explore the seeds below her, before pushing off of the tub, to move to the next container of soil. Kyra begins to explore the soil and pine cones in this tub with her feet. Then she returns to the tub of seeds. She waves her left hand in front of her face. She pauses for a moment, lifts her legs up, and spins. Time passes and she pushes off from the seed container to move back to the soil container. Again, she explores the soil with her feet. And eventually returns to the seeds briefly before pushing off to move from the soil container to the next container that is filled with water and sponges. She retraces the seed bucket, the soil bucket and now into the water bucket. She startles when she dips her foot into the water, initially, but she lowers them again. The camera zooms in onto her feet, and we can see her tentatively touching the water with her feet; pulling them out, and repeating these motions numerous times. The camera pulls out again. And we see her move from the water container back to the soil container. Time passes, and she spins for a while, looking around her... before moving to the seed container, and then back to the soil container. Kyra moves between the seeds and the soil container several times. Time passes. And, once again, she goes from the seed container... to the soil container... then to the water container. And after a time, she moves from the water container to the bucket containing the large hosta plant. She explores with her feet and with her hand, and tries to pick up the entire plant before dropping it. But she is able to pull off a piece of leaf, which she immediately places in her mouth, and begins to chew on it, again. As the camera zooms in, we see Kyra still chewing on the leaf, looking very happy. The entire session in the HOPSA dress was approximately 45 mintues long. We have edited it down to show about 10 minutes of that session. We want to point out that Kyra finished her session in the HOPSA dress and then joined Patty to take time to talk about the experience. She reminded Kyra that; she felt seeds, dirt, water, and the plant, with her feet, and that she held and ate the plant. Immediately reviewing the experience with the student makes the information much more meaningful. The language is tied to concepts that are no longer abstract, but very real to the student. [ Video end: ] Kate: Okay. So we had a few comments... One being... a question that Sheila had about, is it wise to use a plant like that in the activity? A student might... put... poisonous plants in her mouth, or think that it's okay to put poisonous... plants in her mouth. And I think that, you know, the point is that you're not going to do anything that would harm the child-- That's the first thing. But the other thing is- is that... you know, kids will come in contact with a variety of plants out in the world, and it is pretty typical of almost any young child at that early, early developmental level, to stick anything and everything into their mouth. And that's why parents watch so closely, with a child, when they are out and about. And I think the same thing would hold true with this student. I can't imagine that she would ever be left unattended by, you know, a parent, just because of where she is developmentally, and I would imagine that the parent would be able to supervise what she was putting in her mouth, or not putting in her mouth. But the other thing is, if you're concerned about that, you know, think about, well, you know, children eats plants all of the time. There's broccoli. There's kale. There's all sorts of stuff. You know, you can talk-- you can use plants that are vegetables that they might find in the grocery store... just pulling them straight out of the garden, you know, and letting them interact with those. It doesn't have to be a hosta plant. Matt: Herbs. Kate: Herbs. Herbs. Absolutely. So, you know. But it's a good points to bring up. It really is. We had a question about can we share this video. You absolutely can. In fact we hope that you do. We hope that you all run out and share it with everybody that you know. That would make us very, very happy. So please take a look at that. Chapter 5. Active Learning Approach to Goals Now, we're running out of time. Uh-huh. But I want to run on and- and tell you that, you know, I hope that you see what we're talking about in terms of, you know, the ability to use an Active Learning approach to teach... science content. It is doable, you know. And when we think back to that TEKS about... mixtures, you know, we've got soil and we've got pine cones, we've got water and we've got sponges. It also talked about things that float and sink, so... some of that was in there, as well, you know. It's very easy, I think, to include... or to address... TEKS... areas using an Active Learning approach. You know, you have to think about it. So, in thinking about this, and thinking about our goals, here's some other goals that-- or other activities that I came up with, that have more of an Active Learning approach that would address our TEKS goals. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Other Activities Content: • Make an aquarium together and spend time watching fish, snails, etc. in an aquarium • Collect leaves from trees throughout the year and play with them, do art activities with them, compare spring leaves and autumn leaves, different kinds of leaves • Play in water with various objects that float and don’t float • Play with magnetized bowl with objects that are magnetic and non-magnetic Description End: So, for example, we might... play... with our students; create an aquarium together, and just spend time watching the fish, and the snails, and the plants, in the aquarium. We might collect leaves... as we go on walks outside, and... play with them, or do art activities with them, or... try to compare, you know, spring leaves from autumn leaves, or watch them get-- wilt and dry. Matt: Fresh to dry, wet to dry. Kate: Yes. Yes. Different kinds and different shapes of leaves. When you think about herbs, they all have different kinds of shapes of leaves and also have different scents. All of that is part of what we're talking about in science. We could play in a water table, or a foot bath, with objects that float or some that don't float. Play with a magnetized bowl, and put objects that are magnetic and those that aren't, and just see what happens. [ Slide end: ] All of that is science, at the level that our student is supposed to be doing, and aligns with grade level TEKS. Matt: And it's experiential. Kate: And it's experiential. Matt: They touch them-- the- the items. They experience the concepts firsthand; with their sense of touch, with whatever vision, whatever hearing they may have. Kate: Right. And they're able to use fine motor and gross motor skills to be able to... develop those skills at the same time, as we're going along. Okay. So... in the short time that we have left, we wanted to give you some examples of other goals. Our student's team came up with this sample goal that was-- is meant to address, both some of the OT areas that she needs to be working on, and also sensory efficiency skills in the Expanded Core Curriculum. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Sample Goal Content: By the end of the IEP completion date, given appropriate materials (high interest, slim profile, various textures, temperature, weight, size, etc.) with an SPG Board, Little Room, or Support Bench, Kamryn will reach, grasp and/or rake using both hands together 10 times during a 15 minute observation period. Description End: And it says by the end of the IEP completion date, given appropriate materials, that are high interest, have a slim profile, varies textures, temperature, weight, size, et cetera, with an SPG board, little room or support bench, Kamryn will reach, grasp and or rake, using both hands together, 10 times during a 15 minute observation period. So, right now she's not using both hands together. [ Slide end: ] And, so, this is a goal for a whole year! So, you know, she's-- you know, hopefully by the end of the year she'll be using both hands, and- and in that 15 minute observation period we can see her using both hands together. So, I think that's a great, great goal. Some of the other ones that we came up with, just to give you an idea. This one might... address-- be an area that the PT might be working with her on. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Sample Goal Content: By the end of the IEP completion date, given appropriate perceptualizing aids such as a HOPSA dress or Support Bench and highly motivating materials, Kamryn will move her legs and feet to rake, kick or touch the items 10 times within a 15 minute period. Description End: It's talking about at the end of the IEP completion date, giving appropriate perceptualizing aids, such as a HOPSA dress or support bench, and, again, highly motivating materials, Kamryn will move her- her legs and feet to rake, kick, or touch the items 10 times during a 15 minute period. [ Slide end: ] [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Sample Goal Content: By the end of the IEP completion date, during an adult-child interaction, Kamryn will use her voice or reach with her hand to request their attention or help 3 times during a 15 minute interaction period. Description End: Another one.... by the end of the IEP completion date, during an adult‑child interaction... Kamryn will use her voice, or reach with her hand, to request their attention or help, three times during a 15 minute interaction period. [ Slide end: ] So, what we're going for there, is just that she's going to vocalize to get their attention, or maybe reach and try to touch them to get their attention. We're not seeing her do that a whole lot. She's done-- she does it a little bit, but not very consistently. Another one-- or Matt, did you have something to say? Matt: And just by setting up an environment that she'll be able to do that. That's that condition that we're creating, allows her to practice that skill where she's at Kate: Mm-Hmm. Matt: We know that, because that where the assessment tells us that's where she's at. And then by us responding, affirming her initiation, we know that her ability to initiate, communicate is going to get stronger right there. Kate: Absolutely. And I might say this other one, when we talk about an adult-child interaction, that could be-- we could also add in there... maybe... on a resonance board with highly motivating materials or... you know, things like that. We can be more specific about that piece of it... if we needed to, or wanted to. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Sample Goal Content: By the end of the IEP completion date, during an adult-child interaction, when presented with two very different sound sources such as a drum and bell or a blender and spoon on a metal bowl, Kamryn will turn her head and look at the object or reach for the object 3 times during a 15 minute period. Description End: Okay. Another one is, by the end of the IEP completion date during another adult‑child interaction, when presented with two very different sound sources, such as a drum and bell, or a blender and spoon on a metal bowl, Kamryn will turn her head and look the a the object, or reach for the object three times during a 15 minute period. [ Slide end: ] What we're looking at here is... a bit like-- if there are any teachers of the deaf or hard of hearing out there-- this is a typical auditory training activity. But if we're presenting... or playing with different materials and we begin to make sounds with them, and she begins to associate a sound with a particular object, and/or look for that object, then we are doing auditory training. That's what it's about, that's how you do it. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Sample Goal Content: By the end of the IEP completion date, while placed in a Little Room with motivating objects, Kamryn will vocalize 5 times during a 15 minute period. Description End: And then one final one that we have put in is, by the end of the IEP completion date while placed in a room with motivating objects, Kamryn will vocalize five times during a 15 minute period. [ Slide end: ] Again this could be a speech‑language goal. We're wanting to get her to use her voice. And we know that she does vocalize more... in the little room already, and so hopefully that will increase. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Two Goofy Girls Content: center photo: Smiling selfie photo of Kamryn and her TVI Description End: And... today I got a wonderful email message from... our crew out in Bastrop... and... a wonderful picture that I want to share with you guys. [ Laughter ] Her TVI and of our girl Kamryn, who is just so wonderful, and it's been such a thrill and a joy to work with her and her team this year. I really, really love it. Matt: That picture sums up a lot I think. Kate: Yeah, I think it does, too. We hope that you have enjoyed being with us. We hope that you will come back and join us next year. [ Slide end: ] Until next year, we bid you adieu, and hope that you will join us, soon, to do more Active Learning. Bye‑bye.