Kortnie and I both use PEAK: Relational Training Systems in our classroom. If you haven't heard of PEAK yet, you need to check it out! Previously, we used the ABLLS-R to assess our students and guide our instruction; however, we always felt like we got to a point, especially with some of our more advanced students, where we didn't really know where to go or what to do next. If you've heard of or use the ABLLS-R, you know it's designed to assess skills that children up to age 5 can complete. Although we were teaching younger students at the time, we still found that with some of them, we came to a roadblock where they were close to mastering all the skills in the ABLLS-R and we were looking for where to go next, but it wasn't in the ABLLS-R. The same shortcoming is apparent in other tools such as the VB-MAPP. While these are both great resources, we just felt as if we were "missing" something.
PEAK takes away the guessing and the wandering blind through the vast world of curriculums on where to go or what to do next. We could go on for days about our love of PEAK but that's for another post. If we've caught your interest and you want to know more about it before we post, head over here.
Approach 1: Assess first, teach later.
This approach focuses on assessing all of your students first. This is your main focus. Trust me, it can be draining. If you have a room full of new kiddos, assessing them is going to be a no-brainer first step. If you don't know what a child is able to do, you are going to struggle to provide effective and efficient individualized instruction. Of course, you're still going to be guiding students through the skeleton of the routine you have laid out but overall your days are going to be lower demand. There are plenty of benefits to this approach including:
a) Taking time to get to know each of your kids before placing "intense demands" on them
b) Being sure your instruction is appropriate
c) Pairing yourself with reinforcement (i.e. Showing them that you're the teacher and you have cool things that they want to work for!)
d) Being able to set basic behavioral expectations
e) Working out the kinks in your skeletal routine.
So, let's talk about how Kortnie went about this.
1. Prep Assessment Materials. Get these ready and have them on-hand. Your kiddo shouldn't be sitting across the table from you waiting for the main act to start! Be ready to roll and try to keep the assessment as quick (but still appropriately) paced as possible.
2. Start Assessing, and Start Small. Maybe you just ask them to do a few and then switch to another kid. It could also look like you providing choices to your students (i.e. "Do you want to keep going or take a quick break?").
3. Use Assessment Results to Formulate Instruction. Now you have all of this information so use it! No more guessing or grasping straws!
4. Build Individualized Skill Binders. The PEAK books really outline how to do this in depth. Each of my students has 5-12 individualized programs selected for them. They're set up in a binder which is for another post at another time.
Depending on your learners and your schedule, this process could take a few days. The PEAK assessments we mentioned before are designed to be low-maintenance and easy to implement. Check out their flip books, for sure!
Approach 2: Teach first, assess later.
This approach focuses on teaching first and assessing later. This would be a good route to head if you have students that are able to complete work independently for at least 20 to 30 minutes at a time. In this approach you are teaching the stations that you want the students to complete when you begin pulling students for assessment and intense one-on-one instruction (DTI/DTT). Initially, you will want to complete each activity as a whole group, providing instruction with errorless learning. As time goes on, with any good programming, you will want to reduce the amount of prompts you are giving and have the students begin to complete the work on their own, only helping them where they need it.
So, let's talk about how I went about this.
1. I picked my activities. My students are learning how to do a calendar station, writing journals, math station, following a picture schedule (independent work), and completing a reading program on the classroom iPads.
2. The first week and a half of school we completed each of these activities together. I modeled to my students how to complete the activity (calendar, math, writing, etc..) and checking every step of the way to make sure that no errors occurred. If there was an error, it was immediately corrected.
3. The second week and a half of school, I began telling the students what activity we were doing, provided visual prompts on the board to help them complete the activity, and said "do your best and let a teacher know if you need help." While walking around an ensuring errors are not being made and still helping out, as needed. This would be a fantastic time to begin working on increasing student mands (requests) where they are asking for more information, help, etc.. Give your students enough time to ask for help.
4. The third and fourth weeks students were receiving minimal help, mostly just when they were finished we reviewed their work. While students were completing their work, I was preparing their student binders. Binders include only programs that correlate to their IEP goals. Once assessed, students will also have programs that correlate with their deficits as well as their IEP goals.
So a quick recap. Two ways we go about starting our school years, (1) assess first, teach later and (2) teach first, assess later. Either way will work, but think about your class when picking an approach. PEAK is awesome, so check it out!
How do you start the school year?
Happy Teaching!
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