edTPA Basic Terminology

learning target: A learner outcome that is achieved over time by meeting related lesson objectives. (edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 56)

learning task: An activity that engages the focus learner in developing, practicing, generalizing, and/or maintaining knowledge and skills related to one or more specific lesson objectives. Learning tasks may be scaffolded to connect prior knowledge to new knowledge and include guided practice and feedback to a learner. In a curricular area to develop motor skills, a learning task might focus on developing the fine-motor skills or eye-hand coordination to cut up a piece of chicken with a knife and fork. In an academic curricular area, a learning task might be answering comprehension questions about a passage from a chapter book. A learning task in the social curricular area might be learning to recognize and describe one�s feelings. (edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 56)

edTPA Terminology Related to Communication

(edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 55)

communication: Receiving and conveying information, meanings, concepts, or feelings. Communication includes language content, form, and sequence; various communication modes or forms, including augmented communication, verbal and nonverbal communication, and devices and other technology; expressive or receptive communication; and initiative or responsive communication. Curriculum-related communication, also known as Academic Language, is the means by which learners develop and express content understandings. Regardless of the area of focus, there are communication demands that teachers need to consider as they plan to support learning of content. These demands include vocabulary (words, symbols, signs, behaviors), communication function/purpose, syntax, social use of communication, concepts and meanings, and situational expectations for both receptive and expressive language. (edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 55)

�������� communication demands:19 Specific ways that communication is used by learners to understand what to do to participate in learning tasks, and/or to demonstrate their learning or perform appropriately in the context. (edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 56)

���� communication skill (function): The purpose and focus of a communication.

Common language functions include asking, responding, commenting, signaling, selecting, initiating, expressing, describing, comparing, sequencing, analyzing, and interpreting. The communication function is often represented by active verbs within lesson objectives and is referred to in this assessment as the communication skill. (edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 56)

�������� communication supports: Strategies that are used to build learners� curriculum- related communication within a learning task. Strategies involve modeling the appropriate communication for learners to use in a learning task as well as opportunities for guided practice, generalization, and maintenance. Language supports also include assistive technology and other mediators. (edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 56)

�������� concepts and meanings: Understanding ideas, feelings, definitions, and designations conveyed through various communication modes, associated with vocabulary demands. (edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 56)

���� situational expectations: Rules and conventions associated with specific situations.

Communication changes to match the needs of the situation, including changes in word/sign/symbol/behavior choice; and tone, intensity, volume, timing, and content of

communication. In an academic context, this is often referred to as �discourse.� (edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 56)

���� social use of communication: Using communication for different purposes (e.g., greeting, expressive anger) and changing communication to match the needs of the listener/receiver. Includes verbal and nonverbal communication used to establish and/or maintain interpersonal relationships, participate in activities, communicate intent, and so on. (edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 56)

���� syntax: The set of conventions for organizing symbols, words, and phrases together into structures (e.g., words composed of letters or symbols in braille, sentences, graphs, tables).20(edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 56)

�vocabulary: Spoken, written, or demonstrated vocabulary (e.g., bigger, multiply, wet, cold, compare, next, >, $, ASL signs for �since� in different contexts, picture cards for a communication board, nonverbal social cues or nonverbal signals such as raising your hand to indicate you want to speak). (edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook, 2014, p. 56)

edTPA Special Education Assessment Handbook (2014, September). The Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity (SCALE). Stanford, CA: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.