week 3a

ESE645: LESSON DESIGN FOR STUDENTS WITH MILD TO MODERATE DISABILITIES

Instructor Guidance

Week 3

Welcome to Week Three ESE645. Please be sure to review the Week Three homepage for this course to see:

· The specific learning outcomes for the week

· The schedule overview

· The required and recommended resources

· The introduction to the week

· A listing of the assessments

Next, be sure to read this entire Instructor Guidance page.

Overview

Last week was a pivotal week in your studies where you were able to revise a lesson plan adding more sophisticated elements for student success.  You also gained a deeper understanding of the thought process and formula for writing measurable goals for students with mild to moderate disabilities. This week we will continue our learning in the area of designing creative and relevant lessons, which focuses on self-determination skills. As part of the Instructor Guidance, you are encouraged to review the weekly homepages for the course and take note of the assessments each week. Now is an appropriate time to revisit the Week Six Final Project instructions and Grading Rubric to be sure you understand the scope of what you will do in that assessment and how your participation in each of the weeks supports your success. Planning ahead is recommended!

Intellectual Elaboration

Self-Determination Defined Self-determination skills are those abilities related to goal setting, problem solving, and decision making which are designed to increase a student’s level of independence and improve their overall quality of life. Essentially, self-determination skills are a combination of abilities focused on improving knowledge, and beliefs that enable a person to engage in goal-directed, self-regulated, independent behavior. In the previous course, ESE634, you engaged in activities that were related to the transition process, which easily incorporates these types of goals into the students’ instruction.  Self-determination skills are important for all people, however, even more so, for those with disabilities. This 3-minute video is the result of a group of students who came together in 2008 at the “Self-Determination Youth Summit in Roanoke, Virginia (Self-Determination Youth Credo, n.d.).  You may find this to provide a strong context for the importance of teaching these skills. Having an understanding of one’s strengths and limitations together with a belief in oneself as capable and effective are essential to developing self-determination.  Much of this type of learning is grounded in self-efficacy because it relies upon one’s ability to control their own level of motivation and behavior. For students with disabilities, these abilities are not inherently obtained through their environment.  Often, they must be explicitly taught and practiced.  Providing structured opportunities for students to learn about self-determination skills allows them to receive guidance and feedback so they are better equipped to generalize them in other environments and increase their level of independence.

Self-Determination Skill	Definition
Self-regulation	Examining one’s possible responses to a situation and revising one’s response as necessary
Self-advocacy	Having the knowledge and skills to speak on ones’ own behalf
Self-awareness	Knowing one’s strength and limitations
Self-efficacy	Believing in one’s ability to engage in a specific behavior or task
Choice-making	Involves the indication of a preference from a group of two or more options
Decision-making	Selecting which of a set of potential solutions is best
Problem-solving	Identifying and defining a problem then generating potential solutions to the problem
Goal setting	Identifying a goals, developing an action plan, and evaluating one’s progress toward achieving the goal

 

Figure 6:  Self-determination skills and their definitions. (Bates, n.d.).

When acting on the basis of these skills and attitudes, individuals have greater ability to take control of their lives and assume the role of successful adults in our society.  This is one goal that we want to infuse into the student’s individualized education program (IEP) goals so that we can support their development in these crucial areas. The educational and goal-setting arena in the public school setting is the perfect environment to teach these skills. Types of Self-Determination Skills “Involving students in making decisions about their futures is critical,” (Cohen & Spenciner, 2013, p. 480).  Involving students in their own education is important to their motivation and ensuring that the learning is relevant to their own preferences.  Not only will students provide valuable information about their desires for the future but also the students’ parents or guardians and other teachers that have knowledge and an interest in the student will be able to share this important information.  Again, this notion supports the value of collaboration and team approach to creating lesson plans, individualized goals, and instruction that is meaningful. Here are some additional areas to consider in a useful visual tool:

Figure 7.  CAPE-abilities for self-protection from abuse.  This illustration provides a different set of self-determination skills for students with disabilities. Source: www.wid.org/cape

Not only are there specific strategies but there are actual curricula that are designed to support the growth of self-determination skills and social skills.  Examples of these are “Skillstreaming the Elementary School Child,” “ACCEPTS Program”, and “Social Storytelling” (Polloway & Polloway, 2013).  According to the Publication of the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition (n.d.), “the capabilities needed to become self-determined are most effectively learned through real-world experience, which inherently involves taking risks, making mistakes, and reflecting on outcomes” para 4).  Learning these skills in a safe environment, such as the classroom, is highly beneficial (Terry, 2012).

Assessment Guidance

Assignment: Designing Lesson Plans:  Evidence-Based Strategies This assignment assesses your ability to develop lesson plans that incorporate evidence-based strategies with goals that are aligned to the current performance levels of a particular student.  This assignment supports your mastery of the course-learning outcome:  Synthesize learning within the framework of a lesson plan portfolio. Here again, you have the opportunity to create a lesson plan using from those written in Week One or Week Two as a model.  In this one, you will incorporate self-determination skills for Bianca Henderson with specific goals aligned to her present levels of performance (PLOP).  Additionally, you will write a one-page rationale for the lesson plan explaining why you selected the strategies for Bianca.  Why did you believe these skills to benefit her?  What areas is she lacking in that your plan will support?   Be sure to follow the guidelines for both content and written expectations so that you are able to meet the distinguished levels on the grading rubric. As stated before, APA format is required on this narrative section of your paper.  Be sure that you include the proper format for in-text citations to support your position.  Any literature that is referenced in the body of your text must be included in your list of references.  If you have questions about APA format, please contact the Ashford Writing Center as they have a host of available resources on this and many other valuable topics.