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Increasing Student Communication: Encouragement Strategies

Sheri Hines

Grand Canyon University

SPD-400: Creating and Managing Mild to Moderate Learning Environments

Linda Ramirez

08/08/2021
 Part 1: Case Study 1: (Sophie)

Reflective Participation Prompt

Mrs. Fields believes Sophie lacks the necessary Interpersonal skills (e.g., sharing, asking

for permission, joining an activity, waiting your turn), needed within structured school

environment. Accordingly, the goals Mrs. Fields has chosen for Sophie include her initiating

conversation with peers and taking turns with toys, class materials, and talking. To help achieve

these goals Mrs. Fields will be using an evidence-based strategy that she will integrate with the

classroom/school schedule expectations routines and instructional curriculum and practice.

Moreover, the strategy is titled Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) , moreover it is an all-

inclusive strategy that can improve these skills in all students. By integrating SEL into the

school/classroom norms I will be teaching, supporting, and encouraging my students to self-

manage their thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions. Moreover, SEL encourages and supports

students as they gain a sense of responsibility, which in turn, improves their self-concept and

boosts their self-esteem.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

Based of seven principles (Create, Integrate, Instruct, Reflect, Respect, Communicate,

and Power), SEL is an evidence-based strategy that teaches students the skills necessary to

recognize and regulate emotions, set and attain positive social/behavior goals, experience/exhibit

empathy, form and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions (A Report

Prepared for CASEL A National Scan of Teacher Preparation and Social & Emotional Learning,

2017.).

Create
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Encourage students to enter play situations effectively by providing reflective listening

prompts. The teacher uses reflective statements to acknowledge the student's desire to play with

classmates (e.g., "It looks like you may want to play with the puzzles too."). Once the student

confirms the desire, the teacher uses reflective statements and questions (e.g., "How can you ask

if you can play too?") to support the student in brainstorming strategies to join in successfully.

Reflective Participation Prompts make the nuances of engaging in social interaction more

transparent and less intimidating for young learners building their social skills.

Integrate

When necessary, reteach the modeled behavior. Often, it takes more than once for the

student(s) to learn the desired skill or behavior. One way to reteach or practice the behavior is

through social role play. The role play can be an opportunity to practice amongst peers or in a

one-on-one setting to increase engagement and involvement of the students and gain self-mastery

before the real-life situation.

Instruct:

Deliver explicit whole group instruction on how to join others in play effectively. For

example, say, “When we want to play with someone, it’s important not to disturb them when

trying to play with them. We have to think about how to quietly ask them if we can play.

Role-Play during small group time to demonstrate how to enter play situations

effectively. Guide the student using reflective thinking (e.g., “Let’s pretend you want to play in

the Kitchen Center, but your friends are already playing. What would you say to play too?”).

Reflect

Model using reflective thinking to enter play situations. For instance, when approaching

the Art Corner say, “I would like to paint with my friends. How could I ask them to let me paint
Part 1:Case Study 2

too? I know! I’ll say, ‘May I paint with you?’” Have students reflect on how they are doing with

the modeled behavior frequently and consistently. This helps to support students in being more

self-responsible for themselves in their classroom and school environment. The reflection

process could happen during circle time, group meetings, check in or in one-on-one settings

(How can teachers use reflective thinking in the classroom? – Mvorganizing.org, 2021).

Respect

Create a set of 6 common behavioral expectations for when students are engaged in play. Use

these expectations to create a classroom anchor chart or give each student a copy and review

them with their partner.

Communicate

Generate a list of ‘go-to’ prompting statements in advance of supporting students

throughout the day. Update the list frequently to highlight particularly effective statements or add

new statements. When students demonstrate adequately modeled behavior, —especially when

students are first learning the skill, be sure to provide positive feedback. The positive feedback

might include positive praise or reinforcers such as points or stars and can be recorded on a chart.

References

A Report Prepared for CASEL A National Scan of Teacher Preparation and Social & Emotional

Learning. (2017). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED582029.pdf

How can teachers use reflective thinking in the classroom? – Mvorganizing.org. (2021, May

31). Mvorganizing.org. https://www.mvorganizing.org/how-can-teachers-use-reflective-

thinking-in-the-classroom/
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Part 1:Case Study 2 (Ari)

Ari is a student recently determined eligible for special education in the areas of reading

fluency and written expression. Ari’s teacher, Mr. Jackson, states that Ari is easily distracted and

becomes frustrated during long stretches of language arts activities. Mr. Jackson also states that

Ari seems to avoid writing and requires prompting to get him started immediately. Mr. Jackson

has set two goals from Ari to work on over the next three months; be prompt in starting the work

that needs to be done independently increase the amount of work he turns in. Based on this

information given, I believe the best strategy in this situation is for Mr. Jackson to adopt the

practices associated with Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Strategy: Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

UDL is an educational framework that guides the design of learning goals, materials,

methods, and assessments as well as the policies surrounding these curricular elements with the

diversity of learners in mind. The framework was developed by US organization CAST and is

based on research in the field on neuroscience‌(Lowrey, 2019). It promotes three core principles

for educators to build into their teaching practice, calling on them to provide students with

multiple means of engagement, representation, and action & expression (Lowrey, 2019). The

framework includes a set of guidelines on how you can turn these principles into practice.

For example, by fostering collaboration with the introduction of group work with clear

goals, roles and responsibilities, using different types of media to support learning and ensuring

that all materials are accessible, and providing a choice of assessment instruments while

maintaining robust learning outcomes.

Part 1:Case Study 2

The following UDL strategies were retrieved from the CAST website (UDL: The UDL

Guidelines, 2017) can be applied to Mr. Jacksons instructional practices to specifically help Ari

achieve his goals.

Partner Reading

Rather than reading independently, students can be divided into pairs or small groups and

read the text aloud together or take turns reading aloud. Partner reading is a cooperative learning

activity that fosters pragmatic skills (e.g., taking turns), provides students with opportunities to

model fluency, and allows the teacher to move around the room and informally assess fluency.

Interactive Writing

Interactive Writing is a process in which the teacher leads the students through various writing

forms (e.g. letter, persuasive essay, poems) by first modeling and having the students create the

writing form as a whole class. The teacher models the elements that are needed in the writing

form as the students contribute the content to the writing. In this way, the students are able to

practice writing and becoming familiar with the form prior to independent practice. The teacher

can also embed writing mechanics, grammar, and sentence structure into the interactive writing

process.

Student Choice

Consider the objective(s) of a lesson when deciding whether and how to incorporate

elements of student choice. If instruction and assessment are focused on a particular

skill or exercise, such as a certain style of notetaking, method of brainstorming, or

revision strategy, allowing variation in subject matter will not impact students' ability to

demonstrate understanding, growth, and/or mastery. For example, one student may

demonstrate use of transitional phrases in a paragraph about brown bears and another
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student may demonstrate use of transitional phrases in a paragraph about a favorite

video game. The topics vary to suit the needs and interests of the students, while the

focus of assessment remains the same.

Welcoming Technology

Welcome technology by offering students digital response options when available (e.g., typing a

story/poem/song, record a free podcast, create an animation) to increase engagement and make

visual response options more accessible to students.

Reinforcers

Pair tasks with reinforcers, such as a token board to increase engagement and

participation. Before beginning a Task Variation sequence, establish a specific number of

required tokens before earning a reinforcer. Tokens can be received for maintenance and target

skills, then slowly fade as the student increases success.

Building Routines/Following Directions

This strategy can assist students in developing routines and following multi-step

directions. Instead of saying, "Clean up and get started on your science notes," when

transitioning to a new activity, a teacher can scaffold the instructions to include single-step

directions that the student has a history of following successfully. Allow the student to complete

three to five of these maintenance skills (e.g., "Put the paper in your binder," "Return the art

supplies," "Take out your science book") before giving the multi-step direction (e.g., "Reread

chapter 3 and write down the main ideas on your note sheet."). The successful completion of the

single-step directions builds momentum for the student and increases the likelihood that they will

attempt the multi-step directions.

Provide Feedback
Part 1:Case Study 2

Provide feedback to support students while engaging in repeated practice of the skill

(e.g., “I noticed how you used your summarizing bookmark to check your response.” / “If you

feel confused, think about what steps were needed when the sample was modeled.”) Make sure

students have enough time to practice the desired outcome of the skill.

References

UDL: The UDL Guidelines. (2017, November 28). Cast.org. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/

‌Lowrey, K. A., Classen, A., & Sylvest, A. (2019). Exploring Ways to Support Preservice

Teachers’ Use of UDL in Planning and Instruction. Journal of Educational Research and

Practice, 9(1), 261–281.
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Part 2:Future Professional Practices

In my future practice I plan to implement both Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into my practice because it is important to design learning

that works for all learners. Frankly, teachers spend so much time designing lessons and prepping

and assessing and despite the intent and best efforts, still teachers are not meeting the needs of all

students. students are wildly different from one another and when we embrace the variability that

students bring like their identities and their differences (academically behaviorally, socially,

emotionally, linguistically) we recognize that one size fits all learning simply does not work. our

systems have not traditionally met the needs of all of our students which is why we have to

design universally for every single one of our students and this requires that we move away from

one size. In short, I believe I we do better for all kids when if I provide multiple ways for

students to learn, materials for them to use, and opportunities for them to share what they know.

That said, I will incorporate SEL strategies to my future practice to promote and

encourage a positive learning environment and to subtract negative energy. I will also utilize

SEL as an extension towards learning. I will use these strategies as a tool to assist my students in

developing the skills needed (both individually and as a whole group) to engage themselves in

learning in an environment where they feel safe, supported and unjudged. I will incorporate SEL

into my instruction by using strategies of teaching, modeling, practicing and encouraging

positive interactions.

By incorporating Social and Emotional Learning into my daily practices my students will

gain a better understanding of what it means to be self-aware, socially aware, and self-regulated.

My students will learn the skills necessary to make responsible decision-and build positive

interpersonal relationships. Gaining these skills involves unambiguously teaching, learning,

Part 1:Case Study 2

practicing, and reflecting on the one’s ability to identify and understand personal emotions and

the emotions of others, including taking the perspective of others, self-regulating/managing one's

thoughts, feelings, and behaviors effectively, and making positive choices, like avoiding peer

pressure and considering consequences for one’s actions, and forming, building, and maintaining

healthy positive relationships