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This is the video to introduce Embedded Supports to Differentiate Instruction for Struggling
Students.
The purpose of this video is to introduce embedded supports you can use when designing
and delivering instruction to students with disabilities and others who struggle.
The video is broken into four sections. At the end of the first section you should be
able to define embedded supports,
Next, you will understand and be able to name embedded supports for supporting development
of background and vocabulary knowledge.
Third, you will learn strategies for teaching students comprehension strategies.
And finally, you will learn strategies for supporting students as they build connections
between reading and writing.
Raising expectations for our children is an important piece of preparing students for
the challenges of life in the 21st century. However, many students with learning disabilities,
along with others who struggle may be performing anywhere from two to five years behind their
peers in reading, writing, mathematics, and other subject areas
As a result, teachers need access to high-quality teaching practices to help support all learners.
One group of effective practices known to help students make gains are called...
embedded supports.
Embedded supports are built into existing instructional practices so that they provide...
just in time support...
to help students relieve cognitive stress introduced by various learning tasks. Embedded
supports help students focus their attention on critical learning tasks like comprehending
text. Embedded supports take many forms, including ...
Broad instructional design frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning
Specific evidence-based practices such as explicit instruction,
and within technology tools.
In the following sections, we discuss how embedded supports can help students succeed
within various literacy-related learning tasks.
Pause the video and answer the question: What are embedded supports? If you've answered
it, please go on when ready. If you would like a brief review, please review the previous
section. All students need strong banks of background
knowledge about various topics, and matching vocabulary knowledge. Effective approaches
for supporting student development include emphasizing relationships between words and
concepts, engaging interest, and providing numerous and various supports and scaffolds,
including technology tools.
One simple family of technology tools that teachers can use is online reference materials.
This includes online dictionaries,
Visual thesauruses,
and online encyclopedias.
Within these online resources, students can also make use of the computer's built in text-to-speech
capabilities, or a text-to-speech software program, which respectively offer a path to
hear words and definitions read aloud.
Other multimedia-based supports, including videos from sites like BrainPop,
And simple how-to diagrams, animated illustrations, and other visuals are useful tools for building
background and vocabulary knowledge, especially for students who struggle with language.
Sites such as How Stuff Works includes content specific illustrations to help learners grasp
sequences, interactions, and relationships.
Finally, maps and diagrams showing relationships among words and concepts can also help students
connect new words to those that are already known.
Pause the video and answer the question: What are technology tools that can be used to support
development of background and vocabulary knowledge? If you've answered it, please go on when ready.
If you would like a brief review, please review the previous section.
Comprehension strategies help students meet expectations in the various content areas,
which is important, because the characteristics of texts in English Language Arts courses
are quite different from those in science courses, which are different from historical
documents. Students with disabilities need explicit and guided practice, to see and hear
strategies through modeling, and receive frequent prompts to use appropriate strategies.
An example of an embedded strategy that can help support comprehension across various
content areas is digital text.
Digital texts can be scanned by teachers, or be used within a digital textbook. Digital
text can be read aloud using text to speech software, and can be customized to meet visual
needs of students with print-based disabilities or other challenges accessing text. This can
include enlarged fonts, different background colors, and other presentation options.
Text to speech is another embedded support that can help students build stronger comprehension
and comprehension skills.
Many students with disabilities and struggling readers have better listening than reading
comprehension. Text to speech software frees up attention so students can focus on building
stronger understandings of content. Look for programs that highlight text as it is read
so students can follow along, and practice using scanning and tracking skills as they
read.
Finally, a good embedded support for building comprehension is Annotations and study skill
features.
Many literacy software programs and digital textbooks include options for making annotations
and notes. These tools can help students become more active readers. Teach your students how
to annotate texts with virtual sticky notes, bookmarking, highlighting and color coding.
Pause the video and answer the question: What are embedded supports that can help students
improve their comprehension? If you've answered it, please go on when ready. If you would
like a brief review, please review the previous section.
Content-area reading and academic literacies become more important as students move through
the grades and into high school, but content-specific writing tasks may also pose challenges for
students. While a student may feel comfortable writing a personal narrative or creative story,
they may struggle to write an acceptable lab report or analytical essay. Your students
must be able to write for multiple audiences and purposes, alone or collaboratively, and
be able to use a variety of tools and platforms to do so. Many technology tools are available
that can help support your students with writing.
One embedded support that can be useful for improving writing is Spelling and grammar
checkers, including newer contextual spell checkers.
Though they are common elements of every word processor and many web browsers and email
programs, students need strategies for using them effectively. Students with reading challenges
may be prone to making errors in their writing that are not picked up by spell checkers (using
a correctly spelled word in the wrong context). For these students, contextual spell check
programs not only check for errors in spelling, they also highlight areas of mistaken word
choice.
Word prediction software programs are built on common patterns of English writing and
misspellings and may have the ability to "learn" from users' mistakes.
As a student types, these programs make predictions and offer suggested next words or phrases.
Corrections are often more accurate than a traditional spellchecker.
Graphic organizer software with outlining and drafting capabilities can be used to support
struggling writers in a number of ways.
They can be used as presentations to whole groups for a discussion of relationships and
concepts, or by individual students as before and during reading organizers to aid comprehension.
Programs that then convert these maps to outlines or drafts can help your learners convert their
thinking into writing.
Voice recognition software can be helpful for students with dysgraphia, spelling disabilities,
or other motor issues that may inhibit their writing.
Voice recognition offers students an alternative way of getting their thoughts down on paper,
and may be especially useful for those students who would traditionally need to use a transcriber
for writing tasks.
Pause the video and answer the question: What are technology tools to help support student
writing? If you've answered it, please go on when ready. If you would like a brief review,
please review the previous section.