Hannah Jones

High Leverage Practices for Special Education Videos

Part A:
Video 1 (Introductory Video-- What are HLPs?)
● HLPs are high leverage practices (practices foundational to effective teaching), and
these videos focus on students with disabilities.
● You can’t master HLPs just by watching a video, you have to practice it in the classroom.
● In many schools, students with disabilities make up over 10% of the student body.
○ This means every teacher will play a part in supporting these students.
● The goal is for students to have access to the curriculum, and be able to make progress
towards the curriculum.
○ We’ve talked in many education classes about the idea that our goal is to help
students make progress, rather than to catch them up to their grade level. It’s
much more important that students understand what they are learning about, as
opposed to rushing them through the curriculum without giving them enough time
to learn.
● HLPs should work alongside interventions, not replace them.
● HLPs can help all students.
○ In ED 243, we’ve talked a lot about how many of the adaptations made for
students with disabilities actually benefit the entire class.

Video 2 (Clarifying the Relationship Between HLPs and EBPs)

● Teachers should use the best available research along with other considerations to
teach in the most effective manner.
● EBPs are instructional practices that have proven that they improve learning outcomes
for specific types of students.
● Most HLPs are more broad than EBPs.
● HLPs complement EBPs. Together, they have the potential to help students with
disabilities receive the best education possible.
● Teachers don’t have to use every HLP, but rather only the ones that would be helpful for
students’ needs.
● Create an organized and respectful environment.
○ Define procedures.
■ This reminds me of what we learned about students with autism. They
need their environment to be predictable. This can happen with an
organized environment where procedures are defined.

Video 3 (#7: Establish a Consistent, Organized, and Respectful Learning Environment)

● A teacher should be planful and deliberate in how they set up their classroom space to
provide students with clear directions, procedures, and expectations.
○ We’ve learned in this class that students with autism do much better when their
schedule and environment is predictable, and when they know exactly what is
expected of them.
 ● Teachers can create environments that increase the likelihood that students will be
respectful.
● To create a respectful environment, develop strong relationships with students.
○ All of our education classes have discussed the importance of developing
relationships with students.
● Explicitly teach and model expectations.
● Give students many opportunities to respond.
● Make sure all students feel welcome in the classroom.
○ In ED 398, we talked about the importance of making students from other
cultures feel welcome in the classroom by incorporating their culture into our
classroom and content.
● Acknowledge specific, appropriate behavior more often than negative behavior.
○ Kris Baker discussed the importance of this when she talked to us about autism.

Video 4 (#8 and #22: Provide Positive & Constructive Feedback to Guide Students’ Learning
and Behavior)
● Give students feedback that informs their progress towards specific learning goals.
● Deliver feedback immediately.
● Make sure feedback is specific.
● Give constructive feedback that provides students with what steps to take next.
● Don’t compare performance to the performance of a child on another day or to other
students.
○ Kris Baker discussed this when it comes to students with autism. Students have
good and bad days, and it doesn’t help them when you compare what they can
achieve on those different days.

Video 5 (#12: Systematically Design Instruction Toward a Specific Learning Goal)

● Systematic Instruction has strong research evidence.
● Teachers should connect their instruction to content that has been previously learned.
○ This has been covered in many education classes. Build off what students know.
This reminds me of Vygotzsky’s Zone of Proximal Development.
● Set clear, specific, and challenging learning goals for students that are measurable.
● Teachers should be clear about what it takes to be successful for different learning
goals.

Part B:
Video 1 (#13: Adapt Curriculum Tasks and Materials for Specific Learning Goals):
● Students with accommodations are held to the same expectations as their peers.
Modifications change what is expected of the student.
● Teachers need to understand both types of adaptations and know how to appropriately
implement them.
● Teachers should collect data on how the student is performing to help the IEP team
decide if the adaptations are working.
 ● Teachers can best determine which adaptations will be successful by truly knowing both
the student and the content.
○ We talk a lot about getting to know our students in the COE. To be the best
teacher, we must really know who we are teaching!
● Use graphic organizers and guided notes to help students see important connections.

Video 2 (#14: Use Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies)

● Explicitly teach students the purpose, steps, mental actions, and evaluation process of
strategies.
● When students use a strategy, they are learning how to learn.
○ Throughout COE classes, we’ve learned how important it is to help students
know how to think and learn on their own. As teachers, we can’t provide every
answer that every student will need, so students must be able to think and learn
on their own.
● Strategies help students become better problem solvers.
● The teacher needs to teach students what, how, and when to engage in strategies.
● Teachers need to model the use of strategies.
○ Use guided and independent practice.
■ This reminds me of the Optimal Learning Model I learned about in ED
308.
○ Think aloud.
■ This reminds me of the “tracks in the snow” that Leslie Bauman discusses
in her book that we read for ED 308. If you show students your thinking,
they will be able to model their thinking process off yours, so they can do
it on their own.

Video 3 (#7: Use Explicit Instruction)

● Explicit instruction is a set of teacher behaviors that have been proven to be effective in
the classroom, especially to students with disabilities.
● Teachers provide lots of opportunities for students to respond.
● Provide a range of examples and non-examples.
● Begin a lesson with an explicit statement of the purpose.
○ In education classes, we’ve been taught to make sure students always know
what they are supposed to be learning from a lesson. In ED 243, we learned that
this is even more important for students with disabilities, so that their learning
goals can be clear from the beginning of the lesson. This is also important for
students with autism, because they need predictability.
● Teach content from easiest to understand to hardest to understand.
○ This reminds me of the videos from Dr. Wolfe about teaching abstract ideas.
Always start at the concrete level, then move to the representational level, and
then arrive at the abstract level. Build on students’ knowledge at each level.
● Ask questions that appropriately challenge students.
● Provide specific feedback.
Video 4 (#18: Use Strategies to Promote Active Student Engagement)
● Engaged students are more likely to stay in school and do better in school.
○ Every COE class teaches strategies that can be used to get students engaged,
as well as goes through which strategies will cause students to be uninterested.
Because so many classes focus on this, this is clearly a very important topic.
● Use a range of motivational strategies.
● Build and maintain positive relationships with students.
○ Every education class reiterates how important it is to build relationships with
students. This should be one of the first priorities of teachers. Once you build
relationships, then you can figure out how best to support your students.
● Greet students at the door at the beginning of each class.
○ This idea came up in the Brain to Brain videos.
○ Ryan Flessner discusses the importance of saying each child’s name every day
in ED 414.
● Construct real world math problems based on student interest.
○ Ryan Flessner talks a lot about how to create real world math problems in ED
414. These problems should be relevant to the students, and the most relevant
thing to students is what they are interested in. This is another example of why
it’s so important to get to know students.
● Leverage technology to promote engagement.
● Be vigilant in monitoring student performance.

Video 5 (#17: Use Flexible Grouping)

● Carefully plan groups so that students’ needs are best met.
○ Groups should change throughout the year, based on the instructional content.
■ Heterogeneous and homogeneous groups were discussed a lot in ED 498
in reference to ELLs. Homogeneous groups are beneficial because all the
students need to have the same learning needs met. Heterogeneous
groups are beneficial because students have different needs, and they
can learn from each other.
● Have specific goals for small groups.
● Teach students how to work independently while you are working with small groups.
○ Leslie Bauman discussed this idea in her book that we read for ED 308. If
students can work independently, then the teacher can spend the full time
working with the small group. This will benefit the students in the small group,
because they won’t be constantly interrupted.

Video 6 (#20: Provide Intensive Instruction)

● Intensive Intervention is the highest level of support for students.
○ This is normally done by special education teachers.
● Students with intensive needs and those with disabilities need 10-30 times more practice
to master a skill compared to their peers.
● Teachers should closely monitor student progress to determine if the current system is
working or if the student needs more support.
 ○ Teachers should constantly be monitoring student progress to determine how the
students are doing. This can help either inform instruction, or it can help
determine if a student needs more support. Teachers should bring their data to
IEP meetings.
● Make instructional adjustments based on what the data shows.