Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Building Interior
I have four rooms completely furnished and 2 levels of the school building roughly modeled for the program that I am working on. Enjoy!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Precision Teaching & Technology
3d Program
Currently I am designing a software program that provides social skill instruction within an artificial environment. This environment has been simplified to assist student comprehension. I just acquired an awesome program containing a special plug-in that will allow me to create lines around each of the objects within the environment. This method is called cell shading. Cell shading has been used in electronic media to make computer graphics appear hand drawn. This should make the objects easier to recognize. Precision teaching and logarithmic charts can be used to monitor the progress of students utilizing this digital media. The program targets specific communication skills employed in everyday settings. The program is a simulation of these environments and scenarios. This program also uses research based strategies to assist in skill acquisition. I have uploaded a video of the artificial environment. I have not used the graphics plug in to further define objects within the environment so things may be difficult to make out at times. Enjoy!
Currently I am designing a software program that provides social skill instruction within an artificial environment. This environment has been simplified to assist student comprehension. I just acquired an awesome program containing a special plug-in that will allow me to create lines around each of the objects within the environment. This method is called cell shading. Cell shading has been used in electronic media to make computer graphics appear hand drawn. This should make the objects easier to recognize. Precision teaching and logarithmic charts can be used to monitor the progress of students utilizing this digital media. The program targets specific communication skills employed in everyday settings. The program is a simulation of these environments and scenarios. This program also uses research based strategies to assist in skill acquisition. I have uploaded a video of the artificial environment. I have not used the graphics plug in to further define objects within the environment so things may be difficult to make out at times. Enjoy!
Glossary of Terms
Precision Teaching Terminology
Dead Man’s Rule: A rule used by precision teachers to determine if a behavior is measurable. The dead mans test indicates, “If a dead man can do it, then don’t try to teach it.”
Functional Behavior Analysis: Functional behavior analysis focuses on setting events, antecedents, and consequences to holistically assess and modify behavior.
Movements: Behaviors that are measurable, physical, and objective. Movements can be assessed independently or by their outcomes.
Operant Conditioning: Concerns the connection between environmental stimuli and the alteration of target behaviors. Environmental stimuli may be classified as an antecedent or a consequence.
Precision Teaching: A teaching method that pairs the principles of operant conditioning with count per minute procedures. Precision teaching employs frequent systematic measures to assess daily progress.
SAFMEDS: SAFMEDS is an acronym for Say All Fast Minute Each Day Shuffled. SAFMEDS is comprised of cards containing text printed on both sides.
Standard Celeration Chart: A logarithmic recording procedure used to monitor student progress and collect data that allows teachers to increase student performance through curriculum modification.
Here's a glossary of Precision Teaching Terms. Enjoy!
Counts per minute: This statement refers to the frequency of a behavior.
Dead Man’s Rule: A rule used by precision teachers to determine if a behavior is measurable. The dead mans test indicates, “If a dead man can do it, then don’t try to teach it.”
Functional Behavior Analysis: Functional behavior analysis focuses on setting events, antecedents, and consequences to holistically assess and modify behavior.
Movements: Behaviors that are measurable, physical, and objective. Movements can be assessed independently or by their outcomes.
Operant Conditioning: Concerns the connection between environmental stimuli and the alteration of target behaviors. Environmental stimuli may be classified as an antecedent or a consequence.
Precision Teaching: A teaching method that pairs the principles of operant conditioning with count per minute procedures. Precision teaching employs frequent systematic measures to assess daily progress.
SAFMEDS: SAFMEDS is an acronym for Say All Fast Minute Each Day Shuffled. SAFMEDS is comprised of cards containing text printed on both sides.
Standard Celeration Chart: A logarithmic recording procedure used to monitor student progress and collect data that allows teachers to increase student performance through curriculum modification.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Free Standard Celeration Chart
Standard Celeration Chart
Here's a standard celeration chart for use. This chart was developed in adobe illustrator. You may download the chart by right clicking the image and downloading the target bitmap file.
Enjoy!
Instructional Methods
Section 3: Instructional Methods
Standard Celeration Chart
The Standard Celeration Chart is the logarithmic recording method used to document student progress by some precision teachers. The function of this chart is to supply teachers with data regarding student progress that allows them to modify the curriculum to increase learning and performance.
SAFMEDS
SAFMEDS is an acronym for Say All Fast Minute Each Day Shuffled. SAFMEDS is comprised of cards containing text printed on both sides. SAFMEDS are projected to assist in the promotion of fluency in basic concepts, and definitions. The intention of SAFMEDS is to make the acquisition of extensive information less problematic. SAFMEDS are made by printing a term on one side of a card and the term on the other. The student must learn to identify all terms in one minute. Students may examine the cards prior to a timed trial.
Areas of Application
Business
Economics
Education
Psychology
Politics
Principles
Section 2: Principles
The application of PT is directed by four standards. According to West and Young (1992) these principles are:
•Focus on Directly Observable Behavior
•Frequency as a Measure of Performance
•The Standard Celeration Chart
•The Learner Knows Best
The application of PT is contingent on directly observable behaviors. Precision teachers refer to these behaviors as movements. A movement designates a behavior as physical and apparent. An example of a movement would be the physical actions necessary to “turn on a computer.” These actions can be task analyzed and measured. Many traditional precision teachers would focus on the observable outcome of the behavior, like, “the computer is turned on.”
White (1986) defined a behavior frequency as, “the average number of responses during each minute of the assessment period.” (p. 523) Frequency recording is valued among precision teachers as a performance measure as opposed to the percentage of correct responses. Precision teachers refer to frequency as counts per minute. Task frequency is said to increase fluency and frequency data is useful in assisting decision making in education (Binder, 1996).
The standard celebration chart consists of a multiply scale y-axis to accommodate low and extremely high frequencies of behavior and an add scale x-axis to display behavior recordings over numerous sessions. These charts frequently employ aim lines to project hypothetical rates of student progress.
Precision teachers follow the rule that the learner knows best. If a student is advancing towards a specified goal then the instructional methods are suitable for the student. Conversely, if a student is failing to achieve an objective then there is an error in the programming that requires alteration. Precision teachers view student performance as the sole measure of program efficiency.
The application of PT is directed by four standards. According to West and Young (1992) these principles are:
•Focus on Directly Observable Behavior
•Frequency as a Measure of Performance
•The Standard Celeration Chart
•The Learner Knows Best
The application of PT is contingent on directly observable behaviors. Precision teachers refer to these behaviors as movements. A movement designates a behavior as physical and apparent. An example of a movement would be the physical actions necessary to “turn on a computer.” These actions can be task analyzed and measured. Many traditional precision teachers would focus on the observable outcome of the behavior, like, “the computer is turned on.”
White (1986) defined a behavior frequency as, “the average number of responses during each minute of the assessment period.” (p. 523) Frequency recording is valued among precision teachers as a performance measure as opposed to the percentage of correct responses. Precision teachers refer to frequency as counts per minute. Task frequency is said to increase fluency and frequency data is useful in assisting decision making in education (Binder, 1996).
The standard celebration chart consists of a multiply scale y-axis to accommodate low and extremely high frequencies of behavior and an add scale x-axis to display behavior recordings over numerous sessions. These charts frequently employ aim lines to project hypothetical rates of student progress.
Precision teachers follow the rule that the learner knows best. If a student is advancing towards a specified goal then the instructional methods are suitable for the student. Conversely, if a student is failing to achieve an objective then there is an error in the programming that requires alteration. Precision teachers view student performance as the sole measure of program efficiency.
References
Binder, C. V . (1996) Behavioral Fluency: Evolution of a New Paradigm. The Behavior Analyst, 19(2) : 163-197
White, O.R. (1986). Precision teaching -- Precision Learning. Exceptional Children, 52, 522-534.
History/Definitions of PT
Section 1: History/Definitions
Precision teaching was developed in the 1960s by O.R Lindsley. Lindsley was a follower of B.F Skinner, the father of operant conditioning. According to Zirpoli (2008), “Operant Conditioning refers to the relationship between overt events in the environment and changes in specific target behaviors. These events are classified as either antecedents or consequences.” (p. 7) Precision teaching applies principles of operant conditioning to the classroom environment. Binder (1992) specifies, “Precision Teaching began when Lindsley first applied the principles of functional behavior analysis and the use of count per minute measures to the “direct measurement and prosthesis of retarded behavior.” (para. 1) Teachers make use of daily charts to monitor student progress. Binder (1992) notes, “By designing a powerful new tool, the Standard Behavior Chart, and conventions for using it to graph and make decisions about behavioral and curriculum interventions, Lindsley literally put science in the hands of students and teachers.” (para. 1) Precision teaching often employs logarithmic charts to track student performance. Binder and Watkins (1990) indicate:
“Its logarithmic or “multiply-divide” count per minute scale along the left axis enabled students and teachers to chart and directly assess ratios or correct and error frequencies, and to view and quantify progress in the form of straight-line trends rather that “learning curves (since the logarithmic scale straightens out the traditional learning curve) formed by sequences of daily frequency measures on the chart.” (para. 11)
The utilization of the logarithmic chart allowed teachers and students to make decisions concerning the efficiency of instructional strategies, and specialized materials towards promoting student progress towards specific objectives. PT demands that teachers observe student responses to environmental stimuli. Teachers must modify environmental factors that influence students to behave in an adaptive or maladaptive manner to ensure the demonstration of desirable behaviors.
Proponents of PT hold instructional methods accountable for student failure rather than students themselves. As said by Binder and Watkins (1990), “Self-recording by students and sharing of results among teachers and students was another component of Precision teaching that came from the methods practiced by laboratory behavior analysts who met frequently to share cumulative response records.” (para. 13) Teachers employing PT use data charts to communicate progression, regression, and vital information with their students. Students cooperate with their teachers in the development of solutions to problems.
According to Binder and Watkins (1990), “Early Precision Teachers used the categories of functional behavior analysis when analyzing and changing interventions.” (para. 14) Functional behavior analysis focuses on setting events, antecedents, and consequences to holistically assess and modify behavior. Precision teaching and functional behavior analysis both view behavior as dynamic and utilitarian. Binder and Watkins (1990) specify, “Precision Teachers applied the “dead mans test” to descriptions of behavior. “If a dead man can do it, then don’t try to teach it.” (para. 15) This rule was designed to prevent teachers from designing goals that are not measurable like, “sits still in his/her chair.” It is indicated by Binder and Watkins (1990), “Early precision teachers tried to measure “behavior tracks”-the results of a behavior rather than the behavior itself-whenever possible.” (para. 15) This emphasis on environmental reactions recognizes that a measurable action must occur before a reaction. Precision teachers cannot document changes in a student’s mood. However, a precision teacher could assist students with documenting their mood by selecting a value from 1-10 on a likert scale that is representative of depression or happiness.
References
Binder, C. V. (1992). What we know about fluency. Journal of Precision Teaching, 9(1), 40.
Binder, C.V, & Watkins, C.L. (1990). Precision Teaching and Direct Instruction: Measurably Superior Instructional Technology in Schools. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 3, 74-96.
Zirpoli, T.J. (2008). Behavior Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Introduction to Blog
Precision Teaching Introduction
Modern educators and policy-makers in American schools are dependant on research based methods for academic instruction. Teaching strategies that are federally validated through research are labeled best practice. Recent legislature requires teachers to utilize instructional strategies classified as best practice. Decades of research and implementation have identified precision teaching as best practice. This blog will provide information on precision teaching (PT). The website will also include a glossary of terms associated with PT, information concerning the application of PT in the special education setting, and the unification of PT strategies and modern methodologies employing technology.
Modern educators and policy-makers in American schools are dependant on research based methods for academic instruction. Teaching strategies that are federally validated through research are labeled best practice. Recent legislature requires teachers to utilize instructional strategies classified as best practice. Decades of research and implementation have identified precision teaching as best practice. This blog will provide information on precision teaching (PT). The website will also include a glossary of terms associated with PT, information concerning the application of PT in the special education setting, and the unification of PT strategies and modern methodologies employing technology.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
