Running Head: ADAPTATION PROJECT

Adaptation Project Laura Beard and Ashley Christman SPED 432: Curriculum and Methods for Students with Mildly/Moderate Disabilities at the Primary and Preschool Level Dr. Papalia-Berardi 12 October 2011 Millersville University

ADAPTATION PROJECT

Casey Adaptation Description In order for Casey to complete this worksheet and crossword puzzle activity to the best of her ability, the adaptation of having it read to her will be provided. We are assuming that an aide is present in the room for Casey to utilize, so they will be assigned to read Casey the directions and questions on the worksheet and crossword puzzle activity after it has been assigned to the class.

Justification This assignment requires the students to read the material in order to answer the questions, whereas Casey has difficulty reading, so she will be unable to meet the demands of this particular assignment. In order to prevent Casey from performing poorly on this assignment due to not being able to read the directions and questions, an aide will read the material to her. This adaptation will result in Casey successfully meeting the learning objective as she will still be completing the worksheet and crossword puzzle.

Evaluation of Adaptation

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This adaption requires little teacher time to implement as one will just need to talk to the aide and made them aware that they will be reading the directions and questions to Casey after the worksheet and crossword puzzle activity has been assigned. Due to Casey having difficulty with reading in general, this adaptation could be used on a continuous basis when the class is assigned to work on an assignment individually that requires reading. The aide could keep aware of this and when the time comes for the class to read independently in order to complete a task, one could go over to Casey and offer to read the assignment to her. This adaptation could benefit more than one student as they can also listen to the aide reading the assignment in order to make sure they are reading the words in the assignment correctly.

Successful Student Learning A principle of effective instruction that this adaptation elicits is scaffolding instruction. Scaffolding entails providing support, which includes Casey having the material read to her, in order to keep her stress to a minimum. This adaptation also entails the scaffolding instruction detail of facilitating learning as she will perform much better on the worksheet and crossword puzzle activity by being aware of what she needs to do by having the material read to her. If it was not

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read to her she would not know what it was asking her to do; therefore, she would guess and have incorrect answers. By having the material read to her, Casey will also have the task of reading explicitly modeled for her, which will assist her in her reading as well.

Justice Adaptation Description Justice has difficulty when it comes to visual perception, so he would more than likely have difficulty reading the worksheet and crossword puzzle activity. In order for Justice to complete this task to the best of his ability, the adaptation of enlarging both the print and puzzle will be provided.

Justification This adaptation is appropriate as this task requires the students to read in order to complete it, which Justice would have trouble reading as he has visual perception problems and the font is small. In order for Justice to be able to complete this assignment, the font sizes will need to be enlarged so he is able to read what he needs to do, so the print and the puzzle will be enlarged. This

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adaptation will result in Justice successfully meeting the learning objective as he will still be completing the same puzzle, but just in a larger size.

Evaluation of Adaptation Enlarging the print and puzzle will take little teacher time as the teacher will need to set aside just two minutes to place the paper into the copier and press the enlarge image button. This can be done at the same time she is making copies of the puzzle for the entire class. Enlarging assignments can be done on a continuous basis for Justice as other assignments may have a smaller font that would cause him difficulty, so the teacher could enlarge all worksheets that she believes are too small for him to read successfully. This adaptation of enlarging print could benefit more than one student as they may find it easier for them to read the assignment when it is enlarged. Specifically for this assignment, other students may find it easier to fill in the answers to the crossword puzzle activity when the boxes are enlarged.

Successful Student Learning This adaptation will result in successful student learning as it relates to the principle of effective instruction of scaffolding instruction. Enlarging the print

ADAPTATION PROJECT

and crossword puzzle elicits scaffolding instruction as it is a modification for Justice to complete this assignment. This will make the task easier for Justice keep his stress to a minimum as he will be able to complete the assignment without the barrier of not be able to read it due to his visual perception problems. This scaffolded instruction support of enlarging the print and puzzle will cause Justice to demonstrate what he has learned by being able to successfully read the assignment.

Solomon Adaptation Description Since Solomon can only focus for about 10 minutes at a time, but can go back to work after a brief period of movement and distraction, Solomon would be required to check his work with the teacher every 8-10 minutes.

Justification This adaptation would challenge Solomon to do his best with concentration by allowing him to check his work with the teacher only after 8-10 minutes of solid work. Checking the work with the teacher will give him an excuse to get up out of his desk and move around and thus concentrate better when he goes back to work

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again. The teacher checking his work will also allow the teacher to monitor how he is doing, and give extra help if needed. After checking his work with the teacher, Solomon should be able to sit back down at his desk, concentrate, and complete his work.

Evaluation of Adaptation This adaptation would hopefully require little teacher time. While the teacher is required to interact with Solomon every ten minutes, the teacher would only have to look over his work, and sent him back to his seat to continue. This adaptation could be used on a continuous basis and across curriculum also. Solomon could check in with the teacher every ten minutes on any assignment that they are working on. This adaptation can also benefit more than one student because Solomon tends to disrupt his peers when he looses focus. With this adaptation in place, hopefully his disruptive behavior will decrease, and thus it will benefit the other students as well.

Successful Student Learning The goal of this adaptation is to increase Solomons engaged time. While it does allow for breaks to check with the teacher, the hope is that scheduled,

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structured breaks will allow more time for Solomon to be engaged in his task rather than being unfocused and off task for possibly longer periods of time without the adaptation. This adaptation also employs the strategy of scaffolding, because the teacher is checking his work before he completes the assignment and can offer him more assistance if needed to get him to the independent level.

Moses Adaptation Description To adapt this lesson for Moses, we need to focus on improving his accuracy. To do this, we decided to provide an adaptation that would be offered to the whole class. The students would complete the crossword puzzle worksheet individually, and the first 5 students to get all 10 correct will get first choice of activity during free time or center time.

Justification Moses biggest learning barrier is in the area of accuracy. Since he rushes to get done, but in doing so, often makes errors, we wanted to have an adaptation that

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would help him improve his accuracy the first time he completes and assignment. By rewarding Moses for being correct the first time, we are hoping to increase his accuracy. The reward of choice during free time /center time would be motivating for Moses because it would allow him to choose how he wants to spend his time rather than the teacher assigning him to a task he doesnt want to do. He could use this time to explore his interests in the Kennedy Family or ABC news.

Evaluation of Adaptation This adaptation is appropriate based on the first three guidelines for effective adaptations. This adaptation would take little teacher time to implement, as it just requires the teacher to announce the reward, and then check the answers on the worksheet, which the teacher would do anyway. This adaptation could be used on a continuous basis, in any subject area, for any task. The teacher could continually offer rewards to those students who complete their assignments correctly. This adaptation also benefits more than one student because other students will be competing to complete their work correctly the first time in an effort to gain the rewards as well, and thus hopefully the accuracy of the whole class will rise.

Successful Student Learning

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This adaptation is related to the success rate principle of effective instruction. The goal of this adaptation is for Justice to increase his accuracy and thus his success rate. It will also increase his engaged time because he will not be able to rush through the assignment if he wants to get the answers correct.