Elements II interventions

Does the student understand the exercise goal/task?

Observe the student as they work through the exercise demo to determine where their understanding may be breaking down. If necessary, demonstrate how the exercise works by using your hands to simulate the insects on the screen.

1. Hold up your closed hands with your palms facing the student.
2. Say /bah/ without opening either hand.
3. Next, say /dah/ while briefly opening then closing your right hand.
4. Finally, say /bah/ while briefly opening then closing your left hand.
5. Ask the student to point to the hand that opened when you repeated /bah/.

Try this a few times, changing which hand you open when you repeat the target syllable. Have the student explain back to you what they need to do to get a correct answer.

Can the student hear the syllables clearly?

Check the headset, volume controls, and background noise level.

Is the student staying focused on the task?

Always encourage students to do their best. Use active and engaging strategies while noting student motivation and stamina. Have the student turn off the Autoplay feature. Provide built-in breaks to support student focus.

Note that this task is rigorous and places a heavy demand on student attention. Providing brain-breaks may be essential to students completing the task successfully. Provide the brain-break prior to the point of frustration.

Other considerations: Some students might require longer/less frequent breaks while other will require shorter/more frequent breaks.

Does the student struggle to stay engaged?

Emphasize the importance of streaks—the highest number of correct responses in a row.

• Have the student use the Elements II Streaks and Completion Chart to track their highest streaks and review to see which days were higher or lower.
• Encourage the student to self-monitor and improve their accuracy. The sooner they complete the exercise the sooner they can move forward to something new.

Is the student aware that this exercise uses the 3-Forward/1-Back Rule to make forward progress?

Explain that accuracy is the key to moving through the content in this exercise. Students make progress based on the 3-Forward/1-Back Rule: they move forward when they get 3 answers in a row correct, but they move backward when they get 1 answer incorrect.

Because streaks record the number of correct answers in a row, charting this can help the student self-monitor by providing visual feedback of their number of correct answers in a row. Students can use the Three-in-a-Row Worksheet.

Can the student hear the difference between the syllables?

Hold your hand over your mouth to slightly muffle the sound and have the student identify whether you are saying /ba/ or /da/, /be/ or /de/, /va/ or /fa/. If the student is having problems with this, continuing on with this exercise will help them. Their struggle now will pay off later!

Does the student hear something different than what is shown on the screen?

At early speech processing levels, what the student hears may seem different from what they see on the screen (the syllables written near the Go button). For example, they may see "ba da" but hear something that sounds like /ra/ /ya/. This is OK. Reassure the student that the exercise is working correctly. Have the student focus on listening to and remembering the first syllable they hear, and then identifying its match in the next two syllables they hear.

Does the student understand the exercise goal/task?

Observe the student as they work through the exercise demo to determine where their understanding may be breaking down.

Can the student hear the narration clearly?

Check the headset, volume controls, and background noise level.

Is the student staying focused on the task?

One way to get the most out of listening to a narration is to really focus on the task at hand. Remind students that focus is a superpower and they can use these tips to help them:

• Find a quiet, cool place to work.
• Work during a time when you have the most energy.
• Put your smartphone or any other distractions away.
• Re-focus your attention when you realize it’s wandering.

Each chapter and its corresponding questions only takes a few minutes so encourage students to really “hyperfocus” when working on this exercise. It may help to take a quick “brain break” between chapters, but be sure the student knows to answer all four questions first or the entire chapter will need to be repeated.

Does the student struggle to stay engaged?

Many students believe that just listening to something is enough. Often, that is not sufficient. Actively listening to a story and then making responses that demonstrate their understanding of what they heard is more deliberate than passively listening and just taking words in.

Tell students that we remember something best when it is organized and rehearsed. It can be helpful for students to use tips such as these to help them remember what they hear:

• Concentrate—listening is not a passive activity. In fact, it can be exhausting. It’s an intentional act. If your attention starts to drift, it’s up to you to be aware and refocus.
• Slow down—rushing or being impulsive impedes focus on the task at hand.
• Repeat—rehearse new information in your mind relating the new details to what you already know.
• Take notes—write down names, places, and other details on a notepad as you listen, just as you would in the classroom.
• Practice—the more you practice active listening, the better you will be able to recall information.

Does the student have some questions in mind as they listen to the story?

This listening comprehension exercise challenges students to answer questions that are specifically designed to build comprehension and memory for details, main ideas, and relationships within the story. Remind students that they should be listening so they can subsequently answer questions such as these:

• Who is the main character?
• Where does this scene take place?
• When did ______ happen?
• What happened before _______?
• What happened after _________?
• Why did the main character_________?
• How did the main character ________?

At times it may be beneficial to share the text of the story with the student. Students who need extra support may read the story before listening to the exercise. Review the text with the student and have him or her answer some of the questions above. Access the text in the Cinematch Teacher Manual.

Can the student retell the story?

One way to know if something is inside your head is to get it out of your head! You’re more likely to remember what you’ve heard if you have to teach or explain it to someone in your own words. In order to retell, students must order and summarize information, as well as make inferences. When students are aware of the important aspects of a story, there is a purpose and sustained focus. You can use retelling as a way to assess how well students comprehend a story, and then use this information to help students develop a deeper understanding of the text.

Does the student understand the exercise goal/task?

Observe the student as they work through the exercise demo to determine where their understanding may be breaking down.

Can the student repeat the target word out loud?

Ask the student to say the target word out loud. Having the student repeat the word can help the student commit it to memory, and it tells you what word the student hears.

Does the student know which picture represents each word?

Some of the words in the exercise may be unfamiliar. If the student is not familiar with the vocabulary words or cannot match the pictures to the words, encourage them to use the Help feature.

Is the student struggling to remember the academic vocabulary words?

Have students use a graphic organizer, such as a Frayer model, to create multiple representations of a word. This will help solidify their understanding of new words. Ask students to provide the following for the word:

• a definition, in their own words
• a visual representation of the word
• examples of the word
• non-examples of the word

Does the student understand the exercise goal/task?

Observe the student as they work through the exercise demo to determine where their understanding may be breaking down.

Is the student able to repeat the directions back to you?

Building memory and attention skills is important for this exercise. Ask the student to repeat the sentence or question back to you. If they are having difficulty remembering, here are some games to help build memory and focused attention:

• Give your student a three-letter word to spell out loud. Then ask them to spell it out loud again, but backwards. See if they can spell four or even five letter words backwards!
• If the student can't spell yet, play a following directions game like Simon Says.

Both of these games can help the student practice using their memory and attention skills while having fun, which can increase motivation and improve their progress in this exercise.

Does the student use any memory strategies?

Ask the student how they remember the directions. Do they repeat the directions to themselves? Do they look to see where the board pieces are located?

Memory strategies are useful ways to build working memory which is important for reading and learning. Teach your student a memory strategy like hovering their cursor or finger over the first shape/color they hear while they wait to hear the second direction.

Does the student have difficulty correctly identifying colors?

If the student has color vision deficiencies, provide feedback based on the nature of their issue.

• If the student is completely color blind and unable to differentiate between red and green or blue and yellow, they will need to skip this exercise.

• If the student’s color blindness is less severe, using a visual aid cheat sheet with the names of the colors written under each color may help them to more quickly identify the colors in the exercise.

Does the student understand sequence words like “before” and “after”?

Look at the Errors section in the student's Progress Report to see if they are struggling with particular sequence words. Try these strategies as needed.

• Use a whiteboard to show the student how the words “before” and “after” work when giving directions.
• Play a following directions game like Simon Says using only sequence words in your directions.

Does the student have trouble maintaining focus for the duration of the directions?

Have the student take a short break between questions to help them maintain focus while listening. Instruct them to follow these steps:

1. Turn off Autoplay.
2. Answer a question.
3. Look up and count four ceiling tiles.
4. Continue to the next question.

Does the student understand the exercise goal/task?

Observe the student as they work through the exercise demo to determine where their understanding may be breaking down.

Can the student repeat the target word out loud?

Repeating the word helps the student commit it to memory and tells you what word the student hears. If the student can't remember or hear the word the first time, teach them to use the Replay button to hear it again. Students can use the Replay button as often as they want, without penalties.

Does the student know which picture represents each word?

Some of the words in the exercise (such as "thorn" or "foam") may be unfamiliar to the student. If the student is not familiar with the vocabulary words or cannot match the pictures to the words, encourage them to use the Help feature, especially at Processing Level 1. Remind them that they need to learn the words. Beyond Level 1, they won't make progress when they use Help, so they should only use it when they don't know the picture for a word.

Does the student have difficulty telling the difference between similar words they hear?

Words like “thorn” and “torn” sound similar. For words like these, make sure the student knows they can use the Replay button to hear the word repeated as many times as they want. The more the student practices hearing the word, the more likely they are to succeed with the task.

Is the student staying engaged with the activity?

Ask the student how difficult the exercise is for them. If they say it is too easy, they may be losing interest. Remind the student that advancing through content depends on correct answers.