Practice and Feedback

In the following exercises, you will meet Bianca. This 9-year-old girl is in Grade 4 at Always Smiling School and has challenges related to her functional skills. The collaborative team decides to complete the CALI – Functional Skills for Independence to set some goals to work on during the school year. Here are the members of Bianca’s collaborative team:

• Her parents, Ariane and Justin;
• Her homeroom teacher, Mr. Lee;
• Her resource teacher, Mrs. Melanson;
• The school principal, Mr. Mason;
• The speech language pathologist, Mrs. Gallow.

Exercise: Conduct an Interview With a Parent
Learning Objective
Recognize and use best strategies to successfully conduct an interview with a parent.

Context
Mrs. Melanson, resource teacher, does an interview with Bianca’s mother, Ariane, as part of the Functional Skills for Independence Screener. Mrs. Melanson had scheduled one hour for the interview, which lasted about 60 minutes.

Instructions
Watch excerpts from the interview in the following video.

1. The first time you watch the video, use this document to record the information. Only the shaded sections are included in the excerpt.
   
   
   When you are satisfied with your responses, click here to see how Mrs. Melanson recorded the information, and then compare her notes with yours.
   
   
2. Watch the video a second time, paying attention to Mrs. Melanson’s approach. How did she use best strategies for interviewing a parent, and what improvements could be made? You can record your responses on the worksheet provided.

Exercise: Validate the Information Obtained by Means of a Questionnaire
Learning Objective
Recognize and use best strategies to collect reliable data using a questionnaire.

Context
Mrs. Melanson, resource teacher, decides to ask Mr. Lee, homeroom teacher, to complete the Questionnaire for Bianca’s Screener. Because Mr. Lee is very busy, Mrs. Melanson sends him an email explaining the purpose of the Questionnaire. She includes a few details about the three response options and asks Mr. Lee to add in the Comments section as much information as he deems necessary to define the priorities more clearly.

Two weeks later, Mr. Lee gives the completed Questionnaire to Mrs. Melanson.

Mrs. Melanson reviews the information and indicates where clarifications are required. She sends a second email to Mr. Lee with a few clarification questions.

Instructions

1. Use this worksheet to evaluate Mrs. Melanson's use of best strategies and areas for improvement when validating information gathered by means of a questionnaire.
   
   
   When you are satisfied with your responses, click here to compare them with those of an experienced professional.

   Best Strategies for Collecting Reliable Data Using a Questionnaire
   
   

   Strategy	Positive aspects	Areas for improvement
   JClearly explain the purpose of this step in the assessment process to the people who will be completing the Questionnaire.	Mrs. Melanson explained the purpose of the Questionnaire to Mr. Lee in an email.	Mrs. Melanson could have tried to meet with Mr. Lee to give him the instructions in person. She could have used that time to provide him with the three response options and make sure that he did not have any questions about this.
   Explain the three response options to the people who will be completing the Questionnaire.	Mrs. Melanson presented the three response options to Mr. Lee in an email.
   Provide the Tool for Conducting an Interview to the people who will be completing the Questionnaire.		Mrs. Melanson did not give the Tool to Mr. Lee. However, this document can definitely increase the reliability of the Questionnaire results, because the tangible examples of skills included in the sub-domain help interviewees objectively interpret the significance of the sub-domain.
   Encourage those who will be completing the Questionnaire to record any relevant information in the Comments section.	Mrs. Melanson encouraged Mr. Lee to provide as many details as possible to identify priorities.
   Review the completed Questionnaire and identify responses needing clarification.	Mrs. Melanson reviewed the Questionnaire and noted down her comments.
   Follow up in person or over the phone to clarify certain responses.	Mrs. Melanson sent an email to Mr. Lee asking for some clarifications.	Mrs. Melanson could have tried to meet with Mr. Lee in person to obtain clarifications and to make sure she did not misinterpret the information he provided.
   
   
   
2. Review the questionnaire completed by Mr. Lee. What questions could Mrs. Melanson have asked him to clarify certain responses?
   Click here to see possible responses.

Exercise: Conduct an Interview With the Learner
Learning Objective
Recognize and use best strategies to conduct a successful interview with a learner.

Context
Mrs. Melanson plans a meeting with Bianca to ask her some questions about her functional skills. Because Bianca is easily distracted, Mrs. Melanson decides it would be better to meet with Bianca in her office to limit distractions. Mrs. Melanson plans to do an activity with Bianca during the meeting (making bracelets out of multicoloured elastics).

Mrs. Melanson tells Bianca’s parents she will be doing an interview with their daughter and then confirms the date and time of the meeting with Mr. Lee. Mrs. Melanson reminds Bianca about the meeting a few days in advance and briefly explains the reason for the meeting using simple terms. She helps her enter the meeting in her agenda.

On the day of the meeting, Mrs. Melanson goes to get Bianca from her classroom and chats with her as they walk to her office together. Bianca loves talking to people, so she is enthusiastic about the idea of doing an interview. Mrs. Melanson is able to ask Bianca all the questions as they are written in the Questionnaire and records the information provided by Bianca.

Interview with the learner – Bianca

Instructions

1. Use this worksheet to evaluate Mrs. Melanson's use of best strategies for a successful interview, and what improvements could be made.