Michelle from The Autism Helper shows how she runs a self-contained classroom for grades TK-2 using Direct Instruction with paraprofessionals. Her structured lesson format covers vocabulary, letter identification, and hands-on activities, generating data for IEPs while keeping consistency across skill levels.
Direct Instruction in a special education classroom can be kind of challenging, but it doesn't have to be. I'm Michelle. I'm one of the bloggers with The Autism Helper, and today I'm going to show you my classroom, how I utilize Direct Instruction with The Autism Helper's Level Daily Curriculum. This is my self-contained classroom. In this classroom, I have 15 students, which is a lot. I have grades TK through 2nd grade in here. I have 7 centers total in my classroom and 2 of those centers are teacher-led direct instruction centers. I run the math center and then I have one of my paraprofessionals run our language arts center. As special educators, the direct instruction does not have to fall completely on our shoulders. We are blessed with some amazing paraprofessionals that want to work and want to teach these students. So utilize these paraprofessionals to help with direct instruction in your classroom. Now, the Autism Helper curriculum, I love the curriculum because it's super easy to implement with my paraprofessionals. Once I prepare and train my paraprofessionals how to teach and use this curriculum, it's just so easy because it's routine-based, it's structured, and the paraprofessionals are able to take data for me, which is completely helpful when it comes time for IEP writing. Now I'm going to show you how my paraprofessional teaches her direct instruction center in my classroom with my students. Let's go! When students arrive to her desk, my paraprofessional always reviews the expectations at the center before working with the students, and then she talks about what they're going to do. She reviews their schedule. So first they're going to do work. It's usually 3 simple things. And then students get to pick what they are working for. Next, my paraprofessional reviews the anchor chart for the level that the students are working on. And in this binder, I have everything organized in terms of levels. So, level 0.5, level 1, and then my students also have level 1.5. So, what she's going to do is she's going to pull out the anchor chart and review this with students. One or two times, and then students can get to work. In this binder, I have also included the implementation guide as well as ideas for extension activities in case she has difficulty with implementing. She can always review, and here you can see that here's the format that we want to use in the classroom. You review the expectations and schedule, you review the core vocabulary, complete a worksheet, practice the vocabulary, and do an extension activity. So every day, this is what she should be doing in the classroom.
Okay, let's go over our expectations. Eyes on speaker, listening ears, mouth is quiet, hands are calm, feet are on the floor, and we have a kind heart.
You ready, buddy? Okay, look right here.
First, work with teacher. Okay, we're gonna do 3 things. What would you like to work for? Okay, would you like iPad? Would you like toys? Toys. Okay, you got it. I'm gonna write toys. We're gonna go over our anchor chart. Can you touch— listen, hold on. Can you touch the apple? Apple. Thank you. Can you touch the pizza? Pizza. Good job. Can you touch the chicken?
Chicken.
Good. How about the carrot? Touch the carrot. Carrot. Yes. Touch the bread. Bread. Touch the banana. Banana. Yay! Good job. The lines. You're gonna draw a line going down. Go ahead. Line down. Good boy. Flying down, flying down, flying down, flying down, flying down. Yes! Now we're going to match the same. Yay! Match the same. Okay, how about here?
Same.
And here? Same. We're gonna work on our capital letters. Our lowercase letters, our numbers, and our food vocabulary. Point to the letters that are lowercase. Good. Point to the letters that are capital. Good. Where are your numbers? Thank you. And can you point to the food? Yes. Thank you so much. We are going to follow the alphabet maze. So you're gonna draw a line and follow the maze. Good job, buddy. Good boy, you get a check. Good job. Okay, now let's look here. Circle the missing noun for each sentence. We picked up one of these for dinner. Is it carrots, milk, or chicken? Yes, good job! The blank is red. Lettuce, apple, or cheese? Correct. Circle the letters. Great job!
Okay, so with my paraprofessional, students have gone over their expectations and the schedule. They've gone over their core vocabulary and the anchor chart. They've done 1 or 2 worksheets depending on the student, and now it's time for an extension activity. Let's see what that looks like.
All right, here we go, buddy. Here's your marker. Okay, watch, watch me. Okay, we're gonna draw a line like that. Your turn. Hold your marker like this, sweetheart. Your turn. Good. Alright, watch me draw a line like this. Yes, good job! Okay, now watch me. Line down and line across. Wow, good job! Okay, watch me. We're gonna draw a line all the way around. Your turn. Good try, bud. Is this a number or a letter? Letter. Is this capital or lowercase? Capital. Thank you. Is this capital or lowercase? Lowercase. Wow, great job. Is this capital or lower? Yes.
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