Mike,

Another thing, and the title of this very topic points it out, is that you can't really teach "the screen reader" as an independent entity.  Screen readers, all of them, have as their sole reason for being giving the user the ability to access other things they want to use.  If I am not running a web browser, or word processor, or some other program that the screen reader is being used to access I can't really teach anything whatsoever useful about how one actually uses a screen reader.

The above being the case, and since the screen reader itself along with the application(s) are "soaking in" Windows, you're never able to deal with "pure" commands related to each, in isolation, as part of the natural flow of teaching how all of these things work in consort with each other.

It's funny how I have to disabuse many of the very idea that you can teach a screen reader in isolation.  You just can't.  It's an accessibility tool to other things, and as an independent entity, with nothing to access, is useless/has no reason for being.  It's a means to an end, not an end in and of itself, and you learn how to use that means by working on specific ends over time.
--

Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H2, Build 19044  

Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete.  If you’re alive, it isn’t.
     ~ Lauren Bacall