Mother's Day Poll

This was a segment my class at church did in honor of Mother's Day. You can maybe use it with your class at school.

My students thought of interesting questions to ask about their mothers: Can your mother sing? Is your mother afraid of dogs? Does your mother like King's Dominion? Does your mother owe you money?

Then we polled the class (not the actual mothers, although YOU can poll the mothers if you like). Then we presented our findings before the church.

It was a fun program and different from the usual - sing a song, give away flowers, read a poem - that our children often do in church.

The funniest part was to find that several mothers, according to their children, owed their kids allowance money - inlcuding one daughter who meticulously keeps a record and said her mother owed her $111.63!

Eyes Opened After Videotaping Myself

I started videotaping myself in my classroom while I'm teaching. I got the idea from the criteria for National Board Certification. I thought I would go ahead and get used to videotaping myself and answering related questions that the National Board requires you to answer when obtaining your certification.

What an eye-opening experience!

Not only did I look like I have a mustache and I looked better in that loose, brown shirt than I thought I did, but I noticed that my kids are even more talkative than I thought. I immediately came up with behavior intervention plans for them, which I implemented today.

In my guided reading group, I wrote an agenda on the board (I always have my own lesson plan)with a movable arrow beside it and put RE in charge of moving the arrow as we moved to a new task. I created this agenda with him in mind to help him stay focused and it worked today.

I also started reward systems for two different groups of kids that I work with. I noticed on the video that I don't praise enough. So, in each group, I will constantly notice on-task and productive behavior and I slip the deserving child a token (in one group it's beads and in the other group it's stars made of felt). For every five tokens the child gets a piece of gum or a mint. Maybe later I'll add a prize bag instead, and I'll up the ante from five stars to 8 or 10. When I hand them the token I tell them very succintly and specifically why they earned it. (i.e., You went right back to work after that interruption. Or, you've been working hard for five minutes.)

Today, my fourth graders showed better behavior and they got so much more work done today.

I look forward to the afternoon session with the sixth graders. Let's see how it goes.

Relief for Stutterers

If you have a student with a severe stuttering problem, you should visit the website speecheasy.com to learn about a device that may help. Also, go to youtube to find videos about the device and see it in action. It sounds like a miracle for severly dysfluent speakers.

Behavior Therapy for My ADHD Student

One of my lovely darlings has been without his Concerta all week long. His parents wanted to see what effect it would have on him. It was interesting for me to see as well. In small group situations he was unfocused and would repeatedly say, "It's hard [to make himself work]." I would assure him that I understand but we must keep trying.

In class he was not only unfocused and not working, but he would pick with other children. On a positive note, his sense of humor and his energy and exuberance just get magnified when he is not subdued by meds. He is a really creative kid and I can see him becoming an engineer someday.

Does anyone know of effective behavior therapy resources in the Washington DC area for ADHD kids?? In class, I've started a new behavior chart this week, with a reward (a stick of gum or five minutes free time) every fifth time that I catch him being good. I also seat him away from the group to work if he talks too much and I check up on his progress a lot more often. I tell him specifically what I expect him to have finished before I circulate back around to see his work.

Maybe with effective behavioral intervention, he can get off meds and have the best of both worlds - his wonderful personality with self-regulation.

I've got some studying to do!

Well, the Praxis I was SO EASY (I did not study for it at all) that I thought about taking the Praxis II sometime this summer instead of waiting until my graduate school studies are done next spring. A coworker let me borrow her Praxis II prep book. I took 4 of the tests in it and scored 68% on the SPED Core Principles test. (My aim was 8o%). I scored 56% on the Mental Retardation test, 40% on the School Psychologist test (taken for fun), and 84% on the Elementary Education Content Knowledge test.

I knew I would pass the content test, but I reallly thought I would do better on the SPED test and Mental Retardation tests. I've got some studying to do!

What is a Resource?

I often hear educators saying that schools need more RESOURCES to solve various problems. Oftentimes, this translates to more money, but there are many cases where money has not equalled improvement.

I began my own list of RESOURCES, and I think people should be very specific in making their needs known.

Ø More personnel (nurses, teachers, principals, assistant principals, clerical office staff, aides, counselors, librarians, security officers, technology support staff, tutors, and academic coaches).
Ø Textbooks/Workbooks
Ø Trainings on specific research-based interventions
Ø Assistive technology (i.e., calculators, word processors, computer programs)
Ø Classroom supplies (i.e., posters, dry erase markers, chart paper, alphabet charts)
Ø Student supplies (items that students would keep in their desk) (paper, pencils, notebooks, scissors)
Ø Teacher supplies (grading book, files, file cabinets)
Ø Computers
Ø Printers
Ø Xerox machines/copier paper
Ø Uninterrupted planning periods
Ø Understanding and justice??
Ø Greater security measures
Ø Reliable Internet connection
Ø Sufficient awareness of district resources (i.e., tutoring options, parent education centers)
Ø Adequate classroom space
Ø Pleasing and safe school environment (including exterior areas, playground)
Ø Sufficient parking for teachers
Ø Money for field trips
Ø Easy telephone access
Ø Classroom furniture

There are other needs that teachers have that may not qualify as "resources," but are truly necessary to maximize a child's education. They include:
Ø Fewer class interruptions (announcements, assemblies)
Ø Support from administrators when they discipline students
Ø Student motivation
Ø Parent motivation
Ø Paraprofessionals and Service Providers who work effectively with students

Ideas for Getting Assistive Technology

I attended a presentation about various assistive learning technologies such as Inspiration/Kidspiration and Kurzweil Reading Software. I really want to convince whatever school I will be teaching at next year to invest in some good assistive technology.

Here are some ideas I can try. I can get the software on a 30-day free trial, use it with several students, and document their progress diligently. Then I can show the results to my principal. Another method is to ask the presenter to come in and talk with the principal , or better - the entire staff, and get their positive (hopefully) reactions. Third, I can contact the DCPS Office of Assistive Technology and see if they have appropriate software to loan. Finally, I can just buy the software myself and be sure to show the principal the positive results.


Now, those are just ideas from someone who has not had to to convince a principal to buy expensive equipment for special education students before. Have you tried any techniques for getting principals to invest in special education?

My First Evaluation

Tomorrow is my first evaluation by my principal. I will be evaluated in the fourth grade teacher's classroom for 15 minutes then I will pull-out three students and do a writing lesson avoiding sentence fragments.

I'm a little nervous and I haven't put any more preparation into this lesson than I usually do. Maybe I should. Some may say put your best foot forward for your evaluation. However, I decided the best feedback for me (especially since I have a supportive principal who I don't have to fear negative, untruthful feedback from) will be feedback that is based on my REAL everyday teaching behavior.

We'll see how it goes.

Inclusive Classroom Strategies 1

Problem: teaching children to keyboard (for students with poor handwriting or students who have motor deficits).

I have 3 students who really need to learn how to type. After 2 months of using a computer program and 4 more months of follow-up, the fastest of the 3 can only type 4 wpm (ugh!). So, last week, I put stickers on the alphabetic keys of the keyboard. Now students have to touchtype (typing without looking). The output on the computer screen tells them if they are right or wrong. Don't just put kids in front of a keyboard without some typing instruction first. This strategy can be done in the inclusive classroom, and non-SPED kids will benefit from the intervention as well.

Problem: trouble with spelling

I let kids move while they spell words aloud. First, I write the word on a sheet of white paper and tape it on the wall. Then they stand in front of it and jump on the trampoline or toss a ball in the air while they spell each letter. When they reach the last letter, they have to do something special at the end of each spelling (like clap, pause, etc) to signify that is the end of the word, then they start again. This can be shown to all kids in the inclusive classroom. You can designate a place for kinesthetic activities like this one, and when you really want a kid to learn how to spell a word, instruct them to visit that area for 5 minutes. I have had amazing success with this approach! Today, I did this with three students who learned two new words each, then ended with a "spelling bee." They said it was fun and asked to keep going.

Please share your own ideas. How can we include special education students in the classroom?

How to write a riddle

Today I helped students write riddles after a homophone lesson. It was challenging, and that's one reason I like teaching!

Here were the steps I used.
1. Think of two homophones. (My students chose "turn" and "play").

2. Think of a phrase or word that uses the homophone and could use either of the homophone's meanings. This phrase or word is the ANSWER to the riddle.

3. Think of someone or something that would say that phrase. Who would they say that to?

4. Using the info in #3, form a question.

Here were their riddles:

What did the spinning top say to the child? "It's my turn!"

What does a musician say to his son? "Let's go play!"

The meaning of a suffix

I asked Jonathan what does the suffix -ly mean. He didn't know.

I had him and Chris think of words that end in -ly. (gently, beautifully, carefully)

I asked Chris to use gently in a sentence (I gently patted the cat) and Jonathan to use gentle in a sentence (My back felt gentle).

I said, "Gently shows us HOW he did something and 'gentle' tells us what your back IS."

I wrote down "gently- doing" and "gentle - is."

Then they made sentences with the other words, and I begin to write those words, also, with "doing" or "is" beside them.

Jonathan's eyes lit up. He knew then what -ly does to a word. "-ly means how someone is doing something."