Teaching social skills

In my Behavioral Instruction class, we have written lesson plans about teaching social skills. This project seemed like a piece of cake, but I found this to be a surprisingly challenging activity. My classmates chose the following social skills to teach: maintaining eye contact, empathy, taking turns, table manners, shared responsibility, good sportsmanship when losing, self control, saying "please" and "thank you," and following the rules. We all do these things, but found it challenging to break down into instructional procedures. When was the last time you cognitively thought through saying please and thank you? And, how can you break the behavior down into not just steps but explanations that are understandable for younger children on children with disabilities? How do you teach a student with autism how to maintain eye contact? In class, we've decided it is important but not easy! I chose touching. I decided on this topic without any thought about the current Sandusky case; in fact, I didn't even think about the sexual context of touching. I initially thought about how to be gentle, what's and when is appropriate. I wanted to write a lesson plan on how to hug and when to give a high five, hug, or get someone's attention with touch. When I was researching for ideas, I was struck by the amount of instructional content devoted to inappropriate touching and sexual harassment for students of all ages - including primary. Everything I looked at spent a week of curriculum (combined) on processes for how and when to touch, and weeks on the inappropriate sexual component. This isnt shocking to me, but still caused me to pause and think about the society we live in today. It is saddening. I remember going through Mrs. Daniel's counseling sessions on Ruff McGrough and drug awareness . Of course, this was in the 80's and Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" program. In elementary school, I was taught to say no to drugs. In elemetary school, my boys will learn about what is not appropriate touch and where is not a safe place to touch or be touched. It is important, just a tad scary. So, this commentary is about two thoughts: 1. It's amazing how challenging to teach the "easy things" can be. 2. Our world is a much different place. Our children have to learn about very adult things at such young ages, and it makes me sad.

Grades are in!

May Term: A

May Term Placement

For Practicum I've been placed in a 4th/5th grade Resource Room in an Intermediate School. This is a AAA classroom with 4 students, but not all on extended standards. There is diversity in disabilities, and an interesting mix: ED, Autsim, ID, and LD. The students also have a mixture of resource time, from most time in their GenEd class to only PE with GenEd. Staff wise, this class has a teacher and two paraprofessionals. I'm excited to observe and participate in this class. This is my second 5th grade experience, but my first in a concentrated resource room. I'm very excited to add experiences to begin to compare and contrast.

Roses and Thorns

May Term Roses and Thorns... Roses: 1. The kids. I loved the kiddos in my class. They cracked me up, they inspired me, one frustrated me and made me grow in patience and management skills. I really enjoyed the kids in my class. 2. School experience. I had the most diverse school experience yet when I consider staff and school. I met many teachers and professionals, many spending time with me answering questions or coaching. Also, I witnessed a challenging social dynamic between staff which was thought-provoking and enlightening. I gained a lot of knowledge that does not necessary fit into a lesson plan or IEP. 3. I enjoyed my classmates and made new friends. 4. Loads of experience. I taught a lot and got a lot of hands-on expience. Thorns: 1. The work load was rough! Managing observations, the school load, my CTs expectations and general life in such a concentrated time was exhausting. 2. Disappointing examples. Considering it was May and close to the end of school, my CT told me upon entering: "I'm done teaching." She really was. I'm not passing judgement I just was disappointed I didn't get to observe many lessons and daily routines. 3. Drama. Unfortunately there was a lot of drama in my school and it was distracting. 4. Traffic and parking. This sounds so silly and petty, but it as such a pain! Traffic congestion, the school infrastructure, and limited parking was a big challenge. When the parking lot flooded... I had to hike in the rain. That was lovely.

Summer 1

This June Is Summer 1 term and I've got a full load! I'm taking: ED 516 Behavioral Intervention Strategies SPED 562 Assesment of Students with Disabilities I'm by excited about the behavioral class because I'm learning a lot I can apply at home. Our first lesson was "If you aren't getting the behavior you want, the kids aren't broken, your system is." That day I came home and both my boys were on yellow (our behavior stoplight) and Paul was threatening to move the to red, which is time-out or loss of privileges. So I say to Paul, "you know they aren't broken, the system is." I cannot share with you what Paul told me I could do with that comment; it was not very professional. ;) The behavioral course is about positive behavior interventions and I am getting a lot of great tips and ideas. This class is with a professor I've known and adored since I met her at St. Andrew's, Dr. Sally Smith. It's a treat to be in her class! I especially love trying to figure out which of her two sons is her daily anecdote about. Oh I know a lot about Kevin and Brian now that I'm sure they wish I didn't! This assessment class is challenging. We are reviewing standardized, norm-referenced, criterion-based, and all sorts of formal and informal assessments. This is a 4 hour class in the afternoon and I tend to drown in basal and ceiling and sample sizes. However, I hope I walk away with a much bette understands of the various tests and types of tests. I have to administer tests to kids for practice, administer to my professor for a grade, and there is substantial paperwork with this course. Maybe it feels more substantial because I require a special dictionary to decode the vocabulary words. Nonetheless, it's a challenge and I actually find this very interesting.

Telling on myself...

Admittedly, this is shameful, but it's humorous, too. I have a student with Autism who is by OCD. Anything I touch, he comes to touch both the object I touched and the hand I touched the object with. For instance, if I tap the table with my right hand, he would immediately tap the same area of the table and then tap my right hand. Every time, without fail. Even if her was across the room. This particular day, he was very distracted. I was trying to get him started on independent work so I could begin direct instruction with another. Bless his heart, he couldn't stay remotely near his station and was certainly not working independently. I didn't know what else to do. I went to his station and touched every last thing at the station - the desk, the chair, the books, the pencils, the worksheets, the wall, everything. Over and over, I touched everything. He spent five minutes touching everything I had touched, in the order I touched it, and was at least quiet. Lo and behold, he went to work afterwards. Oh how I hope that was not reported on my dispositions! I think there is a level of meaness in this; not cruel but mean. I'm not proud of this, but I can laugh at it. Desperate times, desperate measures!

May Term

This May I have a May "mini-term" which is a practicum for Special Ed. The requirement of the class is to log 90+ hours in the classroom for observation, plus a few papers on teaching and observations. In this class, I write lesson plans, teach them, and am graded by my cooperating teacher (CT) as well as my professor. I will also begin the behavioral instruction unit, observing and recording behavior data to use in other classes this summer. This concentrated class will be a lot in a little bit of time, but I'm very excited!