Today we learned "stick handling" and peer tutors make it work! Everyone has improved their skills and everyone was busy the entire time. And ... thanks to Greg Cramer from our PE department we have located hockey sticks we can use between time to practice! Al is ready to play a game. Stay tuned for more ...
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Why hockey? Again eye contact, right/left, balance, focus, attention, and working with others. Plus; it is fun! Right now we are working on the fundamentals of stick handling. Here is our first session!
Because we now have access to a lending library, I am creating curriculum that will let students be even more independent. Rather than have the instructions read to them, the students may put on headsets, tap the Showme lesson and complete the activities. We tried our first one, and everyone listened, moved along, and completed the sheet 5/5 correct! I will be working diligently on our next set of curriculum lessons knowing students can tap the lesson, never miss the lesson if they are absent. This will apply to both ECC students and peer tutors ... Stay tuned for the next generation of instructional designs for the ECC! Here we are the brave pioneers who completed the very first cohort for endorsements in Instructional System Design and Educational Technology. Each of us put in 238 hours of onsite class time over a full year. I would like to thank the Educational Technology faculty who made it possible. Thank you to Jared Ward, who supports my many many requests and needs for bringing technology into my program and keeping it running. When I first began working with the extended core program, which was called a cluster, I found the students had goals with regard to compliance, looking at person speaking, sitting up, and handwriting. When I looked at the students, I saw weak and uncoordinated students. They could not follow a direction that has right/left or before/after, if/then, or when/do. In addition , they lay on the table, their posture was mostly curved back and slumped shoulders. Yawning was an ever constant event beginning about 10:00. Dining etiquette was not pretty. Utensils held like shovels and moth down to food as opposed to hand come up the mouth. Did they do this on purpose? Obviously not! So why did I expect those goals on the IEP to be met if they didn't have or had lost the underlying foundation to meeting the goals. If you can't hold you head up, you are not going to look up. If you can't hold your head up, you are not going to follow your speaker with your eyes. If your back muscles and stomach muscles are weak, you are not going to sit up and have the posture for good handwriting. But most of all, when you ask these students to work, they simply don't have the stamina nor endurance. So what is the poor teacher to do? Continue to demand from slumped over kids. Kids who are anxious. Kids who are whining. Kids who are yawning. Or you can get up and move it, move it. Then at 11:30 when you work on writing you get .... legible signatures, focus, and progress! I was sent this from one of my former peer tutors and 10 former peer tutors liked it and sent it on. Just thought I would share too! Bravo! I hope they flash mob somewhere when I am out and about!
One way I connect with others is by finding people who share my interests online. One interest is of course learning about special needs. Here is a blog that I subscribe to that is easy to read, and has good information for parents. http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/ As I find others I will add them. But with our busy lives I find I like to have one or two great sites that I can go to and get realistic information. We have just about finished up our "football unit" here at Jordan High. As the varsity football team plays next Friday for the State Championship, the ECC has been learning to play football. Why??? What does this teach them? First of all we had a great deal of fun! We divided into teams and learned to be a team. Learning to work as a team means everybody has the same goal, but not everyone has the same role. Being the receiver is very different from a defender. Cheering on your team and giving signals all are life skills. Football also meant we had to focus, give eye contact, listen for our signals, and run a route. We had to turn left and right and move our hands to match what our eyes saw. Inclusion also means you learn and get excited about the same things that are exciting for the school culture. Jordan High School is heading to the State finals! Now we know what the sport is, several of our peer tutors are football players and several are cheerleaders. Ball handling skills in context. To increase practice, our daily Yoga routine includes movements: surfer, mini lunge, and atlas that require looking "down field" and watching our fingertips, we work on shifting balance, left and right, and pivot turns. Our next unit is basketball! It is now November and we are starting the second quarter of school year 2012-13. We have 14 students receiving instruction and service through the extended core. No one student has the same schedule. We have 51 peer tutors who are supporting our students in their inclusion classes. We lost one to early graduation!!! The time we have together is from 7:00 to 7:50, the time we call Breakfast Club. It is a time to sit, eat, talk, and get help on assignments from "out" classes or finish work such as the placemats. Peer tutors come in as they wish; to visit, or make up absences. This is probably the best time for us to acknowledge special occasions like birthdays. We are avoiding sugary options due to several health issues within the classroom and in high school parties are not part of the school day. I have seen real growth in each student. It is already time to start planning for next year. Really??? I am always so surprised when we begin looking at registration. Next year brings 2 new classes to the high school. We will have incoming freshmen (9th) and sophomores (10) so that half the class will be new! We are losing 6 seniors as they move to Canyons Transition Academy!
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