Winter break vacation over, and I caught a special ed job. You know, in one of those classes. For three days.
Actually, things went pretty smoothly. Most of the class had one-to-one aides, and the teacher had clear routines in place.
Third period, Tuesday. The class had a standing lesson with the speech therapist. As it was the first day back after the break (they had a professional development day on Monday, so no students), the speech therapist did an activity about the break.
She asked them what they got for Christmas, but they couldn't just tell her. They had to give two hints, and the others were to guess what it was. As an example, the speech therapist said, "I got something that I wear on my feet and it has three white lines on it."
They easily identified the gift as Adidas sneakers.
She demonstrated with a couple other of her gifts. Then she left them to figure out how to hint about what they got for Christmas.
The activity went fairly well. Most of the students got right to work and were able to hint about their gifts. Mostly, I was asked how to spell things.
Calvin, who likes to smudge his work after he completes it, was having a time writing anything down. His one-to-one aide was trying to assist. He asked Calvin what he got for Christmas. Calvin said he got a violin.
A violin???
That seemed odd. But then the next day I learned he was in a strings music class, and suddenly a violin made more sense.
They finished up the lesson with the speech therapist having them read out what they wrote and having the class guess what they got.
You'd think a speech therapy class would be more about having them work on how they talk. At least, that's what I assumed when I first heard of it. But no. It's more of them discussing things. Whatever works, right?
And now I have an interesting activity I can apply if I ever have need of it. (I love watching others work. I steal liberally from them.)
That's a creative way to start discussion, very clever!
ReplyDeleteIt is.
DeleteNice way to create conversation
ReplyDeleteVery clever.
DeleteA creative activity!
ReplyDeleteIt is.
DeleteCreative and it gets them involved.
ReplyDeleteIt does.
DeleteOne of my cousins is a retired speech therapist who practiced in school settings and yes - whatever works. This sounded like a fun way to sneak in therapy and have fun at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was clever. I had never seen this activity, although it seems rather obvious in retrospect.
DeleteSound like game 20 questions.
ReplyDeleteI think this is very clever and creative!
ReplyDeleteIt was.
DeleteWhen I first started subbing, I thought Special Education was Life Skills. I was quite wrong. They were horses of a different color. Now (if I remember it correctly), they call the class "Transitional," while "Life Skills" (those kids, even though given disadvantages, were joys) has remined "Life Skills." Is that how it is in your school district?
ReplyDeleteSuch creative approaches make classes more effective and fun.
ReplyDeleteSuch creative and fun methods not only engage students better but prove to be more beneficial to them as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Liz - that's a great 'steal' ... but what a creative way to keep the kids occupied and getting them to think. Thanks for posting - cheers Hilary
ReplyDelete