Fine Motor Friday: DIY Chalk Paint

Chalk is a disaster for my students. They get it everywhere, sometimes it stains certain knits, or they try eating it so frequently that I cannot keep up with redirecting them all. However, it is also a lot of fun for practicing handwriting and hanging out outside. 

I had not seen much in the form of chalk paint except at craft stores and the colors are quite dull. I used baking soda, flour, and a few drops of food coloring (add more or less depending on how hot of a color you want). Depending on size and how thick you would like it to be, use about equal parts water and flour to make a mixture of 2/3s. Then, match that to 1/3 baking soda to complete the mixture. My students practiced tacting shapes, tracing, and holding the brushes with a more firm grip. I used a thicker mixture with students who had a harder time with fine motor skills. This helped it transfer to the concrete without the student showing more of a struggle than the rest of the class. After all, this is supposed to be fun!

I will definitely use this play based learning activity next year and have the students more involved with the measuring and mixing next time. 

Music and Motion in the Special Education Classroom

     Trying to break down intricate topics to my students can be tricky. I need to scaffold concepts down to the core thought and then pair with something gimmicky or eye catching. Think of when you are daydreaming and a light reflection hits the corner of your eye and pulls you out of deep thought. Essentially, my students are always inside of their own thoughts and its my job to come up with a way to present, catch their attention, and then keep them engaged for 5-20 minutes depending on the student.

     Music is, and will always be, my go to way to break down mental roadblocks. Teaching secondary students allows me a bit more freedom to play current pop songs and not the same boring renditions of classic nursery rhymes. When incorporating music videos with high energy dance moves, I notice my students' attention is quickly gained during the most intense learning activities. 

       For my Force & Motion lesson I used infographics, music videos, tactiles, and interactive experiences to teach a basic concept in Physics. The videos I used were Willow Smith's, "Whip My Hair" and an instructional dance video fot the instrumental of V.I.C.'s, "Wobble" (if you haven't seen this dance, chances are you don't live in the Deep South). 

 To grab my students attention I started with Wobble and introduced the thought of movement. I used pinwheel .GIFs to show a speed of movement, spun arrows to show direction of movement, and then introduced "Wobble" and had the kids get up out of their desks and try the dance movements. I was in heaven because it is a really fun dance, but my kids absolutely loved being silly and trying new things (SO COOL). I continued the discussion with a couple more slides with info graphics and then we made paper planes to further the discussion. I could tell I had a few kids drop off while folding the paper so I ended the slides with "Whip My Hair". I did not care how or why they moved in a certain fashion, I just wanted them moving and using their communication skills to tell me, "I'm moving". 


     Both songs feature low to mild beats per minute (BPM). "Whip My Hair"'s BPM is 81, but "Wobble" clocks in around 95 BPM. A typical workout playlist will probably feature a rate of 170+ BPM. For example, Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz" has a BPM of 227. Knowing the BPM is very important in my classroom setting because students with Autism are naturally aroused and overstimulated by their environment. Playing high intensity music at all times would emotionally exhaust the students and increase the chances of unwanted behavior occurring. 

    The last two years I have been taking data on what styles of music student with Autism react positively to. 1960s soul is by far the lead runner  (65-80 BPM) and is a style I will always play if unwanted behaviors manifest. When some of my previous students (high school angst and high functioning rears its head) were having a bad day, "Don't Bother Me" by Bad Brains typically allowed them to cool down, refocus, and go to their next class. 

    When you write your next lesson, do not forget to incorporate music into the slides or interactive lesson. Playing music in any class setting takes away the rigid feel of classrooms past and breaths fresh air into the possibility of an education tailored to the students. 

    

I don't have time, I have Thinglink

     Let me start by saying I am very happy with this fun program!

     Recently I have been on the hunt for the perfect user friendly program (that happens to be free because I teach and we never actually want to spend our own money on programs) to explain emotions to my classroom. As I have explained, the comprehension range is anywhere from 18 months to 3 years. How does one explain emotions or just basic empathy to students with Autism and other intellectual disabilities, yet keep them interactively engaging?

Basic editing screen

     Thinglink was posted on a Google+ forum I follow. Just checking it out, I saw how intricate lessons could become. Most importantly, Thinglink allows the student to interactively learn at their own pace. Here is an example of students exploring the space station 
     I had been struggling with using a leaning map program for a few days, even though the company said I could complete a learning map in 30 minutes. Obviously, I needed to tinker with another program and try again later.

     Thinglink has an educator pricing of $35 for the year if you are interested in rich text, video and image assistance, or just easy tagging to get your videos seen. I plan on using it within the classroom for a couple of weeks first and then I can revisit. For me, the educator pricing for the year is way within budget. However, I want to make sure I do not hit the ceiling quickly and have no new uses for it.
     The image I selected took forever to upload (okay, like 45 seconds, but that is very long in a special education setting), but was very easy thereafter. Using the cursor, I clicked on where I wanted the bullet point to be shown, entered the YouTube link I wanted to use, add a caption if desired for the link, and saved the presentation. This allowed me to talk about intricate basic living skills in a way that is modified for my students. I foresee using this for talking about how to dress for certain seasons, receptively identifying or tacting vocabulary in a certain setting, or to talk about any subject standards.

     I made sure the computers were ready for the students when they arrived to the independent working stations. I pinned the tab to ensure they would not wonder off of the page much. They really enjoyed the clips I used about being aware of our emotions and, most importantly, they stayed engaged in and independent activity for the 20 minute period. 

Teach.com' s SXSW Teach of the Day

     I had a great opportunity to go to SXSWedu this year. Attending was one of my goals for the year, so I am on track for doing great things in education this year. You can view the article here. 

     Thank you to everyone who has supported me and given me cool ideas to incorporate in my classroom!

Recording and Communicating Behavior in the Special Education Classroom

     Special Education is an endless mountain of papers. Every year there is progress toward using the newest, most efficient program. However, all of these programs have one major error--- They are all reliant on paper! My student population in Special Education can run from high functioning, to showing motivation for only a single item and a small desire to follow 1-step directives to obtain the item. I don't always have time to run, get a clipboard, record behavioral data (ABC, sample observations (MTS), rating scales (BRS), etc.) legibly. There is not a 100% reliable method to maintain empirical frequency and rate data while also being in the thick of a meltdown. Even after all data is collected, papers can be stored incorrectly and the high risk of broken confidentiality is present. 

     I am currently using Google Forms to record data as behaviors occur during the regular school day. So far I have made an ABC data form, Interval Behavioral Data form, Parent Feedback form.

I started with a simple form that I can use to communicate daily behavior with parents. Very basic in design and the response form is linked directly into the personal student website I made earlier in the year. This response form is embedded to the site so when they visit, a real time description of the behavior is present. The verbiage is reader friendly for the forms directed to the parents. My hope is that it encourages the parents to read the response or fill out the forms more often. The parents can view the response form online as little or often as they wish and easily see how their student is doing. Also, by providing the beginning of a sample sentence, I don't feel the need to always write a lengthy response. 


For students with specific motivators, I have an ABC Form. It has simple headers that any staff, old or new, will be able to quickly identify and understand. 


I made a master of all the forms, then clicked "Make a Copy" under the "File" tab. This allows me to have a different file for each student and tailor the responses to choose from specific to the student. One student will manifest unwanted behaviors differently than the next so modifying the forms is important. 

   My staff and I can access the form via Google Drive, QR Code located on the wall near an area of the room that has reduced stimulants, and also icons on the staff cell phones. The cell phone icons have been very helpful when we are out in another part of the school or when access to the computer is not realistic. 

     Overall, I feel the addition of tracking behavior using the forms has increased my hands on productivity with the students, limited the amount of actual papers I lug around, and also gives me the option of creating a graph using the data in the form within seconds (perfect for IEP preparation). 

SXSW and #edTechWomen

     SXSW for most Austinites means traffic and not being able to do much of anything around town. This is mainly true for me---- Okay, well maybe I still spend my time watching a ton of my favorite bands play and its fun, but this year I switched it up and went to SXSWedu. I had a great time attending the #ETW15 conference and made a lot of great connections with like minded women. The theme among my conversations with others was that there is a need to support each other instead of innately pitting against one another. I think there was some validity in that, but I did not agree when I heard some women saying that those without children need to cut slack for women with children. I don't understand that. I hold everyone to the same standard and some days you choose to work, others you choose to slack. How other women manage their time isn't my concern. If something is done wrong or late that is on the person not meeting expectations. It is not the responsibility of others to cut slack. 

     The rest of the week went really well. I taught a class on the ProLoQuo2Go system to parents and district staff, saw a handful of solid educational films, hung outside of the formal parts of SX with some really great Grrrls, and was able to increase my personal growth. The week left me feeling reaffirmed in my belief that large strides need to be taken toward a technologically enriched classroom for all students, including Special Education students. 

Q: Who Run The World? A:Tech Grrrls

Fun fact about me that also makes me cringe at times--

      I have never been good at tech stuff. I have had males in my life that were excellent at all things related to technology, but they never included me in learning these skills. Being young, it never occurred to me to advocate for myself. It was a boy's club and I wasn't invited.

     Something changed during the last two years. My lead IT was a woman. Not just that, she was a knowledgeable, open minded, and friendly IT. I had never met such a lovely unicorn in my life! I started looking into what she wrote about in her emails, PD sessions, and general information about technology as it related to the classroom. I pick her brain WAY too much and am sure at this point I am coming across as annoying. But I know she is always there for me to learn from or bounce ideas off of.

     Last year, I was overwhelmed with my program. It is all paper! Pictures, data sheets, graphs, lesson instruction, visuals....ALL PAPER BASED. It was a lot to keep track of and I often found myself stuck taking home cartloads of data to analyze. My thoughts were "new program, new school, new district; I am not ready to take risks!"

     In August, I decided to incorporate as much technology into my lessons and data collections as possible. I started by making blank copies of all data sheets organized in my drive. Followed that by taking at least 3 technology PDs a week. This was a lot of commitment because I am a mom, I teach, and I am working on my doctoral dissertation. Somehow I made it work! Now I see other grrrls I work with asking me questions or for help in general. I am glad they have a desire to learn. This tech journey allowed me to see I am not great at it all, and that is okay! Practice makes perfect, so I just keep making interactive lessons my students can enjoy. Without the support of Lisa, Shannon, or Amy I would not have a desire to know about technological skills and various ways to increase efficiency in my classroom.