New Job

 It's been a really long time, but I've started a new job in a special class and I'd like to start this blog up again and post some of my creations.

Put Reading First

I think it's important to have personal reading goals. I've been trying to read all of Charles Dickens' novels. I've been at it for a few years. And now look at this progress:

I have a passion for exploring the science of reading through practice. I feel like I've done very well. I have to post a link to, what I believe, is one of the most influential documents of my career. It became the only textbook in my first reading class that I took for my Special Education license/bachelor's program. 

Other really amazing tools include:

gutenberg.org

https://librivox.org/

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/

Because they're in the public domain and FREE!!! Other things I think are useful are the gospel library from https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/ -- I've used the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and other religious books to practice with too. I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and we are encouraged to read from the scriptures daily. I think that one of the things that actually helped me learn how to read is reading both the Bible and the Book of Mormon daily.

So, besides my progress with the writings of Charles Dickens, I've been using these, plus other books and also my SIOP training to help me increase my ability to read. I started in 2006 with Moby Dick. That was a hard book, and I ended up quitting, but I started it again in 2013 and actually finished it with the help of the free resources above. I used some SIOP techniques as well, like chunk and chew and two-word strategies (summarizing my reading in approximately 2 words). 

I hope you find these links helpful. They've been phenomenal in my own personal reading goals.

Gamify Your Classroom

I love making things. I took a lot of classes this summer. One of them was about how to gamify your classroom. This sparked the idea for a new product:

Gamified Behavior Trackers

I've already started using these in my own class. There's a place for a name and a word or two just to remind the student about what they are working for.

You can use a highlighter, pen, marker, etc. to color them in. It's way easier to incrementally reinforce behavior because you can be organic in the amount you fill this in. 

I think these are really great, and I hope you do too.

Assignment 5 - Peer Review Video Lesson using YouTube

Shoe Tying

I filmed myself teaching basic shoe-tying. Overall it was a great learning experience. I was very quiet in the video, and I re-film myself, but I just have a naturally quiet voice, which works out in the small group instruction. That’s what I do most of the time. I think if I recorded myself teaching I would be able to improve. The basics of voice projection and body language are something I’ve been fascinated with and working on. I’d love to work on that and record myself to see what improvements it would have on my teaching.

In receiving feedback, I think we are all trying to be very nice to each other. I expected more criticism. I know I was too quiet to be heard on my device at certain points. I think it would be good to film ourselves enough that we no longer pay attention to the camera. I think I’d be more natural either without a camera, or if I used it enough that I forgot it was there. In giving feedback, I wanted to point out the good things more than I wanted to critique or criticize what I was seeing. I think feedback can be great, and I also think we can be harder on ourselves than others are--so videoing ourselves can be great for self-critiquing as well. I think I learn something new whenever I am given the opportunity to watch myself teach.

Pinterest

https://www.pinterest.com/cynstevie/education/

Assignment 3 - Create a Classroom Facebook Page

Assignment 2 - Participate in a Twitter Educational Chat

I participated in the #satchatwc -- a Saturday Morning chat for the west coast. There were a couple of students from Boise State University also there for a chat. There wasn't really a topic to start out with. A professor teaching a grad class called systems leadership at NLU was the first to say he wanted to share about the power of Twitter. He invited everyone to ask questions, so I was the first to start asking questions about Special Education and how inclusion works in each of their schools. That kicked off a really great discussion with teachers sharing what happens at each of their schools. I had the most questions, and the teachers taking the class at BSU talked about what happens at each of their schools. They teach 6th grade at middle school and I teach special education for students K-3.



Our district has been urging us to include a continuum of placements for special education, and I've struggled with how to work a schedule for my students who are self-contained, those who need pull-out for a short period of time, and then trying to then schedule inclusion periods for me to come into their classroom. My principal has been really supportive of constructing a schedule to fit into a master schedule and line up with Title 1 services, but he doesn't urge me to include an inclusion class or set of classes within that schedule. I was trying to get ideas from the group. The chat is scheduled for an hour, I think, but we chatted past the hour. I may participate in another set of chats this week to give myself more experience with using this as part of my PLN.  I plan on visiting #tlap because a couple of years ago our district had the Author of How to Teach Like a Pirate as our speaker for our opening of the school year district meeting. I've since bought the book and have been trying to do more to incorporate what he taught.



I also wanted to check out #edchat and #utedchat, but wanted to do one early just in case they didn't have it this week. I saw an announcement that they weren't having it the last 2 weeks due to the holiday. I was worried that I wouldn't get this assignment done if I waited and found out they weren't having it again next week. I have another class that goes at the same time (Wed. evening). I was afraid I'd miss it. I still want to attempt to participate in those other chats.