Entertainment Break!!

Here are my high school dancers performing my routine at a girls basketball game last week:

Does anyone else out there coach a dance team?!  I would love to know how your season is going and maybe see some videos too! :)

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Conversation Unit Reflection

So I have mixed feelings about my Conversation Unit....

For those of you who haven't read previous posts, the focus of my first trimester was on conversation, based on MindWing Concepts program/materials.  I used their Facilitating Relationship manual to guide my assessments, lessons, and goals.  

My initial assessments went pretty well.  I followed the assessment guide in the manual as I looked at three specific things with regard to clarification skills- Repairing Receptive Conversational Breakdowns, Repairing Expressive Breakdowns, and Preventing Expressive Breakdowns.  I recorded the conversations on my iPad for later analysis.  To be honest, the beginning of the school year was so busy I didn't really get around to scoring all of my assessments that I took so much time completing :(.  It definitely requires a lot of time to listen to all of the recordings again and keep track of all the different areas.  

For the intervention aspect of it, we learned about Six-Second Stories (a sentence containing who, did what, where, and when) and the kids did really begin to latch on to the concept and loved using the Story Grammar Marker tool to help them.  We learned the 4 SGM icons used to tell a Six Second Story (character, action, setting-where, setting-when) and had a discussion about why we must include all of those things when we begin a conversation with other people.  

To teach the kids how to Repair Receptive Breakdowns, I would tell them a Six Second Story WITHOUT one of the 4 elements. So I might say, "Maria rode her bike to the store" (purposefully leaving out the WHEN).  The kids would fill out their Six Second Story Therapy Sheet (4 boxes labeled Who, Did What, Where, When) and figure out which element I missed.  They would then have to ask me the appropriate question to get that piece of information.  So in my example above they would be expected to ask "WHEN did Maria ride her bike to the store?"  We specifically talked about appropriate questions for each element prior to this activity.  Eventually, I faded out the use of the visual therapy sheet and they had to mentally determine which element I omitted and ask the appropriate question.  Many of the groups got really good at this skill.  It allowed them to Prevent Breakdowns (knowing they had to include all 4 elements) as well as Repairing Receptive Breakdowns.  Those two topics took longer than I had intended, therefore we did not get to Repairing Expressive Breakdowns.  The manual explained for instruction in that area, the SLP would teach the child to read body language of their communication partner to determine confusion and need for clarification.  

I guess what I realized after this unit was that even though many of my kids leave out important information in conversations and have trouble with requesting clarification, this unit would be more beneficial for students with autism, Aspergers, etc.  I would have loved to do this in a social skills group, but unfortunately I do not have one of those this year!

If anything, the kids learned how to write a good sentence, which is something the majority of them didn't previously know how to do!

Oh well, lesson learned.  On to the Narrative/Expository Units! :)

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Behavior Management System

When I first started my job in the schools, my plan was to NOT put a behavior management system into place.  I felt that my 3-5 graders should just know how to behave in school and shouldn't get a prize if they do.  Well, after only a few weeks, I realized that was not going to work!  Most of my groups did behave very well during our sessions, however there were a few that did not.  I thought maybe I could just have a system for those particular groups but with this age group that just does not work.  Plus I started shifting my thinking and realizing it wouldn't be so bad give them something to work hard for.

Last year, my district started requiring data walls in every classroom, so I focused that wall on behavior management.  Since we usually only have 30 minutes with each group 2-3X per week, behavior is definitely something that impacts the success of those sessions.  My data wall last year looked like this:

Each student had a snowman/leaf/flower (depending on the season) with their first name on it.  Through out the session I would keep track of how many times I had to redirect each child.  If they never had to be redirected, they put their snowman on a level 3.  If they had to be redirected 1-3 times, they put their snowman on a level 2.  If they had to be redirected more than 3 times, they were down at a level 1.  At the end of each session they would move their snowman to the appropriate level and I would write the level number on the snowman so I could see the their whole behavior history!  If they got 10 3's in a row, they got a prize.

Now the kids absolutely loved this data wall as they could visually see their progress and didn't want to be embarrassed by being one of the few on a level 2 or 1.  HOWEVER, it was a pain in the butt for me!  I was already in enough of a hurry trying to get my entire lesson crammed in 30 minutes so having to keep track of redirections for each kid then go over to the wall at the end of EVERY session and move them to the correct level and write down their number just wasn't efficient.  And trust me, the kids ALWAYS noticed if I forgot to write their number down from the previous session!  It just wasn't working.

So this year I tried something much more simple.  I went and bought a plastic fishbowl from Petco and put it on the welcome table by my door (got the idea from Pinterest of course!).  I bought some letter stickers from Michaels and wrote Peachy Speechy Behavior on it, then jazzed it up with some star stickers. 

At the beginning of each session I tell the kids that they are working for tickets.  I say that in order to get a ticket, they must be good listeners, stay on-task and on-topic, participate in group discussions, and follow directions immediately.  I put the tickets right on the table or carpet where are sitting so they can see them as a reminder.  At the end of the session I simply use my judgement to determine whether or not they deserve a ticket.

Tickets are from the 50/50 Party Store in my town.

Each month I draw 7 names out of the fishbowl and post the winners' names on a piece of paper on the back of my door.  The winners get to pick a prize.  The kids have been loving this system and haven't said a word about my system last year so I think it's a winner!  And since I only do the drawing once per month, I am not spending a ton of money on prizes.

Simple. Manageable. Gets the job done.

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"I Can..." Wall

Just thought I would share with you a fun speech display I created on the boring wall outside of my classroom!  I always make sure my kids are reminded of their speech and language goals so they always know why they are with me and what they are working toward.  I decided to have them create "I Can" statements to put a positive spin on their goals and in words they truly understand.  It is nice to have a display outside of my room so teachers and students walking past know what we are working on in here!  During parent/teacher conferences the kids were really excited to show their parents the display and explain their goals. 

Here is what it looks like:

 (Sorry the lighting isn't very good back in my corner of the building!)

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IT'S BEEN A MONTH ALREADY?!?!?!

Wow, I can't believe it has been almost a month since my last post!  Between all the IEPs, lesson planning, parent/teacher conferences, working my other SNF job, high school poms, and my new 4th and 5th grade dance team, I just haven't had the energy to sit down and blog!  I am very sorry about that and I will do my best to catch up within the next week or so :).

Upcoming topics: Speech and Language Curriculum Makeover (yes, I have already made changes-no surprise here!), Thematic Language Units, Goal Rings, Using Edmodo in the S/L Classroom,  Oral Writing, 'I Can' Wall, and possibly others.

In the meantime, please enjoy the Dancing Tigers first performance!.... (fast forward to 45 seconds)

(Our matching t-shirts and pink/black pom poms will be arriving within the next few weeks)

Hopefully these adorable 4th and 5th graders have made up for my lack of blog updates :-D

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Take-Off Tasks

As you all know, 30-minute sessions go by extremely fast!  It is really hard to fit in all the teaching and practice in that short amount of time.  In an effort to get an extra few minutes of practice, I created Take-Off Tasks last year.  

As each student walks out the door at the end of the session, they have the option to take a task out of the basket.  The tasks change through out the year.  Right now my tasks are targeting multiple meaning words.

  

Grab Synonyms Take-Off Tasks Here (3 pgs)

Grab Antonyms Take-Off Tasks Here (3 pgs)

The students then can discuss the tasks (quietly!) with their group members on the walk back to their classrooms.  If they bring it back to speech completed correctly, they get an extra carnival ticket which is entered into a drawing (all part of my behavior management system-will do a post about that sometime!). 

The kids all LOVE picking out a Take-Off Task when they leave and I can hear/see them discussing the possible answers with the other kids!  I was surprised that about 98% of my students actually do the Take-Off Tasks even though they are optional.  

Additional ideas for tasks:

• Antonyms
• Synonyms
• Asking Questions (provide the student with an ANSWER to a question and have them think of a question that would get that response)
• Rhyming
• Analogies
• Verb tense
• Definitions
• Cohesive Ties

Happy Tuesday! :-)

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Six Strands of Language Lessons and Reflection

After completing the Communication Contracts with my kids, I moved on to teaching them the Six Strands of Language.  This was recommended in the Story Grammar Marker manual to increase the kids' awareness of their speech and language difficulties.  I thought it would be a great way to start the year!  First, I went to Michaels and bought a bunch of brightly colored yarn and each strand was designated a color.  Here is how I color-coded them:

Pragmatics- Orange
Phonology- Lime Green
Semantics- Blue
Syntax/Morphology- Yellow
Discourse- Pink
Metalinguistics- Green

Then, I created my giant bulletin board behind my desk to give kids a constant visual reminder.  Each strand of yarn was spread across the bulletin board and matched up with its name.  

Grab the Six Strands Header Signs Here

Grab the Individual Six Strands Signs Here

To add another visual/tactile tool to my lessons, I also created a mini version of the strands for each kid to utilize during the lessons.  Dry-erase word/sentence strips and markers were also given to the kids just because they love writing on them so much!  I had them write down the name of the current strand we were learning about for additional feedback.  Here are the materials used for the Six Strands lessons:

My goal was to teach 2 strands per 30 minute session, however some ended up taking longer than that.  Just depended on the kids in the group and how well they were grasping the general concept.  

Instead of jumping right into the Pragmatics strand, I dedicated my first session to introducing all of the strands via PowerPoint.  I gave a very brief overview of each one so the kids knew what color each one was and an idea of what it stood for.  We then played a little matching game where they matched the name of the strand to the color and/or definition.  Next time, I won't waste my time with this overall introduction!  It was too quick for them to even understand what each strand stood for and just wasn't as helpful as I thought it would be.  In the future, I will just jump into teaching the Pragmatics strand right away.


Pragmatics Strand Lesson:
Materials:  mini strands, sentence strips, markers, whiteboard, book, iPad
Book used:  Manners by Aliki
Summary of lesson:  Began the lesson by having the kids show me their orange strand and set it out in front of them.  I then told them to write the word PRAGMATICS on their sentence strips.  Once this was done, I gave them a kid-friendly definition of Pragmatics and gave them some real-world examples.  Next, I read parts of the book Manners by Aliki.  I just skipped around to the pages that I liked best.  We discussed good vs. bad pragmatics as I read the book.  I made sure to use the word a lot so they could relate the word to its meaning.  I would ask them "was that good or bad pragmatics?" and they would have to answer "good pragmatics" or "bad pragmatics."  I found this video on YouTube that is PERFECT for teaching pragmatics so we watched it (skipped around to good parts) and discussed certain behaviors throughout. 

Flummox and Friends Video

We ended the 15 minute Pragmatics introduction by making a semantic web on my little whiteboard.  I put the word Pragmatics in the middle and then talked about all those different things we read in the book and saw in the video.

(Please excuse the sloppiness, I was writing upside down!)

Phonology Strand Lesson:

Materials:  mini strands, sentence strips, markers, whiteboard, book
Book Used:  One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
Summary of Lesson:  Began the lesson by having the kids show me their Lime Green strand and set it out in front of them.  Then had them write the word PHONOLOGY on their sentence strips.  Provided them with a kid-friendly definition of Phonology and gave them some examples.  This time we actually completed the semantic web first.  Wrote Phonology in the middle and then wrote down the subcategories and gave examples- phonemic awareness (includes rhyming, segmenting, blending etc.), articulation, spelling, and sound-symbol relationship.  We discussed Dr. Seuss and how he always includes rhyming in his books.  I told them to listen for rhyming words as we read the book.  After reading parts of the book, we used the rest of the time to further discuss the different areas of Phonology.

Semantics Strand Lesson:
Materials:  mini strands, sentence strips, markers, whiteboard, book
Book Used:  Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
Summary of Lesson:  Began the lesson by having the kids show me their Blue strand and set it out in front of them.  Then had them write the word SEMANTICS on their sentence strips.  Provided them with a kid-friendly definition of the word Semantics and gave them examples.  We talked about figurative language such as "it's raining cats and dogs."  The kids always get a kick out of that one!  We talk about how the words say one thing but it means something else.  I tell them that Amelia Bedelia doesn't have very good Semantics because she doesn't understand what the people are asking her to do.  As we go through the book and see what Amelia does, I ask them what the people REALLY wanted her to do.  The kids just love this book!  We also talk about how Semantics includes the definition of individual words and how we can find those definitions in a dictionary.  Finish the lesson by making the web.

Syntax/Morphology Strand Lesson:
Materials:  mini strands, sentence strips, markers, whiteboard, book
Book Used:  Unfortunately by Remy Charlip
Summary of Lesson:  Began the lesson by having the kids show me their Yellow strand and set it out in front of them.  Then had them write the word SYNTAX & MORPHOLOGY on their sentence strips.  Provided them with a kid-friendly definition of the words and gave them examples.  Made a semantic web prior to reading the book.  Discussed cohesive ties and how we are going to use them to combine sentences while reading the book.  Stopped every few pages and wrote down two simple sentences on my whiteboard (ex. His friend loaned him an airplane.  The motor exploded.).  I had the kids figure out which cohesive tie word would best combine these two sentences to make one big sentence (ex. His friend loaned him an airplane BUT the motor exploded.).  Sometimes I made up sentences that went with the pictures so we could use other cohesive tie words besides 'but' (ex. The boy had to have surgery. He fell on a pitchfork. --------> The boy had to have surgery BECAUSE he fell on a pitchfork.).  After the story we discussed the other subcategories (verb tense and morphology).

Discourse and Metalinguistics Strands:
For these two strands I did not read a book, but instead gave definitions/examples and said we will learn more about these things as the year goes on.  We did phonemic awareness tasks to demonstrate how metalinguistics means manipulating and thinking about our language.  So I would say "tell me SPEECH without the S" and things like that.  These two areas are definitely harder to grasp than the others so I didn't want to waste too much time on them.

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After introducing all the strands, I showed the kids a little key I made which shows which strands they are working on in speech class.  It is basically just a table in Microsoft Word with all the kids names in one column and colored circles corresponding to the strands in the next column.  So "Sally" may have a lime green, blue, and pink circle next to her name indicating she is working on phonology, semantics, and discourse.  I actually put a pink circle next to ALL of their names (except articulation only kids) since that is something everyone needs work on.  The kids were really excited to look up their name and see which strands they are working on now that they know what each one is!  I think this activity really gives kids that level of awareness that is necessary for progress in speech and language.  Now that they know what they are working on, they don't have to answer their teachers or parents with "I don't know" when asked why they are in speech!  The LD teacher at my school came up to me and said one of our 3rd graders told her that he was working on his PRAGMATICS in speech class! He even gave her the definition of Pragmatics!!! YAYY!!  Needless to say, she was VERY impressed :-)

So that is how I introduced the Six Strands of Language! Please let me know if you have any questions or want to share any ideas that would go along well with these lessons!
   

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