While watching some of the Olympic events recently, I realized just how compelling games can be. There I sat, a casual observer of the action, and yet the experience had an emotional appeal.
As an educator, I had to consider whether or not the engagement of games combined with the emotional appeal might help students with special needs. Thus I began an online search for an answer. I was pleased to find a wealth of information and studies that support the use of games for learning. One site in particular is worth sharing. Autism Games, www.autismgames.org is a well organized site, created by Tahirih Bushey, MA-CCC Speech Language Pathologist. On this site, Tahirih shares her techniques of using game play to help students with autism acquire oral language. In addition, Tahirih has included a collection of videos that highlight some of her popular techniques.
I was impressed by many of her videos, but one in particular touched my heart. It is a video named “Play Doh.” I encourage you to watch this video and listen to Tahirih as she playfully encourages a boy with autism to talk while he is engaged in playing a game.
Here is my all time favorite modeling dough recipe to use with students. Why go to the trouble of making the dough? Cost! 1 c corn starch 2 c baking soda 1 ½ c cold water In a medium saucepan, stir together corn starch and baking soda. Add water and stir until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. The mix will come to a boil, and then start to thicken. Continue stirring until the mixture reaches the consistency of slightly dry mashed potatoes. Turn the mass onto a plate and cover with a damp cloth. When cool enough to handle, knead thoroughly on a corn starch dusted surface. Add in a little corn starch at a time until the mass becomes smooth and pliable.
If desired, add food coloring to create custom dough colors. Store in a tightly closed plastic bag. . . when not playing of course!
“We want to challenge everyone — parents, teachers, school administrators — to raise standards, by having the best teachers and principals, by tying student achievement to assessments of teachers, by making sure that there’s a focus on low-performing schools, by making sure our students are prepared for success in a competitive 21st century economy and workplace,” said President Obama.(http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-announce-plans-race-top-expansion. March 1, 2010)
As a former educator and parent of three young children, I am conflicted by this referendum. The Obama administration’s Race to the Top initiative and funding program promises funds to states who improve their education systems. I’m all for improving and providing top quality educations for all students. But tying teachers’ jobs to students’ academic success bothers me.
As I read the ideals behind the Race to the Top federal plan, as a parent I say “yes that is what we should do.” But having been a teacher, I worry that top educators are going to leave the profession because they are being devalued and set up for failure.
Is it fair to fire a teacher whose students’ achievement scores are still failing, but improved from 20% to 65%? Is it fair to reward a teacher whose top students’ scores improved from 90% to 95%? Is it fair to assess an entire year’s worth of teaching on one standardized test with so many variables? So much weighs on so little.
Yes, we need major education reform. I want my own children to be taught by highly qualified educators. But when so much emphasis is placed on students’ achievements, will the strong and qualified teachers apply to work with those students with learning disabilities, ESL, or low performing students not labeled or too low for special education requirements?
During my teaching career, my classes were composed of 504, inclusion, and ESL students. Every year, my coworker had all of the Gifted and Talented students. Daily I struggled with behavioral problems, lesson modifications for special ed and ESL, and the tasks of teaching 22 different students at 22 different ability levels. My coworker had 10 students pulled each day to attend Challenge Class while she worked with the remaining 12. Would I have wanted my teaching skills, qualifications, and classroom management judged by my students’ performances on standardized tests? No. And would my students’ academic performances be a true assessment of all of the effort, energy, resources, and modifications I made daily? Should my coworker and I have been held to the same standards considering how completely different our teaching experiences were? I see so many gray areas with “tying student achievement to assessments of teachers.”
While I don’t have the answers or a better solution, I do feel that we should all be held accountable for our children’s education. Our future depends on these students, so we should all take active roles in ensuring their educational success. To learn more about the Race to the Top, visit the website http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/RTT_factsheet.pdf and research if and how your state is participating and what your school district is doing to improve education. Get educated about the policies affecting our future’s academic success.
I had an opportunity to see a dream come true yesterday. Not a dream of my own but, the dream of a father with a child with special needs.
I visited Morgan’s Wonderland here in San Antonio one week before the official opening day. It’s the world’s first ultra-accessible family fun park – but it’s not just a park – it’s 25+ acres with rides, a lake, an amphitheater, multiple playscapes , a gym and an interactive childrens museum all rolled into one!
The inspiration for this amazing destination is a young lady named Morgan. During our visit, her father spoke about spending time with his daughter and witnessing opportunities that were unavailable to Morgan and her friends as a result of their physical or cognitive abilities. Seeking to create an environment where children of all abilities could share and play and learn, the idea for Morgan’s Wonderland was born.
This park will serve people of all ages with special needs with their friends and family. The designers and managers of the park have gone to great lengths to make sure that no matter what the challenge – physical, cognitive or emotional - families can enjoy a rewarding play experience together. The general manager showed us the train, go-karts, carousel and swings as well as the playscape and waterworks – all wheelchair accessible or with special seats for the riders! They even have a pier over a lake stocked with fish so that park visitors can catch and release.
Believe me, they thought of everything. They had to – this is the FIRST OF IT’S KIND IN THE WORLD! There is even a quiet park/sitting area tucked away from the noise so that guests can take a break with soothing music and beautiful landscaping.
One of the most amazing things about Morgan’s Wonderland? The admission. Any individual with special needs is admitted to the park free of charge. Their family and friends pay only $5 for admission. Why? Because the people that created this park knew that many families are financially unable to afford such entertainment with the sometimes overwhelming cost of caring for a loved one with special needs.
This is one of those times that I wish I were a much more eloquent writer. I know I have not done it justice, because Morgan’s Wonderland is a place you have to see – to know that dreams can come true.
My family and I are enjoying watching the 2010 Winter Olympics. We marvel at the speed skaters racing around the rink with skates barely catching on one another and skiers hurdling themselves down the mountain at break-neck speeds.
Photo Credit: Susan Gittins twitter.com/susangittins
But for me, as a mom and former educator, the best part of the Olympics is the real-world mathematics applications that occur with every event and venue. Some of these real-world math skills include counting backward, subtraction, numeric sequences, ordinal numbers, addition, greater than/less than, and charts and graphs, just to name a few.
I addressed many math skills and vocabulary with my own children as we watched the different Olympic competitions. For example, my sons
determined snowboarders’ ranks by evaluating if scores were greater than or less than the first place score
sequenced scores from least to greatest to determine the medalists
counted backwards from 45 as the speed skaters completed each round of their relay
discussed the concept of time because the relay and many other winter competitions were timed with the least time being the best score
tracked the medals won with a chart displayed on line.
Without knowing it, the boys utilized their newly acquired skills and enjoyed the benefits of using math in real-world situations. Their new math skills helped them better understand and appreciate the sports they were watching.
Math matters when it is relevant! And, the opportunities to make math relevant are endless. My former struggling students “got math” when I explained how the skills were applicable to their every day lives. When I used simple stories, funny poems, weather charts, sports statistics or scores, and recipes to introduce and reinforce math skills, the struggling learners grasped the skills quicker. The skills became relevant! That’s why when I wrote all of the Basic Math Practiceseries, I made sure to include many hands-on, real-world applications to introduce and reinforce the basic math skills addressed in each binder.
As educators and parents, I urge you to make learning math skills fun for your students and children. Find what interests them. Then take advantage of those real-world, teachable moments, such as the Olympics, and make abstract, seemingly irrelevant math skills matter.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve talked about what PCI looks for when reviewing product ideas that teachers submit for publication. I’d like to add a few more suggestions to the specific strategies I detailed in my last post.
Have a hook. If the product idea you’re submitting is similar to products already in the marketplace, why would someone want to publish it? Study the marketplace. Know what types of products are available. If your concept is similar to what’s already available, make sure that you’ve got a different angle to make your product stand out when compared to those other similar titles. Articulate that difference, and explain why your version is better.
Be focused. Make sure your product idea meets the needs of a specific student population. The focus shouldn’t be too narrow, nor should it be too broad. Sometimes teachers who submit ideas try to make their products a “one size fits all” solution, but we know as educators that some strategies work with certain populations and not with others. Know the student population you’re targeting, know what works and what doesn’t with that population, and design your product idea accordingly.
Test the idea with your students. Take the time to try out what you’ve developed with your students. Study how it works with your students, and then refine and improve it. Then, test it with your students again. Document the progress your students have made with learning the skills and/or concepts in your product idea.
Take the risk! Send your great product idea in to us. Let us take the time to review and study it to find out if it’s a fit for us. What a great reward to have your product idea published and in the hands of teachers and students everywhere!
In the past few months, I’ve asked several of our authors to share a bit more information about who they are and what they do here at PCI. As an avid blog reader myself, I like to get to know the people writing the posts, it makes me care more about what they have to say. Maybe I’m alone in feeling that way – but I really don’t think so.
In any case, I submit for your pleasure a quick bio about Leslie Buteyn, Senior Content Director here at PCI Education.
Leslie Buteyn is tasked with developing products from the idea phase to the marketplace and is responsible for managing the development of many of PCI’s bestselling products. She has developed products for students from preschool age to adult in all subject areas.
Prior to her career at PCI, Buteyn was a middle school language arts and reading teacher in San Antonio. She holds a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Teaching. Both degrees were earned at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Have questions for Leslie? Please comment and I will make sure she receives them.
It’s hard for me, Kristi Lindsay, to believe that I have worked in education and education publishing for over fifteen years. After being state certified in two secondary areas, English and history, I also received my elementary and ESL certifications. I taught two and a half years in a multicultural and economically diverse school district in Houston, Texas. I used ESL teaching strategies daily in my second grade class. After teaching second grade one year in Round Rock ISD, I entered the educational publishing world.
Prior to working with PCI, I worked for another international publishing company, editing and writing elementary spelling and reading texts. At PCI I have had the privilege of writing a plethora of teacher resources, activities, small readers, binders, board games, and software.
Despite all of the projects I’ve worked on, I am known as the “Basic Writer” at PCI. One of my greatest writing endeavors is the Basic Series, which includes Basic Reading, Basic Grammar, Basic Vocabulary, andBasic Math. These fourteen binders address the basic and essential skills students need to master in reading, language arts, and math. Other series developed from these “Basics”. The writing of the entire Basic Series was no small task, and took many years, but I am proud of each Basic for the following reasons:
Basic Grammar’s activities incorporate the multitude of teaching strategies I used to explain and exemplify confusing and challenging English grammar skills to my ESL students. I also found these skills to be beneficial for struggling readers and writers.
BasicReading addresses ten reading skills through over 500 fiction and nonfiction stories that I painstakingly wrote at challengingly low reading levels. It was not easy to come up with so many different story topics!
Basic Vocabulary’s activities address and clarify many of the confusing skills, such as homonyms and multiple-meaning words, which made comprehending English difficult for my ESL students.
Basic Math was the most fun to write because I included many student-centered hands-on activities and small group work I used in my own teaching to make these abstract skills tangible and applicable to ESL and struggling readers.
I used my experience with multicultural, multilevel, and multilingual students to write these binders, and I am proud of their success. I feel this comprehensive series definitely covers the basics!
What is the future of instructional resources for Special Education? Two people who will have a huge impact on PCI’s contribution to this challenge joined the company in December.
Tim Holt is the new Content Director for Technology and will be leading our efforts to use technology in innovative and powerful ways for the special needs populations we serve.
Blended Products – Media and Content
What does this mean for our customers? We are betting that the future of classroom resources for special ed will be built on products that are built on blended media and that blend a variety of content.
On the media side this means products that blend traditional print materials with innovative technologies like virtual worlds, social media, and just-in-time professional development for teachers. Different formats will provide greater access to the content to students who struggle with traditional media. The engagement and motivation of video games can keep students focused in new ways.
On the content side, schools are being asked to teach academics while also preparing students with special needs for transition. With Environmental Print Series, PCI delivered on this promise. Core literacy standards like main character are covered in the context of stories that introduce signage. Moving forward more of our products will build on this combination so that you and your students get a “twofer” of academic skills and life skills.
PCI knows how to craft products that address the learning styles of students with special needs – the research proves that. Erin and Tim add expertise in the other areas. Over the next 2-3 years expect to see a series of products that deliver on the promise of high quality print and innovative technology that work together as a complimentary blended system.
Just when Ethan, my beginning reader, successfully mastered words with the short “a” sound in his reading, along came the long “a” sound. The small phonetic reader he brought home over the weekend was written with a combination of short and long “a” words. He was able to read the short “a” words and the long “a” words with the “a-consonant-silent-e” pattern. However, the text also included a variety of other long “a” patterned words.
After struggling through the reader several times, I decided that Ethan needed a visual to remember which words had the short “a” sound and which had the long “a” sound. So, we made a two-columned chart on a piece of paper with the headings “Short a” and “Long a”. We searched through his reader for all of the short and long “a” words, I read them out loud, and he wrote them under the appropriate columns.
After our chart was completed, Ethan read all of the short “a” words without help. Then we focused on the long “a” column. Together, we identified which letter or letters made the long “a” sound and underlined them. In some words, vowel teams such as “ae” and “ai” made the sound. For other words, “ay” or “a-consonant-silent-e” made the long “a” sound. Ethan and I looked for similarities in the words, and he was able to make several good observations about the letters that made the long “a” sound and began to formulate rules for these spellings. As we looked over the words, Ethan said, “There sure are a lot of different ways to make the long ‘a’ sound!” I agreed.
As Ethan read the story again, he used the chart to help decode long “a” words. We placed the chart in his reading folder for easy reference.
Making the chart helped Ethan distinguish between the short and long “a” vowel sounds. Creating and displaying a chart like this can help ESOL students and struggling readers classify and identify spellings of each vowel sound. Then, after making the chart, the students can derive the rules for spelling the vowel sounds, such as vowel teams, vowel-consonant pairs, and vowel-consonant-silent “e”. Understanding and being familiar with the different spellings of vowel sounds aid in reading new and unfamiliar words. Plus, if students make charts, they can use the words in the charts to help them sound out and decipher new words that follow the same patterns. Any reference, visual, or aid to help students be successful readers is a valuable tool. Our simple chart made all the difference for Ethan and his ability to read the long and short “a” words in his reader. And, he continues to use it to help him read other texts. I’m sure we’ll make more charts for the other four vowels!
I was pleased to find a wealth of information and studies that support the use of games for learning. One site in particular is worth sharing. Autism Games, www.autismgames.org is a well organized site, created by Tahirih Bushey, MA-CCC Speech Language Pathologist. On this site, Tahirih shares her techniques of using game play to help students with autism acquire oral language. In addition, Tahirih has included a collection of videos that highlight some of her popular techniques.
