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Social Status Study Illuminates Feature of Autism
I love it when research is presented in such a way that it illuminates rather than obfuscates. This article does a great job of describing fascinating research that scientifically describes a fundamental truth about people with ASD. Check out “With autism, social stature’s not an issue”–it’s worth a read, for old hands and newbies alike.
Searching for Halloween themed lessons? Scroll down for some tricks for searching in SHARE and some Halloween lesson treats! We just picked a few of our favorites—if you don’t see what you need here, there are lots more. Run a keyword search in SHARE for “Halloween” to browse…
The Tricks
VizZle lessons are a great way to check for reading comprehension and understanding of new vocabulary from a story. Lots of VizZle creators make companion lessons for early reading and picture books that you may be using in your classroom. Before you make your own, try running the author of the book’s last name as a search in SHARE. There might already be a lesson you can use or edit (which may not be as much fun as making your own, but sure saves tons of time).
You could also use the book’s title as a search. But be aware that the more words you search for, the less likely you are to get an accurate return—less is more when it comes to keyword searches! Why? Because just one misplaced or misspelled word may get you digger dog (our adorable albeit annoying little “Sorry, Can’t Dig That Up” puppy). Some types of punctuation will also cause digger dog to rear his ugly head (colons, question marks and exclamation points being the biggest offenders). So you’d be better off searching for “Carle” than for “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Did You See?”
If you can’t find exactly what you need, it is fun and easy to make your own. And remember to send it to Share! Lots of teachers (and kids) will appreciate your efforts, and tons of good karma will come winging your way!
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Quickie Quiz Time!
What are the two reasons that title “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Did You See?” would get you a digger dog return? Scroll down to the bottom for the answer…
The Treats
Here are a few great examples of Halloween themed lessons based on books you may already have in your classroom or school library:
More Treats!
Just cuz I love themed lessons, and want to show off some awesome creators’ work, here are some more great Halloween lessons:
Math
ELA
Early Learning
Speech Therapy
Quickie Quiz Answer:
1) The search engine gags on the “?”
2) The title is actually “What Do You See?” rather than “What Did You See?”
With 41 lessons making the moderators New and Noteworthy list in September, it was extremely difficult to winnow it down to a “10 Best” list (especially as beauty is as beauty does–when a simple analog to digital time lesson is what you need, then that lesson is by far the best of the month)! That said, below are our Top 10 favs that drew our raves (with moderator comments in italics) plus thanks to outstanding creators this month…
For the Month of September
What Did We Find New and Noteworthy?
The moderating team is always on the lookout for creative ways to present material, or subjects that haven’t been previously covered, or newbie authors making a splash. What follows are highlights edited from the VizZle Vets’ running list, introduced by comments taken from the moderators’ notes (in italics).
Created By Lauren from Austin, Texas
Cutie Patootie lesson for sight words, click on the window to see what is outside/inside
Created By Jennifer from Hudson, OH
Love this- really cool use of video and quizzes the book. (Jennifer also shared 2 others that made the list: Saying Hi ID46009 and I Can Help a Friend ID 46006)
Created By Christyn from SPARRC in Ohio
Great vocational activity! Nice imported images!
Created By Melanie from Weymouth, MA
Love the content and layout–superhero problem solvers
Created By Katie from Brunswick, OH
The moderator who reviewed it commented: “Could have used this myself today…” And really, couldn’t we all lol?
Created By Anne from Shaker Heights, OH
Really well prepped file folder lessons
Created By Eowyn from West Perry, PA
First time sharing!
Created By Brooke from Queens, NY
Another creator new to sharing makes the list!
Created By Elenoria from Queens, NY
Another new New Yorker makes the list!
Created By Angela from Anne Arundel County, MD
Another new creator this month makes the list!
Thanks to These Creators Who Also Had Lessons that Made the List!
Many thanks to:
Kerry from Chicago, IL Sight Words “the” and “is” ID 45112 and Counting Animals ID 45121 1st time sharing!
Lisa from Queens, NY1st time sharing! Sight Words: Safety ID 46180 and Sight Words: Safety 2 ID 46181
Faith from Queens, NY 1st time sharing! Movement ID 45706
Rosie from Shaker Heights, OH 1st time sharing! It’s Hard to Be Five ID 45907
Lori from Logan, OH 1st time sharing! Economics ID 46349
Lorie from CAIU, PA 1st time sharing! Sharing ID 46404
Jinni from Brunswick, OH Initial Sound “f” ID 44383
Monica from Shaker Heights, OH Exploring Careers ID 45100
Heidi from Shaker Heights, OH Ending Consonants ID 45159
Devney from Shaker Heights, OH Discriminate: Autumn Words ID 45265
Gretchen from Shaker Heights, OH Loud Room ID 45622
Kristen from Elyria, OH Field Trip to Apple Hill ID 45356
Brad from Shaker Heights, OH Because MP has a thing for Mr. Potato Head, and cuz I love Brad! Discriminate: Mr. Potato Head ID 45986
Sue, a trial user Most coolestest edit-took ID 12548 and put preferred characters into every sentence for higher engagement Which Is a Sentence? (Peanuts) ID 46800
Betty from Philadelphia, PA Counting Nickels ID 46579
Mary from Cleveland, OH Hmmm, exactly the same name as the moderator who recommended it… coinky-dink? Nah–it really is a cool use of Pix! lol Letter “C” ID ID 45053
Angela from Shaker Heights, OH Hot author alert–5 made the list! Social Secrets ID 44962; Social Secrets: Birthday Parties ID 45461; Social Secrets: Airplane Trips ID 45459; Tips for Talking with Adults ID 45491; Tips for Talking with Strangers ID 45495
We salute you all—and we appreciate that you all made picking a “best of” list so difficult.
Thanks to everyone who shared visual supports and lessons this month (extra bonus good karma points are winging your way)!
October has an astonishing number of holidays and observances (including National Frappe Day today) that can inspire fun new ways to approach the same old skills practice. For a great resource for keeping things fresh in the classroom and some seriously happy lessons, scroll down.
Repetition–But Not Boredom!
Meeting goals in special education often involves a lot of repetition. It can be really hard to find new angles and fresh approaches to practicing the same skills repeatedly. But if you don’t find fresh and fun ways to practice, you can’t know if the student doesn’t understand the material, or is just bored and refusing to participate.
Especially as the days get dreary and the routine becomes routine, having a ready resource for themes makes life a lot easier and more fun for everybody. Holidays and observances are a natural, ready-made source to pick and choose from. In October alone, there are 18 “months” (everything from “Eat Country Ham Month” to “Vegetarian Month”, depending on your taste), 5 “weeks” (Pet Peeve Week!) and 67 “days,” from the serious (Fire Prevention Day) to the sublime (Moment of Frustration Day).
My favorite site for the lowdown on all holidays large and observations small is Holiday Insights, especially the Bizarre and Unique Days pages. It is often the observances that strike me as the most hilarious and absurd at first glance that can prove to provide the best inspiration.
For Instance…
World Smile Day? Really? (Hey, I am allowed to take an easy shot at it—it is Sarcastic Month after all… ). But read a bit about it, and you find out that World Smile day, which honors the smiley face created in 1963, is intended to be celebrated by doing an act of kindness, or by helping one person to smile. What a great lesson-of-the-day that is for our kids (and for the kids who interact with our kids)!
And there are so many easy ways to use the theme! Use smiley faces throughout the day (set all the reinforcers to smileys… use smiley stickers and emoticons…count the smileys…). The theme lends itself to lots of standard ASD goals on a typical IEP (emotion ID… generalization… social skills practice…). Practice research and internet skills (yes—there is a World Smile Day website). Use it as a theme for writing assignments. It sounds like a joke (which kids love in and of itself), but it’s really a super-easy way to bring a bit of fun and humor to very serious lessons and skills practice.
In about 10 minutes (which includes the time I spent making the counting lesson from scratch), I found this group of awesome lessons that fit the theme perfectly:
And, by the way, Happy World Teacher Day tomorrow!
The all new VizZle 4.0 with awesome new features like an iPad App and a VizZle Web version has been released! Click the VizZle Blog for all the latest information. If you are trying to get to VizZle Web, click here to log on now at www.govizzle.com!
Our Media Team, ably led by Jefe Jeff, has been turning your requests into new choices in the VizZle media library. To check out a small sample of what’s new (and a visual trivia quiz!) scroll down.
So What’s New in the Mix?
Some of my favorite additions have been due to requests for specific images needed for making certain kinds of lessons, like a teaching clock that has different colored zones to help kids see which minutes belong to which hours. I’ve already used the new rulers that you can use as a background in image edit for lessons practicing measuring too. Jeff has also made some higher contrast versions of lesson creation staples like “all done” that are bolder and more vivid.
More History!
Jeff’s team has also filled some requests for more historical figures. Can you name the six below? I’ll give you some hints… First ladies, supreme court justices, military leaders, historic scenes and great explorers have been added, with more on the way. (I had to laugh at myself when I first saw the picture of the general–I realized I was expecting a picture of George C. Scott!)
Every POTUS!
Every POTUS (one of my all-time favorite acronyms–for President of the United States) has been added to the database, from the famous, to the infamous to the obscure. (OK, OK–so maybe he isn’t historically any more obscure than any other president, but visually? Not highly recognizable!)
Even Greater Generalization
Jeff keeps an eye on the search requests within VizZle as well. He often adds new returns on the most popular search terms, so there are plenty of images to help our kids fully understand and properly generalize. (FYI, the juxtaposition of “politicians” and “windy” was completely accidental…)
What’s Your Request?
We welcome (love! want! applaud!) your requests and suggestions-it is the only way we can make sure you have everything you need to create awesome visual lessons! So any time you think to yourself, “I sure wish there was a…” when you are creating a lesson, fill in that blank in an email to support@monarchtt.com!
And for those Enquiring Minds [who] Want To Know!…. The historical figures pictured are Eleanor Roosevelt, Thurgood Marshall and George Patton, and the POTUSes (POTUSI?) are Lincoln, Nixon and Arthur.
For tips on making the most of VizZle lessons on an electronic whiteboard and some great examples of lessons that take advantage of electronic whiteboard features, scroll down.
(Quick and Super-Easy-to-Make) Differentiated Games
A game with the simplest of formats on the electronic whiteboard is flexible and easily differentiated for every member of the class to review information or practice skills at their own level. Just put a picture OR write a word on each square (they can be vocabulary words, theme words, category or grammar words—whatever you are reviewing). During play, you can challenge each player at their own level by directing them to:
For example:
Make Math Fun
The interactive game format makes math (even straightforward operations practice) way more fun (and therefore more engaging), and an electronic whiteboard allows each player to figure out the problem on the board during their turn. You can open an ink layer and have the student show their work as they solve the problem.
For example:
Practice Handwriting
Electronic writeboards allow practice of basic handwriting skills in matching boards or books as well. You can pause any lesson by opening up an ink layer and asking the player to write or draw something. You can also design matching lessons or books specifically for use with an electronic whiteboard.
For example:
Behavioral Prompts
If you aren’t using it to teach a subject, the electronic whiteboard at the front of the class can display a schedule that lets you (or a student) check off each task as it is completed (like the circle-time schedule below). Timers are great prompts displayed for the class on the whiteboard as well. Countdown the amount of time designated for lunch (with a clean up song as the celebration, like Lunch / Stop ID 23325) or the amount of time each student is expected to be working independently (with what comes next slowly unveiled as the sweep-hand shows the passage of time, like Work/Break ID 7408).
For example:
The more you use VizZle lessons on the SMART Board, the more creative ideas you’ll come up with to keep your kids engaged and learning. Remember to share them (you can add your ideas to the comments section of the lesson when you send it to Share) for extra bonus good-karma points!
The first official day of fall is fast approaching—so the time is ripe for pointing out some great fall-themed lessons in Share. For some awesome examples and tips on tailoring them to meet your classroom’s needs, scroll down.
The Joys of Editing!
There are tons of great fall-themed lessons that can be used just as they are. But you can also edit them to meet a specific student’s needs. Check out how removing a couple pages, simplifying the text, or changing the quizzes can make it a completely different lesson, and how multiple levels of quizzes on the same page can make it a group lesson that meets more than one student’s needs:
Fall Field Trips
Fall field trips are another great opportunity for everybody to share the same experience, but learn on their own level. A visual story about the outing helps to calm anxiety about the schedule change and set behavior expectations for the whole group. Then on the trip each student can have their own list of things to look for, task to achieve or other assignment.
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Imaginative Applications
Science and weather patterns are natural subjects for fall lessons, but don’t limit yourself. You can bring a fall theme to almost any subject! Check out the fall-themed lessons in a wide array of subjects creators have shared in the VizZle library:
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Many of these lessons have multiple versions or difficulty levels. Run a keyword search in Share for “fall” (or “apples” or “football”… you get the idea…) to see if what you need is there before you make one yourself—it saves tons of time. And if you do make one, don’t forget to share it for those all important extra-bonus karma points!
As our kids transition into young adults and their education changes focus from academic to vocational and life skills, visuals for instruction become even more important to their success (and yours as their teacher). Scroll down for 6 tips and some excellent lesson examples.
1) Visual Task Analysis Works for All Levels
Have you noticed how so many of the instruction sheets for assembling stuff (you know the ones I mean—the ones that used to be printed in 15 different languages, none of which described the process so you could actually put the thing together…) are now being done in what amounts to visual language? It’s not (just) because companies are too cheap to hire translators. Visual task analysis works, no matter what your level of reading or receptive comprehension.
2) Make Every Lesson Multi-Task
You can get multiple mileage out of one well designed lesson. Check out the following example of a task analysis for assembling nuts and bolts. Set 1:1, the matching board walks through each step—it can be displayed in front of the class on an interactive whiteboard or at a work station—you (or the student) can touch the “answer” to move on to the next step, and get reinforcement for each part. Expand it to a field of 3 choices and randomize the display (two toggles in the options) for a way to test their ability to sequence. Print it and use as a visual schedule of the sequence. Print again and cut out each tile to label the parts of the sequence. (The examples below shows the lesson set for errorless learning, and then set to random with a field of 3).
3) Before You Train on Site…
Visually supported instruction is ideal for learning the vocabulary they’ll need on the job. A set of lessons—definitions, identical matching, word TO image and image TO word is the best way to make sure the information is learned. Check out this ideal set:
4) Take Pictures
When you are out in the community with students, take pictures! Use your cell phone if you forgot to bring a camera. Having pictures of the “real thing” on hand is always useful, and the more representations or types you have, the better the generalization will be. Watch the students’ reactions—take a picture of anything that gives your students pause or difficulty. Use them to update your lessons or supports for next time.
5) Don’t Assume Social Skills Will Generalize
Just because Pete has learned to say hello to teachers and other students when he first sees them in the classroom doesn’t mean he will automatically know that it is correct workplace etiquette to say hello to his boss and coworkers. Lessons like this (many easily updated from school-based social skill lessons) can help:
6) If They Aren’t Engaged, They Aren’t Learning
Developmentally, teens can be just as hard (if not harder) to engage as younger children. Interactive game-like formatting with “cool” rewards can create interest in subject matter they might otherwise zone out on. The interactive format is brilliant for engaging kids in topics like filling out forms:
Tonight between 9pm and midnight ET we’ll be doing some housekeeping that will unfortunately cause service interuption. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
“You can have my Boardmaker, I want VizZle!”
Julie Smith
Multiple Handicap High School
Brunswick Schools
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