VizZle salutes Katie Deneke, SLP in the Brunswick City School District in Ohio as our Creator of the Month! Many students beyond her district have benefited from her experience thanks to Katie’s commitment to sharing. Scroll down to read more about her!

Name:
Katie Deneke

School District:
Brunswick City School District

School Name:
Hickory Ridge Elementary and Brunswick High School (Moderate-Intensive Population)

Position/Title:
Speech-Language Pathologist

How Many Years Have You Been Teaching?:
Eight

Describe the kids you work with:
At the elementary level, I work with students with expressive and receptive language impairments, articulation disorders, phonological awareness difficulties, and social skill deficits. I also do inclusive lessons in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.

At the high school, I work with the moderate-intensive population. I see these students in small groups or one-on-one. I also do twice monthly whole group pragmatic lessons at the high school.

Tell us about a favorite triumph:
I don’t really have just one significant triumph. I appreciate the small gains my students make daily. It especially makes me proud when teachers and parents see improvements in their speech and language skills.

Got a “VizZle moment” you can share?
My favorite thing about VizZle is how motivating it is to students. When I come in the classroom to do group lessons, their faces light up when we use the game board on the SmartBoard! They don’t even realize they are working and learning at times!

Do you have a favorite VizZle lesson that you have created?
I like some of my matching boards that target phonemic awareness. I also have started creating comprehension lessons using “hot spots” through creation of stories.

To see some of Katie’s favorites, check out:
ID 6682 Phoneme Substitution
ID 6704 Medial “th”
ID 12930 Hiccup and Winston

Our congratulations and thanks to last month’s Creator of the Month, Debbie Casey from the Fort Sam Houston ISD! Debbie dove right in and started sharing her lessons immediately, which we salute!

Debbie teaches children ages 3 to 5 at Fort Sam Houston Elementary, in their Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities, and has been a teacher for 13 years. She told us that she uses VizZle in her classroom everyday, and that her most positive VizZle experience so far has been her students’ reaction to it: “They love it! I display it on the white board through my Mimeo, so it’s easy for everyone to see it and take turns.”

She goes on to say, “This may sound simple to a seasoned VizzZe user, but just last night I made a matching activity that involved importing pictures of my students into My Media. I was pretty proud of myself for doing it right! It’s a great activity for several of my students who are ready to match letters to the first letter in somebody’s name.”

Speaking as a seasoned VizZle user, I have to say–what a great idea for a lesson! I wish I could take credit for thinking of it Thanks for sending to Share Debbie!