Learning while Teaching

500 Words Per Day: Help; Walking

Every now and then I get inspired to walk. Walking is fun when the walk is long and slow and perhaps accompanied by some music. Other times there are birds to listen to or streams to walk through. One time I was walking down a long country road near my house and some cows, thankfully on the other side of a fence, were eyeing me up and making some rather aggressive cow sounds as they sauntered in my direction. On the way back past the cows I made sure I was in a slow jog--on the other side of the road.

I figure I started walking around the age of one. If I'm accurate, then I have been standing and walking for about 42 and a half years. That's a long time to be walking and I can recall more than one occasion when my feet or ankles or legs in general betrayed me and I fell flat on my face or my behind. Falling is a lot less graceful than walking, but walking requires a lot less grace than falling. We can walk all day and find ourselves oblivious to our needs. Frankly, maybe, we are only aware of our deep need for grace when we fall. That said, we have to fall in order to see the need which means that we necessarily have to forget, for a mere moment, how to walk.

I've been walking for 42.5 years, how can I possibly forget how to walk? Yet we do.

Walking is a beautiful thing. I like watching animals walk because--I don't know if you have ever noticed--animals rarely fall. The are about as steady as it comes--maybe because they walk on four legs--and they often walk in places where human beings can scarcely imagine. Maybe humans are inclined to such disaster precisely because we are in need of so much grace. Maybe we should feel badly for people who are rock-steady on their feet, who never fall, who never need grace.

Maybe the proclivity to fall is God's or evolution's built-in measure to constantly, or at least occasionally, remind us that we need help, that we need grace.

I had a conversation the other day with a very important person in my life. I was concerned about walking. My point to this person went something like this: 'What does it say about me and my work if I ask for help?' The response was pure genius and I suspected that the Lord had opened this person's mouth and spoke directly to my heart. It went like this: 'What does it say about you if you do not [ask for help]?'

Last night I learned a very important lesson. I learned that it is OK to need help walking. Better, I learned that didn't even know I had fallen. I learned that even something that comes to us so naturally, so fluently, so beautifully can, sometimes, require just a little extra help. 

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Learning Addition or Multiplication Playing Games

I confess that I am not much of a math student, but that doesn't mean I do not try to be the best math teacher I can. In my multiple-disabilities, self-contained classroom, I am the students' sole source of match instruction. I take every opportunity I can to learn about math, math techniques, and ways to teach math that eschews worksheets. I work very hard for my students because they deserve my very best efforts. And math should not be boring.  

By that I mean I am always looking for new, creative, and interesting ways to teach math concepts. I recently attended a two-session math seminar hosted by our local State Support Team and featuring math professor Ky Leigh Davis from Muskingum University and learned about some fantastic tools that I can add to my toolbox. Ideas shared during that seminar inspired me to come up with my own ideas. This post is about one such idea. 

This quick math game I invented for my kids in order to learn either addition or multiplication. So depending upon which skill you want to teach, it serves both purposes. 

What you see is two separate number grids. Both grids contain the numbers 1 through 9. We intentionally mixed the colors. It is not necessary to do so, and one can use more than two colors if you like. You could use the different colors to differentiate (notice all our lower numbers are one color and the higher numbers are a different color) or simply to make the game more interesting. 

Another important aspect is to make certain the numbers are mixed up on the board. It is probably unhelpful to put the numbers in order; although, it might not matter at all. It just depends upon your preference. 

After you have assembled the two boards, laminate them. This will preserve the boards for many uses (especially since the game will be played on the floor). You can make the boards as big as you like. Ours are about 18 inches square. We also used pre-manufactured numbers as opposed to trying to write or draw them in freehand. I think it makes the game more uniform and appealing--plus, the numbers are big for those who may have visual impairments. 

After the boards are assembled, it is up to you how you will play. Again, it can be either addition or multiplication. (I suppose the game can also be used for division and subtraction, but the number boards will have to be adjusted accordingly.) Make a 'plus' (addition) sign and a multiplication sign to place in between the two boards in order to remind the students during the game what sort of math equations they will be working with. Or, as a way to vary the game: make a stack of cards that feature addition (+) and multiplication (x) signs. When a student comes up for their turn, they must choose a card. The sign on the card will determine if the student is to perform an addtion or a multiplication problem.

Now, originally, I thought about having the students throw darts at the boards in order to choose the two numbers they would add or multiply. Then I got to thinking...hmmm...Special Education...darts....nah; bad idea. So I opted for bean bags. The gist is this: the students toss the beanbags, the beanbags (or whatever you use) land on two numbers (one on each board) and the students either add them or multiply them together. (I actually got the idea from a game I played as a kid called 'Toss-Across'.)

Here's a fun variation: do both addition and multiplication. Let the student choose which calculation they wish to make and award points based on difficulty (if, in fact, you make it into a team based competition.)

This is a simple task that you can use as a group or even for individual work. The kids are learning addition facts and/or multiplication facts while playing a game. The kicker is, they are having fun and learning math at the same time. These foundational facts are so important to the students' future ability to master higher order mathematics that really this is not just as task for special education students. This is a game that anyone can use or play in any classroom, at just about any level. 

Have fun. Be sure to let me know how you use it so that I can add to my own toolbox. 

PS--this is also a great way to help the children exert some gross motor skills, practice mental math, and learn about social cooperation during game play. That's what I love about building games like this: so much can be accomplished during the course of one game. Good luck.

Recycle, Reuse: Empty Bean Cans

I have a friend who was married over this past summer and who hosted her own reception after the honeymoon. At the reception, she must have had some massive dish involving green beans (blech!) because she saved the giant empty cans for me, 5 in all. She cleaned them and brought them to school for me. I love these cans!

That's a lot of green beans!

Well, as it turns out she asked me if I thought the cans would be useful in my classroom. I immediately said, 'Yes!' and about  a month ago we found a use for them. I designed a very simple game that the students absolutely love playing. Seriously took about 5 minutes to invent this game. Here's how we play it.

First, I set the cans up in some sort of configuration on the floor. I make sure there is a wall behind them. Next, we draw a line on the floor with tape and the students have to line up behind the tape. Third, we grab a ball: ping-pong and tennis balls work best because they are small and bounce and cause small damage if they bounce too hard and far. 

Next, inside the cans I place simple things: numbers, pictures of various coin collections, sight-words, addition/subtraction problems, etc. For example, the next picture shows some simple double digit numbers flashcards I downloaded for free from HaveFunTeaching.com. (I think they were skip counting flashcards.) The cards were then cut and laminated. I place the cards in the cans and the game is ready to begin. 

We keep score by making a simple score chart on the Smartboard and placing each student's name in the graph. Using the double-digit numbers example, when a student correctly reads the double-digit (say, '22' for example) they receive the amount of points they just read. So, if they read '22', they get 22 points. On their next round, the values are added together. In this case, 22+10=32 and so on and so forth. We keep score and whoever has the most points at the end gets a prize from the prize box or a pat on the head. 

So, the student stands beh iind the line, softly tosses or bounces the ball towards the cans, the ball will either land in a can, in which case we take the card out and they read it, or the ball misses, in which case the student retreats to the end of the line until their next turn. 

You can play as many rounds as you like. I have found this to be an especially fun game when we have 15 or 20 minutes of 'nothing to do.' It is easy to set up and is so flexible. Like I noted above, you can use sight words, number cards, addition/subtraction flash cards, multiplication cards, or whatever. Coin collection cards are fun too because then the students have to add the various amounts of cards and they get that much 'money' for their score. 

Safety note: please make sure when you open the cans that you use a safety opener that will eliminate any sharp edges from the tin. I don't let the kids near the cans anyhow, but this is an important safety tip so as to prevent injury to yourself and, most importantly, the students. 

I hope this little game is helpful to you and that you will find a use for more stuff that might otherwise end up in a landfill. 

I Love Old Shoe-Boxes: Recyle, Reuse, pt 2

I am a special education teacher. It's a calling I heard late in life so I am only now, at the age of 43, learning the joys of creating curriculum and finding ways to recycle stuff that others think is junk. I love what I do: I get the educate those who have the most powerful and fragile minds all in the same body.

This means I have to be creative and energetic. I have to think as I have never thought before; quickly and while on the move. There is no time for the special education teacher to sit in his chair behind his desk. (Frankly, there's not much time for any teacher to do so, but that's another post entirely.) Worse, now that the so-called Affordable Health Care Act is beginning to affect even schools, teachers are going to be faced with less help from aids, paraprofessionals, and others in the school building. We are going to have to be creative and we are going to have to find ways to use, reuse, and recycle stuff.

So I had an old shoebox. And last year someone gave me a giant bag full of brand-new, empty, unlabeled prescription pill bottles. I knew I could use them for something, but what? Then it came to me about a week and a half ago. Below you will find several pictures of the new creation I have built for ordering numbers and also developing fine and gross motor skills for students with developmental disabilities.

My first incarnation of this game involved the use of a $6 fishing tackle box from the local Wal Mart. The box is about 1.5 to 2 inches deep and the dividers are easily moved to accomdate different configurations and/or amounts of pill containers.

I thought the number 24 would be a bit random, so I stopped at the number 20 (you can still use the other four spaces or simply remove the dividers to create a definitive stopping place). This easily fits into the domain: mathematics: operations and algebraic thinking; counting and cardinality (common core/extended standards) in the K-2 grade band.

The numbers I got at a yard sale a long time ago, the pill bottles were free, and the tackle box cost $6. But I was not entirely satisfied. This version of the task does require some fine-motor skills, believe me it is not as easy as it looks to get those bottles standing straight or putting in more bottles without knocking others over, but I was hopeful to do more with it. So I developed the next version of the task.

In this version, I have used an old shoe-box as a container for the pill bottles. The next picture gives a better idea:

Using my X-acto knife, I carefully cut 20 holes in the lid of the shoe-box--just a little smaller than the diameter of the pill bottles. This intentionally limits the task to twenty numbers. The difference here is that students will have to exert effort in order for the pill bottles to fit into the holes. Furthermore, the shoe-box was deep enough for the pill bottles to fit all the way to the bottom. You can see this in the picture below.

This is a simple task at some levels. And, to be sure, after a while the holes will have to be re-cut in another shoe-box or reinforced in some way or other. Furthermore, after a while the students may well memorize the order of the numbers--GOOD!--and the job/task may become a little dated. Still, we can always use this job for skip counting, filling in the missing number, or we can add new numbers for higher counting. The best part, though, might be that we have done a small part to keep usable resources out of the local landfills.

I have field-tested this task and it works well with students who have an ASD.

PS--one other alternative use for this task is that the lids could be removed and the student could be asked to put into the containers the amount of objects to match the number on top. One could use small objects like paper clips or even Skittles.