Communication

Today, we began a new chapter.  The lessons for the next fiew weeks will focus on learning to express our feelings/needs/wants and emotions with words.  We are aware that our students let us know how they feel on a regular basis.  Many times they have not developed the skills to express themselves with words.  We tend to see the outbusrs, the tantrums, and other behaviors.  These are usually syptomatic of a deeper emotion.  It is the only way the may feel they can express themselves.  We have been utilzing the color code system.  The students switch a card from green to yellow to red according to their level of frustration.  We understand that in mainistream courses and/or life no such system exists.  Therefore, we will be expanding it to include a set of expressions so that they can internalize them and communicate more effectively.  We also began a new P.E. program, soccer.  The student were extatic.  Our motto is  "sometimes we win, some times we don't, some times we tie, but it is ok". 
Greeeeaaat Day!!!!

P.S., Mrs. Winkler and her staff Rock!!!!!

Ingredients for friendships

Last week, we discussed the ingredients that are required make and maintain relationships.  We compared it to baking a cake.  First we discussed all of the ingredients to bake a cake.  I must say, I think we have some great pastry chefs in the making.  We then utilized the same idea to discuss the ingredients for friendships and other relationships.  We discussed that aside from the ingredients to baking a cake, we need one very important element: heat.  The heat is the element that binds all of the ingredients together.  In relationships the heat is our attitude.  Yes we may be able to recognize all of the ingredients for positive relationships.  What determines the level of success is the attitude that we take towards it.  Our attitude jells all of the ingredients togheter and creates something unique: a beautiful and positive relationship.  We are more than the sum of the parts.  Our attitude binds the parts and trully creates something special.  Relationships are organic and metamorphic.  It is hard to explan, but we can all identify a neat relationship when we see it.  In middle school, we extended it further to generalizing such behavoirs.  At the high school level, we duscussed the concept of the emotional bank account.  We discussed that as adults, we get out of relationships what we invest in them.  We also discussed that we are the "best and "worst with the those we love most".  Subconciously, we feel that they are always going to be there no matter what.  But will they?  How far will they bend before they break?  How about not push so hard so that we never have to find out! 
Reflection:  Students have to know and feel that we genuinely love them; that we want for them what we want for our chidren.  We are all interconnected in this world.  If they are trully happy, we will inturn be happy.    We get the students that we get.  It is our reponsibilty to ensure that we help them all find their genuine happiness.  When we point at the student, family, poverty and say that is why...  Look, there are four fningers pointing back at you. 
Talk soon...

9-13-2011

Today we discussed the topic of mainstreaming.  We discussed the fact that what ever choices we make in our mainstream classes affects all aspects of our lives.  What we do there, good or bad affects our consequences in the classroom, at school, ED, home and beyond.  The students got to review a few of the incidents that they have been dealing with in their mainstream classes.  The students had a difficult time relating to the events.  Even though the events were actual events they had dealt with, they could not make the connections.  During follow up sessions the students will fill in the boxes with events they are dealing with.  See chart below.

True colors, CWHS

What is outside the box?  Equally as important, what is inside the box?

During the last two weeks, we have been learning about what makes us tick.  At our inner core of what drives us are our personalties.    We have been discovering how it affects us and those around us.  In order to accomplish this task, we are utizing the True Colors personality Questionnaire.  The students got an opportunity to complete their personality questinnaires last week. They gathered according to color  and discussed each category further.  Today, we began with a brief presentation about the purpose of education as it relates to all of us.  Education is twofold.  In one aspect, it provides us with the tools to succeed in life.  On the other hand, it  works to bring out the special gifts we have within us.  The latter, is information we all have in our person, yet in many cases are unaware of such.  We discussed the fact that additional layers such as the stressors of our lives make discovery of these gifts even more challenging to discover.  The students then began to draft out a visual representation of thier personality trait based on their color.  Most of the students appeared to be eager to begin the task.  Their work will be posted periodically.  The next task is for the students to complete their wholistic visual rerpresentation, present it to the class and post it on the classroom wall.  Thus far, the students are begining  to be comfortable discovering and sharing their speical characteristics.  I think that providing them with an example, and making the environment a positive and respecful one has helped in allowing them to share.  Our students dream of becoming pilots, police officers, video game developers, music moguls and movie producers.  Wow, it is beautiful to hear their dreams.  Below is a sample of a visual representation of my personality.  Judge for your self! 

Importance of play

On Tuesday, we discussed the importanceo f play in our lives.  The students got to see a video and discuss it afterwards.  We discussed the importance of body language.  The way a conversation begins is the way it begins.  Two of the stasff members dod some role-playing.  One plot was about a student who had very negative communication skills such as a mean look, arms out-side, and distant.  The other was about a student approaching a different student with a smile, asking questions and being polite.  The students responded appropritely and seem to enjoy the role-playing.  Next session will focus on the development of their expectations for the year. 

Central West HS

Last week we began our social skills conversations.  We provided an introduction to what is to come for the year.  The first session provided an introduction to a variety of topics such as emotions, verbal and nonverbal language and the importance of play among other areas.  The powerpoint presentation went very well.  The students got an opportunity to learn about the importance of play.  They also saw a video on the topics.  The video emphasized the importance of the language we send without saying a word.  The lesson was best taught by the polar bear and the dogs.  Click here to view video...  The staff and the teacher joined in.  We had a wonderful conversation.  I look forward to the many lessons learned...

Great job CWHS.  

Sequoia MS

We are in the mid of the second week at Sequoia MS.  The staff working hard and aclamating to new staff and a new location.  We are jelling like peanut butter and jelly.  The students are adjusting as well.  We have been working arduously to develop relationships with the students and ensuring they gel with one-another.  In an effort to live up to my view of being a life-long learner, I am open to new ideas and practices.  The teacher gave my some advice. Her advice, I will take me.  Her words of wisdom are as follow "younger children learn best when they do, not when they are talked to".  You will agree that that is the best for all ages, but most true for the little ones.  So I will learn and swirm and learn...  The first day, we did a student scavenger hunt to get the students to learn more about each other.  The students needed some help and the task with very smoothly.  This week, we are working on identifying the different types of emotions.  So, we utilized emotional charades.  The kids were hilarious.  You should have seen them!  Lots of laughter... Next week we will continue, but it will be students vs staff.  Get your face muscles ready staff.  The overarching theme for the year is to learn to develop relationships with peers.  The first lesson was to go fishing.  Instead of throwing many of these: !!!!; they need to throw more of these: ????.
We will keep you posted!  

2011-2012 Expectations

The students continued to set their social and emotional expectations for the 2011-2012 school year.  They got an opportunity to re-write them and re-think them.  Most of the students kept their original goals and they expanded on them.  They had an opportunity to operationally define their concepts.  If they indicated "get along with friends" they were to elaborate on them with such information as when, where, how...

The next step is for the students to generate symbolic images for their goals.  Today, they got a brief introduction to symbols.  They also began the first part of the audio story "The Little Prince".  The book emphasized the use of symbols with such characters as the Prince's Flower, The Business Man, The Lamp Lighter and the King. 

 Their next task is to generate symbols for the expectations they have for the year.  

STUDENT EXPECTATIONS

Welcome back Warriors at WAMS Middle School.  The purpose of today's lesson was to set expectations for the year.  We will focus on the development of social and emotional expectations.  The students set 3-5 areas that they want to work on.  These will be the foundation for presentations throughout the year.  The social domain will focus on such things as friendships, relationships with teachers, parents and peers, family, caring, sports and respect.  The emotional domain will address anger, sadness, control of words, and identifying, respecting others feelings.  The students generated a list of issues they want to develop throughout the year.  The image below addresses today's lesson.  

New year... Best wishes from Central West High School

Hello all.  New year, new assignments, new students new...  new experiences, new opportunities... for growth.  Wishing all of our ED family a great year....

Cheers from Central West HS.

Go Grizzlies!!!!! 

Students ready to go to Grizzlies  game.

Last minute preparations

Mr. Peterson saves the day! 

Our student celebrates his gift! 

Here we go!!!

Update

Hello Team. I hope all is good!  I just created a generic account for the team.  Please follow your FCOE email for the details.  A quick update:  Things are moving along very well at WAMS.  We have the best teacher's aides.  They are extremely motivated and always willing to learn and teach.  Lisa has organized the student class schedules.  Something that would have taken Jason and I well... a long time.  Julie has developed a chart for one of our students.  It has allowed the student to focus in ways he has not been able to do so in the past.  We are fortunate to have such a great team!  Thank you girls!!!  Our students we feel are blossoming in their own ways and at their own pace.  Today we are on our way to watch our first Grizzley game.  The students are extremely excited and so are we.  Go big Blue!!!
We will keep you posted.

Alfredo

Hello all.  I hope all is well.  A quick reflection on our students.  I have been reading some articles on the importance of play.  It seems that some of our boys in our class have some difficulty in this area.  We are attempting a new series of what we call "team-building activities.  After we play the game we talk about the messages and our attitude in regards to the game.  Last week we did the "volcano".  It went very well.  Yesterday we did the Wright family activity.  The students are interacting and having some fun.  Play as the literature tells us teaches us so much about ourselves and how we interact with others.  It teaches us the rules of interaction and the rules of relationships.  We will keep you posted! 

WAMS REFLECTION

Hello all. I hope all is well! Reflection time. Working in a class of students with emotional disturbances is an emotional oxymoron. When they are good, all is great. They display their artillery of charismatic talents. When things are not so well, they display their artillery which mostly consists of physical and emotional attacks. The best we can do is to plan our work and work our plan! Julie, you have a great idea. In order to best guide our students properly, we first need to understand their behavior. This can be a daunting task. However, it can be a manageable one. The use technology can alleviate the task. Lets create an excel file or a Google form. Each will allow us to input data. We can then analyze the data, observe trends and ultimately guide our practices. You seem to have an acute scientific eye. When we collect data, analyze it and develop our strategies based on data, it can only be an asset to our students.

p.s. meet AO (Annoying Orange) We utilize him to take turns during our group sessions. He has had about a 75% success rate. It varies according to the day and the student's mood!

Great job Julie and WAMS staff.

Good Job Alfredo

Good Job, Alfredo, on the cartoons. I have been relating them back to the students to read when they need a reminder that they need to continue working on the issue that they presented. The students are still enjoying working on them.

What do you think about team building activities to incorporate sometime? I was really sitting watching the dynamics of the classroom, and I have some ideas to run past you to see what you think. I would like to try to close the gap between the students, as far as getting along and working together. Many ED students do not know how to be friends with more then one person at a time. This can cause some interesting dynamics in the classroom. I am finding this to be true now that their are only five students in the class. I have noticed one student trying to manipulate more and more everyday, and I think that this is happening more because this student may feel like a third wheel among the two different pairs in the classroom. Just an observation and a thought.

Well, for those that read this, I am in my teaching credential program and master's program. I am learning a whole lot about behavior management techniques and I find myself relating the things that I am learning to ways that they can be implemented into the classroom. I have been excited to try them in the classroom. I have really learned the importance of collecting baseline data before implementing any type of positive behavior plan. I am now into the seventh month of my course work and I still have straight A's. (Just to toot my own horn for a minute). I look forward to seeing all of you throughout the rest of the year.

CPI TRAINING

Last week Lisa and I attended the CPI Training. We learned so much. We were very impressed with with the presenters and the presentation. It gave us a new perspective on our students and our work. Quick reflection: We learned the importance of trying to understand the underlying factors to our students behaviors. Two important thoughts:

QTIP- Quit taking it Personal and QRRIT (cure it). Questioning, Refusal, Release, Intimidation and Tension Reduction. Here is a visual.

The WAMS Staff:

Cartoon series update.

Hello all. I hope all is well. Here is an update on the cartoon series. The students are really taking a liking to this process. They are also getting better. They are still having difficulty selecting topics pertinent to them. So, we are now asking them to come up with three topics and we select the most pertinent. We are starting to see some instances of "play" in their cartoons which as you know is important for so many reasons. We will keep you posted! Here is one more!

EMOTIONAL METER LANDSCAPE

Hello all. We are baaaaack!!! We had a wonderful day today. We got an opportunity dialogue with our students. They all identified an issue they need to work on. Their peers provided them with additional objective feedback. For the most part the students were able to diggest the feedbck. It is challenging for some as can be expected. We also discussed the emotional landscape. The image below is a visual representation of our emtional gage. The students seem to understand this issue quite well. We also discussed the concept of the button and how others are able to control us by pushing it at will. Th definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over AND expecting something different! Why not just do something different. Just a thought! lol

WAMS Staff

Student background a nd reflections

Here is a sample of a setting a student created. As you can see they all have different types of interest. I think I might be enjoying this process more than them.

Reflections: We are observing that some students are having a tough time coming up with issues they need to resolve. They are also having a tough time accepting criticism about their own issues. We have tried to use our own shortcomings to set the example. But they are getting fixated on the criticism that we provide. They also want to criticize others but not themselves. Sounds like any of us adults. lol. We learned that cartoon writting is like any type of writting. Success lies in the re-write. We expect the follow-ups will be much more involved.

We will keep you posted.

The WAMS staff

Staying out of others business...

This cartoon was designed by a student who has issues with interrupting others conversations and/or business. The issues usually result in someone getting threatened or hurt. He was able to resolve the situation in a way in which no one got hurt or threatened.

Reflection: The students seem to have a great time developing their cartoons. They seem to understand and internalize their issues much more when they criticize themselves. Our intent is to allow them to recognize their social shortcoming and reach more positive resolutions to their issues on their own.

The WAMS staff!

This cartoon was designed by one of our students. In this case, the student was asked to make a choice between participating in class and having more negative consequences. The student decided to follow through with the activity and was rewarded with an A for his choice.

Enjoy!

The WAMS staff

Hello all. I hope all is well. The students have completed first series of their cartoon series. We have concluded that they really enjoy doing cartoons. We are going to develop cartoons based on issues the students have to address. They are responsible for coming up with a positive resolution. Here is what they have come up with. They are also responsible for presenting it to their peers. This cartoon was developed by one of our students. He decided that he wanted to address the issue of annoyance. Enjoy!!!

The WAMS Staff!

Cartoon series update.

Hello all. Here is a quick update on our social cartoon series. Most of our students have developed a setting. However, some felt the heat and are asking to re-do theirs. I also learned that some are not great artists. No problem. We are combining a bit of technology. We are generating copies of the characters they are designing. They are all having a blast. Here is a sample...

Some of our overachievers are now working on their themes. We decided that we assign them a theme based on a social skill they need to work on (relevance).

We will update you soon...

P.s. Thank you Erin for the idea!

The WAMS Staff

Thanks, Alfredo

Cool idea. Looking forward to watching it grow.

Hello all

Hello Everyone, so excited about being a blogger!!

Hello all. I hope all is well! Cheers from WAMS. We are beginning the cartoon project (based on the cartoon suggested at one of our ED Meetings). The students are to create a cartoon based on an issue they would like to resolve. We are working in stages. The first stage is to develop an imaginary or real setting. The second, is to generate their characters. After that, they will develop their plot. Once they have completed their cartoon content they will finish with a cartoon series. They will end the process by presenting the content to their peers. Thus far, the students began with their drawings. They have been very attentive focused. Here are two of the setting our students have created. We will keep you posted!

-The WAMS staff

What an IDEA

This is a great Idea, I only wish we had a technology person on our staff before that could have created something like this. I think this will be very informative and a great way to share ideas, rather than just going to ED meeting to share them!!!!!

Hello my ED connection!