8: Mixing Up Your Activity Types

 

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episode 8: mixing up your activity types

Transcript

Intro: Welcome to the TOD Podcast, or as we like to say, the “TOD POD.” We chat about all things Deaf Education while you drive around. I’m Kimmy from The Hard of Hearing Teacher and I’m Deanna from Listening Fun, and let’s get started!

[Music]

K: Okay, Deanna I have a question for you. Do you have a strong preference for using paper, digital, or hands-on activities? What are your favorite types of activities, your go-tos?

D: I prefer like movement based hands on activities especially for younger students whenever possible. But, I don't always have the space to make that happen. So I'd say I'm like fifty fifty paper digital. How about you?

K: I personally try to be as paperless as possible. I am not the TOD with a trunk full of worksheets and books and folders. I prefer digital activities or easy movement plus listening activities. And I try to throw in a fun involved hands-on activity when I can like a craft or a language rich science experiment. But overall I think students appreciate a balance between types of activities. So today we're going to be talking about mixing up your activities in a way that keeps your students engaged and doesn't cost you a lot of time or money. So let's start with digital activities. Deanna what do you like to use for digital activities? You're an iPad girl, so I'm assuming most of them are tablet activities.

D: Yes [laughs] for schools that I have wi-fi access in, I love Boom Cards. Especially for themes, I don't have the capacity to prepare theme specific activities because I can't use them with everyone on like a birth to high school caseload. But with my younger students, like especially preschoolers who are learning in classrooms doing themes, I still want to support that vocabulary. So I use a lot of the more open-ended Boom Cards that I can manipulate to find hidden objects or make picture scenes. Things like that where I can incorporate their goals and the thematic vocabulary without having to laminate everything. There's a lot out there. I have one Boom Card deck for every season in my store that incorporates this. So when I have wi-fi I really like these types of Boom Cards.

K: When I have wi-fi access I also like Boom Cards. That's always a solid go to. I also like to use Wordwall.net I've talked about this before for specific skills because there's multiple activity types for each skill and they're interactive. For older students I have also used Kahoot. Or if I have a group of older students, we've used Gimkit, G-I-M-K-I-T. It's similar to Kahoot but has more game options than just quizzes. For all these websites, I search the topic I need for each student so I don't have to make something for each kid because there's something for pretty much every skill. Another thing I have done besides these like websites with games and activities, I also like to have my kids listen to stories. I might find a story on Youtube and there's so many videos of people reading books on Youtube. Storylineonline.net is also a great one for read alouds with visuals and they have like animated visuals of the books. And then you can ask comprehension questions or discuss the story and highlight vocabulary with your students as you go and/or afterwards.

D: Nice, sometimes if I want to use a specific book but I don't have the physical book, I look up the read aloud on Youtube but then I actually turn the sound off and I pause it and read the book like I normally would except it's, um, on Youtube. So for younger kids I like the real books but it's nice that like every book I could possibly want is also available on Youtube for the most part. So it's like a nice option. For like non-wifi situations, which honestly for me is like a big chunk of them, there are other apps I use that don't use wi-fi so my absolute mega favorite is My Play Home. There's also a school, a hospital, a town. There might even be more now. But it's like a virtual dollhouse and you could move things around and you could do things. Even like elementary age kids like this app. And you can target almost any listening or language goal by modeling it and then having the student do it too. I also have a few like phonemic awareness apps that I use. They're okay, I don't really like recommend any of them in particular, but for a while I had a bunch of kids needing that support. So I got an app for that. So really for me, it's like, if I have like I don't know 2, 3, 4 kids all needing a specific skill that I don't have a lot of resources for, like phonemic awareness, something that's like kind of specific, that's when I go to apps because they're interactive and they're easy to use with multiple kids. In terms of other apps I have a lot of like board game apps because they're fun to use like in conjunction with other activities. So I have Connect Four, Battleship, Othello, Checkers, things like that, that we can like go back and forth with for more drill-based activities or for collecting data. In my Instagram highlights, um, under 'Ideas 3' I have a screenshot of my work iPad. I have all of them there. Um, but those are some of the ones that I really like for iPad for no wi-fi.

K: I love that you have your iPad screenshot because I always like to see the app like icon when someone recommends an app because I want to make sure like I'm getting the right one or whatever. So I really like that you have that. I've also used some simple 2 player games. That's the name of one of the apps actually. If you just like search '2 player games' there's a few options. I've also used these for like super quick, less than a minute, kind of games for little breaks because sometimes your student just needs take a few seconds, especially if they've been working hard and are getting fatigued from listening. And I find that even older students appreciate these little iPad games for breaks. And I really like the 2 player games because you're not just like handing the kid the iPad to play like you said, with the Connect Four, you're playing with the student. So you know you're still interacting with them and can model language or can even just use it to take a break.

D: Yeah, and then the other thing that I really like on the iPad that's more like for all kids is just like a whiteboard app. So I've mentioned before I carry around a little whiteboard but it's also nice to just like have a whiteboard on the iPad. If you have the Notes app, you can doodle in the Notes app, so you could just use that like a whiteboard. I got a cheap universal stylus off Amazon so we can write on the iPad and I think I use this in almost every single session. It's just like whenever you need to explain something or you want the student to write something, the students really like using the stylus. So it's really engaging. And they actually want to do it. So if you're looking for a way to get them to do something challenging. Give them a stylus and they will do it.

Both: [laugh]

K: Yeah, kids love using the iPad. Even if it's just the whiteboard app. If you don't have access to wi-fi in a building, that definitely poses a challenge, but some of these activities that we've been talking about are offline. Some of the apps are offline. The whiteboard app is definitely offline. Some other things I like to use are like interactive PDFs or interactive PowerPoints.

D: Yeah, I also use Interactive PDFs, which are just PDFs with like buttons or places to type. I have a bunch of them in my store. I like them for self-advocacy topics because my students like pushing the buttons and doing stuff around the iPad and it gives us something to look at together while we discuss self-advocacy things. I don't necessarily need them to be challenged by writing or reading. I more just need like conversation starters and something for us to look at together. And I feel like interactive PDFs are just interesting enough that they hold their attention while we have self-advocacy discussions and conversations that are very important, but might otherwise be difficult if we were just like staring at each other.

K: In addition to interactive PDFs or offline Apps, you can even save some things like in your Google Drive as "offline." I'm doing little air quotes. So for a few students I used an auditory memory Google Doc which I actually talked about in the last episode. And the student didn't need to do anything on the Google Doc it was just for me. I could use it to read off of and take data and I had it saved to my Google Drive so I could use it with or without internet. And these for me were really great because it saved me from needing the paper version and it didn't matter if I had wi-fi or not. And then I also did this with some Google Slides that are interactive and you can save them as "offline" as long as you're like small enough of a file and the students can play with them because they can move things around on the Google Slides even while it's in offline mode.

D: Yeah I also have something similar, like I have a lot of listening activities where I have something that like I read or I say but there's no like student papers. So like I have those monthly Auditory Processing Made Simple activities that I actually printed them and put them in a binder so that I can take the binder with me but the student isn't writing on the papers so I can use them again. But I also have all those PDFs downloaded on my iPad in the Files app. So I can just pull them up and read them from there. So it's nice to have both options so that I like always have activities on me. Like if I don't have the binder, I have the iPad, if I don't have my iPad, I can use the binder. And it's just nice to always have that available to me if I need listening practice.

K: Love that. These are all great ideas for digital activities. So let's move on to hands-on or movement based activities. Deanna, you said this was your favorite category so tell us more.

D: So I like to bring toys and games to my sessions. Usually, as I mentioned in the last episode, I pack one toy bag that I use for the whole week, um, usually with younger age preschool kids. At one point I had like 5 preschoolers on my caseload so it was fun to plan play-based sessions with toys. I almost always repeated activities for 2 sessions in a row, especially if they were twice in a week because the repetition is good for them and honestly the toys are fun so they don't mind seeing them more than once, like I don't need a new toy for every session. And regarding toys, like I've built up toys over the years, like I don't think teachers need to go out and buy all the latest toys. You don't have to buy every toy you see on Instagram. Like a lot of the fun things I have came from like the Dollar Store. And then what I did is just like once in a while I would buy a new toy and I built up a collection of things that worked over time. But I do think like there's a culture of consumerism in teaching that we don't need to do all the time like you don't have to buy all the toys, it's OK. And it's OK to repeat the toys. And sometimes YOU’re the best toy.

K: I totally agree with what you're saying. There's so much you can do like with yourself that you can play games that don't require any you know physical materials at all. Love the Dollar Store or the Bullseye section at Target. And I also love thrift stores. Like every time I go into a thrift store, there's always a wall of games and most of the time they have all of the pieces, and they're like two bucks. So I highly suggest. You don't need the newest version of every game or every toy like you can go to the Dollar Store or the thrift store.

D: Yeah, also Home Goods has like a weirdly good toy section for less money than like regular toy stores. So if you're just browsing Home Goods, you know, books too. They- I usually get some good like Melissa and Doug stuff there cheaper.

[Music]

K: This episode is brought to you by the Itinerant Caseload Planner from The Hard of Hearing Teacher. If you're looking for a way to manage your crazy caseload, I have a time-saving, auto-calculating, all-in-one solution just for you. My digital planner will help streamline your planning process and simplify your data collection. With all of the student's sheets linked together, you can find information quickly. Get started organizing your caseload at the link in the show notes and at listentotodpod.com . Now let's get back to the show.

[Music]

D: But going back to like YOU being the best toy like what I mean by that is like you can turn anything into a game, especially like a movement game, like I really like to get the kids out of their seat whenever possible. And that could be a ball, a ring stacker, a bean bag, a bowling set that you make out of toilet paper rolls, which I have done. Um. Those are all like some of my go-tos that I use all the time to get the kids out of their chairs. And I do a lot of like tossing games. So even for like third, fourth, fifth graders maybe we write their vocabulary on post-it notes and we toss a bean bag or a squishy ball or a fidget at them. I also use post-its for writing and then we put them around the room and then as we review we take them down that gets them out of their chairs without being like babyish. And for older students if I’m in a room with a whiteboard I'll often have them stand up and write things on the whiteboard that we're chatting about just to get them out of their chairs because I find even for older kids they benefit from just moving around a little bit. And they like writing on the whiteboard, that's not usually something they get to do.

K: Absolutely. I also like to incorporate hands-on activities that I can use with all of my kids or for really little guys or some kids who are in special ed rooms like using the toys that they already have in the room. Like I don't always need to bring the toy, sometimes they're already there. Every once in a while I would try to do a more involved hands-on activity something like a craft or making a food item while following directions or doing a science experiment. And these are all super fun and you can target so many skills when you're doing these like bigger kind of project activities. And I like to throw these into the mix because they really do provide wonderful opportunities for language growth and following directions and a bunch of other skills. But honestly, it's really unsustainable to do all of the time because they take a lot of time to prep and usually you have to like spend money to buy materials for them. Um, but movement based activities can also be really simple, just like you were saying Deanna. Like I got this ring toss set of different colored cones and different color rings from the Target Bullseye section for like $3 and I used it throughout the year for so many kids, with so many target skills, and so many grades. And I could even use it like 3 times, let's say, throughout the year for the same kid and just do things slightly different or practice a different skill while using them. Sometimes movement based activities can be also just as simple as like a version of Mother May I, like Teacher May I or Miss Kimmy May I. And they might say, "Miss Kimmy may I move forward 3 small steps?" and you reply with, "No, but you may move forward 5 small hops." And they have to follow the verbal directions or they get sent back to the beginning. So it's kind of like adding in this, they have to listen, or you know they go back to the beginning and then it becomes more challenging. I really like that game especially for small groups. And I also usually let them play teacher too, like you were saying, kids love being up at the whiteboard. They also love being you know the teacher in Teacher May I and then they get a chance to model that they're really understanding what you're asking them to do also.

D: I love that idea. I feel like I always think about when I'm doing an activity like, is there a way I can incorporate movement into this? And a lot of times the answer is yes. Some kids don't want to get out their chair it’s fine, we don't have to [laughter] but I do feel like that helps. Once in a while I'll plan something a little more special or time intensive, like you were talking about. But only if it's something I can do with most of my caseload for an entire week. So for example making Valentine's Day cards like a craft. I can adjust that up or down for most kids like even older kids. Maybe we can learn some puns or poems to write in the card. They can make them for their mom like it doesn't matter. And I'll put all the supplies the paper, the glue, the stickers, in one of those mesh zipper pouches that I talked about and I'll use it with everyone. So like everything for that craft is in that one bag and everyone who can is doing Valentine's crafts that week. Another one I do once in a while is I carry around a pencil case full of kinetic sand. So it's kind of heavy. But if you just put the amount that fits in a pencil case it's not so bad. And then I do a bunch of activities with that. So you can hide stuff in it, you can- they can just like fidget with it or play with it while doing like a more academic activity. But it's a very interesting like sensory material that is really interesting and it's worth bringing out once in a while because you can use it with everybody.

K: I like that. Sometimes it's really that simple to mix up your activities. Like just bringing something that is an object that's on the side, unrelated to the task at hand really, but it adds a little something for your student to do. I love it. OK now on to paper activities. I prefer not having to make copies. And I really don't like carrying around a lot of paper. But I did use paper activities probably once every 4 sessions or once every 3 sessions for students. One thing I certainly never do is take a student's paper back with me. Um, I've mentioned this a few times because I am really a big fan of not carrying paper with you. I'd always take a picture, put it in their digital folder, and so I always had their work, I could always see, I could always refer back to it, but I didn't have to carry it around with me. And then they could also bring it back with them, show their teacher, show their parents, whatever. And kids like taking you know whatever they worked on back with them. For the most part I have, with my older students especially, I have them keep their papers on them. So for example, I used a back to-school packet from the Listening Fun store. Hello.

Both: [laugh]

K: ..for my middle school and high school students that we would come back to for the first several weeks of school. So like maybe we did one page per session or one page every other session and I had the students keep that on them. I took pictures of the work each session and I filed it in their digital folders. So that it would never be lost. So if they did like lose their packet, their work wasn't lost. It was fine. But I was definitely not carrying around 12 or more six-page packets with me or keeping that in my car. Um…

D: Do you know what's so interesting though? Like when I made that packet, like in my mind, I used it totally different. Like it's so funny to hear how people do things because like it's the same packet, it's literally the same packet...

Both: [laugh]

D: ...I just made like four copies of it and stuck it in a mesh zipper pouch and just like pulled them out to use with students. Like I like very, um, like I literally had probably like 30 copies on me...

Both: [laugh]

D: ...but like that was just what made sense in my brain you know, but I love hearing how you did it because like maybe I'll do that. That sounds smart. Maybe we'll do that next year. Um, but it's just so funny to hear people do things.

K: Yeah I mean everyone's going to do it differently, obviously need to find you know it works for you. But for me that worked. I kept like one packet on me for a student that had you know, additional needs that it just didn't make sense for them to keep the packet. Um. But for all of my students that could it was theirs. Also…

D: I like that! That teaches self-advocacy in action, I like it.

K: Yeah, yeah, like my one student he had really- needed memory skills more than just auditory memory, which obviously him and I worked on. But like his memory skills were something that everyone was working on with him in his special ed team. And he had multiple color folders in his bag and a lot of teachers like didn't give him things to carry around because he would lose them. And I was like absolutely not. You have these folders, we're using them. The red folder, I let him like pick the color actually. And then we were like OK the red folder is your hearing folder. That's where this packet is going. It never leaves your backpack and we like reviewed these rules the first like three sessions as we would like pull it out and put it back in. He never lost it. It was great like it actually was a really functional skill for him. In addition to working on the packet.

D: Good for him. Good for you. Good job.

Both: [laugh]

K: OK, also another tip when I'm using paper activities. I always try to find things that would cover multiple skills and that are leveled so that I could use them with all of my students or use them multiple times with one student. So for example, the I Spy activities in my TPT store were created from me wanting to do this. I could print one copy and use it with three kids and cover multiple skills and work on teaching or I could take data. So it was just really versatile like it kind of fit whatever I needed for a multiple range of ages, a multiple range of skills. If I was teaching or taking data, like whatever I needed to do that day I could do. And I really like paper activities, they're very versatile like that. If I'm going to be printing, I really want it to be worth it.

D: Yeah I'm a big fan too of when I print, of putting it in a page protector and then using it with a dry erase marker so that I can use the same printed piece of paper over and over again. But I prefer the page protectors that are meant to go in a binder, like they're not big.

K: Mhmm.

D: Because the ones that are like the big page protectors, they don't fit in my bag. And then they get bent so that just didn't work for me like I needed something that fit in my bag. So then I just put the papers in the sleeve. It's more of a sleeve than a page protector. It's like you know what's meant to go in a binder. And they come in a pack of like 100, so you know I have plenty of them…and I um…

K: You're never going to run out.

D: I never run out and then guess where I put it? In my zipper pouch with the dry erase marker…

K: Love that.

D: …like I cannot stress enough, that like you need to group all like anything I need to complete an activity go in the mesh zipper pouch with the activity. That way I just pull the zipper pouch out and I have everything I need. I'm not fumbling around for a dry erase marker. I really, I really stand by that.

Both: [laugh]

D: I will do paper worksheets, like just paper pencil on paper worksheets when I need to collect work samples. Because in New Jersey we have something called SGOs like student growth objectives and we have to show that our students have made a certain amount of growth in a certain amount of time, and so if something relates to my SGO, I'll probably do a paper activity so that I have evidence for my folder. I mean I could take a picture of like a non written activity but usually this is just like the easiest way to do it. But other than that I don't do a lot of pencil on paper activities just in general. One thing I do like to do though is coloring activities. I have self advocacy coloring, I have listening and language coloring, I have all types of coloring. And the reason I make so many of them is because I have good responses from the kids when I do them. Like they like to color. So like I'm going to give the people what they want, and the people want to color. So like it's just nice to be able to do something that's like a little more relaxing and a preferred activity for the student, um, and also hit their goals at the same time. So I do print out like those coloring based activities pretty frequently. And I use them and then the student takes it, like I don't take it back, but it is like used up within the session. But it's so engaging for the student that I feel like it's worth me printing out.

K: Yeah, and like you said, worth it. It has to be worth it if I'm making copies.

Both: [laugh]

K: I want to know that I'm really getting the most out of it that I can. One last thought is to always have a backup plan for digital or hands-on activities. There's nothing like walking into a school and finding out the wi-fi is down, or that your iPad died, or that you left your glue stick at the last school. So I definitely suggest keeping a small folder of backup paper activities. I think that's always a good idea. I mentioned in the last episode that I have a folder on one side of my folder I always kept like my paper activities. And I would keep like one or two copies of highly preferred activities like you were saying usually kind of coloring activities in there so that those were like my backups. I also like to use small objects, so like a stress ball that we can throw back and forth or bounce off the floor. Uno cards and incorporate skills into the game. There's a bunch of small options like that. So although paper isn't my favorite it's definitely more reliable and so are small things like cards.

D: Yeah, my whiteboard is my backup. Like I truly cannot say enough good things about a whiteboard laughter you could do everything you need to do with the whiteboard. So that's all we have for today. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode if you found it helpful, you can share it with a TOD Friend. You can find me @ListeningFun and Kimmy @TheHardOfHearingTeacher. A full transcript and show notes are available at listentotodpod.com have a great week.

Both: Bye!

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