Feedback with songs & Smartboard

Smartboard:
Things you did well: All the children participated by pressing the Smartboard or singing along. It was good when you ask Bodhi & Max predictable questions about the colors of the shoe. I like that you added the sign for love. Next time, try to ask what the sign is before group because I couldn't think in the moment. It also looses some flow. I like that you gave all the children a warning that it's their last turn.

Things to try next time: Show the visual of playground & group. This makes the end clearer for the children. As group leader, think about where best to have the children and guide them to the seat. It was hard with Michael and Nicholas sitting together. Maybe having Bodhi sit next to Michael instead. That way I can still be in between Gavin & Michael. Maybe moving the computer cart a little more towards the door, so your chair won't be in front of the Smartboard. It made it hard for Max to see. I had to quickly move all the children down for him to be able to see better. I didn't think you reach your potential of your animation today. I think if you were more animated, you could have had the children's attention more. Recognizing sooner that it was okay for Joey to take his turn. When a child is calm for everyone turn, then they are probably ready for their turn. To help Nicholas and Max recognize you are asking a question, quickly state, "Max, I have a question..." I think Max was so concern for his turn, that he couldn't focus on your question. If you notice that children are consistently picking the same animal, you can take a turn to press a different animal to see if that sparks any of the children's interest.
Songs:
Things you did well: Great flow. Remain calm with our technology difficulities. It was good that you took initative to take over singing the ABC. You remember to collect the turtles. Overall, you had all the children's attention. I especially like the flow with little frog when you said, "again."
Things to try for next time: Try to check the props quickly as group leader. There should have been for verse for the Wheels on the Bus. Always use a shorter sentence when you are getting ready to call on the child. "Bodhi, it's your turn. You are sitting so nicely." instead of saying, "I'm looking for someone sitting nicely in their seat, Oh Bodhi you are." It takes too long for the child to recognize it's their turn when you use it in the middle of the sentence or at the end.
Hope this help. If you have any questions, please ask

9-29-11

Today was my 3rd day leading song. At this point, I am really starting to feel comfortable being animated in that position and calling on children for their turns. I try to see which of the children are sitting nicely to pick them to choose a song, but if I see a child (especially atypical) who is getting restless, I try to give them a turn too to hopefully help with that restlessness. Today, the cord came out and the computer turned off right before the rest of the class was about to walk in the room for song group. We plugged it back in and turned it on, and I think we all recovered nicely by singing the "Hello" song and the "A B C's" without the aid of the computer as we were waiting on it to turn on. Today was a good lesson that often there will be technical difficulties, and we need to be careful to not depend on technology too much, as well as be able to react to different situations when there is technical difficulties. I am still debating on what to do next week as far as song goes, but I will be listening to the Raffi CDs and use that for influence. See everyone tomorrow!

9-27-11

This was my second day of leading song group. I am really starting to enjoy it, especially with the full class. The typical children actively participate in the songs, and especially in my new "little green frog" game. Overall, I feel like everything is going well. I am looking forward to feedback tomorrow. Today, I did not forget to recap the day, however I forgot to collect the turtles at the end of everything. The only thing I noticed that was negative was that almost all the children were standing up or walking around towards the end of song time. I guess I can expect this because it is the end of the day, and they are obviously ready to go, but I wish I could hold their attention for just a little longer. Also, having a full house today probably contributed to the restlessness at the end. I do feel like the further we get into the year, the more comfortable and used to the routine the children are.

9-26-11

Today was my first day leading song group (and smart board). I was a little nervous, but I know that the children are not too concerned with my level of musical skill, so it was not a huge issue. I implemented two new songs, The Little Green Frog, and Mr. Golden Sun. I think everything went pretty good, especially for my first time, however I did forget to do the recap of the day at the end. I felt a little lonely singing the little green frog song, however I know that only Amy actually knew the words to the song. I am curious to see how the typical children respond to me as a leader, and my new songs. The typicals really seem to enjoy song time, so I think tomorrow will go well (knock on wood). After I see how both groups react to my leading song group, and with feedback from my mentors, I think I should be able to tweak certain things to hopefully improve the experience for all the children.

Children with Autism tend to be visual learners. Letters and numbers seem to be very concrete early on for the children with ASD. Whereas, letters and numbers are very abstract for typically developing children until they learn the meaning of them. I wonder if Gavin like the visual letters. Maybe look to see if he notice any letters within the classroom. Last Friday, I think he was able to recognize the word, "Disney" on Wyatt's bookbag.

9-23-11

After watching the children over the week during song time, I am starting to see the impact that music has on these children. Yesterday, Gavin was having a really bad day from about snack time on. He cried a lot, and was really hard to console. During song, he stayed in his seat, but still cried some. When we started singing "A B C's" He got out of his seat, and was about to walk to the center of the circle, but the music caught his attention, and he literally stopped in his tracks, and stood in the same spot for the duration of the song. He also stopped crying. However, as soon as the song ended, her started crying and walking again. I don't know why that song caught his attention, because we sing it very slow because of the sign language, and it is not very catchy that way, however it did catch his attention and that's what matters. As I begin to implement songs, and lead song time over the next couple weeks, I need to continuously watch what grabs each child's interest and try to capitalize on it.

9-20-11

Today I had the opportunity to lead the songs at Smartboard. Amy came in late, and allowed me to continue doing the lesson. I had Michael, Kennedy, Drew, and Max in my group. They all responded very well to the songs on smart board and were very cooperative. I feel that now we have been in school for a few weeks, both the atypical and typical children are beginning to get in a routine, and with that comes familiarity with our songs for many of the children. We have been doing "Old McDonald" during both smartboard, and song group, and I feel like the children are starting to become more comfortable during song group by being familiar with the songs. I like the strategy the teachers have used all this year of giving each child a prop to contribute to the song, such as the monkeys or the tiny turtles. Being an active participant in the songs seems to enhance the children's enjoyment of song time. I noticed today that as soon as we got the turtles out, Drew immediately jumped up and down in his seat and giggled with excitement.

9-19-11

I decided to keep the materials in my sensory table the same for at least half of this week so that I can gather better assessments over the week. We sing frequently throughout the day. We sing during transitions, during play, during story/weather, during smart board, and of course, during group song time. Different children seem to react differently to song time. The typical children appear to enjoy song time a lot, but the atypical children react differently. I feel that Drew is almost always behaved during song time, Michael behaves pretty well, Wyatt sometimes acts up, and Gavin and Joey often have trouble enjoying song time. A teacher strategy I have seen during song time is to give each child a turn to pick a song to keep them involved. I will begin to assess song time as the week goes on.

9-16-11

Today, we only had two children come to school, Gavin and Drew. Because of the small attendance, I was worried about how much interest the children would have in my sensory table. It seems like the children's interest in the sensory table has declines since Monday. It turned out the children were hardly involved with the table today at all. I believe Drew came over for a few seconds and walked away when I tried to get him involved with the table, and Gavin also only came over for a few seconds. I am planning on using the same materials for at least the first half of next week again. I did not get a very good chance to document the children's involvement with the table this week and I would like more time for assessment, and also give the children more opportunities to explore and hopefully get used to and enjoy the sensory table. Let's hope it works out.

9-15-11

Today I added cotton balls to my sensory table along with the feathers. I wanted to see if the mixture would generate any different responses among the children. There were both atypical and typical peers here today, so I tried to take time to be at the sensory table even though there were a lot of children I needed to spread my time between. I did not use the whole container of cotton balls because I felt that there would be too many materials in the table at once, so I only put about half of the container of cotton balls in the table. For the amount of time I spent at the sensory table, I felt like the children spent less time at the table today than they did yesterday. Bodhi and Karson definitely had a lot of interest in the table, as did Drew. Karson wanted to have another tickle fight, and took a few feathers around the room with him. One of them separated the balls from the feathers and asked what they were. Personally, I think the combination of the cotton balls and feathers are so soft and comfortable that the children would enjoy them. I hope to see more activity around the table tomorrow

9/13/11

Today was our first day with all peers. I was curious to see how the typical children would react to the feathers in the sensory table. It turns out that the typical peers really enjoyed the sensory table. Not only that, but it seemed to me that the atypical peers also seemed to become more involved with the table because the typicals seemed so interested in it. I tried to sit by the table as often as I could and engage in play with the children. Bodhi and Karson came up to me and asked what the table was. I told them feathers, and dropped some from high up, and blew them so they would float towards the children. Others came over and also tried to blow the feathers, although most children held on tight to the feathers, and they would not blow away when they tried. They also ran their hands through the feathers, and picked up handfuls and observed the feathers closely. One child made a comment about how colorful all the feathers were. After so long of observing the feathers with our senses, we inevitably got into a tickle match together, and the children giggled and kept coming back for more. I am looking forward to seeing if there are any changes when I add the pompoms on Thursday.

9/12/11

Today was my first day setting up a lesson with the sensory table. I chose to use Feathers for this first day. While trying to spend an even amount of time playing with each child during free play, I was not able to watch the sensory table for all of free play, but I was able to check on what was happening there. I believe that just about every child spent at least a little time at the sensory table today. They all came up to the table of their own free will this morning. I know Drew loves to spell, so I took the letters F-E-A-T-H-E-R-S and spelled them out in the table among the feathers to help him learn the meaning of these letters. I remember Joey was very interested in the feathers and stuck his hands in there to play with them. I also remember Michael running his hands through the feathers and throwing a lot of them on the floor. I saw Mike blowing the feathers on some of the children and they really enjoyed it. I also noticed that some of the feathers even caught Gavin's eye. I am planning on adding pompoms later in the week to add to the sensory experience, and hopefully being able to spend more energy and focus towards observation of the children at the table.

9-9-11

Over the past week, I have been able to see some of the children's sensory interests. I have noticed that each child reacts to very specific things. For instance, Gavin loves to be at the sand table. He loves to feel sand between his fingers. I have also noticed that he plays with the shape sorter machine, and all of the gears on the side of it often. Handing him a shape seems to catch his attention. I also see him feeling the textured blocks in the playroom. He also enjoys the bubbles, as do several of the other children. I have seen Wyatt enjoy some of the textures used during art, especially our "mixers" in the paint like coffee, glitter and powdered sugar. I have also seen Wyatt feeling the textured blocks in the playroom. During art time, Joey definitely enjoys the feeling of the playdoh. Joey also enjoys feeling the spinning gears during free play. I often see Michael playing with and feeling the cars and monster trucks during free play. Drew's tactile interests also fall in the sand box. I see him spending a lot of time playing with the sand, and feeling it.

9-7-11

Hello,
   This is my first blog about myself with FCLC. Over the past couple weeks I have been able to observe and get to know the children. I am starting to learn about each child's likes, dislikes, and individual personalities. Today, the children were getting used to the typical routine of the classroom again after the long weekend, and I feel like today's class went very smoothly. Right now, I am just interested in how I can better myself as a teacher as I work with children with Autism. I am an Early Childhood Major, so I do not have much experience with children with special needs, but I am starting to learn more about the children and starting to recognize effective teaching methods and strategies for each child. My hope is that as the semester goes on, I am able to deeply understand each child and develop my own strategies that help them learn the best in this environment.
   More later,
      Eli