Day 20:5/5/15

Blog 20

5/5/15

 

Today is my last recorded hour for 447.  I observed Jackie work with her students again today.  Finny was working in this group.  Dr. MacDonald had ask me to write a parent letter and make a certificate for Finny.  His grandfather had requested this.  I was happy to.  The parent letter read the following.

To the Parents/Guardians of Finny,

            It was my pleasure to work with Finny during the Sport and Splash Program.  Finny is a very kind and polite child who loves being active.  Throughout the semester we worked on different skills.  Some of these skills include throwing, catching, kicking, and running.  Finny especially enjoyed using the scooter and pulling himself around using a jump rope. 

            I am happy to inform you that Finny made great progress throughout the semester.  Some of his strengths include throwing and rolling.  We worked on the underhand roll and overhand throw.  I am pleased to inform you that now with verbal reminders Finny can step with opposition while performing both of these skills.  Another area that we focused on throughout the semester was staying on task.  Finny is very active and sometimes would leave an activity to pursue something else.  We worked on him asking to be done with an activity and cleaning up the equipment afterwards.  One thing you can continue to do with Finny at home is have him ask to be "all done" with an activity before moving on. 

            I am very pleased with how Finny did throughout his time in the Sport and Splash Program.  He is very enthusiastic and respectful towards all the teachers.  Finny has excellent manners as well.  He always says please and thank you which I really appreciate.  I would like to thank you for allowing me to work with Finny.  This was a great opportunity for me that I looked forward to everyday.  If you have any further questions feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Abbie Adams

abbie.adams@cortland.edu       

I think it is important to keep the parents or guardians updated about their child.  This can be beneficial and serve multiple purposes.  The parents or guardians can work with skills or behaviors at home with the child.  For instance, if Finny's guardians know that running away is a problem of his then they could avoid tag games.  Overall, this 447 experience has been a positive one.  This had made my passion for working with children with disabilities even strong.  I am excited to pursue this in the future. 

Blog 19:4/28/15

Blog 19

4/28/15

On Tuesday the 28th I volunteered for Dr. Davis' lab from 6-7 and from 7-8.  I will now discuss my experience with the 7-8 lab.   This lab is set up in a different manor than the one prior.  Everyone is in the big gymnasium and there are two main teachers.  The rest of the teachers just assist as needed.  At the beginning everyone is with a few students working on an instant activity in small groups.  Each group did a different thing which was cool to see.  One group was using the stacking cups to warm up.  This looked like a lot of fun so I gave it a try!  Some groups were throwing a football.  One group was using a scooter.   After the two main teachers took over.  The teaching styles the two teachers used were stations.  One station had the students using a modified version of a hockey stick.  The students stickhandled a ball through the cones and at the end they shot the ball into the goal.  The next station used the scooter one student sat on the scooter and the other student pushed them around.  The next station involved dribbling a basketball and shooting it.  A throwing station followed.  I was asked to help out and run the scooter station.  The groups were split up into threes so I had to adjust a little bit due to the uneven number.  I had two students work together on one scooter and I worked with the other student on the other scooter.  I started off pushing behind the student but my back started to hurt so I went and got a jump rope.  I had the student on the scooter hold onto the handles and I held onto the end of the rope.  I would move about at different speeds and have the students steer the scooter.  The students loved this so I rotated the students through on who could go solo.  We even tried two students on one scooter when I pulled.  One student and I were almost dancing to the music when he was on the scooter.  This a fun and we had to figure out different dance moves.  After all the groups went by the teachers ended with a cool down in their mini groups.  Overall, today was great I got to meet new students and had fun with the scooter station.  I liked giving students choices on what they would like to do on the scooters.  This helped motivate them.       

Blog 18: 4/28/15

Blog 18

4/28/15

On Tuesday the 28th I volunteered for Dr. Davis' lab from 6-7 and from 7-8.  I will first discuss my experience with the 6-7 lab.  Tonight was a full house for volunteers.  However, there was not a lot of students present tonight.  The graduate assistants Lesley and Maddy told me to float around the Rockwall gymnasium, the dance studio, and the Sims lab.  The Rockwall gymnasium had older students from around 2nd grade and up.  I observed Jackie teach six students.  When I was there she was very organized and used a system that I really liked.  Before each activity she would have the students sit on their poly-spot.  Once everyone was sitting she would explain the activity and then let the students do that activity.  When it was time for the activity to end she would have the students clean up the equipment to where they found it and return to their poly-spots.  Once there she would pick one student who participated well and sat on their poly-spot well to go check off the activity they just completed.  This extrinsically motivated the students to be their best so they would get the reward of checking off the activity on the poster.  I think this was a great routine that was put across in a positive way.  In the dance studio there was younger children.  Unfortunately there was not that many students today.  A few things the teachers were working on were locomotor and object control skills.  One activity that I really liked and never say before involved a movement story.  The teacher explained to the student about storms.  She asked what it means when it thunder and lightings.  She next asked if it was safe to be outside during a thunder storm.  They of course said no.  She next explained the game.  They are on a walk outside and this is when they do different locomotor patterns she selects when they see her stomp her feet this means the thunder is there and they have to go inside.  They do this by placing their ball on the cone.  I liked how the teacher incorporated a movement story into a simple activity.  If she were just to say to do a locomotor pattern and when she stomps pick up a ball and put it on a cone, students will not be as motivated.  Incorporating a movement story helps makes the activity fun and exciting for both the students and the teacher.  Lab from 6-7 allowed me to do something I do not do a lot which is to sit back and observe teachers teaching.  I enjoy getting involved in the lessons and participating with students but today because of numbers I could not do this.  It was good to see different teaching styles and strategies.  I can use these when it comes to my own teaching.     

Blog 17: 4/27/15

Blog 17

4/27/15

 

This afternoon I volunteered for Dr. Crafts 12:40-1:30 lab.  I worked with a young girl and another volunteer.  The young girl was new to the program today so it was a new experience for all of us.  Before the lesson we were unsure who we would be working with so we took a variety of equipment out of the equipment room upstairs.  Some of the equipment we took out included balls, bowling pins, cones, throwing and catching scoops, and scooters.  Having a variety equipment is part of being prepared especially when working with someone new.  At the very beginning of the lesson we gathered as a group and put on costumes.  I wore an eye patch and a pirate suit.  The young girl I was working with wore a princess dress and had a wand.  When everyone had a costume on we danced to a few songs.  The girl I was working with was shy at first but then warmed up to dancing.  She would imitate dances I was doing.  I showed her the shopping cart and lawn mower.  She showed me the fishing pole dance move.  This was a great time and I actually got a good little work out in myself!  I think as a teacher you have to go outside of your comfort zone sometimes.  Dancing is not my favorite thing to do but a lot of kids love to dance.  Me stepping out of my comfort zone and doing something I don't like as much is part of being a good teacher.  After we were done dancing and took out costumes off we went back to our station.  We asked the student what looked fun out of the equipment we had.  She wanted to play with the throwing and catching scoops.  We stood in a triangle and did this back and forth to one another.  At first she was having trouble throwing the ball forward.  This was because she was following through behind her.  We taught her the correct motion and she started to get the hang of it.  We played a game with the scoops.  This game involved teamwork as we had to try to see how many catches we could get in a row.  We modified the rules after two rounds because out student was having trouble catching the ball on the first try.  We allowed one bounce.  This slight modification made all the difference.  The record we achieved was 15!  After a little while we made an obstacle course out of bowling pins and cones.  We first used the scooter to get around the course then we dribbled a soccer ball around the course.  I thought it was good to get two different uses out of the course we made.  Next, we bowled.  We used the new foam balls with holes in it.  This was a good piece of equipment for the gym because real bowling balls would damage the floors.  When time was almost up we gave out student a choice of which game she wanted to play last.  She wanted to return to the scoop catch and throw game.  This time we used and overhand and underhand catch a throw.  Overall today was great.  Although there was not a lot of planning involved I believe our student took away a lot from today.            

Blog 16: 4/24/15

Blog 16

4/24/15

 

            This Friday I worked with Jessica.  Usually, Makenzie works with us as well.  However, she thought she might have strep throat so I told her to stay at home. I did not want to get Jess sick so I thought this was best.  Jess was a little late today. When I spoke to Stacia she said that she actually ran into snow. When Jess first arrived we transferred her into the blue chair. I am starting to feel really comfortable transferring Jess now. I asked Stacia how she did this for her van. She explained she had a setup in her vehicle that makes this easy to do alone. She also explained that luckily Jess doesn't weigh a lot so it makes this transfer fairly easy.  I think it is good to know this kind of information.  Knowing this gives me a different perspective.  I took a wheelchair out for myself again for Jess to follow me.  We headed upstairs to move around.  I put music on again and Jess seemed indifferent about it.  I asked Stacia if Jess liked a certain kind of music.  She said that she likes music but she has hearing issues so it would have to be on a loud volume.  This was good to know so I turned the music up a little bit louder.  When we got upstairs Jess did not seem to want to move on her own.  I would try to pull  her a little bit to see if I got her started if she would take over.  She still did not want to move a whole lot.  After a while I put my wheelchair away and tried to pull her around a little more.  She would have a few good pushes with one foot on the floor.  This was not as consistent as last time.  I wondered if it was because I was alone and not as many people were motivating her.  Or, she could have just been having a relaxed day.  It could have been a number of things but I could not figure it out.  When Stacia asked how she did I was honest with her and said nicely that she did not want to move too much today.  Stacia explained that this happens often and it has nothing to do with me.  It was good to hear this.  Hopefully next Friday she will be motivated and get a lot of exercise in!

Blog 15: 4/21/15

Blog 15

4/21/15

 

During the second session I wondered from gym to gym and ended up in the Sims lab.  Lesley and I observed Pat work with a young girl named Brianna.  Brianna's mom was also observing.  Pat did a great job with Brianna throughout the entire lesson.  He was enthusiastic and cared greatly about Briannas progress.  Both him and Bri were having a great time.  It was great to see someone so passionate with a student.  Pat knew tricks about Brianna that most would not know.  He knew if you pretended to sneeze she would giggle so hard.  He knew if you whispered "shh" into Brianna's ear she would light up.  Getting to know students is key and this is the biggest thing I took away from Pat's lesson.  I also enjoyed the system Pat was using with Bri.  He knew that she loved running up the incline mat and jumping off.  So, he used this as an award system.  He would do an activity such as kicking a ball.  After she did this a certain amount of time she would get the reward of the mat.  Brianna is a semi-verbal student.  What I mean by this is she can speak certain words or sounds but cannot yet put full sentences together.  Pat worked on literacy without even realizing it.  Before Brianna could go up the mat he had her say up.  This was an easy word for Bri.  Before she went down the mat he had her point down toward the ground and say down.  This word was a little harder for Bri but she would say the "d" sound pretty well.  I was wondering during the lesson if she used a PECS system at school or home.  Or, does her mom understand most of her wants and needs.  I think it might be a good idea to introduce a system like PECS with Bri so she can express her wants and needs to everyone.  I was truly enlightened by this lesson.  I give Pat all the praise I can.  You can tell he is very passionate and enjoys working with Brianna.  This was also my first time in the SIMS lab so I liked seeing the different things available there.    

Blog 14: 4/21/15

Blog 14

4/21/15

 

Tonight was my first night volunteering for Dr. Davis' Tuesday night lab.  I stayed in the Rockwall gymnasium and obsessed and assisted Jackie teaching.  Jackie had two students who liked to dart away from her; Finny and Jeffery.  I would help out by redirecting these two students back into the activity whenever possible.  I have worked with Finny in Monday night labs.  I am a T.A. for Dr. MacDonald so I work one on one with Finny.  I liked seeing Finny incorporated in a group setting.  I think he kind of followed what the other students were doing.  Jackie had some older sibling helpers.  I had them help me out by trying to keep Jeffry and Finny on task during the activities.  I think Jackie may have been a bit overwhelmed with the amount of students she was teaching.  However, this is realistic especially in an APE setting.  I have some experience in redirecting students because of my experience over the summer.  Working at BOCES in an ABA program helped me understand and practice how to redirect students.  I watched a few of my peers do this incorrectly and I tried to teach my one friend Hannah how to correctly redirect a darting student back into the activity.  If the student is running in front of you, the first step is to catch up to them.  Once there one hand goes across the students body on the chest of student the other hand is placed on the students forearm area.  It is important not to grab any joints such as the wrist or the elbow because this could harm the student.  Then you slowly guide the student to a hault.  It is not all at once but more of a slow motion.  Then you turn the student around by keeping the same hand on the child's forearm and moving your hand from the child's chest to the child upper back.  You slightly push the child's back to the direction you want to child to travel.  Often times the child may drop to the floor.  The most important thing is to lower down with them when they do this motion.  Do not tug on the child's limbs because this is dangerous.  Give verbal reminders as needed and try to guide them up to a walking position in a least intrusive way.  This is more difficult than it may seem and takes a lot of practice.  Luckily enough I experience this almost every day in the summer.  It felt good teaching another TA this method.  I think this should be taught in 356 because it is a strategy that teachers can use with a multiple students.               

 

Day 13: 4/20/15

Blog 13

4/20/15

 

Today, I worked with Finny in the middle gymnasium.  I took out various pieces of equipment that I have found that Finny enjoys. I brought out both types of scooters he enjoys.  I also brought out bowling pins and different types of balls for Finny to use.  I have figured out rough out the semester that Finny sometimes has problems staying on task for long periods of times.  Knowing this, I try and make the activities I do for a shorter time. After Finny completes an activity I asked of him I usually give him a choice of what he would like to play with. Today, Finny was great. He could stay on task for longer than ever before. Some things we worked on was the overhand throw and underhand roll. I decided to put a spot on he floor for Finny to stand on at all times. I did this so Finny would not be as likely to dart away.  Finny did s great job with the over stand throw.  He preferred to use his left hand so I had to adjust my demonstration to b left handed. This is something I have never had to do before so, it was a good experience for me.  I also had Finny stand in with his right foot in front of his left in a proper throwing position. Next time I would like to see if I could get floor tape to practice the stance on the follow through. After quite a few trials Finny darted to the other side of the gym. I redirected him back to the spot and explained if he wanted to be done he had to use his words. I had him throw the ball two more times then we switched to the underhand roll. I had Finny set up bowling pins. Then we stood on the same spot, with the same foot stance. This transferred well for him. We used three different sized balls to roll at the targets. He was very excited when he knocked a pin down. Today was great. Finny stayed on task for long periods of time which I haven't seen before. 

Day 12:4/17/15

Blog 12

4/17/15

 

On Friday, Makenzie and I worked with Jessica again.  Jess was very excited to see us and we got right to work. We transferred Jess into the blue chair.  I was informed that she loves following people around in wheelchairs. So, Makenzie and I sat in chairs and had Jess follow us. We decided to take Jess upstairs for the majority of the hour. It took a few minutes for her to get started but with encouragement she was on the move. She would push with her one foot about 3-5 times really fast then take a break.  It was great to see that she was working so hard. She needed some assistance steering the chair but would do the majority of the pushing on her own. Either Makenzie or I would go behind Jess so she was encouraged to follow one of us. The other one of us would guide the steering of the blue chair. We noticed that Jess really enjoyed all types of people. Whenever someone would walk by she would stop and look at them until they were gone. Sometimes she would even put her hand out like she was waving to them. I encouraged this. This is a great affective piece to work on with her. We also played all kinds of music. She really got happy when she heard Taylor Swift. Overall, I am very happy with how Jess did today. She worked hard the entire time. She was always happy and engaged with people well.  I was also happy to see how Makenzie was interacting with Jess. She still was a bit shy at first but warmed up to her.  I can tell that this is changing her in a positive way.  Jess really seemed to like Makenzie and this was a great thing to see.  I am very excited to work with Jess again next week but am sad this is coming to an end. 

Day 11: 4/13/15

Blog 11

4/13/15

 

Tonight I worked with Finny.  As soon as Finny got to Sport and Splash he asked if he was going swimming.  This was consistent throughout the lesson.  Finny was very active today.  All he wanted to do is run around.  It was as if he wanted to play at tag game.  He was running away from me.  I knew that this was an inappropriate behavior for Finny so I stopped it as soon as I could.  This is not an appropriate behavior in P.E. or in life.  I was thinking and chatted with one of the Graduate Assistants.  We agreed that this behavior can be dangerous.  For instance if he was walking with his Grandpa in the parking lot and darted away a number of bad things could happen.  So, even though he was getting physical activity from running away from me it had to be stopped immediately.  I had Finny do activities that helped make this behavior difficult.  For instance we used the scooter.  If Finny got up from the scooter I would guide him to either get back on or clean up the scooter.  If he managed to dart I would flip the scooter over to make sure no one could accidently step on it then I would get Finny and make him follow through and continue with the scooter until be appropriate asked to get off. This request would have to be prompted by me.  I believe it is good to teach kids to ask to be all done with an activity.  This often is done without asking.  I think if a student is able to express their wants and needs to teachers this makes a connection between each other.  Students still need to realize that their wants may not always be met though.  Overall, I learned a lot today.  I had to put my foot down which is not something I enjoy doing but I believe it was necessary.  Discipline is something that is hard to learn.  I work in an ABA program over the summer so the method of discipline is almost always extinction or ignoring the behavior.  This is great for children in ABA but usually does not apply with others.  Telling students that their behavior is not appropriate is something I need to work on.  This is a weakness of my teaching but through experiences such as tonight I get better and better. 

Day 10 4/6/15

Blog 10

4/6/15

 

            I worked with Finny again today.  Before class I picked out a variety of equipment to use.  I think that having a variety of equipment gives me as a teacher more variety in the type of activities that I do.  I picked out two types of scooters, hula hoops, jump ropes and pool noodles.  I started off the lesson by getting down to Finny's level and telling him some things we were going to be working with today.  He explained that he was very excited to go swimming.  I changed things up today and gave Finny the choice of what equipment he wanted to start with.  He chose the scooter that he could lay down on.  He actually wanted me to start off sitting on the scooter while he pulled. I agreed and assisted him by moving my feet.  After about a minute I told Finny it was his turn.  He started laying on his belly and held onto the jump rope handles as I pulled him.  This time I decided to really make him work.  I instructed him to use him arms and pull on the rope to go faster.  He did a great job and pulled himself along.  I verbally encouraged Finny which helped motivate him even more.  I feel he got a whole lot more out of this activity than he had in the past.  Instead of me doing all the work and him just holding onto the rope he had to use his arms to maneuver himself around.  When we were on the other side of the gym Finny stopped pulling himself and darted towards our equipment.  Dr. Davis was passing through the gym and told me not to let Finny get away with this.  He instructed me to go get Finny and make him clean up his own equipment if he wanted to be all done.  I was happy that I got this criticism from Dr. Davis.  Obviously Finny has done this darting behavior before and it is something  I want to work on with him.  After we were done with the scooter we worked with the new scooter like we did last time.  After Finny wanted to be all done he started to get up and out of the scooter.  I asked Finny if he wanted to make another choice.  He said yes, I reminded him what we had to do with our equipment when we were done and he moved the scooter over to our space.  Dr. David told me that it was good to work with Finny on movements across the midline.  I wanted to give this a try so I came up with a game with the hula hoop.  I know Finny enjoys rolling the hoop so I let him have a roll then he stood in the hoop and did three different tasks that I was modeling.  I would have him touch his opposite toe, sit and reach across the midline and other tasks.  If he did not get the task I would use tactile modeling to direct him to the correct motion.  After three tasks he could roll the hoop again and we would do three more and so forth.   Overall, today went great.  I discovered more things I want to work on with Finny.  I am excited to work on these things next time!       

Day 9 4/5/15

Blog 9

4/5/15

 

            Today was Easter Sunday, I went home to spend time with my family.  During this holiday I enjoy spending time visiting my family.  Usually on holidays my Aunt Cathy comes to our house and spends time with us.  This Easter however, it wasn't possible for Aunt Cathy to come over so I decided to go visit her at her group home.  Cathy is 40 years old and has what is called Rett's.  This is a severe form of autism.  Cathy is non-verbal but expresses her feelings through facial expressions.  If Cathy is smiling it usually means she is happy.  If Cathy is showing aggressive behaviors such as hitting herself in the head or hitting other this usually means she needs something.  Today, me and my mom went to go visit Cathy and volunteer to help with Easter festivities.  While my mom helped the ladies in the kitchen set the table and so forth I worked with some of the adults in the home including my aunt.  They were all pretty relaxed watching T.V. so I tried to get everyone up and moving.  I put some music on in the room and turned the lights up.  I got my aunt to stand and walk around.  The abilities of the people in the home varied.  Some were verbal and enjoyed socializing with me.  Me and Ken a participant who was verbal threw a soft ball back and forth.  He really enjoyed this.  Although his throwing skills was still in the elementary stage he was eager to learn and he could have thrown that ball all day.  I took my aunt and another lady probably in her 30's into and exercise room.  The equipment available was limited but we used what was available.  We used exercise balls.  I had the girls take turn sitting on them and holding my hands they did sit-ups.  Overall, I think this was a different experience and I am glad that I did this.  It gave the workers at the home time to prepare Easter dinner and gave me a chance to work with the adults.    

Day 8 3/30/15

Blog 8

3/30/15

 

            Today I worked with Finny and a few of my peers.  We started the lesson by running around and racing. During this instant activity Finny did not want to follow directions and darted whatever direction he wanted.  It was almost as if he wanted me to chase him.  I did not want to encourage this darting behavior so I told Finny he had to make another choice.  He decided he wanted to use the scooter. I would pull him and he would hold onto the handles of the jump rope. He really enjoyed this. I was happy to see how Finny was using his upper body muscles to move about. He kept saying he wanted to go fast. In the gymnasium we were in there was two college students throwing a football back and forth. This is actually a type of inclusion when two groups are sharing a space. Finny wanted to play with the guys who were playing football. I had to explain to him that that was their space and this was ours. He darted over to them anyways. The students were very good with Finny. They gave them their football but I told them that we had to play in our own space. I directed Finny back to our side of the gym and explained to him about space. I told him again about the difference between our space and others space. I told him if he wanted to play with a football he just had to use his words and ask.  We eventually found a football and we practiced throwing.  I was happy to see that Finny was now staying on his side of the gym. After we were done playing football I had Finny try a new type of scooter. On this scooter he sat on his bottom and grabbed handles that he moved back and forth to move about.  I was happily surprised at how fast Finny picked this up.  He was going pretty fast and seemed to have control at all times.  He would still be sneaky and try to go on the other side of the gym.  I would just redirect him and showed him where he was allowed to go.  Overall, I think we made great progress today.  I keep discovering what Finny enjoys to do.  Next class I would like to continue to work with the new scooter. 

Day 7 3/23/15

Blog 7 

3/23/15

 

During lab on Monday night I was assigned by Dr. MacDonald to work with Finny. After a few minutes of waiting Finny did not show up.  I was assigned to work with Tom whose student was Thomas.  After Thomas finished eating his Doritos we brought him into the dance studio.  When I first met Thomas he shook my hand and introduced himself. I was happy to see that he had good social skills when first meeting someone.  I am not sure if this was part of Toms affective domain or not but it was great to see! When we got into the dance studio Thomas was wondering around greeting everyone.  He seemed to be very stimulated with the mirror. We tried to have Thomas play soccer. He would pick up the ball and throw it. After a few minutes of that he wandered again. Tom said it was in his lesson plan to work with another group in an activity. Thomas didn't want to have any part of that though.  He wandered to the other gym where a classmate he didn't get along with was in.  We redirected Thomas out of the gym.  I work in an ABA program over the summer so I use this strategy often.  I simply placed my hand on his shoulder and walked between him and the classmate he didn't get along with.  After when he was in the hall he wondered down the hallway.  We attempted to use extinction and asked Thomas to tell us when he was ready to play. He again wondered down the hall near the elevator.  He then found the elevator button pushed it and refused to get out.  While in there he dropped and was noncompliant with the demand to get up.  Lesley the graduate assistant went in there and after a few minutes got Thomas out of the elevator.  By the time this happened the time for class was over.  Overall, I felt a little frustrated.  I did not know if we handled the situation correctly but I was unsure what else to do.  I know that Thomas had some time off from school so I'm not sure if this could have triggered it.  Today was challenging but I was glad I got to see how to handle challenging situations. 

Day 6 3/12/15

Blog 6

3/12/15

 

            Today me and my teammate worked with Jessica.  Jessica was very happy to be with us today!  After chatting with Dr. MacDonald and Jessica's parents and aids we decided that it would be a new and exciting experience to go onto the ice.  I have had a lot of experience with ice hockey but only some experience with sled hockey so I was excited to give it a shot!  It made me a little nervous at first because I have never transferred someone into a sled before.  The aid and I worked together to put her in the sled.  This took a few minutes because Jessica was very excited and when she gets like this her muscles tighten up and it makes it harder to transfer her.  Once we got her in the sled we all decided that it would be a good idea to have her wear a helmet just in case.  I had my friend Makenzie get a helmet out of the hockey locker room for Jessica.  Once we were all situated we started to go.  At first I pushed her holding onto the sled at all times.  I had Makenzie put her skates on.  Jessica enjoyed watching Makenzie skate about.  My friend Makenzie had never worked with anyone with a disability before so I could tell she was a little nervous.  After a few minutes I asked her if she wanted to push the sled.  She was hesitant but ended up doing great.  After she was comfortable I went and put on my skates.  We took turns pushing Jessica.  Eventually we would give her a slight push and let her glide on her own.  She was so happy!  She was laughing and smiling the whole time.  We put music on the speakers and skated around listening to country songs.  After our time was up it was time to transfer Jess back into her wheelchair.  She did not want to go back into it so she covered her face up with the jersey we gave her.  It was great to see she was having so much fun!  All in all this experience was great.  I was so happy to see that Jess was having so much fun.  This is something she doesn't get to do all the time so I was happy to share this experience with her.  I also thought it was a great experience for my friend Makenzie.  Working with someone with a disability was new for her.  She was nervous at first but after a while she was great! I was so happy to see her and Jessica have a great time. 

 

 

Day 5 3/9/15

Day 5

3/9/15

 

            Today I had planned to keep exploring Finny’s interest and capabilities.  I waited for him for about 15 minutes but he still didn't show. Dr. MacDonald, Lesley and Maddie told me to act as a T.A. and rotate from group to group and observe.  Since I am a T.A. in Dr. Crafts Friday afternoon 356 lab I knew what was expected from me. 

            I started out working with Zoey.  Today she was working on basketball. The component I observed worked on shooting the ball. Her teacher was practicing against the wall.  I thought this was a good strategy because often when children practice shooting at the basket they do not use proper form. This may be because they are worried about the product of getting he ball into the basket and not the process of correct form.  The teacher had two visuals taped up to the wall.  When Zoey was working on her shooting the teacher reminded her of the cues. She also asked various checking for understanding questions about the cues. One example of this is when she asked, “what about your elbow?”  The student responded, “it's supposed to be touching my side.”  I took a picture of the visual aids the teacher used, see the photos below.

 

            The next student I observed name was Brianna.  She was working on locomotor skills such as jumping, hopping, running, and even balancing.  She could jump holding a teachers hand 10 times in a row. She was a little uneasy about jumping without holding the teachers hand but could do this around 5 times.  She could balance and hop holding the teachers hand but was not comfortable doing this alone.  We also worked on throwing various objects. We used beanbags and balls.  The student could throw the objects against the wall and to a teacher. From what I observed she was still in the initial stage of throwing. I would consider her throw to be in the chop stage. She would throw the ball and chop her hand down on the same side of her body. She did not take any steps with the throw.  One activity I thought of that could help her throw would be putting footprints on the ground and have her move from the “T” position to a sideways position.

 

            Although I was disappointed that Finny was not able to make it tonight I was glad I got to observe other students. I learned a lot from watching these other groups and enjoyed seeing the kids do their best.  The teachers I observed did a great job as well!

 

Day 4 3/2/15

Day #4

3/2/15

 

                Today was the second day I worked with Finny.  When he arrived I met his parents and took him into one of the center gyms.  I discovered last time that Finny was distracted from other groups in the smaller gym.  The center gym today only had one other group.  I think this was better for Finny because he seemed to be over stimulated from others last class.  When the class began Finny was very excited about all the space he had available to him.  He decided to run in a circle and pretended I was chasing him.  I had set a demand on him to pick a piece of equipment to work with.  I decided to follow through on this demand and gave him a piece of equipment to manipulate.  He played with it for a few minutes then started running again.  I used the same strategy but this time with a scooter.  He laid down on his stomach and used his legs and arms to move about.  He kept saying he wanted to go faster so I had the idea to have him hold onto a jump rope and I could pull him.  This would still use his upper body muscles.  I pulled him around and used literacy words (fast and slow).  I would have Finny request if he wanted to go fast or slow.  He really enjoyed the scooter.  He would look at the floor and watch it go by.  I think this may have been stimulating for him.  I had the following question.  Was it okay to continue if this stimulated him?  I allowed him to do this because he was still doing what he was asked and it did not distract him from learning.  After the scooter Finny requested to play with a hula hoop.  I honored his request and had Maddy get a hula hoop for him.  He enjoyed throwing the hula hoops and even rolling it across the floor.  I demonstrated how to walk the dog.  He didn't like sharing the hula hoop but he tried to replicate this motion.  After a few minutes I told Finny it was time to move onto something new.  He did not want to give up the hula hoop.  I told him first bowling then hula hoop and he agreed.  After he bowled for a few minutes I let him use the hula hoop again for a few minutes.  I was using the hula hoop as a reward for positive behavior.  I did this again when it was time to move onto the spinner toy.  He did not want to sit in it but he did like to spin it on his own.  We also put objects in the spinner and watched them spin around.  This is the way I cleaned up at the end of the lesson.  After we cleaned up we finished doing group stretches in the Rockwall gym.  All in all I am starting to figure out what motivates Finny.  Today was a successful day.        

Day 3 2/23/15

Day #3

2/23/15

 

                I switched to the Monday night lab from 6-7 with Dr. MacDonald because they needed extra help.  I was assigned to work with a little boy named Finny.  My goal today was to explore what Finny's capabilities were.  I wanted to see what he enjoyed to play with to aid me in the rest of the semester.  I of course came in with a safety statement.  The safety statement read, "Throughout the lesson, Finny will remain in his self-space, he will be aware of his surrounding and show respect to himself, the teacher, his classmates and the equipment."  I think it was important to include both physical safety as well as emotional safety. 

                Finny arrived a little late but he was excited to get started.  He was very excited that he was going to get to go swimming.  I brought him into the Rockwall Gymnasium for today's lesson.  There was quite a few groups in this gym.  I believe that this may have distracted Finny a little bit.  He kept looking at other groups and wanted to manipulate their equipment.  I tried different strategies such as having Finny look towards a wall instead of towards the middle of the gym.  I also gave him choices of the equipment I had out so he felt he was in control.  He liked throwing objects up in the air and watching them fall to the ground.  I gave him different objects such as beanbags and balls to manipulate.  I also introduced throwing scooper instruments that he really enjoyed using.  He was very excited about going swimming so I tried to have him "warm up" for swimming.  I asked him to repeat me by warming up our swimming legs by doing various kicking motions.  He was not interested in doing this and decided to dart to a different group.  I redirected him to the area we were assigned to and had him give it a try again.  He tried it for a few seconds and then stopped.  It was good to discover something he didn't like as well.  I was happy that he gave it a try.  At the end we did a group stretch.  Finny did a great job during this.  He tried his best to repeat what the head teacher was doing.  I used tactile modeling to help Finny get into the right positions.  After the group stretch I met Finny's parents and we brought him down to the pool.  As I debrief I am very happy about Finny's capabilities.  He enjoyed a lot of the equipment and activities I brought to the table.  I think next class I will try to find a space with less distraction.        

Day 2: 2/10/15

Day #2

2/10/15

                Today was our first day with the students.  Before the class began the teachers separated and set up the stations they were assigned last class.  The pre-class setup for Hannah and I involved setting up for the sliding and dribbling stations.  We used two cones and placed them about 25 feet apart on a line for sliding.  For dribbling we had both a playground ball and a basketball for students to use.  Before class Hannah and I studied the performance criteria for the slide and dribble to make it easier to see the whole skill during class.  The performance criteria for the slide included body turned sideways so shoulders are aligned with the line on the floor, a step sideways with lead foot followed by a slide of the trailing foot to point next to the lead foot, a minimum of 4 continuous step-slide cycles to the right and left.  For the dribble the performance criteria included the following.  Contacts ball with one hand at about belt level, pushes ball with fingertips (not a slap) Ball contacts surface in front of or to the outside of foot on the preferred side.  Maintains control of ball for four consecutive bounces without having to move the feet to retrieve it.

                When the students started to arrive the first thing that happened was the students received their name tags in the hallway.  Then they entered the gym and we directed them to take a seat at the back of the gym.  During the introduction all the teachers introduced themselves by saying their names.  We explained to the students that today we were going to be assessing some of their skills.  We put it into their terms by saying looking how good you are at skills such as running, jumping, throwing, catching, etc.  After the introduction each teaching pair took 1-2 students back to their station with them.  When we were at the station we had the kids sit down.  We allowed to pick which skill they wanted to do first.  After they chose we would demonstrate what we wanted to see.  After this we would have the kids do two trails and evaluate them using a chart.  It was quite difficult to see all of the criteria during one trial.  However, as more students went I found myself beginning to become more natural at looking at their skills.  One thing today that was confusing was the rotation of the students.  We did not have a list of all the students so it was difficult to see who had been to what station.  We just worked our best to get through the assessments quickly but also thoroughly.  At the end of the lesson to close things down we did a cleanup activity to clean all the equipment up we also played red light green light.  Finally we did some group static stretching and finished up with a cheer.  All in all today seemed a little scrambled but we did get the data we needed to teach. 

 

 

Day 1 2/3/15

Day #1

2/3/15

                Today was the first day of my 447 hours.  There were no students today because we were preparing and organizing for our first day with the students.  Dr. Davis and the Graduate Assistants Leslie and Maddy explained some of the goals for the program.  They explained that this program is going to a little bit different than what we have experienced in the past.  Instead of being one on one with a student or a few students we will be doing group work.  Each week two teachers will be assigned to teach two thirty minute lesson segments to the group of students who attends.  Dr. Davis explained that this will help us develop as better Adapted Physical Education teachers because we will be teaching a large group of students.  I am very excited to teach a large group of students in this setting because it is something I have never experienced before.  I have experienced many one on one placements but usually I don't get the opportunity to teach a group by myself.  This makes me feel a little nervous but also excited.  I know that things won't run 100% smoothly but if I prepare and over prepare I will be okay!  During this class we also discussed how we were going to set up for next class.  The first class with the children we were going to be assessing their locomotor and manipulative skills using the TGMD-2.  We worked together to set up the gym how we thought it should look on next Tuesday.  We also discussed who was going to be assessing what skills.  Hannah and I decided to assess the locomotor skill of sliding and the manipulative skill of dribbling.  We went over the criteria and quizzed each other to make sure next Tuesday would run smoothly.  All in all today was a successful day and I feel more prepared for when the students come on Tuesday.