Saturday, June 29, 2013

DonorsChoose


This week I attended a Regional Community of Learning on Autism (CoLa) Conference in Richmond, and I was asked to do a poster presentation on my success with DonorsChoose.  I was thrilled to be able to spread the word amongst my colleagues!  So I set to work, putting together my tri-fold poster presentation.  On the night of my presentation, I looked around at the handful of other presenters, whom were all presenting on evidenced based practices and current research, and felt a little bit out of my league.  As the conference participants began to enter and make their way around the room, they inevitably stopped and hovered at my table.  In fact, I’m pretty sure my table was the most popular!  Half of the Specialists either said they had never heard of DonorsChoose, or had signed up but never followed through with a proposal. Well, I want to change all of that!!! 

My DonorsChoose poster presentation at the 2013 Regional
Communities of Learning on Autism (COLA) in Richmond, Va.
In March, I wrote my very first DonorsChoose proposal for a color printer so I could create colorful visual supports in my classroom.  Within 2 hours of my project going live, it had been fully funded.  Within 3 weeks, I received my printer.  Well that started a whirlwind of projects.  I immediately started writing new proposals and since March I have written 6 more.  Of the 7 proposals I have written these past few months, 5 have been fully funded and the other two have been partially funded! Some of the other items I have gotten from DonorsChoose include over $300 in therapeutic art supplies, math and language arts centers, an X-Box with Kinect, and supplies to support a student led recycling center.   So, I have experienced success with DonorsChoose and would love to see more teachers utilize this spectacular resource.  Here’s how to start and if you need a little more in depth help go here. 
1.     Go to DonorsChoose.org and create a teacher’s account and upload a classroom profile picture.
2.    Use your start up points to submit a project that is under $400.  These have the best chances of being fully funded.
3.    Think of a creative and catchy title that will grab the reader’s attention.
4.    Go shopping!! DonorsChoose has partnered with School Specialty, Lakeshore, Nasco and several others of our favorite teacher catalogues.  Keep the items student centered!!!
5.    Summarize your request.  Explain why your students need the items your requesting.
6.    Tell your story.  This is the part where you describe your students and how these items will help your class.  Remember to write well and from the heart! 
7.    Lastly, you are going to provide some simple project details and then quantify the impact. 

From start to finish, creating a project usually takes me 20-30 minutes.  I LOVE DonorsChoose and I know that you will too!!!  Good Luck and let me know how you do!  If you have any questions, please let me know!!

Saturday, June 8, 2013

ESY...OH MY!!!




Well my friends, I have been absent for quite some time.  Between state VAAP assessments, a cluster of IEP meetings, a new student, and applying to Grad School, I haven’t had time to pee, much less, time to post.  However, I’M BACK, and I want to know what you do for your student’s over the summer months?  How do you judge if your student should receive Extended School Year Services?  The criteria I generally use to determine if a student requires ESY services, is as follows: Does the student usually present with a pattern of regression after past breaks? This can be in areas of communication, functional life skills, pre academic and academic skills, social/emotional development or behavior.  In my school division, the decision to add ESY is data driven, and therefore it is a lot of work to collect the data, then prepare lesson plans for the summer, and then gather all of the materials for the ESY teacher.  I must confess, it can be a deterrent, and I have only included ESY services for a handful of my students.  Not because I don’t believe in it!  In fact, each year, I find myself wishing I could add ESY to each of my students’ IEP’s.  But ESY often looks like one on one instruction.  Where are their peers?  Where is the socialization?  Our children need a small group setting like their regular classroom environment with their peers.  General Ed kids, who do not demonstrate significant growth throughout the year, attend Summer School.  They don’t get one to one tutoring services!  In my head, my student’s ESY services should resemble instruction in their regular classroom environment with their peers.  It should look like summer school! 
I guess what I’m promoting sounds a lot like year round programming for my students.  But I feel that student’s with Autism and Intellectual Disabilities need intensive programming that is consistent and structured YEAR ROUND.  We as their teachers, work all year long implementing behavior plans, breaking ground on new functional and academic skills only to have our students start from scratch in September.  Now, more often than not, we are able to get our kiddos back on track within a month or so.  However, that then puts us “a month or so” behind schedule, because we have to reteach skills that have lay dormant for 2 months. 
So, because I have not opened my own school, and because I am not in the position to make significant change, (YET), I send home summer packets for my students.  These packets are tailored to the student’s individual needs.  I often include activities that parents can do with their child, and ways they can support behavior plans over the summer break.  The incredible related service providers I work with, usually do the same.   
So my next question is specifically for any parents out there who may be reading.  What could your child’s teacher or school division do to better support summer learning? Do or would you prefer your child to have one to one ESY services or small group services?