Friday, September 28, 2018

ALIST Spotlight: Jamie Minnish-- Prass Elementary, Kettering

We would like to start the school year honoring one of our original ALIST members, Jamie Minnish. Jamie teaches at J.E. Prass Elementary in Kettering. She has been a member of our ALIST since it originated in 2012. She has been a great partner to our team and her classroom has countless examples of best practices many of which we will feature in today's ALIST Spotlight.


One of the first things a visitor may notice in Jamie's classroom is how engaged her students are in their learning.

Engaging Instruction
This adapted book is a great support because it makes reading more hands-on for students as they match the character faces on each page.

Having fun science activities such as this butterfly habitat makes science fun and provides real-world experiences for her students.

Visual supports also help to engage students in learning and make abstract concepts easier to understand.




Differentiation
Jamie also assists students in their understanding through use of differentiation. She not only differentiates instruction but also differentiates other adaptive supports such as schedules and communication supports.

This is an example of objects to be used for a student's object schedule.

Several of the students in Jamie's class use an auditory schedule in which the location labels can be recorded into the device and when students take off the icon it will play the recorded message. This is great for students who struggle with understanding the picture icons.
Enabling Devices

Other students may need a more portable schedule that can travel with them such as these checklist or velcro schedules.



We love how the icons from the velcro schedule can be used as a location-based schedule for students who need help with transitioning to the next scheduled location. This plastic table tent makes changing the location label easy.

Jamie also differentiates communication supports based on the needs of her students.


Interests
Another way Jamie meets her students' unique needs is through incorporating their interests as reinforcement and play and leisure activities.
Square Panda
























Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports
Incorporating interests is also part of Jamie's PBIS systems for students. 
iPad reinforcement board

visual contract

We also love this great visual support explaining the class-wide token economy. What a great way to reinforce positive behaviors and work on money skills!

Material Organization
Another thing visitors will quickly see in Jamie's classroom is how smoothly the classroom runs. This is a great indicator of quality classroom management, team communication, and overall organization of materials and processes throughout the day.  

chair pocket for student materials
classroom library


labeled materials for staff and students centrally located for easy access
taskboxes with color-coding and labels


Physical and Visual Boundaries
In addition to everything having a place when organizing materials, Jamie has developed clear procedures for students to know the expectations of where they should be. She uses physical and visual boundaries to reinforce these expectations. 

flexible folding mat to close off play area when not in use

visual boundary for lining up




wait chair

Visual Supports
Jamie also makes great use of visual supports to communicate expectations. 




sign out board for when students are not in the classroom

Paraprofessional Management
Adults need visuals too! And Jamie does an excellent job using visuals to communicate important information and reminders to her staff.

 

Activity instructions for staff attached to outside of material bin

Team Communication Station

We want to send a huge thank you to Jamie for being such a wonderful extension of our team and for sharing all of these wonderful supports she uses with us. 

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Organization Station-- Data Collection

One area of frustration we see for many of our teachers is managing and organizing of data collection. There are countless ways to collect data and the reasons for collecting seem just as endless. Today's Organization Station will provide some different examples we have seen our teams use to collect a variety of different types of data.

Academic Data
Most of our students have academic IEP goals which require careful data collection to monitor progress and to use in setting future goals. 

In this classroom, all students are working on multiplication facts so the staff uses a cute bulletin board to monitor progress. 

Bobbi Jo Chapman
Snyder Park Elementary, Springfield 


This staff uses data sheets which are specifically tailored to the target skill being monitored. 




Here is another example of a bulletin board graph used to graph class-wide progress with building their reading stamina. What a great skill to build up to!
Springcreek Primary, Piqua


Behavior Data
Frequently, students will have a BIP which requires behavior data to be collected to determine the effectiveness of the plan. 

This first example simply determines if the target replacement behavior was demonstrated or not. 
Jenna Heitker
Greenmont Elementary, Kettering
 The following data sheet measures frequency of target behaviors for each scheduled activity throughout the day.
Brittany Sword
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

Adaptive/Functional Skill Data
In addition to academic and behavior goals, students often have goals for functional or adaptive skills such as time on task or communication. 

Brittany Sword
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek 


Stephanie Foreman
South Vienna Elementary, Northeastern 




Sensory Data
It can also be beneficial to gather data on a student sensory needs and the effectiveness of trialed sensory supports to determine effectiveness. This data can be used to schedule sensory breaks and embed supports.
Tanya Davenport
Horace Mann Elementary, Springfield

Holly Broach
Kettering Middle School, Kettering

If you are interested in more ideas for collecting data including creating progress monitoring binders check out the blog post below: