Crafting In Class!

Each month we feature a class crafting project. It is the highlight of the month, and the students really enjoy having the chance to express themselves creatively. I view this time as a way to teach the students activities that assist them with relaxation or "calm down" activities.  The students take great pride and ownership of their talents and abilities. 

I found this painting project on Pinterest and decided to share it with my students. Here is some of their works.

 Working with students with emotional and behavioral disabilities can often be a challenge with fostering a class environment that promotes compassion and tolerance of all students. One of strategies used with my students is called "Peer Praising." 

This strategy helps students in building the level of self-esteem of other peers through positive comments and feedback about their work and efforts. This has been a powerful social skill building tool, and it is amazing to see the reactions of the students after receiving a compliment from their peers. 



The students did an amazing job!

Wholistic Teaching: Weekly Positive Parent Contact

Wholistic Teaching: Weekly Positive Parent Contact: My first job teaching was at a center for students with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities.  One could say that the job...

Weekly Positive Parent Contact

My first job teaching was at a center for students with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities.  One could say that the job had its share of demands and complexity. I learned in college and through my own life experiences that parents were key to a successful school year. During my first year of teaching, I noticed that 85% of my calls went directly to voice mail. Often times the calls to parents were never returned or parents were not exactly cheerful about hearing from me. 

One day when calling about a student’s inappropriate behavior, at parent gave me an ear full. In short, their message was “you people only call me for the bad things my child does. Has my child been successful in doing anything good?” The response impacted my life, and I put myself in that parent’s shoes. How would I feel if the teacher or school only contacted me with negative phone calls about my child? I would be reluctant to answer calls and would probably be on the defense when it came to dealing with concerns of the teacher.

Since that day many years ago, I have strived to build better teacher-parent relationships. I have made it a mission to call parents weekly to inform them of the awesome qualities of their child.  Each Friday I make time to contact each of my parents to address their child’s strength and amazing qualities they possess.  When the class engaged in a special project or activities, I text the parents pictures of their child learning or having fun. The feedback is simply wonderful. Every once in a while my students are instructed to call and check on up on your parents day. Each student contacts their parent to see how their day is going and to let them know students are thinking of them during the day.  This seems like a lot of work and it is! 

There are benefits to a good teacher-parent relationship:

1.          Demonstrates a supportive and caring environment.
2.      Parent observation of the time and effort that invested in their child.
3.          Establishes a collaboration that is mutually respectable
4.          Maintains an open line of communications
5.          Builds the level of parent trust
6.          Helps greatly to improve student behavior
7.           Increases parent volunteers

This job is not easy and it does not help matters if I’m defensive when addressing a parent concern. Sometimes we have to grin and bear it, but try to avoid personality conflicts, miscommunication, or misconceptions about what goes on in the classroom. I have learned to listen because often they need a shoulder to lean on. An effective teacher knows the value of effective and positive communication. 

Small Harvest!

The students continue to work hard in the garden. Here are some pictures of what we grew. Surprisingly, the carrots did well. The students did worry about the length of time for growing them and the size. We are currently growing cabbage, carrots, Kohlrabi, cauliflower, greens: turnips, collards, and mustards, and beets.

After we cleaned up our harvest, I made a vegetable stew.  It included both, potatoes, and fresh parsley. We had a great time celebrating.

We have plans to extend the garden to eight new raised beds and add a wall of herbs. 

Music In The Classroom

I am a firm believer that music is an integral part of our lives, and it is a powerful medium that allow others to connect, mourn, celebrate, or entertain.  Whether it is through performing, listening, dancing, or other means, music provides an outlet plus a calming effect. Music can be used to raise the energy level in a classroom or used to make a calm and serene place where students can mellow themselves out.  Music has been effective in decreasing behavioral problems amongst a range of students with disabilities.

When I was employed at mental health facility in Eatonville, Florida, I noticed mixed reactions among clients during types of music I played during what was called “music therapy. “  Classical music or slow tempo music seemed to relax clients and jazz, rock, or rap music liven them up.  Being a music aficionado, my love of music spans from genres like rock, world, jazz, new age, urban, R&B, classical, and the list goes on. I brought this knowledge to the classroom.  Back in the day, I would bring a small suite case of CD’s to play.  Now I make sure to have the IPod filled with every range of music genre to be used throughout the day.

I have certain types of artist and song to be played during each subject.  For example, we listen to Dean Martin during writing time or upbeat songs with positive messages during testing, for example Bobby McFerrin-Don’t Worry or Black Eyed Peas- I Gotta Feeling.  I take this time to merge what they like with my taste in music. The best feature of the using music in the classroom is selecting the DJ for the day! My students love taking turns as the DJ of the day, and selecting their favorite songs from the playlist.  

I have noticed that music helps my students to be more creative, confident, less disruptive, and more sociable. As for testing….my students are less stressful and able to concentrate on the task at hand (higher test scores).  

Ways to used music to manage classroom:

• ·         Morning a pick me up before school.
• ·         Start the first subject of the day.
• ·         Transitions.
• ·         Instruction and lessons
• ·         Games
• ·         Relaxation/Guided Imagery/Brain breaks
• ·         A way to end the day

 If you are starting out new with music in the classroom, I would suggest investing in Putumayo world music. 

Gardening in the Classroom

Gardening in the Classroom: Welcome to Wholistic Teaching: this is actually my very first post for this blog. I have another blog called Dr. G. Effective Classroom that ...

Random Acts of Kindness

February is recognized as the month for celebrating love. It is customary to give gifts of affection and gratitude during this time. This can also be a challenging time with children and teenagers struggling with social and emotional issues.  Depression and anxiety can become barriers when individuals experience feelings of loneliness and lack of acceptance by others.  During this month, I focused on helping my students build healthier and more productive relationships with family, friends, peers, and staff.  I implemented simply strategies and activities to help them become more confident and able to enjoy more positive and engaging communication in the classroom, cafeteria, hallways, and playground.

Daily, I communicate my views for having empathy for others, and understanding how others feel.   This month was the RAOK project, and I challenged students to perform random acts of kindness in the school and home settings. The challenge was to last for one week.  The students were giving the task of creating a list of things they could do that would make someone they knew feel special. Each person was responsible for keeping a log of the person and the good deed.  Before the week had ended, students were excited to share their experiences. Many of them made cards for their parents, or did a chore without being told to do so, holding a door open for a teacher, helping a friend with a project, and the list went on. They shared how experiences made them feel as well as how it affected others.   

I observed more confident young individuals founding out that kindness was more than just a word. It was a transformation! They were empowered with the opportunity to make a difference in the life of someone else. I strive to inspire others around me to make random acts of kindness a part of their daily activity. The best example is YOU!

Non-sugary gift for students

Gardening in the Classroom

Welcome to Wholistic Teaching: this is actually my very first post for this blog. I have another blog called Dr. G. Effective Classroom that was in the works some years ago. Blogging is somewhat new to me, but I have years of experience and knowledge to share. I hope readers will find my blog informative and fun.

Gardening in the Classroom!

 For years I have implemented yoga, meditation, and guided visual imagery activities with my students as methods for reducing frustration and anger. Although they are effective, I needed something that would provide a sensory outlet for my students. For the last two years, I have been teaching about healthy foods and exercising with my students, and this led to gardening.  Students have enjoyed growing and harvesting veggies and eating them. 

Here is a look at we are doing.

 We started out with geminating seeds in a glove and recording observations.

Then we built our raised garden beds, planted seedling, gave good care, and reaped the labor of our work! We have grown mustard, turnips, collard greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, radish, squash, green beans, and other yummy veggies. 

Benefits of a class gardening project:

• Students can plan and work together while improve their social skills.
• The project is therapeutic and socially engaging for cooperative learning activities.
• Students learn how to produce healthy alternatives for eating and increase sustainability awareness. 

Tell me what you think. I would love to read your comments.