Part 1: DIY fidgets (Fidgets are not your enemies...except when they are)

This is a follow-up post to my original post about turning my classroom into an OT sensory experiment.  Read the original post here.  

Click here for How To Implement and CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Of course you hate them.  But they are not your enemy!

Overall, the experiment was successful for me and my kids.  I started adding fidgets and sensory supports to my class BEFORE fidget spinners hit the market, so I was well prepared to deal with that wave of nonsense.

Why Fidgets:  "Fair is not Equal." 

I am not going to go into the "why" too much. If you read my original post, I go into it probably deeper than I should. Suffice it to say that I am totally sensory seeking, and many kids are too.  Have you seen that kid who constantly runs his fingers through his hair?  Or the girl whose leg will not stop knocking into something?  Or the kid who chews the end of his pen and pencil so bad his gums occasionally bleed?  Those are the extremes, but everyone benefits from learning how they learn. If I can help them learn better, feel calmer, feel better, than that's why.

What 
smooth     pokey      soft      heavy     textured    fuzzy    hard (solid)      squishy    interesting   heavy
These are the adjectives you want to keep in mind when looking for fidgets.

Where/How Much
Take your huge budget of $30.00 or so and head to the dollar store.  A slightly more expensive option is a party supply store.  In Utah, Dollar Tree and Zurchers are the places.  Family Dollar does not usually have what I am looking for.

Look for things that are interesting to touch but small enough to fit in a hand.  Dog and cat toys are very popular with my kids, as are items from the bathroom section- the little massager roller is a favorite for pokey and solid.  Squishy toys, legos, and stuffed animals are all favorites too.  Get some, remove anything that can be removed, and see what they like!

Special considerations: 

Remove the keychain part! 

*Special note for chewies* I keep coil type keychains (with the metal part removed) in labelled zip lock bags for the kids who need them or bring them in.  (No one else gets to touch them.  How gross!)   A search on Amazon for chewies will bring up very expensive special chewies, which are great to recommend to parents but are not in my budget.


 Things break:  Some great squishy toys are also prone to breaking when put in a middle schooler's hand.  So...be thoughtful.  Take apart anything that can be taken apart.  Of course, if they break it, a natural consequence is that they clean it up.

DIY Chair fidgets:

http://blog.maketaketeach.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Chaundracu.jpg

Ask at your local bike shop for used tubes. (Those are the tubes that go inside bike tires.)  They are surely going to be free.  Cut off the pokey bit (the valve stem) and wrap one end of the tube around one front leg of a student chair.  Tie a simple square knot.  Pull it fairly tight across the front of the chair to the other front leg and tie that end in a square knot.  Cut off the excess.  Voila- you have a chair fidget that is silent and can be used, pushed up or down, and is completely free. (Or you can buy special expensive things that do exactly the same thing.)

Weight belts/Lap Belts- great for wigglers and kids who keep putting books on their heads. (This really happens.  You know it.)
1) Find kid pajama pieces at the local thrift shop, or fuzzy socks from the dollar store.  Note: it is incredibly hard to find non-gendered items, but it is worth looking!  I ended up with a Frozen PJ set, which both the boys and girls seem to love equally, and it contains almost no stereotypical symbols or colors.  
2) Purchase bulk rice and/or beans.  This is the biggest cost of the project.
3) Cut off pieces of the PJ set to make tubes (think arms, legs, right?) and sew them up at either end to make heavy tubes.  Sew them really, really, really well.

Part 2: Classroom Community Management Strategies for Fidgets

Original Fidget Post
DIY- how to make your own fidgets click here

This post will explain how I actually manage the fidgets in my classroom.

Available at the dollar store!

Storage:
A simple over the door shoe organizer or something similar works great.  It is also very cheap.  Tip: Get a clear see-through hanger.  It makes it easy for everyone.

Logistics:
Each student in my class has a number already.  I bought enough wooden clothing clips for each kid (also, dollar store), and numbered them.  The clips just live on the side of the shoe hanger.  When a student wants to check out a fidget, they find the clip with their number and clip it to the pocket that the item came out of.  Then, at the end of class, they put their clip back.  I only need one set of numbered clips because each class uses the same numbers.

How I introduce them: 
1) I introduce the why.  Fair is not equal.  We all need something to help us.

2) I introduce a few things at a time.  Maybe one from each category (soft, hard, smooth, weighty).

3) I clearly state the rules. Here is an editable copy of my rules.

4) I enforce the rules.  I  really enforce the rules.  If I am distracted, if someone else is distracted, or if the tool rolls out of a student's hands, it goes away.  No arguing, no whining, just try again tomorrow.  

For the next week, I go over the rules at the beginning of each class and continue with the enforcing.  (That continues all year for some, but some kids figure out what won't come flying out of their hands and adapt.) 

It seems to work! 

Helping learners learn how they learn...or how I am turning my classroom into a sensory OT experiment

Many elementary teachers know that some kids truly need supports to learn.  These supports are frequently written into IEPs and 504 plans.  Many parents and OTs are the ones who get these supports written in, and good teachers incorporate the fidgets, lap weights, earphones, etc. into their classroom without a blink.  Other teachers can't get over the idea that "fair is not equal."

I'm not here to judge.

I am here to say that in every english - speaking classroom that I have taught in, there has been a huge sign saying "Fair is not equal."  I taught a series of lessons around this idea: that if Johnny needs (glasses, crutches, a cast on his arm), than it would be silly if everyone in the class also needed that support for it to be fair.  Or...more to the point, if Jane is allergic to chocolate, than to keep things fair, no one should be allowed to eat chocolate.

That's usually the point where kids nod and agree with me: how ridiculous.  Fair is not the same as equal.  They get it pretty quickly, especially once it's normalized.

Now, I can't do everything for everyone but I can do my best.  I can do my best to differentiate, to personalize, to make learning relevant and interesting, and to help kids learn what they need in order to learn.

You see, secretly I have had a lot of experience and training with behavior plans,  observations and tracking of behavior, identifying and data-keeping for IEPs and 504s, and that sort of thing.  I have been incredibly fortunate to work with amazing school psychologists and occupational therapists who have supported, mentored, and guided me as I tried to make my classroom equitable as well as a place for learning.  Those skills are not ones I have had to draw on too much since I moved to my current school.  Truly, I get to focus more on teaching and building relationships with kids, and less on behavior and/or meeting kids' basic needs.

I currently teach in a middle/high income independent (private, not parochial) school.  We do not have IEPs or 504s.  Some students have as many learning needs as in any of my public school classrooms, but our school doesn't have a strong culture, especially in the middle school, of trying to help kids meet those needs with more unusual accommodations.  That's not a criticism.  It just is.  Independent schools work differently.  We work as a staff to meet individual needs in different ways and we do have a culture of making traditional accommodations and modifications.  Both approaches are valid.

http://www.codeshareonline.com/plan-b.html

  But this year, I have been confronted by groups of kids who really struggle with impulse control.  To the point that in one class, I have gone to Plan B a bunch of times.This form is one of my favorites for this kind of formalized data keeping.  I can not recommend it highly enough.) I realized that I needed to go back to some of the strategies that I have used before.  Because there is no reason not to try.
 Seriously frustrating and boring for all!   After watching the kids for the first few weeks of school and thinking deeply about what their behaviors are telling me,  (

I spent a few hours re-reading notes from other accommodations, plans, and searching the web for DIY OT sensory kits.  I realized that many of my most challenging students are sensory seeking (chewing, touching, bouncing, etc.).

As I told them when I started discussing this in class, all those behaviors (not Behaviors!) are well within "normal" human range.  In fact, I am sensory seeky myself: I asked them if they had ever counted how many times I put on chapstick or check my pocket to make sure that it's there.  (One observant student pointed out that those behaviors happen about every 5 minutes.  I think she was being generous!)

I made a plan, a budget (which got a little out of hand...that's what happens when a sensory seeker goes to put together a sensory toolkit!), and a shopping list. I was going to get fidgets, make some lap weights, and whatever else I could find to make my classroom a sensory seeker's favorite place.

I hit up the thrift store, dollar store, winco for bulk rice and beans, and a party supply store just because it was near the dollar store. I ended up with a huge variety of squishy, hard, textured, and soft items.

Best scores:
coiled keychains for chewies (party store) + ziplock bags to keep them personalized
beads, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks  for small fidgets
a bin and vertical magazine storage thing to store it all in
a great Frozen fleece sweater that was repurposed into lap weights - both non gendered and fuzzy!
a huge variety of squishy balls and critters from the dollar store
a variety of pet toys (soft, soothing), duster mitts (textured), and massage tools (hard, pointy), also from the dollar store
lengths of rubber from Amazon for chair fidgets

Homemade weighted lap belts-very popular! 

Tool check out system- very high tech

I knew I wanted some sort of accountability for students to use these "tools" so I also bought some clothespins, and wrote numbers on them (each kid has a number in my class) as well as"Tool check out".  When they check out a tool, they simply move their numbered clip to the correct bin.

I am introducing the tools slowly- and with great success.  The lap weights are the biggest hit so far, followed by some of the squishies and the chair fidgets.  I will follow up this post later...once the magic has worn off.
My biggest take away after two days with them are:
1) Students lit up when I asked them to try something (like a chewy, or a lap weight).  They knew what they needed- they just needed to be told it was ok to need it.  Seriously, the love was overwhelming.
2) I said that I was going to try this so all students could have a chance to learn the best way possible- and maybe other teachers would come on the journey with me if it worked out.  One student told me "well, you are way ahead of the rest of them.  Thanks!"  I reminded her that we are all on a different journey- this is mine, and I don't mind a little contained chaos.

Transitioning a department to TPRS/CI ...my first thoughts

So, at the end of last year, I saw a need.  I'm the kind of person who, for better or for worse, tries to solve problems.  One problem I saw was that our language department was not working as well as it could.  I knew that TPRS/CI was one solution that had the power to a) bring the overall level of the students up in the long run, b) make teachers happier, c) make our program better.

There were two Spanish positions opened and my administrators were on-board for interviewing TPRS-Friendly (or already trained) teachers, if possible. I presented a budget and plan, along with a letter to educate them about what TPRS/CI is and why it is in alignment with our school.   I budgeted for training 2 full time teachers and the purchase of K-5 curriculum to supplement our 6-8 curriculum that we already own.

 (Aside: our school is increasing its focus on project based learning, student centered classrooms, integrated projects, and other initiatives.  This is a whole other post, however, making TPRS seem like a 21st century pedagogy (student centered, highly personalized, and not your parent's grammar class) was a really easy sell.)

 We ended up having a rough time filling one of the positions (hired in late July or August) and, due to enrollment, hiring two more part-time teachers.  (Yay! Enrollment!)   So, with four new hires, it is now my task to help them along: using the curriculum, understanding TPRS, etc.  And wow, this is a tougher job than I thought!

First, we started the year with no training of 3 of the four new teachers.  (The other middle school teacher attended NTPRS16 and completed the beginner track- it was awesome to find an open minded colleague who was ready to learn!) I gave a 30 minute "What is TPRS" explanation and showed them the curriculum.  And that's all they got, until last week.  We brought Von Ray and TPRS Publishing in for a one-day workshop in-house for all the language teachers (and a couple of other local teachers).

Now, experienced TPRS teachers know that a one-day training is barely dipping in your toes.  It's barely long enough to develop a common vocabulary, and not nearly long enough to start to shift a traditional teacher's mindset to a more CI approach.  But, it's a start.

So, for all those who are trying to do the same thing, here is my letter/proposal to my admin team.  Feel free to share and distribute.


And, as this journey continues and I keep learning (because I keep saying to myself and others: 3-5 year process), I will keep reflecting.

Most Likely to Succeed

This afternoon, in lieu of a staff meeting, our faculty, board, and some parents screened the movie Most Likely to Succeed. The movie has been making the rounds at schools and was featured at Sundance last year (I think). The premise is that our education system was designed in the 1880s to create a docile but capable workforce for the assembly lines of the time. And it hasn't been updated since. The movie goes on to examine one school that is taking school assumptions (such as discreet subjects, tests, and scheduled blocks) and turning them on their head. Instead of teaching subject matters broadly, teachers focus on their passions, their interests, and teach deeply. There are no tests, only a public exhibition at the end of the year where the students present their learning. Teachers collaborate across specialties- physics and history, for instance. It was a glimpse, for me, of what I want school to be like. Mostly.
Parents and their many concerns were given a chance to respond to the school's methods, and voiced some valid points. The teachers talked a lot about the trade-offs they were making in terms of content (deep but not broad) and soft skills, such as team work, cooperation, perseverance, self reflection, etc.
I feel like the movie really validated a lot of the choices I've made as a language teacher the past year or so. The idea that we have to change how we teach resonates with me because it isn't working for most of the kids. Language teaching especially seems stuck in the dark ages, no matter how many computer programs you use to call it a 21st century skill.
Of course, the school in the movie uses primarily project based learning (PBL). While I am a huge fan of PBL when done well, I don't think that it has a place in the novice learner's classroom. But- and this is something that one of my colleagues shared after visiting the school- project based does not mean project only. Perhaps PBL is not appropriate for my students at their level. But maybe it will be further down the line for them, as their skills and mine improve. The other case to be made for PBL, and a strong one at that, is that it puts the student first. Now, someone who doesn't speak Spanish may not have the skills yet to be first, but let's face it: schools are demeaning, boring, and often just an endurance test. Instead of learning, instead of curiosity, students are taught that memorization and test scores are what's important. PBL is the opposite.
I was really struck by one moment in the movie where a teacher, after radically changing the way he taught math, was getting a lot of pushback from his high-achieving students. They were explaining that they just wanted to be able to pass the tests and get to college to get on with their lives. I felt a connection with this teacher, because like him I changed my approach, and like him, I got a lot of pushback from high achieving students. Instead of just studying for the test, they suddenly needed to really be able to use the language. Tests were unannounced. They had no study guide to memorize. And it was hard for them!
Which brings me back to my main point: TPRS is interesting, humanizing, and student centered. Sure, the teacher might talk a great deal, but when done well, the stories center around the students' lives and interests. The class feels different and asks students to pay attention in a different way. They have to monitor their own comprehension, follow along, and respond. Tests, instead of huge ordeals that destroy both moral and class time, are quick and easy check ins, and are usually no big deal.
And of course: no desks!