Sesame Street's New Character Julia

Happy holidays to all!

At this time of year, it can be hard to focus on anything other than wrapping things up or moving things along. Fortunately, I was able to attend a professional development course today, which always forces me to slow down and really concentrate on one aspect of practice.

The course was on developing and deepening learning opportunities for preschool children on the Autism spectrum, and (most helpfully for me) included lots of visual and tactile ways to integrate curricula for students who may not respond as readily to the spoken word. There were tons of excellent resources offered to me during this session, which I will dig into a little deeper in a week or two. First though, something else that is exciting!

During the presentation I was reminded of a wonderful new addition to Sesame Street as of late. Her name is Julia, and she is the show's first autistic muppet. She is lovely, and her struggles are very reminiscent of many of my students. Julia has difficulty making eye contact, responding to questions and sometimes talks a little too loudly. She is funny and she likes to play with Elmo and Abby. Most of all, she is a normal and special kid.

Not only did Sesame Street introduce this new character, but they have also developed excellent resources for parents and siblings of children with Autism. There are also videos that can also be used for basic social narratives of daily routines with the youngest students.

May the warmth of this character bring a little joy into your holiday season!

-Ms. OJ

RtI vs. MTSS: Education alphabet soup!

Something new is going on at Giles this year that is being echoed in schools around the country.

RtI, or Response to Intervention, has now become (or really, evolved into) MTSS or Multi-Tiered Systems of Support.

I realized I didn't fully understand what this transition meant, so I decided to do a little digging after receiving a very helpful introductory staff newsletter in my inbox last week. Here is a little clarity for those who may be confused as I was.

RtI was, by name, a response to something that was already actively occurring. We wait until a student needs support and then we offer it to then, once they have "proven" their need (via various forms of testing). MTSS, conversely, is a support system, meaning it is pro-active and not just reactive. Wouldn't it be great if we could get students engaged in school supports before they are falling through the cracks? Well that's just what MTSS aims to do!

By seeing support staff as a part of the broader school context (and not just for "those" kids), MTSS provides every student with the opportunity to get a little extra boost. Thus MTSS is far more extensive and inclusive than RtI. It includes positive behavior intervention systems, overall curriculum design and more. It's like the difference between a major city's office of transportation and their public rail service (eg. the CTA in Chicago versus the Department of Transportation). While the CTA is a crucial part of Chicago transit, we can all agree that it's not the only component one considers when needing to get around the city. Similarly, RtI is just one aspect of a broader MTSS program.

Here is an excellent blog post about this and below is a handy graphic from that post to help explain more thoroughly the shift in thinking.

Hope this helps!

-Ms. OJ

Bullying Prevention Month Recap: Workshopping and Peacemaking

I will get to the recap in a second. First, another thing.

I did it!

I implemented a new program!

Okay, almost.

I have taken a bunch of free content from various sources and created my own version of Peacemakers, a peer mediation program for my 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students. Over the course of four days, I trained six students (two from each grade) in mediation techniques that include a peace path (which guides students in each step of the process of talking through a conflict), using "I" statements and promising to do better in the future. These students will mediate arguments on the playground between students in their grade, and hopefully build a little more self-sufficiency among the kids in solving their own issues.  I have almost finished, but I need to paint the peace path on the playground, and it keeps raining. I will update this blog with more information as it evolves.

Additionally, I did a bunch of anti-bullying with the information from the PACER Institute, and it was quite successful on the whole. Some of the activities (Above the Line/Below the Line and the Orange Unity chain) were big hits. The videos, to be honest, were less thrilling, but did a good job of introducing certain ideas about what bullying is and how students can help stop it. This is the only start of a larger conversation we need to have here at Giles. I intend to make regular mention of the subject and to be as present in the classroom as I can be in order to make sure it keeps happening.

For now, signing off.
-Ms. OJ

Diving into fall and Personal Space

Hello all!

PHEW! What a week! Giles is a-buzz with activity in October. Social work in the school is a complex dance, and that feels true now more than ever. Kids are getting a hang on what school is again, and the staff is teaching new material, tracking progress, intervening where needed and stepping back to see where the chips fall. Also it feels like every day there is a new after school activity or program. Student council, volleyball, soccer, band and chorus all started in the past week, and I swear, every child in the school is involved in all five activities.

I am implementing a new conflict resolution program, pushing in to the classroom, building the skills of students on my caseload and meeting with students as they are referred. It's heating up in a big, big way, but I am up to the challenge!

Last week I had the chance to push in to a class and do a quick workshop with second graders about personal space. A couple students seem to be having problems keeping their hands to themselves, and we (their teacher and I) thought it would make sense to take extra time out of the day to talk about why personal space is important. We read a great book, Personal Space Camp, and I used activities created by this wonderful special education teacher who sells her stuff on Teachers Pay Teachers. The story stars Louis, a boy who is struggling with controlling his body in the classroom and around the school. With the help of his teacher and Principal Goodkid, Louis learns about the importance of personal space and respect. If you are interested, I highly, HIGHLY recommend the book. The activities are lovely but you will probably want to create something that will work with your students and their needs in particular.

I am starting tomorrow with the anti-bullying programming I mentioned last week. I will reflect on that on Monday. For now, signing off.

-Ms. OJ

October is National Bullying Prevention Month!

This October, I am more keenly aware than ever that we are in the midst of bullying prevention month. As a first year school social worker, I am trying to implement new strategies while sticking to what I have time to accomplish.

Bullying happens all over, and as an adult who works in an elementary school, I am committed to making sure that every child I meet feels safe and supported. At  Giles, the school where I work, we have the wonderful advantage of two social workers, meaning that we are able to really support our students in ways that they need it most. I will be going into classrooms for the 1st through 5th graders and leading discussion and activities that are aimed at preventing bullying. Pretty much everything I will be doing came from the PACER National Bullying Prevention Center website. If you are thinking about doing work like this with your own children or in your school, this site will go a long way in providing you with some ideas. Additionally, the PACER Center itself is a great resource for parents of children with disabilities.

In the next couple of weeks, I will post some pictures and reflections about the various activities we do to get a sense of what works and what doesn't. Fingers crossed that it all works out beautifully!

-Ms. OJ

Hitting the Ground Running

Hello world!

This blog is intended to be a chronicle of my first full year as a school social worker. I will also be providing any resources I find that are helpful, and brief updates on what is going on at the elementary school where I serve Pre-K through 5th grade students.

So here goes!

I am reflecting on the first full month of our school year (we started on August 19th here). September was a busy flurry, with a whole lot of newness and readjustment. I got an office for the first time in my life, and it was a time to settle in and settle down. When first meeting students, I try to start off with ice breakers that go a step deeper than the average name game. My students all completed a family tree during social work time, writing the names of their family members on apples and pasting them to a picture of a tree. They then got to color in the apples and the tree however they wished.

Visual metaphor seems extremely helpful when trying to communicate to children. The family tree activity allowed children to reflect on how they are all the same (we all have a tree [family] with apples [relatives]) and how they are different (those apples are all different and our trees may be colored in differently). This is also an exercise in relating to images and symbols (a tree = a family), which I think may help kids who are not good at abstract concepts. I may be guessing about that, though.

Beyond introductions, we have just finished units about sharing, knowing ourselves, communication and making good decisions. As I reflect on our exploration of these topics, I will post anything that seems relevant or helpful. Thanks for reading!

-Ms. OJ