Welcome back to a new a school year! Our first day of school was yesterday and things are already in motion - assessing students, meeting the new freshmen, contacting teachers, and getting the campus excited for another year of my Circle of Friends club.
I hope your summer was restful and fun - I spent a month in Ecuador in a Spanish immersion program and the results are already paying off as I met Spanish-speaking parents yesterday! I thought that as we all prepare for another school year that it might be a good time to give you a glimpse into my classroom (before the chaos of the year truly sets in!).
At my main high school site, I am fortunate enough to have a full-size classroom to conduct therapy, hold Circle of Friends meetings, and host IEP meetings. I really can't imagine having a smaller room, but I know that most secondary-level SLPs aren't as lucky!
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| Welcome to my classroom! |
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| That's my main therapy table at the front - I generally have the kids
sit facing the SMARTBoard so I can use it in lessons. The rest of the
desks are arranged in their formation for ease of small groups during
Circle of Friends. The other free-floating chairs are then pulled up the
pods of desks to facilitate interaction between the gen ed and
Mod/Severe students. You can see my beloved Time Timer next to the
SMARTBoard on the left! |
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| At the back of my room, I have a small student library with popular young adult books and books at a 2nd - 6th grade reading level. |
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| I'm trying something new this year! This is my "Good News" Board where students are encourage to write anything good that's happened to them and sign and date their contribution. I'm hoping to fill it up soon! |
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| My collection of yard sale and thrift store games we play during Circle of Friends! Pop the Pig, Connect 4, Uno, Don't Break the Ice and checkers are the big favorites. I decorated the edges of this shelving unit using washi tape that I bought at the $1 store. |
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| This is my collection of therapy materials... but to be honest, I don't even use half of them. I greatly prefer my self-made materials and curriculum-based resources. Most of these resources I inherited from the previous SLP and they have to stay at the school, so here they are. In a future blog post, I'll detail the ready-made products I do actually use on a regular basis! |
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| I post announcements here - as you can see, Circle of Friends is coming on Wednesday! I call my classroom my "Communication Improvement Class" for a reason. My students are not with me to work on "speech;" they are young adults preparing themselves to enter the real world and for that they need good communication. Phrasing is everything when it comes to student buy-in! |
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| This year I tie-dyed t-shirts for my Circle of Friends club members. Gen ed students receive a free t-shirt if they attend 5 meetings! |
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| This is my desk - gotta keep it fun and young-spirited! The students definitely appreciate my lava lamp, action figures, and nerdy references (Star Wars, Star Trek, Final Fantasy, and Dr. Who are all represented on my desk)! I got the little chairs as swag from a conference one time... so far I haven't had any brilliant ideas to use them, but they're so cute I can't toss them just yet! |
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| This is the area right next to my desk - I specifically brought over the rug and comfy chairs so that way when students and parents need to talk to me one-on-one, they feel a little more at ease and comfortable! | |
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So that's my classroom! What do you think, am I ready for a new school year? I hope so!! How are you preparing for the start of the new school year? Is your room ready?
I recently read this (
http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/flexible-classroom/) article about a flexible English classroom and it really inspired me to offer some more variable seating, lighting, and atmosphere to my room. I think next I'll be on the hunt for some bean bags and soft lighting!
I'm back to posting weekly now that school is in session and I have lots of therapy and assessment ideas to share this year! 2016-2017 is going to be great!
As always, it doesn't have to be fancy, just keep it fun and functional!
- Jillian, the No-Frills SLP
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