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In the Sharritt family we have 70% of our birthdays in the span of 7 weeks in June through August. It’s both a joy and a challenge to buy gifts, get together to celebrate, and prepare birthday feasts and treats for 7/10 of my favorite folks on the planet. I have even celebrated my January birthday in July for the obvious reason that it won't be cancelled due to an ice storm. 

Gifts this year have ranged from a nose piercing for my daughter turning 16, power tool batteries for my son turning 33, and a train trip adventure for my granddaughter, turning 4. 

Requested (and surprise) treats this summer include:

•  A Victoria Sponge served with local peaches for Grace who is both a fan of the British Bake Off and all the fruit
• Brownie sundaes for Victoria turning 17 
• Kouign Aman pastries for my daughter in law, Lisa (also BBO lover)
• Chocolate Pie for Ben
• Anything with sprinkles (Nevaeh and Maggie are kindred spirits on this one)

To celebrate, we have had take-out barbeque on the porch, visits to Chicago, and one of the teenagers is going to have friends over for a giant hide-and-go-seek-in-the-dark at the farm this week. 

Each element of the celebrations connect with each individual and their personality and ongoing story. Even though these are my people, there is something new to be discovered in their identities each year.

We are a few weeks away from returning to school and if you are a teacher you will begin to discover the identities and stories of a new group of students. Edutopia  recently posted  an article and video about connecting identity to learning through language, STEM, and the arts. In the video I noticed the way that each student felt heard and respected, and thought about how each must feel celebrated as well. 

Project-Based Learning is also a great way to add Universal Design for Learning in your classroom. Our PATINS specialists can work with your district, school or department to train your team on these methods. 

Students thrive when they are known. Consider taking the time to work some celebrating into your lessons this fall. We’d love to help you plan the parties! 

 

What is the most interesting thing you learned?

Why is this the one question I ask all students? It seems simple at first, but this question alone has given me vivid insight into who my students are at their core while sneakily working on enhancing language skills. Here are 5 reasons why.

1. Build rapport. Instead of relying on the "About Me" worksheets students fill out once in July or August, you can keep the lines of communication open between you and your students all year long. We all know what's cool one minute, is out the next anyways.

2. Work on skill deficits. With this one question alone, SLPs (and anyone working in the school) can help foster social skills, correct use of conjunctions, and expanding verbal/written sentence length. For social skills, students can work on turn taking, topic maintenance, asking follow up questions, perspective taking and reading nonverbal cues. For example, "What do you think X found interesting? How do you know?" If students answer with a simple sentence, you can use a visual of conjunctions to prompt them for more information. FANBOYS is always a favorite.

3. Find out what they've truly learned. Wait 10-15 minutes, a class period, or even a day and then ask what they found interesting from an earlier lesson. It may be a small detail you've glanced over that actually piqued their interest while they may have forgotten about information needed for the test. Now, you know what needs re-teaching.

4. Learn more about what engages them and use that information for future lessons. Students may reveal surprising interests such as loving opera music or a passion for tornado chasing. These are two real life interests brought up by my former students and you bet these were incorporated in more than one speech session.

5. There is no "wrong" answer. It's a low stress way for students to participate who may not otherwise felt confident enough to speak up with their ideas. Even if they say nothing was interesting, they can explain why and what can be different next time.  

As you can see, "What is the most interesting thing you learned?" packs a lot of educational "punch" with virtually no material preparation (unless you choose to - this could easily be done on a Padlet, white board, or other discussion format should you like a record of it).

Weave this question into your school day and comment below your thoughts on my all-time favorite question.