Long Presentations

In class on (4/12) the first three groups presented their long presentations to the class.  The first three categories we focused on were book altering (arts and crafts), challenge courses, and finally music and rhythm.  The most innovative and unique which was my favorite was book altering.  Ive never seen or heard of it before so it really caught my eye and I'm excited to finish my book and definitely use this in the future!  What I really liked about book altering was it can be used and adapted to many populations.  Its a great outlet for self expression and really focuses a lot on fine motor skills.  By taking and old book you are personalizing it to make it your new book.  Some of the stations they had set up were shadow windows, magazine clippings, paint, bubble paint, and paper mache.  For example if you wanted to do this with youth at risk, maybe having a volunteer help with scissors or having bald ended scissors, and having a volunteer help with the box cutter for the shadow boxes would make this activity more appropriate for this population.  Other than a few adaptations this would be a great activity for kids to express themselves!

Ice Owls

The Ice Owls are a very unique and innovative hockey team from Toronto Canada.  They are a hockey team composed of players who are blind or visually impaired.  Now many  of you are wondering how this is possible but its the puck which makes this possible.  The puck is a hollow plastic wheel composed of nuts, bolts, and hardware.  It rattles and hisses flying across the ice which makes it quite easy for the players to follow the flow of the game.  The Ice Owls team was formed in 1972 and has been growing ever since then.  Some of the rules are different compared to a normal hockey game, the biggest rule change is the height of the puck on a shot into the goal.  To make it possible and fair for the goalie to stop the puck it has to be below 3 feet to count the goal.  As another rule the forwards usually have the greatest degree of sight, followed by the defense men, then the goalie who is usually completely blind. 

Here is the website for further information: http://www.iceowls.ca/

Relaxation

In class on (4/5) we learned about relaxation and actually did some guided imagery to relax ourselves in this stressful part of the semester.  We talked about how we personally reduce our stress levels and learned some different techniques.  We learned that breathing is a very important step in the relaxation process.  Some of the different techniques we looked at are laughter yoga and guided imagery.  Laughter yoga is pretty innovative and definitely takes the right person to facilitate this.  Watching a video on it just makes me feel uncomfortable for the person leading it, its something I would never be able to facilitate.  Guided imagery is really relaxing and really focus on  breathing and relaxing every part of your body.  After this lesson on relaxation we broke off into our groups to plan for our long presentation.  My group actually has relaxation so we were planning on doing some of the things he mentioned in his PowerPoint.  It we great to get a little insight to relaxation before our groups turn to present. 

Virtual Schools

In class on (3/29) a teacher/representative came in from Wisconsin Virtual Schools to talk to us about online virtual school for kid’s k-12.  This virtual school is not only for students with disabilities but also any students that feel the need to move faster than in a classroom or maybe they don’t like the social setting of going to school at a brick and mortar school.  It was a very interesting presentation since I never knew this existed that we could do all of our schooling through the computer.  I’ve taken one online class so far in college and I don’t mind it, it’s very convenient and suitable for some people.  But on the other hand it lacks interaction and face to face communication with the professor which can be tricky in some instances.  He mentioned multiple times that this school based through a computer is great for some people but not for everyone.  The gentleman covered everything you need to know about the virtual school from how to enroll through actually showing us certain courses he is teaching as of right now.  The biggest advantage to virtual schools is having the ability to move at a pace that you are comfortable with.  It gives you the time you need to process information and accomplish tasks needed.  It doesn’t give you the pressure of being in a social setting with classmates pushing you at a faster pace than you are comfortable with.  He seemed to stress a lot how flexible they are with student’s schedules which I thought was pretty cool.  For example is a student likes to sleep in and focuses well in the afternoon to supper time, that will be the time when they have class.  Virtual schools give you freedom to control when you want and feel most confident learning. 

Towards the end of the class period he handed out IEP’s to each group to look at and become familiarized with.  An IEP is and individualized Education Plan.  Each student has one of these explaining their interests and strengths along with what to watch out for along with their disability if they have one to be able to form a plan suitable for them specifically.  When each of the groups received one we had to think of five recreational activities we might plan to do with our student based of their care plan on the strengths and weakness.  This activity gave us a hands on experience, learning how to read about someone and how to implement activities that will help them learn and grow.  Here is their website for more information:  http://wisconsinvl.net/about-wvl/