Author: sensationalsped

Blog

I’M BACK!

sensationalsped

Hello everyone!

It has been SO long since I have been on here. By that, I mean this is only my second post in 6-7 months… WHY?!

Did my passion for this diminish? NO! (well.. maybe for a little bit, but I’ll get to that later in this post)

Did I overestimate how much I could handle at one time? YES!

So- here is what I have been up to:
-I started an Etsy shop.
-I got involved in Young Living Essential Oils (and started getting involved in the business). Click here if you’re interested in checking things out 🙂
-I graduated with my Master’s in Applied Behavior Analysis
-I started studying for the BCBA exam
-I have continued teaching my wonderful 4th/5th graders and am so proud of all that they have accomplished
-TOM AND I GOT ENGAGED! (Wedding is booked for October 2020!)

So basically, I started on 2 more business ventures, finished my degree, and worked. A LOT. Oh, and was given a very beautiful new piece of jewelry. It doesn’t really make sense that I couldn’t handle doing this blog, but then I started those 2 other things, but sometimes you have more than 1 passion and want to dip your toes in multiple pools. Also- I am a very impulsive person and when I want something, I go for it. Now I just need to work on balancing it… (let me know if you have figured out how to make more than 24 hours in a day)

Does that mean I want to do those things more than this blog? I questioned that for a little while myself, but tonight I sat down to finally put some new products on my TpT store and fell in love with it all over again. After really thinking about it, I decided the main reason that I drifted away from this is because I wasn’t getting tons of followers/selling my products so I didn’t feel like I was making a difference… well as I reflect on that- obviously I wasn’t doing those things because 1. I wasn’t involved in the education community and 2. I only had 2 products on my store! I have always said “I don’t care about the number of followers I have.” Guess what- that is a lie. I believe that anyone who is trying to be successful in a business or impact society in a meaningful way cares about how many followers they have. I also strongly believe that that is not a bad thing. Caring about how many followers I have means I care about how many people I have the ability to influence. It means I care about how many people I can reach to help them grow in their own education. It means I care about the number of connections I make in order to continue learning things myself.

I am also a big believer that we should hold each other accountable. So I am asking that anyone reading this holds me accountable for the goals I am setting in regard to this blog/store. These are short-term goals that I want to adhere to for the next 3 months. At that time, I will reevaluate and determine if I should keep the same goals or (hopefully) make bigger goals for myself. Here they are:
-post on Instagram at least twice a week (stories or posts)
-upload at least 1 new product each week
-comment/interact with at least 5 Instagram posts each day (via my sensationalsped account)

 

That was a very jumbled up post, but if I have learned anything in the past 6 months it is that you’re not going to get anywhere by not sharing. So share the raw stuff and embrace it.

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Teachers Pay Teachers

Differentiated Morning Work

sensationalsped

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I have uploaded my first product!!!

For my first product on Teachers Pay Teachers, I am sharing my differentiated morning work. Get it HERE!!! I utilize this every single day with my students. At the beginning of the year, we had to prompt all students through every answer. By the end of the year, most of them were completing the work completely independently, without even having to look at the board for reference.

There are 3 levels included in this product:

For my students that independently (or with minimal prompting) generate their own ideas, I use pages 3 and 4 of the download (printed 2 sided). The students are expected to follow along on the SMARTBoard (I will get to that later) and circle the correct answer. Next, they should write the correct answer on the lines below. Some of my students require highlighter prompting or some other similar type of prompt. I try to encourage the students to use their paper as a model when writing, but some benefit from a white board model that is closer to them and larger (especially if their hand covers up whatever they are trying to copy when they are writing). On the back, the students generate their own ideas (sometimes with help from teachers) and draw a picture of either of the described activities in the box.

Pages 5 and 6 are a little more simplified. There is no difference on the front between this level and the previous level, but the back provides choices. I like to utilize this sheet for students who have a hard time generating their own ideas. I also use it for students that tend to become noncompliant while completing worksheets because it is easier to build momentum with choices rather than an open ended question.

Page 7 and 8 are the most simplified version of this morning work. I only utilized this page for 2 students for about 3 weeks at the beginning of the year. I really wanted to work on handwriting and made the appropriate modifications on the other sheet to make that possible (highlighter prompts, covering up extra space, pencil adaptations, etc.). However, this sheet is great for students that are working simply on the skill of copying from a model with the circles on the front. The back does allow for some handwriting practice, but using large lines to accommodate for fine motor difficulties.

Earlier, I mentioned a SMARTBoard Notebook that I use during morning work. It is still under review right now, but I will add the link here once it is ready. We start each day with a question. Sometimes it is a yes or no question and other times it is a different question with 2 options. Sometimes there is a correct answer, but most of the times I like to allow my students to express themselves and make their own choices.The students take turns coming up and moving their name to whichever response they choose. I like having them come up because it gets them moving a little bit and also allows me a second to give them a little more of a personalized greeting. Next, we go through various slides that include most things you would think of in a typical morning meeting (the day of the week, the month, the weather, etc.). At the end, there is a slide that looks exactly like page 7 of the product referred to above. At this time, we pass out their individualized morning work sheets. We go through this slide all together and the students follow along on their own pages. At the end of the year, many of my students were able to complete the entire sheet before it was up on the board, which is AMAZING! That means they are retaining the information from throughout the activity and attending to what we are talking about.

After we do the front together, they do the back on their own. The teachers walk around to help any students that need it. Students are expected to raise their hand when they are finished so that a teacher can check their work. This is a skill I really like to work on because as my students become more independent, having their work checked will become more relevant.

If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, please reach out to me! I would love to hear your thoughts!

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Blog

How do YOU take care of YOU?

sensationalsped

When deciding what to make my first post about I thought about something within the classroom, something about acceptance, something more about me, but I landed on self-care.

Self-care is such an important aspect of life for EVERYONE. As teachers we are often very dedicated and passionate. We also have a work ethic like no other. While these are all amazing qualities, they often times create conflict when it comes to self-care. More often than not, I spend my nights working on… more work. I recognize that it is important to take care of myself, but it is something I struggle with. I struggle with putting myself first sometimes! When I do, I need simple things that don’t take a ton of time.

I have made a list of some of my favorite things to do/use when I do some self-care:

Baby Foot Peel– This thing is amazing! I spend most of my days on my feet and this peels it all away! It is also something that I can do when I am just sitting on the couch doing nothing 🙂

Get the top 10 free games on the app store- This is one of the odd things that I like to do when I am relaxing. I will download the top 10 free (always free) games from the app store and then play them all for at least 5 minutes each. Most of the time, I only like 1 of those 10, but it helps me find something else that I can do in my free time that takes my mind off everything. My favorite game right now is called Weave the Line.

READ!– This is something I have very recently rediscovered. I am a big fan of series. I love the Hunger Games series, Divergent series, and I am currently reading the Harry Potter series for the first time. I was one of the people who was convinced I would not like Harry Potter at all (and didn’t want to conform to what everyone else was doing), but I’m in love. I read books on my phone and it allows me to do it whenever and where ever!

Shower– I love to take long, warm showers… Yes, showers. Never baths.

Decorate– I love decorating or looking at Pinterest for decorating ideas. It is usually pretty evident when I am stressed because it usually turns into me redecorating something! My favorite store when we moved into our apartment a couple of months ago was At Home.

How do you find time to take care of you and what do you do? I would love to hear from you!

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