For our staff at Union Ridge (but maybe others will find this useful), I'll post some info for your first day (I likely won't be there but Sami will; unless the strike puts us off a few days!).
Follow-up from our training last week, here are some day one (or first few days') instructions to get you going:
Here is an updated schedule from Stephanie:
Remember the flow as students come in:
Morning work choice person (para assisting at cubbies) should hold up two choices and visually or verbally let (or prompt, if needed) the student to make a morning choice and go to that table:
Schedule sticks look like this and should be in the student's cubby so when they come in, they put their backpack away and get their daily schedule.
Stephanie will assign 1-2 paras as needed to bring students in from bus, 1 para to guide them through cubbies, getting schedule stick, and initial morning work choice, and 1 para at each table for morning work support.
First center rotation starts at 9:15 now to allow transition in time and flag and all that.
A transition "job" will be given to a student eventually, but Stephanie should do this at the beginning until the routine is understood by all. So for first rotation at 9:15, Stephanie will ring the transition bell, and paras should assist students to check their schedule and know where to go. Please know who you have at your first rotation and help those students get there. Student should walk to cupboard, find their data box, bring that to their first rotation. They should select their schedule icon and give it to the para at that table. Eye contact! Paras will need to walk them through this whole process to start.
Student materials look like this:
Remember that day one (and probably several after) will be students learning the routine, following, learning that YOU are the reinforcer or at least have access to "all things good," and are learning to use a token board. When they first come to your station, have materials ready, something fun. Deliver reinforcement for coming and sitting down, do an engaging activity. Eventually, you can start working on the assessment and/or starting goals. Take notes that you think will help me when I review their data and programs the first time.
Stephanie (or delegated person and eventually a student) will come around just before end of transition and give each student an eye-to-eye "1 minute" warning.
At that time, you can wrap up instruction and fill out this sheet with each student. For example, "Reading, you did awesome!" and circle the super happy face or "Writing time, you did pretty good" and circle the good face or "Math time was kinda tough today; you can try again tomorrow!" and circle the not-so-good face. Initial it and send it on when the transition bell goes off. Initially, the para that HAS the students will need to assist them to the NEXT station.
Eventually, we will add this staff note (below) that will be filled out between rotations that will stay in their binder, but for now, just get proficient at filling out the "How I did today" one above:
At the end of the day, the last para at the final rotation will take the last couple minutes of that rotation to pull out the How-I-Did sheet and fill out the back, referencing the front with the student if needed. Remember to focus on positives! Parents want to know what's going well as well as what needs to be worked on.
Oh, a word about choice boards. If you have a student who is ready to make choices (more than two can be overwhelming for some), I created choice boards that look like this:
Eventually, we will all learn what the students' preferred reinforcers are. Throughout the day, you can use this and allow them to choose off the board. Maybe computer is the favorite. You might want to have two computer choices on the board. The goal is to have them learn to find reinforcing value to a variety of activities and to reduce satiation, so change it up! And if they have used enough iPad time or had enough "treat/snacks," you can show them that it's not an option. Once they use up all the choices on the wheel, you can fill it up again!
For some of our very early learner students, initially, you'll be doing lots of informal preference assessments by simply holding up two options and saying, "Do you want goldfish or chip?" Once a choice is made, ask for some demand to be met (level of difficulty and time according to student skill set) before gaining that reinforcer. For some, it might be, "Ok, do this! [clap hands] You did it! Here's the chip!" For others, it might be "You chose iPad. OK, get 5 tokens, and then you get 5 minutes of iPad time!"
This will be some of your biggest things to do the first few weeks.
I'm sure more info will be coming soon, but I want to keep you thinking about day one and revving up for it as it's almost here!
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