Speech and Language Curriculum

As I mentioned in my first post, the speech and language curriculum I have created for myself is based on the three levels of Discourse; conversation, narration, and exposition.  If you haven't already read the post on MindWing Concept's blog that talks about these three levels and why they are an ideal way to provide intervention for children with language disorders, check it out here.

I purchased the Story Grammar Marker program from MindWing last year so I could work on narrative skills with my kids, but soon realized that narration is only ONE level of discourse and while extremely important, I needed to target the other two levels as well.  I immediately began pleading my case to the Director of Pupil Services in my district on how my program would really benefit from the two additional programs from MindWing,  ThemeMaker (exposition) and Six-Second Stories (conversation).  Without hesitation, she went ahead and ordered them for me!  They arrived at my school a week later, which was the week before school ended.  YAY SUMMER READING MATERIAL!  I actually was THAT excited!  I read the books over and over this summer and put together a tentative curriculum for myself.  I emphasize tentative because we all have reflected on lessons and realized there were things we would have done differently.  I do that everyday!  So, while I do have a week-by-week plan set in place, I know that it will go through many revisions.  This year is my trial run and will hopefully work out the kinks so it can run smoothly in the future!

Click Here for the Speech and Language Curriculum (Please let me know if this link doesn't work!)

Take a look at the curriculum and stay tuned for more posts explaining those units/topics!

Classroom Tour!

Thought a little classroom tour would be a nice way to kick-off this new blog!  If you are a Pinterest addict like myself, you may notice some Pinterest-inspired decor!

This is my bulletin for the new dance/pom team that I am starting at my school for 4th and 5th grade girls!

View from the door

Classroom Expectations

Story Grammar Marker (SGM) Station for my Narrative Unit!

Student Work Wall

Adorable signs! - via Katie King at Queen of the First Grade Jungle

Grade level crates which include group folders and individual notebooks.  Individual binders for portfolios next to crates.

Data Door- ran out of trimmer...MUST FIX ASAP! :-)

Writing Center- via Cara Carroll at the First Grade Parade

Birthday cupcakes on top cabinets. Student file crate on counter. Calendar stuff on right tall cabinets.

Speech letters from Michaels-love them!

Whiteboard Word Wall- via Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files

Welcome table. Currently has my dance team tryout sign-up on there!  Hall Pass hanging above the table.

Behavior fishbowl.  Each student gets a carnival ticket at the end of the session for good behavior, paying attention, working hard, etc.

School rules above the door.

My Journey to Create Structure

I have always been the type of person who loves structure and routine.  Shortly after starting my job as a school speech and language pathologist, I realized this profession doesn't have a whole lot of that!  Students of varying skill levels, cognitive levels, and personalities come waltzing into your room and you quickly have to give a lesson that will meet all of their needs/goals….and in 30 minutes!  An overwhelming task for sure!  It was my goal to figure out how to to structure my school year (create a "curriculum") in a way that made planning easier for me, met all of my students’ goals, and could help them practice their skills in functional contexts.  I didn't like just flying by the seat of my pants and definitely didn't believe that playing a game every single session was going to help my kids utilize their skills in the general education classroom.  Drilling isolated language skills such as phonology, semantics, pragmatics, and syntax/morphology then expecting kids to go into other environments and use those skills is just not realistic all the time.  I learned, through the Story Grammar Marker program, we need not forget about the Discourse level which bridges the gap between language and literacy.  At this discourse level, we can help kids utilize their language skills in functional contexts and hopefully allow for greater carryover into other environments.  Not all kids are ready for the discourse level right off the bat.  Students who are very low cognitively may have to do that drilling of isolated skills for a great length of time before moving to the discourse level, if ever. 

After purchasing the Story Grammar Marker program last year (realizing many of my kids needed to be working on narrative skills) and religiously reading the Mind Wing Concepts blog; I realized that I could structure my school year around their concepts/programs which are also aligned with the Common Core Standards!  This is the blog post that gave me my idea:

http://www.mindwingconcepts.com/_blog/MindWing_Concepts_Blog/post/The_Core_of_the_Common_Core_State_Standards/

Since the elementary school I work at does trimester grading periods, it was easy to divide my year into the three levels of discourse (I call them “units” with my kids) that the blog post talks about (conversation, narration, exposition).  I figured by doing this I could keep all of my language groups on the same page and actually feel a sense of direction! 

Now, this is my first year trying this sort of set up, so I definitely expect many bumps in the road as I go.  This will be a great learning experience for me!  I created this blog so anyone else who loves structure as much as I do can follow my little experiment and decide if maybe this is something they would like to do at some point!  In addition to just keeping you updated on my curriculum, I also plan to post therapy documents I have created/used, activity ideas, classroom decorating ideas, and anything else I want to share!  I hope you find something in this blog that is useful to you!