Social Skills Through Games

One area of need for many students with special needs is social skills. One way I have found to teach these skills is through playing games, specifically cards or board games. My classroom's favorites are UNO, Skip-Bo, and Monopoly. If you think about it games are perfect for learning how to win and lose appropriately, following a common set of rules, taking turns, maintaining attention on a task, thinking about another persons perspective, and communicating disagreements accordingly.

In the past I have taken this one step further and have even brought in peers to play with us on occasion. There are many benefits of the positive peer interactions. The peers help my students by acting as role models and my students impact their peers by exposing them to the diverse learners. The peers also guide my students to appropriate behavior. If they are getting too loud or excited the peers tell them. Peers also initiate conversations and model eye contact. I have also found it to be an incentive for students with behaviors, they can only participate if the meet set expectations with their goals.

Both my students and the peer buddies have looked forward to the days when they come play games. I even have these students come in during semester testing time wanting to help in the room or catch up with my students. This is something they don't have to do, they could just as easily stay home or sleep in, but they chose to come visit us. In this environment my students show a more relaxed side of themselves free from academic pressures. Due to changes in schedules I haven't been able to use peers as much as I would like lately, but these games are simple and effective tools in teaching the ever important social skills.

Where in the World is Ms. Gilbert?

As a special education teacher I can be anywhere in my building. (I am currently in a building with 3 floors and at any given time I could be in one of nine classrooms, the office, copy room, or storage closet.) Since  putting a tracker on my ID badge was not an option, I needed something to let my students and paraprofessionals know where I was if they needed to find me.  

This board helps them know where I am if I am not in my room. This is especially helpful if I have students come in to take a test or for an intervention time and I am not there. Instead of sitting and doing nothing they look at the board and can go find me. With 3 schedules to juggle I sometimes forget about where I need to be, or am late from another class. 

With this system in place students can easily find me or know to be patient because I will be right back (copy room or office for example). Since many of my students are low readers, there are room numbers and pictures of the content the teacher teaches to help those students find me (disclaimer: I am not an art teacher). One of my dyslexic students has looked at the room numbers and pictures to deduce what room I am in and has successfully found me using this strategy. I have helper students who will remind me and hold me accountable to changing the magnet if we are leaving or entering the room. At least this system lets everyone know where I am... as long as I remember to use it! 😀

About me

My name is Jenn Gilbert and I am a special education teacher. Ever since my formative middle school years I have wanted to be a special education teacher. I was crushed when I was enrolling in college and I found out one could no longer major in the area because of the high burnout rate. Fast forward ten years and here I am entering my 5th year of teaching. This is impressive because in special education there is a saying that 90% of teachers will burnout in the first 5 years. And as any special education teacher, new or experienced, will tell you burnout is real! After dealing with a challenging behavior or getting news of a new or up-and-coming student, others will often say, "That's job security." And my response is always the same, "No, that's 90% burnout rate."

In my 5 years of teaching I have primarily worked in a self-contained level II classroom. My students are a little more higher need, usually needing some life skills instruction. I teach middle school, grades 5-8. In all we are small to medium sized rural district with average class sizes ranging from 60-80 students. Like I stated I work with 4 grade levels and 3 different bell schedules, but we don't have bells, so it is just a free for all especially when your one of my students who can't tell time on an analog clock. This year my students were transitioned into general education classes, which is another reason I wanted to start this experiment. I want to share how I am able to make this work or get ideas on how to make it better.  

Reflecting on the last 5 years I realized I want to connect with others and share some of my experiences with those who are entering the profession. In doing so, I hope to share what I know, hold myself accountable in learning new strategies, and keep myself from being a burnout statistic. So here it is- an insight to to my classroom and how I want to improve myself, my teaching, and my students.