Setting the Scene

What can you do with a bag of straws you find in class? ... Add some play dough and a few polystyrene balls... step back and watch. Instant team work, collaboration, design and creation. We went from a single, individually built spiral, to combining to make giant spirals. Dinosaurs were developed and finally bridge building. Great way to develop language before starting our writing session!                                                        

I always find it interesting accomodating those learners who need a different approach. Sometimes the clarity of the situation doesn't hit us... we need to listen carefully to our learners. Example: I've been trying to find a way to support one of my boys who has found this year challenging. He engaged fully with completing personalised reading activities on his iPad. I suggested he typed his responses as writing was becoming tedious given the limited space and visual difficulties. This was working to a point but transference of words from either his book or a previous activity page onto the screen was still tedious and distracting. At this point I could see mental fatigue setting in. He asked me if it would be ok to write the text onto the whiteboard table, photograph it, crop it down and embed it onto his page. Perfect solution. He was still attending to reading, writing, transference of text BUT doing it in a way that suited his learning style.