Dotty---Short Film to Watch and Ponder

I love the blog Film English, mainly because the author highlights short films, and I love shorts.
This author, Kieran Donaghy, actually is highlighting and providing lesson plans for English language teachers at the secondary level--but I look over his virtual shoulder and watch too!

One film he showed me was Dotty.  This was an awesome illustration of human interaction set in a nursing home in England.  A review is here: "This beautiful film tells the story of a lifetime in the span of 11 minutes. The simple, yet elegantly crafted tale begins with an elderly woman in a full care facility who wants to send a text message to her daughter.

A young woman brings her tea, but before the elderly woman will drink it, before she will do anything else, she must send this text to her daughter.

The young woman tries to help, but of course there is difficulty mastering the technology. Just when her patience has run out, so has yours. At different moments you will empathize with each of the women.

This film was a favorite at the 2013 Naples Film Festival."

As speech-language pathologists, we have all been there---mustering patience, modifying our language, putting ourselves in the shoes of the other person.  We often have to let go of our own agenda, and honor the agenda of our client whether the person is 5 or 85. As I get older, I empathize more and more with Dotty.  I could be her someday, and only hope that I am treated with respect and patience as I navigate my world the best I can. 

  I'm curious as to what do you readers think about the younger woman's interactions as she shifted from "talking at" Dotty, to actually providing instructions on how to send a text message?  

I highly recommend this film on many levels.

Go HERE to watch this short film on Vimeo (10 minutes).   

Back to School Packet

Hi Friends!   School will start before you know it!   
Here is a back to school activity packet that works for my kids who are on the more linguistically challenged side.  This is mainly for those kids who are not on the regular curriculum track.

Here's the description:

This is a literacy/activity pack to go with a “Back to School” theme. This pack meant for the more linguistically challenged students and is perfect for speech/special ed collaboration. This is nice for integrating literacy and language activities.

Enclosed are:

• “Riding to School” Interactive Book--Pages 3-16

• Icons for the “Riding to School” book– page 17

• Sentence Frame for “Riding to School” -page 18

• School Bus craft direction book –pages 19--28

• Communication Board for the School Bus craft—page 29

• Comprehension questions for School Bus Craft—page 30

• Sequencing activity for School Bus craft—page 31

• Bingo game for school vocabulary---page 32--36

You can check it out here at TPT

 On another topic, in honor of the SCOTUS ruling, here's one of my favorite songs.  Love conquers all!

In case you wonder about the clips in this video, some are from a 1992 movie "Scent of a Woman".

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Confused Math Student

Extended School Year really opens my eyes to the diversity of materials the kids work with, for better or for worse. 

One student today (first grade) was a bit confused by the last problem in this photo.  I'm all for teaching multiple meanings of words, but this was a new one for me (and her).   There must be a better way to assess number sense and order.




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"The Very Lonely Firefly"----Free visuals and sentence frame

If you are working this summer, you may want to pick up a copy of "The Very Lonely Firefly" and read it to the kids.

It's all about lights, a repetitive line, feelings of loneliness, fireworks, and a surprise at the end.  Your students will love it!   It fits in beautifully with the fireworks theme at this time of year.

I whipped up some free visuals to go with it.  These are made with Smarty Symbols.  You may download this set for use with this book, but do not use for other purposes.  The symbols are copyrighted.

GO HERE TO GET THE VISUALS FREE


 How is your summer going?  North Carolina has been a bit toasty.






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ESY Sale!! June 16th and 17th

For those of you who are working this summer, everything in my store is on sale for June 16th and 17th.
I have several literacy/language packets designed for the more linguistically challenged child.
These are what I'm using with the kids during ESY!  I thought you might need the same.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO MY TPT STORE!




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Fireworks Everywhere Book and Craft

School ended on Friday, and.....ESY starts on Monday.  No break for those who love their jobs!
ESY (otherwise known as Extended School Year) is like a summer camp for children with severe communication needs who need to maintain their skills.  Once I get over the shock of having to work during the summer, I love the kids, the different schools, and everything I do.

A few years ago, I created a "Fireworks Everywhere" book for summer school which was popular.  This was done on Boardmaker, and I freely shared it as a pdf file.  I still share it as a Boardmaker file free, but have converted the pdf file to Smarty Symbols (which I pay for).  Ultimately, all of my Boardmaker pdf files will be converted to Smarty Symbols for copyright reasons and also because the clip art is totally awesome.  It's just not free for me, so I list my materials for a modest price.

Check out the new and improved "Fireworks Everywhere" book and craft HERE.


On a personal note, if you have kept up with my daughter's adventures as a Peace Corps volunteer, she made it home after 27 months of being a goodwill ambassador and English teacher in Indonesia. I'm feeling the love.

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Three Days!!!!

So.....three and a half more days!.....   Of school, yes. 

More importantly, three more days until our daughter in the Peace Corps comes back from Indonesia.....for good!  She has been gone 27 months, and will come back having seen more than most people  do in a lifetime.  We are all so much in awe.

We visited the high school last August where she taught English. 

Thanks to 21st century technology, we chatted live frequently.

She went to cool places!

She led large groups of kids in a camp to empower Indonesian girls.

She will be missed there.











Three days!