pathway2success, Author at The Pathway 2 Success

Practicing Coping Strategies (with a craft!)

January 13, 2017 by pathway2success 7 Comments

Having a “toolbox” of coping strategies is critical for a child or young adult to deal with challenging emotions. Sometimes the emotions are due to anxiety, depression, anger, stress or other strong feelings. Regardless of the reason, it’s important to teach, practice, and choose coping strategies that work for each individual child.

Using a Coping Strategies Fortune Teller can help with all of those things in a fun, interactive, and hands-on way.

It’s best to have an example fortune teller already made for students to view and play with. Show your students how it works and explain that coping strategies are listed inside.

Next, share the list of coping strategies with your students. Discuss the strategies in small groups or partners. Have students identify their top 8 coping strategies. Remind them to choose activities that they think will help them personally. It’s okay that everyone has different coping strategies!

Hand out the Coping Strategies Fortune Teller. Have students fill it in with colors and their top 8 coping strategies. It’s fun to color the entire fortune teller, too.

Students will cut out their fortune tellers and then use the directions to fold their craft together. Let students practice their coping strategies by playing with their fortune tellers in partners or groups. Encourage students to read each others’ coping strategies and even practice them, when appropriate. This can be a great activity in small groups to discuss strategies and identify what works best for each individual student.

Best of all, kids can keep their Coping Strategies Fortune Teller for times when they need extra support. They can use it to help them pick a coping strategy when they are feeling anxious, stressed, sad, or angry.

Get your Coping Strategies Fortune Teller Craft to make with your students or clients. You can decide whether you want kids to make their own with individualized strategies or you can use the template already provided. It’s fun, easy, and will have lasting effects for kids and young adults who need support with coping strategies.

How to Progress Monitor Goals and Objectives

January 7, 2017 by pathway2success 2 Comments

As a special education teacher, I work to stay on top of my progress monitoring for the kids on my caseload. Between juggling IEP meetings, parent phone calls and emails, collabing with regular education staff, prepping, and teaching my daily lessons, it gets challenging. This problem is even more difficult at the middle and high school level, when the kids need their valuable resource room time to focus on complex homework assignments and projects they genuinely need help with. So, to solve this problem, I developed a Weekly Goals Worksheet that you can download for free and use right away. The idea is really simple: I give each student one worksheet a week on Friday. I make the worksheets far ahead of time, using their individual goals and objectives from their IEPs (Individualized Education Program). That way, I keep track of data on all goals and objectives for all my students throughout the year.

Here is how I do it:

Get your free Weekly Goals Worksheet

1. I make several copies of the Weekly Goals Worksheet. Download the free Weekly Goals Worksheet if you don’t have it yet! I always keep extra copies on hand. Essentially, you’ll need at least 2 per objective, so the number will depend on your students.

2. I print out my students’ IEPs. I personally love having a paper copy to reference, but you’re welcome to just work from the online document if that works for you. Working on one student at a time, I go through their goals and objectives.

3. On the Weekly Goals Worksheet, I write the first goal and first objective on top of the page. Then, I’ll create 5 sample problems for that specific objective. For example, if the student’s math objective is to add and subtract fractions with common denominators, I would write out 5 different problems on the worksheet. I always make at least two separate Worksheets for the same objective. I make copies of them, too. That way, I can reuse the same worksheets for the student, as needed.

4. I continue this process for each goal and objective. I then place all the worksheets into a student binder and label it “Weekly Goals”. Using simple tab dividers helps you separate the different sections.

5. On any specific day (I choose Fridays), make it a routine for your students to complete a Weekly Goals Worksheet in their data binders. For most students, you can probably assign which page to complete. For students who are more work-avoidant, you can allow them to work on any page of their choice.

For some goals/objectives that are more difficult to measure this way, I’ll ask the student to turn in a piece of work to me. For example, let’s say the objective is to “Answer open-ended text response questions by turning the question around”. I will ask the student for a piece of writing that would require this, such as history textbook questions or reading response questions. I’ll choose the first 5 questions. Then, on the Weekly Goals Worksheet, I use those 5 questions to assess his or her progress on the objective. How many of those questions did the student actually turn the question around? If it was 3/5, the score would be 60%. I staple the student page to the Worksheet (or make a copy if he/she needs it back!).

I will admit this does take some time and work to prep ahead for. However, once you do the work, you are all set to take all the data you need. Best of all, it allows you to be totally prepared with data for all the IEP meetings and parent conferences. Of course, this makes it so much easier to write specific goals and objectives for the next annual review. You can start small by choosing just 2 or 3 students you know you need to collect the most data on. Then, once you get more comfortable, you can grow from there.

If you are a special education teacher needing ideas for more progress monitoring, consider my Special Education Teacher Binder. Materials focus on IEPs and team meetings, progress monitoring of academics and behavior, classroom materials, building a classroom community, planning, lessons, organization, and other forms to make the life of the special education teacher easier. For many forms, there are two different versions so that one is editable for your individual need as an educator.

5+ Ways to Encourage Gratitude

December 26, 2016 by pathway2success 2 Comments

Gratitude means feeling thankful and appreciative for what you already have. By just taking the time to recognize what we are grateful for, we can become happier, more relaxed, and keep a positive mindset. Encouraging kids and young adults to develop gratitude has been an interesting area of study. Some research highlights that getting in tune with your gratitude help social, health, and emotional well-being. Just a few examples include better relationship skills, more trusting of others, fewer feelings of stress, better ability to bounce back from challenges, reduced feelings of jealousy, and improved quality of sleep. In order to really teach and encourage gratitude with kids and young adults, we have to first understand it ourselves, though.

So how does gratitude really make us happier? It just makes sense, really. The more you pay attention to the positive things in your life, the happier you will be. Best of all, there are truly SO many things to be grateful for each and every day. Too often, we overlook the small things (and even the big things) that add to our lives. You might be grateful for: Your sister helping to clean up after a family dinner, the smell of rain in the spring, how great you feel after a morning workout, the taste of your favorite dessert, or the ability to stay in touch with your cousin who is thousands of miles away. Talking and writing about those things we are grateful for really brings them back to life. Once you do, you realize how much you really have to be grateful for.

Here are some simple ways you can encourage gratitude with kids and young adults:

1. Start a daily practice. Have students write down at least one thing they are grateful for every day. This can be a simple routine first thing in the morning or before students go home at the end of the day. It doesn’t have to take long, but it will start to positively impact kids and young adults. By recognizing what they are grateful for, both big and small, students will see that there is so much positive around them. You can start with this free Gratitude A to Z printable.

2. Say “thank you”. And encourage others to say it, too. Make it a normal routine to express gratitude when someone does something kind. Not only will it help you express your gratitude, but it can be a quick statement that means a lot to someone else. Best of all, it really doesn’t take any time at all.

3. Use gratitude slips. These are a simple and really fun way to tell someone else you appreciate them. Print these free gratitude slips on different colored paper and hang them around. When someone wants to use one, they can just simply rip the slip off and kindly say “thank you”.

4. Start gratitude journals. One of the best ways to practice showing your gratitude is by writing in a gratitude journal. All it takes is 5-10 minutes per day that you dedicate to writing in a journal about what you are thankful for. If kids struggle with writing skills, they can simply make bullet points or lists. Gratitude journal writing is a fantastic activity to do in the morning to start the day off with a positive mindset, or in the afternoon to bring positive closure to the day. Teach kids that they can write about anything: feeling healthy, a certain best friend who can be trusted, or being able to watch the phases of the moon. Over time, research indicates that gratitude journals help build positive thinking skills and increase happiness. These effects don’t just happen overnight, but are grown over time.

Strategies for practicing gratitude with kids and young adults do not have to be challenging! Have students use an empty jar or tissue box and add their gratitude slips to it every day. They can read the slips when they are feeling anxious, worried, upset, or just need some extra positive in their lives! #gratitude #pathway2success

5. Make a gratitude jar. Just use any old jar. Clean it up and place it somewhere special. Once in a while (or every day, if you choose) practice writing down at least one thing you are grateful for. Write your gratitude note on a small slip of paper, fold it up, and place it in the jar. When the jar gets filled, open the jar and read all the things you are grateful for. Not only does it encourage kids to find and write more things to be grateful for so they can fill the jar, but it’s fun to reminisce and remember all the little things we have in our lives when we review them. This is also something easy that kids can do at home with their families.

6. Create a gratitude club. Find some eager students who want to work together to create a more positive community in your school or organization. Students can develop ways to share and encourage kindness and gratitude with others.

Teachers, parents, support professionals, and other adults can get a lot out of teaching gratitude to kids and young adults. If you focus on the positive things in life, you are just more likely to feel happy. In turn, you will return that happiness by being kind to others. It really becomes a cycle of kindness and a positive climate. While focusing on gratitude is great for all students, it can be especially beneficial for kids with special needs or emotional struggles. This includes kids struggling with managing their emotions or behavior. By focusing on the positive, kids can build their confidence levels over time. I have created a Gratitude Workbook where you can get all of these ideas and more resources for teaching gratitude. Best of all, not only will kids benefit from practicing gratitude, but all adults will, too.

Teaching Kids to Work Together

December 11, 2016 by pathway2success Leave a Comment

Having kids and young adults working in groups (and partners) is just part of everyday life as as teacher. It can feel wonderful when you see a small group of kids collaborating effectively and learning together about a new topic. It’s true that many kids really learn best from each other when compared to learning from a teacher at the front of the classroom. On the flip side, though, sometimes setting up groupings in your classroom can be a nightmare. Whether or not the groups work well can have a huge impact on your classroom management, lesson, and the entire flow of the classroom.

Here are some simple tips that teachers can implement in their classrooms to support and facilitate cooperative partners and groups.

Tips for Teachers During Group Work
1. Choose the groups ahead of time. It might be tempting to let kids pick their own partners, especially since it is quicker and easier on the teacher. Most of the time, this doesn’t work out nearly as effectively as teacher-chosen groupings. Spend the extra time up front to pick your groups and it will pay off ten fold. Ahead of time, you can make a list of a few possible groupings that work. Keep this as your backup if you forget to make groups ahead of time.

2. Give directions in many different ways. Once it is time to get started in a group, there are always a few kids who didn’t hear the directions and aren’t sure what to do. This can really create mayhem in group situations. Set up a routine with having directions written on the board, written on paper, said aloud, and/or listed on your website. Give kids multiple opportunities to go back to those directions without needing you right there in order to promote independence.

3. Teach skills for working in groups. Don’t assume that all kids know and understand how to work cooperatively in groups. Many don’t. Spend time teaching how to work effectively with partners and in small groups. Giving some “group ground rules” can save the day (and year).

4. Identify the kids who need stronger supports. Some students will need extra attention during partner and group time, such as reminder cards, frequent check-ins, or a checklist to keep themselves on track.

5. Give choice and differentiation in your group work. Provide choice and supports so that all kids have the opportunity to find success. Perhaps a student who struggles with writing doesn’t write the paper but draws for the group. You may also choose to have different groups doing different things. Give a lower level reading passage to those who have similar reading skills, for example. As long as each group is working and making progress, it’s okay if they get to their learning goal in different ways.

6. Modify assignments for students with special needs. Assignments that are just too challenging for kids with disabilities are a recipe for disaster when it comes to group work. Again, make sure that every student has a way to find success. Modifying each assignment specific to student needs is a way to reach that goal. Consider learning more about how to modify for students with special needs.

Working With Others – Groups and Partners

If you need more support in helping kids learn how to work effectively in groups, consider this Working With Others Workbook. Using this workbook, a teacher or specialist can work with a small or large group of kids to develop those cooperative learning skills necessary for success. The workbook is set up to be completed in order, with skills that build on each other. For example, kids will first learn and understand why it’s important to work effectively with others, understand how to be a responsible partner, and then even identify problem behaviors they might exhibit when working in groups.

When it comes to learning to work together, lots of guided practice will make the difference. Not only is group work is often something that kids really love, but a time when lots of student to student learning occurs. It will be worth the effort in the end!

My Top Three Holiday Resources & Giveaway!

November 27, 2016 by pathway2success Leave a Comment

Top 3 Holiday Resources

Teachers Pay Teachers is having a Cyber Sale on Monday and Tuesday! That means teachers can save up to 28% off of great resources with the code CYBER2016. To celebrate the sale, I am giving away a $10 TpT Gift Card! Use the form below to enter to win your gift card.

With the upcoming Christmas season, there are so many fun activities to do with kids in the classroom. Whether you are writing, making crafts, or just engaging in simple conversation, December is a great time to have fun while incorporating critical learning skills, too. Here are just a few of my favorite Christmas and winter activities from my store.

1. Christmas Writing Activities – This is a set of Christmas writing activities that allows students to write about: your favorite Christmas memory, a letter to Santa, three gifts to give to someone else, and a thank you letter to someone important. It includes four different writing activities and prompts. Each activity also has teacher directions, a graphic organizer, sentence starters, student writing exemplars, a rubric, and an editing checklist. The writing activities also differentiated for your learners, so some students may be writing 5-paragraph essays, while others are only writing 1-paragraph. When kids finish their writing, they can read the writing aloud to the class, decorate and design the writing before giving to a family member, or staple to a holiday bulletin board.

2. Christmas Fill the Blank Mad Libs – This is a set of 10 printable Christmas worksheets for students to use as a mad libs writing and reading activity. The ten stories are all focused around Christmas fun, including Santa, reindeer, Mrs. Claus, and more. This is a fun activity for reading practice and for learning parts of speech.

To complete a worksheet, students fold back on the dotted line. Then, they write a word for that fits each part of speech or category. It’s MUCH more fun if students write a random word in each category first before reading the story. Once students write in each word, they should unfold the story and rewrite their words right in the story. Then, the fun begins when students read the silly story. Have run reading stories with partners and in front of the whole class. Kids will be excited to share their stories!

3. Winter Social Skills Task Cards – These Winter Social Skill Problem Solving Task Cards are a pack of over 100 fun task cards that highlight social scenarios and situations that kids can discuss and identify how they would solve each situation. The cards are organized into five different sets that target different situations: With friends, with family, in the classroom, at recess, and at lunch. These task cards are completely centered around winter topics, including Christmas, snow, snowball fights, skiing, hot chocolate, and more.

Social skills task cards can be an important way to incorporate social and emotional learning in your classroom. Best of all, the social conversations they create can help create bonds between kids as they help each other learn.

Enter to win your TpT Gift Card here! Good luck and happy shopping!

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How to Modify for Special Education

November 12, 2016 by pathway2success 7 Comments

Supporting kids with special needs works best when both regular education and special education staff work together. That’s why it is helpful for all teachers to understand how they can modify and accommodate for students in their classrooms. For newer teachers, learning that you need to modify work for kids of various levels can be a bit overwhelming. Even teacher who are highly experienced might struggle with how much to modify. It’s really a balance because you are constantly trying to find out what is “just tough enough” to push your students, with it still being at an appropriate level that can help them grow. Too easy and the work doesn’t really challenge them. Too difficult and kids might shut down, causing them to not learn anything at all. It’s okay (and actually good) to fine-tune your level of modifications over time.

Most importantly, if a child requires a modification according to their IEP, the teacher needs to provide it. The IEP is a legal document and those modifications and accommodations were agreed upon the child’s planning team. Some modifications are specifically listed, such as having a word bank or being able to use a calculator. Other times, modifications are left up to the discretion of the teacher. If there is something you are unsure about in the child’s list of modifications, talk to the spec

ial education teacher and get further clarification.

Here is a quick reference list for some ideas to pull from when you need to modify for a child’s assessment, homework, or other assignment:

Reduce the Workload:

Assign even or odd problems only – This is a great strategy for homework. It’s simple and quick for the teacher, but still gives the child similar practice to everyone else.
Select specific problems and omit extra ones
Give 1 essay question instead of 3 or 4
Give choice – Let the student select 10 problems to do or let them pick whether to do the front or back of a worksheet. This will help with motivation, too, since the child sees they have a choice in the assignment.
Put fewer problems on each page – This will be less visually distracting.
For matching, reduce the number of items to match or break them in half
Reduce the number of multiple choices – There will be less to select from. For example, if everyone else has a quiz with 4 possible multiple choice answers, your student might only have 2 or 3 options to choose from.
Eliminate true or false questions – These questions can be extremely tricky, especially for kids with language-based disorders.

Modify the Content:

Give a similar but different assignment with lower grade level material in area of weakness (math, reading, or writing) – For example: if the topic is computing with fractions, the student might be drawing fraction pictures. This will also help you target the “most important” concepts for the child to learn at the time.
Provide an alternative assignment – This can be a research project, hands-on project, lab experiment, or making a poster to show understanding of a topic.
Align student interest to the content – For example, you might focus on reading strategies while learning about trains.

Provide Supports:

Give a word bank for fill in the blank or when writing an essay
Allow students to type or orally report their responses
Give a specific list for steps to complete a task
Provide concept cards with an assignment
Allow the student to use their book or notes
Provide specific examples
Highlight tricky or key words in questions
Allow extra time
Allow student to work in quieter setting
Allow calculators
Allow for brainstorming prior to the assignment
Have adult read assignment to student

Learning to modify can be hard work at first. It’s best to give it a try even if you are not entirely sure it’s the right modification. Remember that you can always tweak your modifications as the year goes on. Most likely, you will need to continually reassess modifications and supports, since your students will be growing and making progress. And when in doubt, work with your special education staff to ask for feedback, support, and ideas.

If you are a special education teacher in need of a toolkit, consider the Special Education Teacher Binder. It is a huge compilation of special education resources. Materials focus on IEPs and team meetings, progress monitoring of academics and behavior, classroom materials, building a classroom community, planning, lessons, organization, and other forms to help make the life of a special education teacher a little bit easier.

9 Tips for Motivating Unmotivated Kids

October 22, 2016 by pathway2success 1 Comment

Many kids and young adults struggle with motivation. These are the kids who are slow to start classwork, often don’t turn in homework, and may even refuse to attempt any assignment they view as a challenge. It can be extremely frustrating, especially because these students are often bright and capable in their own way. Here are some strategies you can use within your classrooms to help support their needs while still holding them accountable.

1. Keep your expectations high. Even when kids are struggling with finding motivation, you want to give the message that you expect greatness from them.

2. Give choices. Allowing a choice in an assignment or task gives kids power and helps them feel more in control of what they are accomplishing. Choice can mean choosing between two different worksheets, choosing their own lab group, or choosing whether to write or type an assignment. Consider finding a choice that fits a student’s individual strengths or interests. If a student isn’t motivated to write a research paper on a famous poet, allow them to present about their favorite musical artist. Instead of completing a lab report on cells, have your artistic student draw and label a diagram of a cell. It’s okay to think outside the box with this.

3. Allow accommodations when necessary. Simple accommodations, like a word bank, a calculator, or a word processor can help kids get in a better mindset for finishing a challenging task.

4. Talk to the student. Find out what is behind the lack of motivation to complete work in your class. Perhaps the student struggles with your content area, doesn’t understand the way you give directions, or is having some major issues at home. Talk privately and compassionately with the student and you can find out a lot.

5. Work out a plan. For students really struggling with getting tasks done in your class, try working out some incentives. Find out what the student would like to work towards – extra points on a quiz, a homework pass, or sitting in a special spot in your classroom. Then, make a plan so that your student can work towards earning that incentive. Maybe when he or she finishes homework for an entire week, they earn something special. Not only does this give the student something to work for, but it also helps build your relationship, too.

6. Work through motivation challenges together. Use this Motivation Workbook to teach about motivation, identify motivational challenges, and make a plan for success. Consider trying the Free Motivation Workbook Sampler which includes identifying what motivation is, understanding lack of motivation, strategies for improving motivation, and a motivation journal.

7. Talk to other adults who work with that student. Look for trends. Find out where the students does well and find out how you can replicate that in your class. For example, I worked with a student who did considerably better in his history class than his science class. With some investigating, I was able to notice that the science class lacked the same structure that his history class had. It was a simple thing to replicate once the teachers were made aware. Another important consideration is the time of day that the student is struggling. Is it in the morning when he or she didn’t get enough sleep? Or maybe around lunch time is challenging after being in a less structured social setting? These are just some examples of what you can consider.

8. Talk to parents. When you find yourself not making enough progress with your student, talk to his or her parents. Share what you have tried and see if there is anything at home the child can work for and if parents could talk to the child, too.

9. Keep your cool. It’s easy to get frustrated at kids who lack motivation but remember that they are just kids. There is often a reason why students won’t initiate tasks, even if we don’t know that reason at the moment. Take your time working with the student and show you are proud when you see progress – even just a little means baby steps in the right direction.

Executive Functioning Strategies for the Classroom

October 8, 2016 by pathway2success 4 Comments

Many kids and young adults would benefit academically and socially by improving their executive functioning skills. These skills include: planning, organization, time management, task initation, working memory, metacognition, self-control, sustained attention, flexibility, and perseverance. If you need more background on each of these specific skills, read my post on Executive Functioning Skills Explained.

Teach all executive functioning skills with a no-prep workbook.

Strategies to help support and strengthen executive functioning skills don’t need to be complicated. There are many strategies and activities teachers, paraprofessionals, and counselors can do in the classroom right away. If you want a guide to help you teach all executive functioning skills without any prep, consider my Executive Functioning Advanced Workbook, which includes over 100 pages packed with executive functioning lessons and practice.

Here are some simple ideas for practicing and strengthening executive functioning skills in the classroom that you can start right away:

Planning – People with weaker planning skills may jump into assignments or projects without thinking things through, or may forget to begin tasks when needed. Strategies for those who struggle with planning include making lists, writing short-term goals, and using a calendar or planner. Homework logs can be a huge help. Teachers can also support kids by setting up specific routines such as a daily homework bin, daily homework board, and schedule for the day.

Organization – Those who lack this skills might have disorganized binders/lockers, misplace important assignments, and forget to do assignments entirely. Many kids who struggle with organization need to be taught and shown how to systematically organize their binders and materials. Then, planning for weekly binder checks can help kids stay organized, too. Teachers can help by giving extra time in the beginning and end of class to write down homework, take papers out, and put papers away in the right spot. Organizational checklists can help, too.

Time Management – Kids and adults with weak time management skills might over- or under- estimate the time it takes to complete something, have trouble prioritizing tasks, and ultimately not meet critical deadlines. Strategies for time management include teaching kids to estimate time needed for tasks, setting specific time-based goals, and learning to prioritize the importance of tasks/assignments. One huge help from teachers can be to incorporate mini-deadlines into long-term assignments.

Task Initiation – Those who struggle with task initiation often feel they “can’t” start an assignment, even when they want to. In turn, this leaves many tasks incomplete or never even started. To support kids with this weakness, help them to make a specific list or plan for each assignment. For longer assignments, chunking into smaller ones can make a huge difference.

Working Memory – Kids and adults with weaker working memory often struggle to remember directions when said aloud, complete mental math, and even copy information from one place to another. Tips for working memory are mainly to develop compensatory strategies, such as repeating information back and learning to paraphrase information while reading or listening to a lecture. Teachers can give these kids a copy of clean notes to follow along in class, which will reduce the need to go back and forth while taking notes.

Metacognition – Those who struggle with this skill often have no clue on how they did on a recent test or quiz, or have no idea what material to study right before. One excellent strategy is to learn to self-monitor your own learning. Teaching kids to stop and answer, “What did I just learn?” can allow them to develop an understanding of what they know and what they still need help on. Sticky notes are great for this! After an assessment or unit, it might also be helpful for the teacher to conference with the student to determine what he or she learned, what worked well, and what they need to work on more.

Self-Control – Kids with weak self-control skills might call out in class frequently, make impulsive decisions without thinking, or have anger management problems. These kids need extra support in learning to manage their emotions. You can practice self-control with games. My favorite is to use Blurt. Kids have to practice self-control by not shouting out when it isn’t their turn. This becomes really challenging if a student knows the answer but it’s not their turn. In the classroom, teachers can help by having lots of structure and routines. You can also teach kids and young adults to use I-statements as a positive way to express emotions.

Sustained Attention – When attention skills are weaker, kids and young adults might struggle to pay attention to a class lesson, miss out on directions, or appear to daze off during a working session. One of the shortest but most effective ways to help increase attention is to help kids become aware of their personal distractors and work with them to reduce those distractions. To teach and practice paying attention, you can also play a fun game of Simon Says! It’s a great way to have a brain break serve as practice for focus and attention.

Flexibility – People who lack flexibility skills struggle significantly with change. Changes in the schedule or plans can cause emotional outbursts or an inability to cope. This might include when there is a substitute or if an assembly changes the daily schedule. To help support these kids, it’s helpful to prepare them for changes to the schedule ahead of time. Teaching perspective-taking skills also goes a long way with learning flexibility skills, as kids can learn to understand different points of view and make sense of them. Most of all, encourage these types of kids to try new things and go outside of their comfort zone.

Perseverance – Those who struggle with perseverance often give up on tasks and assignments before they are done. They are the kids who ask for help before trying sufficient strategies on their own, making them usually over-reliant on support or not finishing tasks at all. To strengthen this skill, teachers can teach specific strategies for what to do when a student is stuck. Also, riddles of the day and brainteasers can be a fun challenge to incorporate into your class.

As a next step, you might want to read up on some top games to improve these executive functioning skills. The key is to continue practicing and reinforcing these skills over and over!

Executive Functioning Free Workbook Sampler

If you need a place to start right away, download my free Executive Functioning Workbook Sampler. If you like that, consider the full product, my Executive Functioning Advanced Workbook. With over 100 pages, it includes comprehensive information and practice for every executive functioning skill with no prep for the teacher.

10 Ways to Promote a Growth Mindset

September 10, 2016 by pathway2success Leave a Comment

Having a growth mindset means understanding that you can develop your own strengths and weaknesses through hard work, dedication, and grit. By teaching students to have a growth mindset, kids and young adults can better learn to work through challenges and overcome adversity in their lives.

The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed mindset. With a fixed mindset, people believe that you are who you are, and that doesn’t change. It’s the difference between the student who says, “I’m just bad at math” (fixed mindset) and the student who says, “This is going to be challenging, but I’ll work through it and learn it as I go” (growth mindset). By promoting and encouraging a growth mindset, adults can help kids and young adults to step outside their comfort zones, push themselves to their limits, learn from difficulties, and ultimately find success.

Having a fixed mindset often leads to giving up on tasks, feeling poorly about oneself, and avoiding challenges. On the other hand, having a growth mindset encourages students to try new things, embrace challenges, and develop strong confidence.

Here are some ways you can promote a growth mindset with kids and young adults:

1. Teach the difference between a fixed and growth mindset. Give explicit instruction to kids about growth and fixed mindsets, explaining the positives associated with adopting a growth mindset. Focus on teaching how having a growth mindset can really help kids feel better, do better, and succeed.

2. Highlight examples of growth mindset in your classroom. Specifically praise kids when they do something with a growth mindset. You might say, “Last week I heard you say you were not a good artist, but you really worked hard on your collage and it came out very artistically”, or “I saw you sitting with your head down during morning work time for the first minute. I love that you pushed forward and finished your work even though it was challenging for you to get started.” Positive feedback goes a long way when it is specific.

Use these task cards to help kids and young adults learn about growth mindset.

3. Give time for kids to talk about having a growth mindset. Use practice examples, whether they are made up or real life examples from each student’s life. Use Growth Mindset Task Cards to practice a growth mindset in all areas of life: at home, school, during activities, with friends, and within our own belief systems.

4. Encourage risks and highlight that mistakes are learning experiences instead of failures. When a child or young adult does make a mistake, avoid making him or her feel bad about the mistake. Instead, encourage personal growth by asking them to identify what they’ve learned from the challenge.

5. Help kids set short term goals. Find out what goals kids want to accomplish in the next few months or within the year. Focus on one main area, whether it is academic, social, or personal. Help kids set a realistic SMART goal and help them come up with specific strategies for how they can accomplish that goal.

6. Conference with students about their goals and progress. Take time every two weeks to “check in” with kids and their goals. Make it a time to assess how much progress has been made and what the student has learned. You can look at what didn’t work but really focus on what DID work. Use that positive momentum to keep the progress going. Also, recognize that it’s okay if students tweak their goals as they go. Setting regular times to check in with goals really helps kids stay on track and learn that achieving that goal is possible.

7. Discuss people and celebrities who achieved success with a growth mindset. There truly are so many examples in all different areas of life. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team but his mother talked him into not giving up, so he continued to practice and get better. The Beatles were turned down by several record companies because some just didn’t like their sound. Oprah had a boss who told her she wasn’t fit for television. The list goes on and on! You could even use this as a research project in your classroom so that each student can report back about someone who overcame adversity and used a growth mindset to succeed.

8. Give challenging tasks. Brainteasers, riddles, and math problems are an excellent way to push kids to try challenging problems without giving up. When kids want to know the answer, don’t give it right away! Allow for plenty of time to go back and think about the problem. This encourages the idea that sometimes you don’t get all the answers, and you must work through challenges on your own to find out.

9. Use literature that shows examples of perseverance. You can use them within your language arts instruction or just as a read aloud for fun. From short children’s books to longer chapter books, you can find many different texts that promote a growth mindset. Some shorter books include: Ish by Peter H. Reynolds, The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires, and Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett. One longer selection is Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan. Biographies also work great to teach growth mindset, as they highlight people who have persevered through serious challenges.

10. Use the word “yet”. When someone says, “I don’t know how to do this”, just add the word “yet”. Constantly reminding this encourages the idea that most things are possible with hard work, persistence, and time.

Helping kids and young adults to develop a growth mindset takes time, but it’s worth it in the end. You can see kid’s perceptions about themselves slowly begin to change from, “I can’t do this” to “How CAN I do this?” and then eventually, “I know I can do this”.

Social Skills for Middle and High School Kids

September 4, 2016 by pathway2success 4 Comments

Most middle and high school teachers like to hope that students come to them already pre-programmed with strong social skills and abilities. It would definitely make classes easier, but we know that it is not true in many cases. Sometimes, problems with lacking social skills actually manifest themselves as behavioral challenges. For example, the student who is always interrupting in class may not know or understand the social rule that he should wait his turn. The student who constantly gets in trouble during group work might not know the group ground rules and how to work with others. Lastly, the student who gets involved in lots of drama and arguments with peers in your class might struggle with peer relationship skills. All of these behavioral challenges that cause such distress in our classrooms can be aligned with a lack of strong social skills.

Once your recognize that a student or group of students need some social skills support, the next step is providing the instruction that will teach them the social skills. If they do not have good social skills by middle or high school level, they will likely need a lot of direct instruction, practice, and support to make good progress. Kids CAN learn social skills though, regardless of their age.

What makes social skills instruction so challenging at the middle and high school level is that there usually is not any time in the day to focus on these skills. In elementary school, there might be a morning meeting time, small groups, and recess – all great times that teachers, school counselors, and social workers can target teaching social skills. At the middle and high school levels, though, the level of academic rigor is increased significantly, leaving minimal time for social teaching. Still, there are ways to weave social skills instruction into your classes.

Use literature to discuss social behavior. While reading a passage or book, use the characters to highlight social skills and behavior. Ask questions like, “Why do you think he did that?” and “How did his actions impact the others?”. Even more, highlight and discuss specific skills that some of your students might have challenges with. This is a great way to incorporate teaching social skills because it makes it less personal for kids.
Use small group work to review social skills. This goes for any group or partner work, such as science labs, partner reads, think-pair-shares, and more. Prior to starting group or partner work, review how your students should work with others. Explain and show what it means to keep eye contact with your partner, to listen to your group members, and to do your fair share of the work. These are essential social skills when working with groups or partners. You can find more direct instruction with the Working with Others – Groups and Partners workbook.
Allot a short period of time to social skills each week. This can be done during resource room, study hall, or an advisory period. Focus on explicitly teaching and practicing the social skills your kids need. Consider running a social skills group once a week for 20 minutes. Adding peer role models will help significantly.
Train peer role models to support social needs. Kids just learn better from other kids. This is especially true when it comes to social skills. Spend time training some peer role models to give cues and reminders to their “buddies”. Training them is simple – just privately meet with the student and direct them: “When you see Jimmy _____, just remind him to ______”. For example, in a science lab, “When you see Jimmy out of his seat during group time, just remind him to stay with his group”. The peer reminder will go farther than one from an adult.
Talk with the school counselor and social worker. The other support staff in your building may have other ideas and strategies for how to support kids inside and outside of your classroom. Find out if they are running any social skills groups and give names of kids who you think could benefit.

If you find yourself needing to practice social skills in your middle and high school classroom, try these Social Skills Task Cards for Middle and High School. It is a pack of 100 task cards specifically designed for middle and high schoolers. The cards are organized into five different sets that target different skills: Basic Interactions, Conversations, Empathy, Friendships & Relationships, and Conflict Resolution Skills. You can use them during a lunch group, study hall, resource room, advisory period, or anytime you have a few minutes left over in you class period to review.

Practice social skills with these task cards for middle & high school kids

Take the time to teach social skills and it will pay off – not only for your students but for your classroom management, too!

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