November/December 2007

Common Confusion

S.M.A.R.T. activities make so much sense and can be easy to do. However, with so much information taken away from a workshop and with the overloaded plates from which teachers are working these days, it's natural that sometimes there are areas of confusion, mistakes, or misunderstandings. Below are a few of the most common ones from mentors in the field that may be helpful or serve as a reminder that could benefit your students and your S.M.A.R.T. Program.

1. Socks during floor activities - Barefoot or wearing shoes are the best options. Going barefoot increases the tactile stimulation, a real plus.   Socks are slippery on the Balance Beam and Rebounder and make a toe dig in Alligator Crawl very difficult. If taking off and putting on shoes takes too long and cuts into the S.M.A.R.T. activity time, then leaving shoes on is fine.

2. Covering mouth during auditory stimulation activities - During Auditory Discrimination, Auditory Closure, and Sound Blending, remember to hold something in front of your mouth so students can't see your lips (lip reading gives extra cues that take away from relying on the auditory system only).

3. Covering one eye during vision exercises - Remember, for many eye movement activities (Wagon Wheels/Mazes, Visual Pursuits), students should cover one eye while doing the activity, then the other eye, then do it with both eyes. If one eye is weak, doing the activity with both eyes just engrains the pattern of one strong and one weak eye - in effect, making the condition worse. Covering each eye will actually strengthen the weak eye if there is one.



4. Patterns on the Creep Track - Maybe it's because some of our examples when we taught about the creep track were in an AB pattern, but you do NOT need creep track cards to be in any pattern. You can use anything at all in the creep track that the students know very well and could benefit from more practice as they exercise their eyes and improve bilateral coordination. If you do put cards in a pattern, make sure to watch for when the pattern becomes too routine and students are racing through without even looking at their hands. If this happens, switch up the pattern by moving a few cards until it is time to change all the cards (try for every two weeks).

5. Multiple Number Ladders - We often see one Number Ladder by a Rebounder and that's the only option for the student to say while jumping (has the potential to get boring and may be why some just jump). Try to have 3-4 ladders by each Rebounder (or ball bounce/beanbag toss station, whichever you use). This gives the student some choice and the teacher can make sure there are several appropriate levels. Remember ladders can have numbers, letters, words, pictures, concepts in picture form, colors, shapes, fractions, coins, clocks, ANYTHING that the teacher wants to introduce, reinforce, practice, or test! It's one of the easiest places to integrate academic content AND remember that MOVEMENT ANCHORS LEARNING! Hang up a bunch of ladders and keep another bunch handy for switching as needed - often even weekly.

6. Counting CORE minutes - Fitting CORE minutes into the day becomes easier as you go along and get more practiced at weaving activities into the day. But sometimes teachers ask what exactly they can count towards their 80 hour goal. Time spent doing CORE S.M.A.R.T. activities should only be counted if ALL students do the activity. If activities are done randomly or students can choose whether to do one or more of the activities, they are not considered part of the CORE time.

Please let us know of any possible confusions that may be confounding you and we can address them in a future newsletter. Have FUN and you'll keep the students having fun!!