Archive for the ‘Slide-A-Round Updates’ Category
Ms. Connie Rigby and I were able to coordinate a meeting on June 18th so that I can share my ideas and products with her. She is always looking for new and better ways to meet the academic needs of her students in Boaz, Alabama.
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I had the opportunity to share my manipulatives and ideas with Dr. Ron Wells on June 6th. Dr. Wells, a member of the PA Bureau of Special Education, liked the fact that I had the “follow-through” to not only create a concept to help my own students but also to manufacture my manipulatives to try to help other students. We are in the process of scheduling a follow-up meeting to give me the opportunity to present my ideas/manipulatives to his colleagues as well.
I have a meeting scheduled in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday, June 8th with Ms. Hester Sutton. I am also in the process of scheduling meetings with several schools systems in Virginia and Pennsylvania and will update soon! As a follow-up, my meeting with Ms. Sutton and Ms. Todorow of the Brandywine School District was quite productive. They are planning to share my manipulatives with their teachers, and I look forward to working with their school system.
We are looking forward to sharing our manipulatives at the Texas Assistive Technology Network Statewide Conference in Houston on June 12-14. We have had such a positive response in the Southeast and are excited about the opportunity to “branch out” into other areas of the United States. Texas, here we come!!!! I want to take a minute to update everyone on our successful trip to Houston. Due to the tremendous response I received during my meetings in WV, PA, DE, VA, I made several stops along the way to Houston in Attalla, AL; Meridian, MS; Shreveport, LA; Biloxi, MS; and Gulfport, MS. The responses I have received when educators actually see my products firsthand are OVERWHELMINGLY positive.
When I travelled to Birmingham City Schools during my spring break, Dr. David Patterson recommended that I contact Alabama’s Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) to discuss my manipulatives. I have scheduled a meeting on May 25th with Ms. Annie Spike, the CASE President-Elect in Guntersville to address the changing demographics and student needs in her system and the state.
I met with Mr. Pierce early on in the development process to share my ideas with him. I have scheduled a follow-up meeting for Monday, May 7th to show him the final products. When we met initially in October, he indicated that his goal is to possibly incorporate Slide-A-Rounds into his elementary math lab. If he liked the rough prototype in the fall, he will LOVE the final products now! The new gloss I added to the labels not only gives each manipulative a professional, shiny appearance, it also provides more durability with student use.
Jim’s personal leave time for this school year has ended, so I volunteered to deliver a presentation, my FIRST, to a fantastic group of educators from Chattooga County Schools this morning at Summerville Elementary School. They were meeting to discuss their system’s implementation of our new CCGPS standards in math and language arts. I enjoyed talking with them and not only showing them our math manipulatives, but also hearing how we are all working to address ways to help our students transition from GPS to CCGPS. I had such a good time talking with them that I almost forgot to show them the Slide-A-Round teachers’ aids!!! After I left, I remembered that I didn’t talk about the handout of standardized test questions that are addressed with the products OR that Jim is going to design a series of student practice handouts this summer after we get back from a conference in Houston on assistive technology. (These complimentary practice handouts will be posted online for teachers to download as needed during their lessons.) All in all, I have learned that I love to talk with fellow teachers, and I need to make sure I have an index card with a list of the information I want to include! HA! Thanks to Anna Nichols and Michelle Helie for letting the “Slide-A-Round Substitute” come in and also for being such a great group for my first presentation. 🙂 Susan
After meeting Dr. Susan Brown, Interim Chairperson of the Department of Inclusive Education at Kennesaw State University, at RESA’s meeting on April 13th, her interest in my math manipulatives has opened several doors to expand and reach out to future teachers and show them how to help the students in their upcoming classrooms. I have a meeting scheduled at KSU on May 23rd to discuss ways to make Slide-A-Round math manipulatives available to their students.
Tomorrow will be a busy day as I travel to the Alabama School for the Deaf to do an in-service presentation to their faculty and administrators. I look forward to creating an academic relationship with their school similar to the one I already have with our Georgia School for the Deaf located near Rome. Any opportunity I have to meet with fellow teachers to collaborate on ways to help their students learn is always exciting!
I will be meeting with the faculty and administration of Johnson Elementary School in Rome, GA. I continue to be excited about the opportunity to show teachers my manipulatives in person and not only demonstrate their variety and usage, but also answer any questions teachers may have on a more personal basis than over the phone or via email. In addition to the meetings and conferences I have scheduled this summer, I am also going to continue working to design more handouts/lessons to coordinate with each product and link several instructional lessons from my website to YouTube. This has definitely been a rewarding and EVENTFUL school year!