Active Learning Study Group - May 2017 This video is posted online with the following chapter markers: Chapter 1. Intro & Forum Questions Chapter 2. Meet Isaiah! Chapter 3. Narbethong State Special School Chapter 4. Questions & Answer Description of graphical content is included between Description Start and Description End. Transcript Start [Music] Fade up from black. Animation: Text for TSBVI transform into braille cells for TSBVI. [Music face out] Fade to black. Chapter 1. Intro & Forum Questions [ Music ] Kate: Good afternoon. Welcome to the final Active Learning Study Group Webinar for 2016-17. We're so pleased that you have all joined us, and we're going to get started here in just a moment. I want to welcome my cohost, Matt. Glad you're here with me. Matt: Thanks for having me back, especially in light of last month's difficulties. [ Laughter ] Kate: Before I forget, thanks to all of you who hung in last time and came back this time. Also, I want to introduce my two other co-hosts that are joining us. We have Patty Obrzut, who is with the Penrickton Center for Blind Children in Taylor, Michigan. And... our other good colleague is Charlotte Cushman, who is at the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts. However, Charlotte is joining us from Maine. Patty, as far as I know, you are in Taylor, Michigan, still. So we're glad to have you guys on board. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Co-Host Content: Photos and titles of co-hosts Patty Obrzut and Charlotte Cushman Description End: Charlotte: Hi. Hi. Good to have you both here. We're going to have some other special guests, but we'll wait for just a minute to introduce you to them. [ Slide end: ] While we're getting started and people are settling in, just wanted to ask if you would, if you've got multiple people joining you from your site, at some point during the webinar, if you would, just include their names here so we know all of the people that are here. I know in many places everybody crowds around one computer and that works. But we'd love to know if you're here or not. Also wanted to remind you of new dates coming up for next year's webinars. We already have them scheduled, and we'll soon have them ready so that you can register way in advance. So our first date for next year is going to be September the 28th. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Webinar Dates Content: Time: 3:00-4:00 PM (CST) 4-5 EST, 2-3 MST, 1-2 PST September 28, 2017 — November 30, 2017 — January 25, 2018 — March 29, 2018 — May 17, 2018 This series of webinars will focus on a variety of topics such as setting up a classroom and schedule, choosing materials, addressing the student with CVI, using Active Learning with older students and information on research related to Active Learning. Various guest speakers will be a part of this year’s presentations. http://txtsbvi.escworks.net Description End: Then we'll go November 30th, January 25th, March 29th, and May 17th. All of these will be from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. central standard time, so you will have to adjust for your time zone. This is going to be a really interesting and exciting year. We're going to focus on a variety of different things, looking at things like setting up a classroom and a schedule, choosing materials and equipment, addressing the student who has critical visual impairment, working with older students, and then hopefully some information on And I think that this will be really interesting. If you have thoughts, ideas, information that you think is pertinent to any of these topics, please be sure to share them with us. We'd love to have your thoughts and your ideas as we go forward in our planning. [ Slide end: ] The other thing we wanted to mention to you guys is that there are-- on the webinar, on the Active Learning space, there is a link to all the webinars we've done this year, plus additional webinars that we have done in past years in case this summer you're bored, don't have anything to do, you might want to go and watch one of these while you're hanging out in a hammock. Matt: Or if you're watching this by yourself and you'd like colleagues to join you next year, you can send them a link to the past webinars. They can get caught up before you talk about the classroom implementation stuff. Kate: That's a very good idea, Matt, thanks for pointing that out. Also, I want to let you know that we are continuing to work, every month, on adding new stuff to the Active Learning Space, and if you join our newsletter, get signed up for our newsletter, you'll receive notification when something new goes up and you can go and check it out. It's pretty easy to do. If you follow the link that you see on the screen, which is www.activelearningspace.org, you will find the link to subscribe for our e‑newsletter and get on that list. It's pretty simple. We just need your mailing address and first and last name, emailing address, and we'll send you that information. Also, we are in the process of trying to clean up our forum page on the Active Learning Space. And just to let you know, we'll be moving to a different type of platform for our website in this coming year. And so over the summer there will be some changes that hopefully will make this forum a little bit more functional and a little easier to use. In the meantime, though, if you can't figure out how to make the forum work for you, email Charlotte, myself, or Patty and we'll be happy to add your question to the forum and to respond there. It's a great way to share answers to very good questions with a whole group of people. So keep sending those questions in. That will be really great. I think the next thing on our list is-- we're going to go to Charlotte and let her talk to us a little bit about what's coming up. Charlotte: Yeah. I was going to talk about some of the questions that have come in. Kate mentioned that we've had a little bit of difficulty with the forum. And if we could go to the next slide, please, we wanted to talk about-- one of the questions that we wanted to focus on this time. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Questions from Active Learning Space Content: How do I get buy-in to implement Active Learning with a student? — Parents/Caregivers — Administrators — Classroom Teachers — Related Service Staff (PT, OT, SLP, etc.) — Paraprofessionals Description End: A lot of you have mentioned-- and I've certainly experienced this myself-- that it's seems difficult to get buy‑in to implement the Active Learning approach with a student. Sometimes parents or caregivers, maybe administrators, classroom teachers. It could be related service-- like PTs, OTs, speech and language, maybe paraprofessionals. I think probably everyone in this webinar has experienced that at some point. And I'm going to share some suggestions with you, but if you have ideas of your own, please pop them in the chat while I'm talking, because we would love to get more ideas. So, next slide please. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Proof in the Pudding Content: • Set up one activity with the child and document change with videos, progress reports, etc. • Set up a simulation activity where they are blindfolded and passive...see how they feel. Then do the same activity where they are making choices and in control of their own body. • Share your success stories about specific students who are similar to theirs. Description End: One activity-- one thing that we really believe is that the proof is in the pudding. So, you can talk all you want, but if you can actually get people to see some changes, that is going to make a big difference. So we really believe strongly that if you can set up one activity with a child and actually document the change with videos and progress reports, that that can make a huge difference. I know in our last-- earlier study group, one of the participants mentioned that she set up a position board with a child, and prior to that, nobody in the classroom wanted to try it. Nobody could understand what she meant or why she thought this would be appropriate. But after she set it up with this position board, the student suddenly started exploring new things independently, became much more engaged, and everyone was converted. So basically, it did her work for her. She could talk until she was blue in the face, but as soon as there was some actual progress that was noted, it made a huge difference. Another thing to think about is trying to set up a simulation. And you can look at the home page of the Active Learning Space. I love the clip from a newscast that's on there. And it shows a news reporter who doesn't know anything about Active Learning talking and meeting with-- talking to and meeting with the director of the Penrickton Center. And what I like about it is that when I think of simulation I think, wow, we've got to set up some elaborate thing and plan all of this. But it can be super simple. You could just have the person close their eyes and then, you know, grab their hands and use hand-over-hand. I'm never going to advocate that. This is only for simulation purposes. And then put their hand on something. And then do the same thing but just give them-- don't do the same thing, present the same types of materials but present them in a box or a bin and just let them explore the items on their own, and see how they feel. Give them a chance to respond and talk about the differences. That's a very powerful way to do it, and it doesn't require a lot of special preparation. So I think that's another really great way to get buy‑in. And finally, another idea is just sharing your stories. And this can really be a great inspiration. So, you know, you might say something like, oh, you know, I had a student a lot like that. And we really didn't see very much volitional movement, but after we used a room, we saw a big difference. Being able to tell those types of stories can help people to be more willing to try it. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Demonstrating Value Content: • Understand and be able to explain why to use Active Learning • Share information and tools from the website • Show videos of the students from Active Learning Space • Share the news clip from homepage for non-educators Description End: So those are some of the ideas that we have. And it looks like there's some other ideas coming in through the chat window. I see Ellen has the idea, I like to set up data sheets for staff. This keeps them busy. They leave the child to explore uninterrupted and it can track hand use and preferences. It gives-- it seems to give people permission to value Active Learning. [ Slide start: ] repeat previous slide "Proof in the Pudding" Good idea, Ellen. And we would love to see some of your data sheets. We have a number of those on the Active Learning Space website, and as you say, it kind of keeps people busy. It keeps them focused. And it's also a really nice way to document. If anybody has anything else they want to share, they can pop it in at any point, pop it in the chat window or email us. But I think that's all we need to-- all I wanted to say. [ Slide end: ] Kate: I'm going to jump in, Charlotte, because one of the other things that I think is really important is demonstrating the value of Active Learning to folks. And I'm going to first say, take them to the Active Learning Space website and show them some of the stuff that's there. I think that's a great way to win people over. Knowledge is power. And there's a lot of information there that will really help in that. But the most important thing for us as practitioners‑‑ [Online noise] Kate: Oops. Are we having that-- are we okay? Okay. But for us as practitioners to really understand why are we doing what we do. And I think it's very important to understand that active learning was based on typical child development. And the learning styles and patterns that we want to use with these students who are at these very, very early developmental levels, are based on... very solid research done by people like Piaget, you know. I mean, this is not anything that is that foreign. So know what you do. Share information from the website. Share videos that you see on Active Learning Space. But also really know-- try to read Lili's books, try to read what's on the web page if you don't have Lili's books, you can get a lot of information that's taken from that to explain to people why you're doing what you're doing. I think it makes a huge difference, I really do, so. Terrific. Chapter 2. Meet Isaiah! And now we wanted to‑‑ you know, we mentioned early in the year that if you had great videos or things you wanted to share about any of your students, that if you could get permission, we'd love to be able to share them. And one of our colleagues, Claire, who has participated in all the webinars, and unfortunately can't be with us today, had submitted a video clip that we wanted to share with you. And I want to just set this up a little bit before we go to really meet Isaiah and look at one of the activities that they did. Isaiah is a very multiply impaired kiddo. He is being tube fed, I believe, here. And he has some issues with being able to regulate his body temperature. And I'm saying that because you're going to see that he has socks on. And you're going to say, why? Matt: [Joking] He's not supposed to have socks on! Kate: But for this kiddo, there- there had to be an exception made. And we understand that, that in certain cases, sometimes you have to go against the pure principles that have been set up. But, you know, taking his shoes off at least gives him a bit more access to things, than there would be without-- or with his shoes on. So, you know, socks aren't exactly what we want to see on all of our students, but for him, if it's a necessity, at least it's better than having to have socks on. So, we understand that that can happen. But one of the things you're going to see is that this activity, which had previously been a very passive activity, they made just a few changes-- very simple changes-- so that during this time he had something to do. And so, guys, if you would run this little clip on Isaiah, we would really like it. [ Video start: ] Narrator: A young child is being tube fed. As a way to keep him engaged, something is placed near his feet. [Background voices] [Bells jingle] [Bells jingle] [ Video end: ] Kate: Now, I love that clip-- Charlotte: I wanted to add-- Kate: Yeah, go ahead, Charlotte. Charlotte: I just wanted to add one other... thing that the team had told me, which is that they have put a heating pad under a resonance board with him. And so, as we've said, keeping his socks on is not ideal, but that's another creative way to think about being able to help him to regulate his body temperature, if he can't do it himself. Kate: Yeah. Great. Thanks for sharing that, Charlotte. The Mylar is something that he can move, and crinkle, and feel, get some feedback from. And they also have bells. I had forgotten about the bells on his feet. And, you know, for this little kiddo, he's doing this. He's causing this to happen. And it's-- it is neat that he has that. And I think for a lot of kiddos who are very, very... challenged by either health issues or movement issues, even these little movements are very powerful for them. And they lead to bigger and more movement, as they go forward. So I really appreciate Claire and her team being willing to share th,is with us. And I want to encourage you guys, if you have great clips, please share them with us. We do have a media release form we would want to get signed, so we could share it with other people, but we love to see these things. They're really great. Matt: And Kate, it reminded me of how creative you can be in making an activity that we might think of as passive, being fed, and giving him an opportunity to still explore his environment. But because he was initiating those movements, he had the ability to pause, and it seemed like he was processing some of the feeding, too. And then when he was okay with what was going on, he was free to move his feet and explore his environment. Kate: Yeah. Matt: So it was cool. Kate: It was cool. And they also, I forgot to mention this, they had the blanket which serves as a thing to keep him warm, but they also had things on the blanket. So that, while it was serving the function of keeping him warm, there were things for him to explore tactually. And I think that's another thing to think about. Take what you can-- what you have, working with a child and try to tweak it to make it more of an active learning experience. So, I think that's good and we'll turn it back over to you, Charlotte. Chapter 3. Narbethong State Special School [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Goals for Today’s Session Content: left-side text: • Explore how an Active Learning approach can be used with learners of all different ages and abilities • Explore ways in which to implement a curriculum using an Active Learning approach right-side photo: Figure 8 A young child is positioned on an ESSEF Board inside a large circular mat with an SPG board and other items around her. right-side photo: Figure 9 Two children strapped to scooter boards are lying head-to-head on the floor playing with SPG boards. Description End: Charlotte: Okay, thanks. Well, the goals for today's session are to explore how an Active Learning approach can be used with learners of all different ages and abilities, and also to explore ways in which to implement a curriculum using an Active Learning approach. And these are not theoretical. We're actually going to show you some fabulous examples from our colleagues in Narbethong State School in Australia. We had-- for anybody who missed this discussion in the chat window, earlier today, we had attempted to do this in March, and for those of you who... joined us, we had a lot of technical difficulties. But we're going to try, again, today and we're really excited about being able to see this video. Next slide, please. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Narbethong State Special School Content: left-side graphic: Figure 10 The Narbethong School logo center text: Welcome to our special guests from Narbethong State Special School in Queensland, Australia! Kathryn Iliff is the Active Learning Coordinator there. Description End: So we would like to welcome our special guests from Narbethong State Special School in Queensland, Australia. I think we want to especially acknowledge the fact that we know it's very early in the morning there. The good part for them is they're already into Friday and one day closer to the weekend than we are here. But we do recognize that it's extremely early there, and we really thank you for getting up early to be part of this. Kathryn Iliff is the Active Learning Coordinator there, and I think the entire planet is jealous that Narbethong has the position of an Active Learning Coordinator. I think you may be the only one in the entire world, Kathryn, and we're very excited. So we're going to turn it over to, I guess, Narbethong, if you want to say hello, and then we're going to go into the ‑‑ [Static noise] Charlotte: It sounds like maybe-- Kathryn: Hi... Charlotte: We're getting a little ‑‑ Kathryn: Hi. We're here-- the six of us. Where am I talking into? Hi, we're all here. Charlotte: Oh, good. Okay. There's a little... feedback from your microphone. So we're going to mute you again. Kathryn: Okay. We're sorry. Charlotte: [ Laughter ] Nothing personal. [ Laughter ] Charlotte: And we're going to-- we have a lovely video that's been prerecorded. So we're going to go ahead and play that. And we're going to pause it at certain points to have a little discussion if we can with the audio, and then have some questions at the end. So I think we're ready for... Was there anything else? I think we're ready for the video. [ Video start: ] Audio Description: A screen with the emblem appears with the words Active Learning Methodology, presented by the Narbethong school. While voiceover speaks, images appear of children at the school doing various activities. Narrator: Active Learning is an important framework for the developmental educational needs of students at Narbethong for over 20 years. In the move from a rote learning, or training methodology, to concept development-based learning-- from an otherwords, from hand-over-hand to students learning by doing; the school has noticed significant changes in student learning. These changes include; increased independence, progress with developmental levels that is slow and steady, fewer behavior problems, and students who are intrinsically motivated to learn. At Narbethong, the Active Learning methodology is maintained by starting with the functional scheme assessment tool to determine student level of development, equipping the classroom with materials and equipment suited to the students' level of development and sensory needs, identifying priorities for fine and gross motor, social and emotional development, and the Expanded Core Curriculum for students with vision impairment, and aligning students' developmental gains, activities, and language within the Australian curriculum. Throughout the day, student programs alternate between fine and gross motor activities, and students are encouraged to make their own decisions on how the play is done and the choice of activity they are involved with. At Narbethong School, the students work within a model which includes the Australian curriculum, the Expanded Core Curriculum for Students with a Vision Impairment, within the framework of Active Learning and its methodologies. On arrival, students are greeted at a bus drop‑off area where the active learning begins. Mobile students are given the opportunity to be independent in finding their way to the railings or tactile markers, or simply using their own mental map of the very familiar area to follow steps to class. Students in wheelchairs listen to offering and [Indiscernible] language of the adults to ensure the students gain concepts of where they are, the sounds they hear, and the direction and route as they travel along to the classroom. Audio Description: A teacher greets three students in wheelchairs. >Teahcer: Good morning Nathan. And good morning Ethan. Narrator: Each class at Narbethong has some form of morning greeting or morning talk. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Content: Description End: Here the students are involved in roll call, calendar reading, discussions about weather, and daily plans. The curriculum focused in literacy and numeracy could be some of the learning included. Morning sessions are a time to present the literacy and language content of the curriculum, such as responding to others, getting and giving a response to listening to information from others. [ Slide end: ] Audio Description: Another teacher greets students individually. Teacher: Also, we can do a giggling and smiling and clapping their hands. [ Laughter ] Good morning, Max. Thank you for coming down. Good morning. Child: [loud vocalization] Teacher: How are you feeling today? Are you happy, or are you sad? Are you happy? Child: [soft vocalization] Teacher: Yes... Narrator: So, throughout the day, starting with morning talks, this is the way students hear the language of the adults, as we offer the language at the students' level, and provide simple words that can be imitated. From morning stalks, students follow through with daily routines, activities and programs that alternate between gross motor and fine motor activities, as suggested by Lili Nielsen, and now a global recommendation for all students. This student used his prompt book with a yes/no peg response to choose the Hopsa Dress as his first game of the day. He will have balls placed under his feet, on a tipping board, that is placed on a resonance board. This student is being placed in a prone position of a hammock, and was given it as a choice of an activity. She has [Indiscernible] through her upper back and is very tight in her upper limbs, so a traditional, prone support bench is not a suitable activity for her. Adaptations are made for individual students as required. Counting and anticipation of the movement system are part of the curriculum. Teacher: Okay? For a minute. Yep. Audio Description: Two adults use a Hoyer lift to assist the child, first, to sit in the teacher's lap, and then to lie prone in a hammock swing. Teacher: Here we go. Here is comes. Pick you up now. Good job. Here you are. Child: [imitates teacher] Teacher: Sit on my lap, now [Indiscernible] Here I am. Right here. I'm turning you around. You can sit on Jean's lap. Aide: And we're going down, one, two, three. There you are. Teacher: Okay. You're sitting on my lap. Good job. Undo the hoist strap. One... and two. Okay. I'm turning around and here's the hammock right here. Aide: [Indiscernible] so that it's comfy. [Indiscernible] Teacher: Are you ready? Aide: Yep. [Indiscernible] Teacher: Just having your knees clearing the steps [Indiscernible] . And you're on the ground. And I've got... one of your favorites. One of your favorite position boards. Nice [Indiscernible] one to find with your hands. You can move along if you wanted to. And that's right there. Teacher: I have a newspaper here with me and I'm going to put it inside. Narrator: Recycling is part of the curriculum for this student, so the game has become one of putting into, turn taking, grasp & release, concepts of up, down, heavy, light, big, small, hard, soft, as she is immersed in the language of recycling from the teacher. [Indiscernible] Teacher: Here's another one. In... Ahh, [ Laughter ] [Indiscernible] Teacher: You put it inside. One, two, three, in... [ Laughter ] [clapping] Well, done. Child: Yay. [clapping] Teacher: Let's see what else we have here. We have a long tube. Yes. That can go in the bin, too. Narrator: Motor-- Gross motor activity, exploring and practicing up, down, and going down stairs, has been offered to all students when they're able to sit and crawl. Again, language, number, measurement, and orientation & mobility are also involved. Teacher: It is a bit tricky going downstairs with your cane, isn't it? But you're doing it right. Child: [Indiscernible] Narrator: Fine motor activities of tower‑building, putting into, separating, comparing and contrasting are played on resonance boards for MFA [Indiscernible], and in wheel chairs, using position boards. Teahcer: Oh! [ Laughter ] What do you think? Should we move them closer together? Child: I think they go like that. Teacher: Ooh, crash! [Indiscernible] Audio Description: A boy and his teacher play with glass rocks in various containers. Child: [Indiscernible] Teacher: Oops. Oh, well. Oops, I missed it! Child: ... put it in this one. Narrator: Water play and rice-sand play is always a great game to be offered within the Active Learning program, from early childhood students, using traditional water troughs, where numeracy and the concepts of pouring, filling, enough, empty, filled, along with language and social development can be explored. In later years, this expands to having learned the skills of pouring drinks, washing up, and cooking activities. [children's voices] Teacher: That's green, yeah. Teacher: Get out your shoe-box task William. You remember... This student, who has low vision, has been offered a more formal game where he hears the instruction and works with threading, enough, not enough, and separating games, using numeracy counting activity. This activity involves reading symbols and understanding directions. Child: What's that number? Teacher: Yeah, eighteen. Oh, it's got some numbers. One, two, three, four, five. Do you remember how to say this? Put one bead on number one. Put two beads on number two, and then keep going. Okay, you do it. I'll come back when you're finished. When you're finished. [beads rattling] Child: [Humming] Hey! Teacher: Have you finished? Child: Yeah... Teacher: Great. Come and show me what you've done. How many beads did you put on this one? Child: One. Teacher: How many beads did you put on this one? Child: Two. Finished. Where do we put the shoe-box now? In the Finished Box. Great. [Indiscernible] Child: [Humming] Narrator: This student is learning to sit. Students are offered a variety of positions to practice and experiment with their bodies with sitting support, if needed. Here, a large cardboard box provides enough support. It gives a little movement if the student changes position, so correcting behavior can be part of the activity. Child: [Humming] [mylar crinkling] Audio Description: A metal bucket, with objects hanging from it, is suspended above the head of a girl. Her teacher sits nearby and responds to her vocalizations. Narrator: Fine motor games of 'putting into' will lead to pre-braille activity of using both hands to read the spaces, in a left-to-right sequence. In this game, the student is working at a level lining up with an important game, so a tool was made to allow this to happen successfully. Wood, metal, and melamine are preferred surfaces to allow for noise and comparison, and they are solid and less breakable, yet make a good sound when dropped on a resonance board, or into a metal container. Even though this student is working on math problems in a new curriculum, her emotional level is a very important consideration in responding to her work. Audio Description: A girl with glasses uses manipulatives to complete a math problem. [off camera] Three, four, five, six. Seven. Eight, nine. Child: [Indiscernible] Narrator: Money is relevant to the math curriculum for this student, so he is playing a sorting game with real coins, which are preferable to plastic imitations. Being exposed to the coins early-- just as students have sets of five spoons in their treasure boxes or in little rooms-- ensures that they become a familiar part of his knowledge of the world, as he moves to more functional activities with the coins when out shopping. Teacher: I'm going to get another little five‑cent piece, and I'm going to put the five-cent piece over that side. Child: [Indiscernible] It's empty! Narrator: A constant gross motor activity at Narbethong is bike riding. Using feet, finding places and spaces, and tactile markers, turning, getting stuck, and problem‑solving are some of the opportunities offered here on the bike run. At the MFA table, the students are offered 3D shapes of familiar everyday items to explore math concepts of size, surfaces, and corners. One student is sorting the 3D shapes. Another is exploring the shapes as objects, and the learning is by doing. Learning to sit and balance on a swing, which has a surface for separating objects, hanging beads for counting, and room for the feet to explore textures. This student is deafblind and the swing is a welcome diversion for her to enjoy the games. Teacher: Her awareness... Narrator: Gross motor activities are also a time to focus on functional task. These students are rolling their yoga mats up, after a session. In all these games, the language is a priority and can include math concepts of time, number, sequencing, and shapes. Child: [Indiscernible] Teacher: I'm going to pull you forward. Do you guys remember the song that we listened to this morning? Child: Yeah. The [Indiscernible] Teacher: The what? Narrator: Music is used at appropriate times during the day with a curriculum of language and math concepts that can easily be incorporated in songs, rhymes, [Indiscernible] plays and action songs. Teacher: Favorite things! [Drumming on mat] Narrator: Here, spatial and body concepts required are able to be focused on. Teacher: Here are your drum sticks. Narrator: Music sessions are run in groups of students, large and small groups. Within Active Learning day, music is certainly not used throughout the day, where students are needed from attending to their own activities. [Drumming] Teacher: [Singing] Bella's favorite. Bella's favorite. Bella's favorite to eat. [Drumming stops] Child: [Indiscernible] Teacher: Chicken! Oh, yeah? Narrator: The Perceptualizing Aids, as designed by Lili Nielsen are in constant use in the school, along with some adapted ones. Here a student is in a ball forest on a resonance board, raised up on SF boards in the corners. This allows for movement to cause an instant reaction as the ball wobbles, when the student moves. This student is new to the school, so building up a good rapport with his teacher is a major element in the games and opportunities that are offered to him. Emotional levels are always very important to determine, in order to provide the optimal game for interaction. Teacher: [Singing] Hello, Siah. Hello, Siah. Hello, Siah, you're going to say... Narrator: At the end of the busy and active learning day, the students are ready for home, which can, again, include an acknowledgment of the day, including recall of the sequences and routines. It is down to the bus area for the trip home. Audio Description: Images of students preparing to get on buses. [Piano music] Staff: What bus are you on? Student: I'm on bus six. Staff: You are on bus six... Staff: Bus one. Staff: [Indiscernible] I need you to go to bus one. Staff: [Indiscernible] It's Meg here. How are you? Student: Good. Staff: What bus number are you? Student: Ten. Staff: Bus number ten. What was your name? Student: [Indiscernible] Staff: What bus are you on? Student: Bus number ten. Staff: All right Matthew, I can see the number. Can you tell me what number? Student: Seven. Staff: What bus was that? Student: Five. Staff: Oh, Hannah's on bus number five. Staff: What bus are you? One, two, three, four. Is that right? Yes. Thank you. Audio Description: Images of students doing various activities around the school. [ Laughter ] Student: Again! Student: [Indiscernible] Student: Together [All drumming] Audio Description: A while screen with the Narbethong School logo appears. [ Video end: ] Chapter 4. Questions & Answer Kate: Hi, there. Matt: There were a lot of kids smiling in those videos. Kate: There certainly was. You know, that's the thing that I think is one of the... things that always wins me over with Active Learning, is seeing kids that are happy and engaged, and enjoying what they're doing. Because that is the key to all learning for all of us. If you're not enjoying what you're doing, you're not probably learning a lot. I think that's really cool. There were several things in this that I thought just... were really important to share, but I also wanted to touch base real quick if we can. And... this may end up having to come through chat. But one of the things that I found real interesting early on when we got to know some of the folks at Narbethong is the way the... program is set up in Australia, at Narbethong. And that they have a curriculum plan that includes both general curriculum, the FIELA Curriculum and then the Expanded Core Curriculum. And if you can find the slide that shows the Narbethong curriculum planning guides and put that up, that would be great. Keep going. Matt: The blue flowchart. Kate: There you go. I don't know how well you folks can see this, but... if any of you guys from Narbethong would like to talk just briefly about how things are set up. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Narbethong Curriculum Planning Content: Figure 12 2016 draft of a flow chart showing Narbethong Curriculum Planning - Prep-Year10 Description End: They're going to hear me, are they? Kate: Yeah, we can hear you. Okay. As you can see, we've got the Australian Curriculum, the ECC, Expanded Core Curriculum, and Active Learning. So those are the three that we start with. And then we just have to fit them all in together. First of all, I think at the top, I'm just reading it from the slide, Know Your Student. And we plan from that, the start, but working goals within the... ECC is looking at the FIELA curriculum, looking through the Functional Scheme. When we put our... curriculum plan, we have a-- we do it online. And when we're putting our plans in the FIELA levels, that goes there, as well, so we can select them from the drop box. [Indiscernible] It's all melded in together already. [Silence] Charlotte: Thank you, Narbethong. Your audio sounds great, so I'm so glad we were able to resolve that. We have some questions that we wanted to ask you. And I guess when I talk, it's going to be echoing there. So, we'll just persevere and hope for the best. One thing that we noticed‑‑ [Crosstalk] Charlotte: Was in the orientation and mobility slide, when the child's was on the stairs, we noticed that he was barefoot. And we're curious... about how much travel students do when they're barefoot. Kathryn: How much travel they do? As in, within the program? Charlotte: Yeah. I mean, is that a regular feature of what you do, like all orientation & mobility lessons are done barefoot, or something like that? Kathryn: It is... for the young children. That's a very young child. As they get older and they're using their canes to move around the school, it changes. But if they're on an orientation & mobility explore, they can choose to have their shoes off. In Queensland it's quite warm, so, unless it's a very cold day, their shoes are on. So it depends on the child. The very young children, especially that child climbing stairs, to get that feedback from his feet, they would have their shoes off. Charlotte: I think those of us who live in snowy climates are just smiling at the idea of this, but it's wonderful. It's great that you can do that. Kate: It's warm in Texas. We could do that! [ Laughter ] So one of the things that I Kathryn: I mean, it's not-- [Crosstalk] [Silence] Kathryn: Are you there? Can I talk? Kate: Yes. [ Laughter ] Kathryn: It's not a hard and fast rule for us to say all shoes are off. Kate: Great. So, another question I had, or... a comment maybe, I had, you mentioned offering language. And I really like that term because, you know, when we look at the five phases, offering is one of the first phases. And I know that a lot of people feel like, well in Active Learning there's not enough focus on language and language development. But I feel like y'all have, sort of, a clear sense of where you're going with language development. And I'd like you to just talk about that a little bit if you could. Kathryn: Okay. Where we started with using that term was... one of Lili's books-- I can't remember what it is off the top of my head-- she mentions that she hasn't finished her study and her research. And one of the things was waiting to see behavior management and language. Communication was another one she felt she hadn't gone into in‑depth. So, we felt it's up to us to-- Is it really working? [Silence] So we felt it was up to us to continue in some way with this. So what we looked at was the five stages that she set up for actual, you know, offering, invitation, interaction, sharing work, and consequences; that little set up for... [Indiscernible] play, and we sort of adapted those words and put them into language. So that's where the offering the language comes from. And as Lili said, offering an activity, we've included offering language, and then the imitation of the language, and then the interaction, and so on. [ Slide end: ] Kate: That makes it very clear, it really does. And I think about, you know, the language games... are more than just specific words. A lot of times language is about-- in the very early stages-- just a serve-and-return response, as far as vocalizations go. It may be for a child who's going to be a signer, more of a tactile back and forth. So, I think that keeping those five phases in mind, when we think about how we're approaching language, is a real plus. And Patty, if you're there, I'd love to hear your thoughts about that. Or about language. Patty: I thought that was a great way of correlating the language to the five phases. I really agreed with that. Kate: Cool. Excellent. Matt: Charlotte has a question in the pod. Charlotte, are you with us via audio, as well? Charlotte: I am. I worried about the delay. I thought it might be easier to put my question in the pod. But I'm just curious about the student who was placed in the hammock in the prone position. And we were- we were interested to find out how you decided not to use the support bench, and how the decision was made. Like, did you talk to a medical doctor or a PT? And also, we're curious where you actually got that hammock. Kathryn: Okay. Can you hear me? Okay. I'm going to hand over to June, who's the teacher of that student. [Noise] June: Hi. A number of years ago we had-- we started to have much older and heavier, multiply impaired students who we felt still needed to work in a prone position, and still have the opportunity to move all of their limbs. And we trialed a number of commercial... hammocks to just see if they would work. And we were finding that the edges of those hammocks cut into the children's chest and tummy and whatever. So, somebody had some fabric and they just designed something. And we had-- we actually, at the time, had a lovely volunteer who sewed the hammock up for us and it's all... padded. [ Slide start: ] repeat previous slide "Narbethong State Special School" But the particular thinking behind it was that this particular student, in your language, would've been 120 pounds plus. [Noise] And he needed to be hoisted for all transfer. So, we could lay the hammock flat on the ground... we could lay the hammock flat on the ground and hoist him onto the hammock, roll him onto his tummy and then attach the rings of the hammock up onto the Hopsa, and lift him gently up, so that he was in the same position, a much lighter child would be, on the support bench. So that was how it began. And placing him on the Hopsa track allowed him to still have that opportunity to move, as you would on a traditional support bench. Now, over time the hammock became applied to other students such as the one you saw in the film. That girl, in the film, had spinal scoliosis, which has had-- she's had rods in her back which has given some benefit, so her back is... is very... very difficult. And she has contractures in her hands, and her feet, and her tendons and so on under her arms, they're very, very tight. So, by using that hammock, we sit her my lap, or someone's lap, and we can tuck the hammock right up under her armpits, and then just gently let her fall forward, and the Hopsa dress takes up her weight. And she can have a really comfortable session in that position for 20 to 30 minutes. At the time when it was all evolving, certainly our physio was involved in the... decision making process. We find it particularly useful for those children whose bodies make it difficult to use traditional equipment. So we've had other children who are more active who are able to just travel along that Hopsa track, and they're so comfortable. I've trialed it myself. It is very comfortable. [ Laughter ] And, yeah. We find that, you know, it fills a gap. If we didn't have that, we would have to dissist from the prone mark; and for many of the students, it's still very appropriate. Does that help? Kate: Yes. Charlotte: Yes, thank you. [ Slide end: ] Kate: So, before we go on with other questions we might have, are there questions from out... out in our audience? Kate: Let's see. One of the things that I noticed is the student and teacher who-- he was a new student and the teacher was taking a lot of time getting to know him and sort of playing songs with him. And I know that, you know, one of the issues we often face is, how much time it takes to just get a student to trust you, and to want to be with you. And I wondered what kind of parameters or guidance your staff gets, at Narbethong, related to allowing time for the child to just be with you without any big agenda. Kathryn: Well, that particular student- that particular student... had come from home. He had no intervention. So he was very insecure. So he interacted in that way. He needed to feel and know that the teacher was nearby. The principal is very aware of the way that we might need to interact with some of these younger students. Older students-- we have another student that's come to the school and he was fairly insecure. Transitions were difficult. But just giving that time, that time and no pressure, some guidance-- gentle guidance and some consequences. And it depends on the child. Just trying in that time that you have to get to know them. It's much better to take the time you need than jump in and, you know, do some activity that they're not happy with, or try and get them to do it. Does that make sense? Kate: It absolutely does. And, you know, I think that's the thing that, you know, I so much appreciate about Active Learning, is that it reminds us that it's important to address the social and emotional development of the child. And I think, you know, one of the things that I've learned, from Patty, and from Lili and others, who have been doing Active Learning for a long time; is this notion of when a child's emotional development is at a very, very young age even though their skills may be at a much higher level, then you have to really teach to that emotional level a lot, because that-- until they feel secure, until they feel... better able to just sort of show who they are, and show what they can do; which all has to do with emotional security, that, you know, pressuring them to do things at a higher level-- even though skill‑wise they may be able to go through the motions and do it, you're really not accomplishing what you hope to accomplish. I know that Patty has done some wonderful explanations of this and this information is going to be up on our website, soon, where she talks about emotional development. And I want to encourage us to look at that, but also read what Lili says about that, because it's just such an important piece. And we don't-- I don't think we pay enough attention to that a lot of times. Matt: Absolutely. Charlotte: I wanted to jump in with a question that a couple of people have been asking in the chat pod, which is about the pod communication book and whether or not those are used in the classrooms. Could you talk about that, Narbethong? Kathryn: We found, as I was saying before, that communication was not something that was covered greatly at Narbethong. A lot of our children don't communicate verbally. They would have perhaps head nods. Some teachers and parents could indicate that an eye blink or turning a head away, but... our speech/language pathologists felt we needed to have some sort of system that... for when these children [silence] with people, that they could still communicate. [silence] And even that system, it was set up so the children-- to work with... an adult. So the adult is verbally running through the choices in the pod, and the child is giving their yes/no response to the questions when they come up. So we do have some that use their pods, because they have got vision, by pointing to the... to the choices they're making, but the majority of children are using... pods with the adult running through the list of choices. And we do have one student, here, in particular, who... had a lot of... depressive behaviors that you would think he was quite sad. Once he started using the pod, he's now chatting about football. He watches football with his family, and he just wants to talk about football. And this is a child that is multiply impaired, that, you know, beforehand we didn't, sort of, think beyond having a yes/no response that he was able to engage in a conversation. So one fantastic success proves that it's a worthwhile thing. And, of course, there are others that are working to it, as well. But initially when it was first started, a lot of us vision‑impaired teachers, were kind of horrified that we were bringing a visual system in. But as we work through it and we learnt more with the speech pathologists, we realized she wasn't expecting the children to look at the pod and choosing-- make their choices. Kate: Great. Thank you. Well, I just got the sign that we're about to run out of time, and I want to personally thank all the folks at Narbethong for all the work you did to get this video to us and to be a part of this. We really appreciate it. You're a wonderful school and a great example to us of how Active Learning can be done. I want to thank all of you guys for being here throughout our whole season. And I hope you will all come back next year. And in the meantime, I'll be around this summer. Charlotte will be around this summer. So send questions and ideas, and concerns. [Music] Fade up from black. Animation: Text for TSBVI transform into braille cells for TSBVI. [Music face out] Fade to black.