Moraski CoF

Moraski Author

03/17/2021 Added

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[00:00:02.110]Hi, my name is Bobbi Moraski,
[00:00:03.850]and I'm the Speech Pathologist at Portal Elementary School
[00:00:07.570]in Papillion-La Vista schools.
[00:00:09.610]I have been at Portal for about 15 years,
[00:00:12.250]and that's about how long I've been running
[00:00:14.080]Circle of Friends groups.
[00:00:15.760]I honestly can't imagine
[00:00:17.890]not running Circle of Friends groups.
[00:00:20.750]During one of my years, I always have two to three students
[00:00:24.570]that really benefit from the group.
[00:00:28.830]What I love best about Portal
[00:00:30.700]is that we're really inclusive.
[00:00:32.670]Teachers teach all students.
[00:00:34.410]Our special education staff goes into help the students out,
[00:00:38.240]but the teachers are the ones
[00:00:39.540]that are ultimately responsible
[00:00:41.240]for the students in the classroom.
[00:00:43.370]All kids are accepted in the classroom,
[00:00:45.820]and we have some great Para Support.
[00:00:48.340]The Para's do what I do all day long.
[00:00:50.620]I make sure that they get to observe me,
[00:00:53.350]they know how to carry out the activities
[00:00:55.170]and develop communication throughout the student's day.
[00:00:58.200]It's a very seamless approach,
[00:01:00.680]where everyone's working on the same activities.
[00:01:05.930]When I look at selecting my group for a Circle of Friends,
[00:01:09.000]I look at who does the teacher recommend?
[00:01:11.640]Who could maybe benefit
[00:01:12.850]from a little extra group within their classroom?
[00:01:15.580]Who might go out of their way to say hi?
[00:01:18.370]Or who is our target student going to gravitate to
[00:01:20.850]at recess, or in PE, or early in the morning?
[00:01:24.170]And then I look at what's going to fit into my schedule best
[00:01:27.870]and the student's schedule?
[00:01:29.530]So no Circle of Friends group looks the same.
[00:01:32.930]I do a lot of peer training,
[00:01:34.540]I'll use the video that you can see below.
[00:01:36.470]It's called Amazing Things Happen and it's on YouTube.
[00:01:39.550]So we'll watch that,
[00:01:40.560]we'll read some books about autism,
[00:01:42.830]we'll brainstorm ways that they think
[00:01:44.660]that they can help the group.
[00:01:45.670]It's really powerful.
[00:01:47.100]Not to help the group, but to help the student.
[00:01:49.090]It's really powerful for the students
[00:01:51.060]to take responsibility for what they think
[00:01:54.180]that I should be teaching
[00:01:55.240]and they always have some really great ideas
[00:01:57.670]that I wouldn't have thought of.
[00:01:59.810]When I'm doing social skills training,
[00:02:02.990]I'll use the We Thinkers curriculum from Social Thinking.
[00:02:05.940]It's an amazing curriculum.
[00:02:07.960]I use it with all my kids,
[00:02:11.220]K through 5, who have social language needs.
[00:02:14.900]It's a great foundation for teaching
[00:02:16.900]some of that social language.
[00:02:18.690]I will also use the book "Talk With Me"
[00:02:20.740]which is a way to teach a conversational framework
[00:02:24.120]for some of our more advanced students.
[00:02:28.480]Activities that we'll do,
[00:02:30.130]a lot of playgrounds play 4 Square, Wall Ball.
[00:02:33.730]We'll do some indoor play with scooter races
[00:02:36.300]and activities that are in our sensory room.
[00:02:39.160]We'll have lunch together.
[00:02:40.800]I use my peers for video modeling,
[00:02:42.850]of expected and unexpected behaviors.
[00:02:45.580]We play a variety of games,
[00:02:47.180]and lots and lots of language activities,
[00:02:49.280]because kids learn best from other kids.
[00:02:52.370]Here are some of the games that we'll play as a group.
[00:02:55.890]The cup stacking, any Minute to Win It games,
[00:03:01.062]are a huge incentive for my students.
[00:03:04.160]All the kids love it.
[00:03:05.217]And so you can Google that,
[00:03:06.900]there's lots of game activity ideas.
[00:03:09.290]And then I just changed the rules
[00:03:10.761]so that they meet the students' needs within the group.
[00:03:16.400]I'll also use a lot of videos and commercials
[00:03:19.020]within my groups.
[00:03:20.490]So here's some of them that I'll use,
[00:03:23.497]"Simon's Cat" I love.
[00:03:25.370]And then there's a lot of short films that are on YouTube.
[00:03:28.940]If you Google my name on YouTube,
[00:03:31.020]you'll find that I have a couple of playlists.
[00:03:32.800]One is commercials,
[00:03:33.960]that I'll use for inferencing and making predictions,
[00:03:36.530]and the other one is short films.
[00:03:38.440]But YouTube does not let you save videos
[00:03:41.920]that are meant to be for children.
[00:03:43.360]So like "Ormie the Pig",
[00:03:44.470]I can't save it to my YouTube list.
[00:03:47.950]But there's another website called Edpuzzle.com
[00:03:51.170]that has lots of videos there with questions embedded in it,
[00:03:54.530]so I love that site.
[00:03:56.150]I also love the site, Kidsloveshortfilms.com,
[00:03:59.960]that has a bunch of short film videos.
[00:04:02.620]And then Speechtimefun.com,
[00:04:05.170]is another speech pathologist that blogs
[00:04:07.360]about how she uses videos and commercials within her therapy
[00:04:11.060]and that was a great tool as well.
[00:04:13.810]I thought that it would be important
[00:04:16.010]that you heard from some of my students.
[00:04:18.970]Many of these students have been in Circle of Friends
[00:04:21.410]for a long time.
[00:04:22.520]So let's see what they have to say about Circle of Friends.
[00:04:27.480]Oops.
[00:04:32.520]Let's try that again.
[00:04:35.119]My name is Allison and I'm in 1st grade.
[00:04:38.500]Allison, what has been your favorite part
[00:04:41.790]of Circle of Friends?
[00:04:44.022]Having friends in the group.
[00:04:46.050]Awesome, and how do you think that Circle of Friends
[00:04:48.660]has helped the students that you worked with?
[00:04:52.280]It helps them go talk to other people
[00:04:56.147]and make more friends.
[00:04:58.565]Good.
[00:05:00.750]Here is another student.
[00:05:03.880]Hello, my name is Henry
[00:05:05.730]and one thing that really helps a kid
[00:05:09.470]is playing board games to help them to be more peerly.
[00:05:14.450]That's great, now what was your favorite activity
[00:05:16.440]that we did as Circle of Friends group?
[00:05:18.590]Scooter racing.
[00:05:19.680]Scooter racing?
[00:05:21.340]Did you ever win?
[00:05:22.860]Yeah.
[00:05:23.950]Sometimes?
[00:05:25.060]What would you recommend for people
[00:05:27.420]as they think about setting up Circle of Friends groups?
[00:05:30.720]Like, do you, are you like a good worker?
[00:05:34.610]So that you can finish your homework still
[00:05:38.650]without taking up and missing stuff.
[00:05:41.760]Right, 'cause you did have to miss some class
[00:05:43.570]to be able to do Circle of Friends.
[00:05:44.770]So you think like, as far as picking the friends
[00:05:46.900]that they would pick kids that were better workers?
[00:05:49.196]Yeah.
[00:05:55.602]Hi, I'm Leah and I'm in 5th grade.
[00:05:59.090]Leah, what has been your favorite part
[00:06:00.990]of Circle of Friends?
[00:06:03.600]Helping Ellie out learning how to take turns
[00:06:07.457]and sometimes helping her with a speech.
[00:06:10.200]Yeah.
[00:06:11.870]You've been a really great help for her.
[00:06:14.180]Tell me what is your favorite activity?
[00:06:18.530]I like when,
[00:06:21.755]we play games.
[00:06:25.215]And the last peer model.
[00:06:29.732]Hey, I'm Dolan.
[00:06:32.160]Circle of Friends is helpful because it can help
[00:06:35.860]in social skills in some students
[00:06:39.161]and also make their day better.
[00:06:42.240]What was your favorite thing that we did
[00:06:44.260]as a Circle of Friends group?
[00:06:46.170]Probably just play the games.
[00:06:47.900]Play the games?
[00:06:48.733]Yeah.
[00:06:49.730]And for someone new to starting up Circle of Friends
[00:06:52.600]what's your first recommendation?
[00:06:54.150]What should they do first?
[00:06:55.860]I don't know, just get to know the people.
[00:06:58.430]Have fun.
[00:06:59.910]And how would they choose friends for the students?
[00:07:03.827]What would make a good partner?
[00:07:06.060]Someone nice.
[00:07:08.380]Someone
[00:07:10.670]that will help them with stuff.
[00:07:15.920]Well said.
[00:07:17.330]Now next, here's a couple of my students
[00:07:20.970]that were the target students
[00:07:22.740]for a Circle of Friends.
[00:07:26.360]Ellie, what do you love most
[00:07:27.750]about Leah being in your Circle of Friends group?
[00:07:30.800]Um, playing games.
[00:07:32.250]Yeah?
[00:07:33.083]What does Leah help you do?
[00:07:35.050]Counting.
[00:07:35.960]She does help you count.
[00:07:37.860]Would you rather have Ms. Moraski help you
[00:07:40.390]or would you rather have Leah help you?
[00:07:42.410]Um, Mrs. Moraski help me.
[00:07:44.090]You like it when I help you?
[00:07:45.680]Mmhmm.
[00:07:46.513]What about when Leah helps you?
[00:07:48.470]Yes.
[00:07:49.303]Yeah?
[00:07:50.136]What is your favorite game to play with Leah?
[00:07:55.420]Slow boat game.
[00:07:58.420]Alright, and last is Clifford.
[00:08:00.880]Now the only thing that I told these students is,
[00:08:03.740]I'm just going to ask you some questions
[00:08:05.360]about Circle of Friends,
[00:08:06.530]so this I think is super powerful
[00:08:09.770]as to why we run Circle of Friends groups.
[00:08:14.040]Oops.
[00:08:18.349]I am Clifford Rouse, I am in 6th grade
[00:08:21.722]and I love Circle of Friends.
[00:08:25.120]My favorite thing about it is
[00:08:27.430]probably playing games with other people.
[00:08:30.580]We've played a handful throughout my time
[00:08:34.420]in Circle of Friends.
[00:08:39.320]How has Circle of Friends helped you Clifford?
[00:08:41.760]It's helped me a lot.
[00:08:44.678]I used to just be out of control.
[00:08:48.838]I didn't do things I was meant to do and,
[00:08:52.580]wasn't a very good student.
[00:08:54.540]Alright, and how have you changed now?
[00:08:58.556]Lots and lots of practice.
[00:09:01.261](laughs)
[00:09:02.110]Totally.
[00:09:02.943]What's been your favorite part of Circle of Friends.
[00:09:05.600]Do you have a favorite thing
[00:09:06.690]that you got to do with your friends?
[00:09:09.240]Again, probably playing games.
[00:09:11.207]We had lots of fun.
[00:09:13.180]So if anyone asked you,
[00:09:14.600]why is Circle of Friends important for students?
[00:09:18.440]It can help them
[00:09:19.860]get out of a shell
[00:09:23.020]of sorts.
[00:09:24.290]I like that.
[00:09:25.123]Can you explain what you mean?
[00:09:26.910]Like most kids can be in some sort of a shell
[00:09:31.840]when they're in school and they could stay in that shell
[00:09:36.470]for a long time.
[00:09:40.030]And Circle of Friends sort of breaks down that shell
[00:09:44.280]and gets rid of it and it makes it easier for kids to,
[00:09:49.010]you know, interact,
[00:09:52.179]and it just changes them.
[00:09:55.898]Makes them not be out of control
[00:10:00.373]when kids think of them as the same.
[00:10:03.450]Awesome.
[00:10:04.283]Yeah.
[00:10:05.116]Now, do you feel like you're able
[00:10:06.530]to make friends in your classroom?
[00:10:09.270]Yes.
[00:10:10.290]More easily than what you used to be able to?
[00:10:12.629]Yes.
[00:10:16.150]If you were to make recommendations
[00:10:17.760]for something people for sure did
[00:10:19.700]when they had Circle of Friends group,
[00:10:21.960]what would that be?
[00:10:22.860]What activities?
[00:10:27.420]Uh, play a
[00:10:29.890]board game
[00:10:31.130]about
[00:10:33.140]scenarios
[00:10:34.480]that you need to
[00:10:37.755]go through.
[00:10:39.160]Right, so some social scenarios.
[00:10:40.860]So it doesn't always have to be fun board games
[00:10:45.090]but sometimes they can be learning games too?
[00:10:47.273]Mmhmm.
[00:10:49.410]Clifford's pretty amazing.
[00:10:52.540]So the therapy materials that Clifford
[00:10:54.360]was just talking about were just social things
[00:10:58.070]that I got at Super Duper's.
[00:11:00.620]So what do you say and do at school?
[00:11:03.250]There are some basic game boards on Super Duper,
[00:11:06.370]Grammar Gumballs, we worked a lot on using
[00:11:09.910]correct sentence structure.
[00:11:11.220]Communicate Junior is another social skills party game.
[00:11:14.790]And then the Should I or Shouldn't I
[00:11:16.760]is from social thinking, which is one of my all time
[00:11:19.760]favorite activities to do
[00:11:21.030]on a high level Circle of Friends group.
[00:11:23.250]And they also have a middle school addition as well.
[00:11:27.410]So that is my Circle of Friends groups in a nutshell.
[00:11:31.860]It changes based on the student.
[00:11:33.560]No two groups are the same,
[00:11:35.940]and the basis is that we have fun,
[00:11:38.870]and that the kids want to come back to Circle of Friends.
[00:11:42.260]So I would be more than happy to answer any questions
[00:11:45.260]that you have, or if there's some materials that you want
[00:11:47.590]more information on, or if you need some advice
[00:11:50.540]for an activity in group,
[00:11:52.030]feel free to reach out to me through email.
[00:11:54.420]Thanks a lot for your time.

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