The Power of Fun

The Power of Vision
Volume VII No. 1: The Power of Fun
A Publication of the AbleNet Consortium for Excellence in Special Education

Imagine...

A classroom where students are continually ENGAGED and INSPIRED to learn…empowered to move, LAUGH, explore and be CREATIVE…because elements of FUN have been woven into every learning experience…making the learning COME TO LIFE for everyone!

Let’s hear what Susan Smith has to say…
Susan has been a special education teacher in an elementary school setting for the past 13 years in Lubbock Texas, and is currently at Guadalupe Elementary School. She works primarily with students with severe and multiple developmental cognitive disabilities and loves the creative challenges and opportunities inherent in serving this population. Susan has been an advocate for fun-inspired learning and makes creative teaching a priority everyday.

AbleNet: Many educators we talk to mention the importance of building fun into the learning experience. Knowing this has been a focus of yours for years, how would you help us better understand what fun-inspired learning is all about?

Susan: When I think about fun I think about real-life adventures, yet, it’s often difficult for us to get our students out into the real world as much as we’d like. So for me, fun-inspired learning has focused on bringing more adventure into the classroom. I also firmly believe that fun is important for everyone involved, and if staff members are having a good time the students will learn in the process. Bottom line, if we’re not excited about what and how we’re teaching, it’s hard to expect our students to be!

AbleNet: Have you always held that perspective, and if not, how did it develop?

Susan: No I haven’t. In fact, when I think back to my first years as a teacher I’m kind of embarrassed remembering all of the repetitive tasks we used to do with students, including the hours we had students sort objects such as blocks, coins and nuts and bolts. Because our focus at that time was the students’ individual educational plans, we found ourselves literally teaching to the IEP goals as written. But the results were not ideal because our students were bored and so were we! Over time we began to realize there could be more motivating ways to achieve same objectives.

AbleNet: How did you get started?

Susan: We started by getting books and trying to come up with engaging activities to go with them. We read the story The Three Little Pigs and made little houses to go with the story. Our students blew the houses down using a hair dryer which was adapted with a switch. That was also about the time we got our first BIGmack communicator, which opened up many new opportunities to add voice output to activities. We also began paying more attention to what the regular education students were doing because we often thought they were having more fun than we were—show and tell, putting on plays, science fairs being a few examples. So we asked ourselves how we could engage our students in similar activities and took active steps to make it happen. There are also many simple and subtle ways to build fun into a learning experience. For example, now when we make cookies for snack, we might expand it to include choices of colorful frostings and a taste test using different colored plates, reinforcing color identification.

AbleNet: What are some of the general benefits of fun-inspired learning?

Susan: Besides the obvious positive impact on students and staff, our parents have been so excited about the learning opportunities and proud of their children's accomplishments. Many have told us they “never thought their children would ever participate in these types of activities.” For us, fun-inspired learning has allowed us many more opportunities to include our students with their typical peers. As a result, we’re no longer considered “special ed off in corner,’ but more part of the greater school community, which is a huge motivator for everyone involved.

AbleNet: What general advice would you offer to educators as they begin to think about including or expanding on fun-inspired learning opportunities?

Susan: I think it’s very important to see fun as an important element of every classroom activity whether snack, math lesson, or functional skills and to be as proactive as possible about making that happen. For example, if the student is playing with a remote control car, consider making it more exciting by having races, setting up an obstacle course, inviting peers to participate, etc. Brainstorming options in and of itself can be an enjoyable activity for staff, and remember you can always get students and typical peers involved in generating fun ideas.

Try This

Here’s how we’re planning to build fun-inspired learning into some of the activities we have planned for the remainder of this school year:

January

As we study shapes, we are going to make binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and we will go on a circle hunt around the school. Students will use their BIGmacks and Step-by-Step communicators to sing the song "We are going on a circle hunt, a circle hunt, a circle hunt."

We will turn our classroom into a restaurant with help from our sixth grade friends. Our students will be active participants using their communication aids as greeters and cashiers. They will also make orange juice with the help of a switch and PowerLink control unit. Part of the fun in this activity is the anticipation, given this has been an annual event for the past four years and everybody looks forward to it.

February

We plan to make Valentine cards and cookies and deliver them to our friends. We will use our BIGmack communicators to greet our friends and wish them a Happy Valentine's Day.

We will also be participating in a science fair. All of our students will make a science project and will present it to the other students with the help of their Step-by-Step communication aids.

March

We'll be making little kites for our craft project and our students will participate in flying them across the room using a switch-adapted hair dryer connected to the Power Link control unit. We had a hot air balloon race similar to this in the fall and everyone enjoyed it.

April

We have an annual scavenger hunt at our school where our students' typical peers help them find hidden items. Our students use their BIGmacks to make comments about the items. Finding hidden surprises is always fun!

May

We always participate in putting on a play with our friends from three middle schools in our community. In past years we put on the plays The Three Little Pigs and The Gingerbread Man. Our students really enjoyed performing their parts using various voice output communicators.

Think About…

Consider the following elements of FUN and how you might build these into your classroom activities:

Amusement
Creativity
Color
Dance
Food
Freedom
Friends
Friendly competition
Getting dirty
Interactive
Laughter
Lost in the moment
Multi-sensory
No expectation
Funny people
Pretending
Prizes
Spontaneity
Unconventional
Uninhibited

More to Know

Check out www.azkidsnet.com for fun jokes. Program jokes into LITTLE Step-by-Step communicators. Students can tell jokes to each other, vote on their favorite jokes, then go into the school and get people laughing with their funny jokes!

Make a fun snack! Log on to www.mcgees.com/kitchen/kidstuff.htm and check out some strange sounding foods! Vote on your favorites and then create them in the kitchen. Use a PowerLink 3 control unit attached to kitchen appliances to open up cans, mix, blend, slice and dice to complete recipe steps. Invite another class to sample your crazy cuisine. Who could resist a warm bowl of elephant stew or refreshing monkey malt?

Students will have fun sending e-cards to their friends and family! They can find a card that they like on http://cards.123greetings.com/cgi-bin/newcards/showthumbs.pl?q1 and choose somebody to send it to.

*Next Time…..
The interview with Susan Smith continues. Susan shares specific strategies for creating fun-inspired learning that can be incorporated into any curricular activity.

Is there someone you know who should be getting The Power of Vision?
Have them email us at vision@ablenetinc.com. and we’ll add them to our list.
Visit the AbleNet Web site for more resources and ideas.

Permission granted 8-18-02

Special Education Services Plano Independent School District

Special Education Services
Plano Independent School District