Have You Thought About Writing a Blog?

12 Jul

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“http://worldartsme.com/

Are you thinking about  designing your own blog?  Do You feel you have ideas to share and writing appeals to you? Do you read other blogs and say,  “I can do this.” Maybe you have a TPT store and wonder if a blog would help it to become more successful.  The goals and motivations for writing a blog are as varied as the people out there.

The number of Speech Language Pathologist (SLPS) who are writing blogs has mushroomed over the last few years. This has definitely made it easier for beginning SLPs to get materials,  A bit harder for blog writers to come up with new material.  Gone are the days of blowing your budget on high-priced commercial products as  you try to meet all your student or client needs. Now there are high quality products made by our fellow  SLPs. Some are even presented as free on Blogs and Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT).  As a group we are creative bunch and  love to share and communicate.

Individuals often wonder if they have enough to write  about.  I started this blog in 2009 and here I am still writing 7 years later.  I found this to be less of a problem than you might think. Once you are tuned in to finding topics, they will present themselves.  Some times the oddest topics make it big.  I wrote once about pulling out pool noodles and balloons for a therapy session.  It was written on a  whim. I was running out of ideas for my early language learners and thought that other SLPs may have the same problem.  A colleague pointed out  that the  post was mentioned in the blog jam section of ASHA.   That was not the post I would think was worth mentioning. I was urprised to see it there.  Up until then I had kept my blog writing endeavors low-key.   I didn’t think many of my colleagues were aware  I was writing it.  All of a sudden I had some notoriety.

Some topics work better than others of course.  I had visions of bad  comments flooding in and no one reading what I wrote. That never occurred.  I found that my audience was appreciative and my readers have  been more than kind.  I would not let that fear prevent me from writing.

As  I look back, some of my posts  were duds and some were surprisingly  well received.  Some took a while before people noticed them.  I have had a few occasions where free apps were offered if I reviewed the product.

The important thing is to be passionate about your topics and let your experiences come out in your writing and  have patience  if it seems no one is listening. Don’t be too hard on yourself at first. You will be surprised how much  your writing improves over time.

You don’t need to write everything at once. I typically write on a topic over multiple days.   I read it several times and make revisions. You don’t always know until after you hit that publish button if it is a good post. The draft button is my friend. I still feel  apprehensive every time I hit publish.  After you publish, it is strangely motivating to see how many people come to read and visit.  Comments are like gold stars.

I have read suggestions by others on how to get started writing a blog.  I get a chuckle because I didn’t have that list to follow when I started.  It shows you that you really don’t need the list.  I made mistakes along the way but I think I turned out all right anyway.  If I had followed a list mine would look something like this.

1. What is your goal?

I started out with a different goal than most people. At the time I was just looking for a place to store digital materials so they would be available when I needed them.  I had plenty of experience with not having materials when I started  new job settings.  It saved the day a number of times when I was able to bring it up on my iPad or print it out.  I decided I should put it up for sharing as long as I went through so much work. I wasn’t thinking of a commercial enterprise at the time.  Generally I was put off with too much advertising for products on other sites. Eventually I relented  to some advertising of  TPT products so I could have a self hosted site that was self-sustaining. It opened up new options.

2. Write frequently

It is important to write frequently so you establish an audience.  This is probably true at first. However, I didn’t put myself on a schedule.  I wrote on topics as they came up. Sometimes it was weekly because I wrote about groups that met weekly like my Social Pragmatic groups or Circle of Friends group.  An SLP work schedule can get pretty hectic as you know and I preferred the less pressure cooker approach. You need to have patience and just tell yourself it will grow slowly.  I saw most of my growth in the second year and each year increased.  I also listed resources separate from the Blog Posts so people would be inclined to visit later to find materials.

3. Where will I start? Will I use af free site or will I self host.?

I  started with wordpress.com. mainly because I had a daughter going through college at the time and she had taken a class using it.  I figured I should take advantage of that college education.  I did not have one iota of  experience building a blog. I didn’t even know if it would work for me so free was good. Free sites give you an opportunity to learn the ropes before committing.  Free WordPress.com sites have their own communities of followers and a forum  that was also very helpful. It was like starting in a playpen. You could get an idea of what it is like and have a safety net. They had a good spam catcher and hacker prevention. I missed that later on when my self hosted site got hacked. I fortunately got bailed out by my host who told me about a good security widget. That saved the day.

The free site did have some inconveniences.  You had to agree  to  advertisements that would pop up not of your choosing.  It was usually relevant to your blog content like mine usually had to do with education. You were not allowed to use  your site for advertising or affiliates.  I think TPT advertising may be frowned on although I never got an official notice.   There was less creativity  because you used Word press templates rather than your own design. You didn’t have access to plugins  And wdgets which allow you to do more personal touches. Free sites are good way to see if you want to do this long term. It is possible to transfer your site to a self hosted site once you get established. It is also possible to carry your followers along with you. WordPress provided transfer instructions that worked.  If I can do it anyone can.

I learned it was important  to take careful consideration to the name you choose for your blog.  If you choose a free blog the url may have the host name in it. The name you choose becomes part of  the url.  In my case I used a nickname and not my blog name.  It became (cjmonty.wordpress.com).  I regretted I started with this because it became confusing later on.  I decided to become self hosted later on and bought a domain name to correspond to the blog name.  It is important to research names that you can use in a domain so it will be less confusing when you make the switch.  Some domain names are already taken so be sure to check this out before you select a name.

I decided to become self hosting after 5 years.   How did I come to this decision?  It was a hobby I actually enjoyed.  I decided I wanted more control. There were a few times that my site over used the band width and was shut down.  I know, such a bad problem to have.  I decided I had outgrown my site and needed to get more serious about it. I also wanted more to say on how my site looked.

With self hosting, I bought a theme that I could manipulate the background and display.  I got access to plugins and widgets.  I got rid of pop up advertising and  could do my own advertising.  As TPT grew I was able to cover the cost of the blog.  Hopefully everyone benefited from the improvements.  I must end with a  warm thankyou to all of you who have supported the blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Last Pair Pear Tree

2 Jun

pear tree2016I have written before about how I have an end of the year tradition of putting up a pear tree. The students add pears on which  they have written  homophones or homonyms.  I give them a sucker in exchange for putting the pear up.  It becomes a bit of a competition and a learning experience.  It amazes me that students still come up with new ones after about 8 years of collecting them.

The tree is special because It is in  remembrance of my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Pilatski who had great ways to engage her students. I have fond memories of her.  She would like that it became a tradition.  Also one of my colleagues bought the pear die a few years back  in remembrance of her mother, a former teacher,  who also collected homonyms. It made my paper cutting so much easier.

I say this is the last pair/pear tree because I am retiring at the end of this school year and I don’t know if the tradition will be continued.  It still is a very nice  finale for my bulletin board.  I hope you have enjoyed all the art work my students have completed in their quest to give and follow directions in speech class.

I am retiring, but Speech Therapy still runs in my veins.  I will need to see how I reinvent myself.

 

End of Year Speech Therapy Celebrations

7 May

snow cone machineHow many of you do some sort of end of the year celebration?  I usually do something for  the  last day of speech class. I think it is important to acknowledge the effort students have made in speech class and the progress towards their goals.  Celebrations are not as prevalent in the school environment as in past years.  It seems they have suffered from not being politically correct or there just not enough time with all the accountability.  I think they are valuable teaching moments though.  Our students are missing out on the social communication that goes along with a social gathering.

There are social pragmatic skills that are learned from participating in a party.  A carefully planned platter of cheese and crackers and a pitcher of water or juice works well for teaching basic table manners. Prepare just enough to make it around the table.  Of course you need to check about allergies before doing this. I would still have some in reserve for the unexpected to happen.

Some students may not have much experienced with a sit down meal in a group.  I remember one particular social group  that needed a script to follow on serving. They didn’t think about looking ahead to see the amount of portions on the plate and helped themselves to multiple servings.  They needed to be schooled about looking ahead to make sure there was enough for everyone.  They may also need to be schooled  about asking politely  for the drink, using please and thankyou, and asking the next person if they would like some.

If you have worked on conversation skills in the past, it is a good place to see the culmination of skills;  introducing a topic, staying on topic, exiting a topic, and including everyone.

I find icy parties are also a good therapy tool for the end of the year.  My early language learners enjoy following directions for the treat.  The syrup is economical and available in a sugar-free form for my student with medical restrictions on sugar.  I have an icy machine but you may be able to uses a blender.  I  found I needed to keep in control of the bottles for proper portion control.

I like this party even better than a popcorn party   because it is the easiest to clean up.  Usually it is just wiping the table. We have an ice cube maker in the staff refrigerator so I only need to get a few syrup bottles and bring my icy maker, plastic spoons and cups.  The smaller clear cups actually work the best because you can make layers of color and watch them blend.  You can work on a lot of descriptive vocabulary with an icy party.

I made a pdf of the communication board for those who would like to use it. free download button

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Tumblin Monkeys Game for Speech Therapy

23 Oct

Tumblin monkeysI  noticed that this game is being sold once again.  I have used Tumblin Monkeys as  one of my therapy  games for quite a few years.  It is a great game for general reinforcement, and can be played by early language leaners as well as my older elementary students. The game is similar to Kerplunk but looks like a palm tree.   The sticks are a little easier to stick in than kerplunk. The monkeys are placed on top of  the sticks and the sticks are  pulled out one by one.  There is a little more strategy involved  because the monkey tails get hung up on the sticks as they fall.  The other thing I like is the use of dice.  With the addition of a communication board  my early language leaners are provided the opportunities to make comments such as “Your turn”, “my turn”,  “I have pink” or make requests “May I have the die?”  It also emphasizes the word “least” because the winner is the one with the least monkeys.

I use the following comunication board with my early language leaners.

Tumblin monkeys com board

 

 

Booby Trap Adaption for Speech Therapy

11 Sep

 

Booby trapMany years ago when I was elementary school age, too long ago to mention,  I received a game call Booby Trap as a gift.  It survived my childhood and my mother handed it back to me when she cleaned out a closet.  I added it to my therapy game collection and it became a good standby.  The game was out of circulation for quite a few years so my students were often not familiar with it.   Lately I  noticed the game is back as a remake from the past and you can find some old ones on Ebay.  It comes in a  plastic versions and a wooden one.   One of my students told me the  plastic version is not as good because the pieces fly out easily.  I will let you figure that part out for yourself.  If you are looking for therapy games this is a good one and the wooden one has lasted my teaching career.

The game is easy to learn.  Basically students remove circular pieces that are held tight by a spring bar.  If the wrong piece is chosen the bar will spring forward.  Players pay a penalty for setting it off by returning pieces.  Players choose from 3 sizes of pieces. The larger the piece the more points a students earns.

This game is enjoyed across age levels to include high school level. It is sometimes hard to find games that are age appropriate for the older students who receive special education services.  It works well for general reinforcement  and for language learners with a communication board added.  I use it to develop basic statements such as “I have…”, “I take/took……” “your turn” and “my turn”.  It is also good for developing statements with attributes such as colors, size, and amount.

This is  a copy of the board I use for my language learners.

Boobytrap