I try!

Planning a session

At the front of my notebook I  have written

-Promote attention and listening

-Develop receptive and expressive language

-Increase personal and social well-being

And each session

Play with verbal /physical communication

Give and take turns

Work with questions

Engage in exploratory talk

Work with story narrative

Work positively with peers

Lifted straight from the handbook….with each session I try! I also note ….have/look for fun.

The reality of classroom management, the push and pull of excitable and shrinking personalities, the movable feast that is group dynamics… and… just how the day is going for us all means best laid plans can be loosely held or tightly clung to. I will adapt things in the moment.

Wet play, wind; Internal and external, straight in from play, needing the loo, needing a drink, classroom cover have all been issues- as have distractions in the form of fluffy rugs, telephones ringing, unexpected visitors. Hopefully I’ve been PACEp (*Dan Hughs and speech bubbles) in my dealings with the off piste but sometimes it can been overwhelming and groups may need rearranging , sessions shortening or approaches altering in respect of the groups developmental needs or referrals that don’t quite work. I’ve been lucky enough to be partnered with some great T.A.s and we have made changes in sessions and in consultation with the school and Speech bubbles.

I’ve been adapting my practice -developed grounding , calming activities for transition moments, or pushed on with higher energy tasks too and followed the children’s lead if the group seem to need this. Being aware of where the group are in the programme (early days or old hands) also helps - it takes a while for a group to form, storm, norm and perform (*Bruce Tuckman Developmental sequence in small groups) and of course there can be backward steps.

I am attempting to become very explicit in my expectations and instructions in each section of the session…especially as in some exercises it can be ok to shout out but at others I need more controlled turn taking. There’s the whole group “hands up when you have an answer” and going round with an “I love your enthusiasm” when the answers blurted out “but tell me again when it comes to you”. I’ve encouraged copying and extending replies as well as explained why we sit in a circle.

I try to model and use gestures as often as I can remember to reassure and reinforce.

I have taken to calling the groups my speech bubblers as the groups often come from different classes or year groups and I want to own them and give them an identity.

I hope to remember that they may be unclear at the beginning about what is expected of them- there are no desks to sit at and I am asking for them to do things they may not do elsewhere in classrooms…use directed play to explore a group members story …considerately and with purpose. We also use concepts they may not have encountered before… on the spot/ in slow motion/clowning/ miming/mirroring etc .

I stick to the session outline of

Hello, chant, name in a bucket, moving games, story  square, banana song, shower, I liked, collect a story.

This ties in with my visual timetable which gets ticked off as we progress through the afternoon.

All my planning within the session outline hinges on the collected story in conjunction with that which I am working on for the group or for individuals within the group.

For example….

HELLO

one week I might concentrate on increasing and/or controlling vocalization; saying hello in increasing volume  to encourage speaking out and confidence or pitch.

or I might do small wave big wave to accept and promote physical communication… followed up with make up your own hello…encouraging imagination, confidence, acceptance and identity.  

Or I may start with saying hello by everyone in the circle turning to the  right so you are now saying hello into the back of your neighbour’s neck with a silly voice to loosen up anyone who’s really self-conscious / finds eye contact tricky.

I love trying out and adapting exercises to suit the group makeup/ needs.

CHANT

 I find it really important to remind everyone of the group rules and what we are here to do. If things are going awry I can remind with the action for good listening or I can elaborate on “be gentle with ourselves…so careful… no bumping.”

NAME IN A BUCKET

Once a group is settled I try and incorporate name in a bucket into the story themes. The buckets can be pulled from the sky… dug from the ground…( if transitions are proving difficult this is good because the exercise can be done on the spot….but it’s equally good for if  the story is about space/ finding gold in the ground.) Children can hide with their buckets, and say their names quietly or as if scared…. “Show me your scared face!” Great practice and it  can be done individually or as group with a countdown, depending  on group and individual confidences.

MOVING GAMES

I try to use moving games as a good opportunity for introducing characters, places, concepts, emotions and actions that are present in the collected story.

I have adapted games such as grandmas footsteps into mouse and cheese when the story was about… a mouse and some cheese. ( With creeping, stealing, eating highlighted)

Captains coming aboard game was used in a story about the Titanic introducing the vocabulary of bow and stern but has also been thoroughly adapted into race track reverse for a week when the story was about racing cars.

More often than not a made up  game arrives in planning…

Two groups made a boat and sailed on the seas to ‘Mrs Brown’ (the T.A) island, to chair island, with class members being the  captain “anchors away/ drop anchor”... This for a boat story and was also encouraging peers working together.

We’ve also done a clowning workshop… one at a time enter and trip over an imaginary bump in the carpet… for a story with falling over in it.” Where have you hurt yourself?” gives a chance to express emotion and imagination.

STORY SQUARE

This is a great opportunity for a deeper dive into the story and time to present!

I try to section my story into  units of action to help with the flow of the oral story, this gives  the group a clear segment of the story to act out.

Quick checks ensure we all know characters, places and we may practice emotions. Then it’s  time to act and be the audience, give and receive attention and have fun.

 I try to follow up with hot seating, in character, vox pop, empathy work or straightforward questions to develop identity and confidence.

Always a big well done and clap for the author of course!

Shortest stories have been… “Once there was a pig and a horse” …it was a gift we were all pigs and horses…what were they doing- what happened when they met? Moving games set us up for how we might greet each other.

Or…. “The Gruffalo I forgot”.  Putting our names in a bucket like ‘I forgot’ led on to some great emphatic full body I forgot acting in the story square. “What exactly did the Gruffalo forget?” was a fab follow up. “Have you ever forgotten anything?”

THE BANANA SONG

Always a winner… finish with asleep on the floor and we are ready for …

SHOWER

Our de-roling activity, washing off all the things we’ve been. Later in the programme the pretend showers are often blocked, hard to turn on or  too hot ! I normally have a spare shower or a spanner to fix the problem.

I LIKED

I find this useful for encouraging group listening, bigging up others contributions, accepting different takes and digging down and encouraging specificity.

I have started getting group members to close the session with them blowing out the acting candles on their fingers for a calm finish.

COLLECTING A STORY

Here reassuring everyone will get a turn, with a list they can see, helps with the anxiety of being forgotten or the enthusiasm for a go.

During the collection I try and show the note book I am using, show the amount of space we have to write in, and I try and be patient, encouraging and engaged ( but not leading). I have my prompt picture cards for if a speech bubbler is really stuck. I have once used the T.A. to gather a story from a very anxious child. I read back the story asking if that’s right and I am happy to make changes if they want to add or change anything. I ask for a title.

Finally my T.A. and I review the session. I attempt to be positive about the children’s interaction noticing what they did do…. It can be hard as so much goes on in a session. For specific points I  have a note book and I will use post it notes so I can remember my action points and I stick them next to where I will be doing  the next weeks planning.

The next week’s planning where there is always the list lifted from the speech bubbles pack and the additional aims of some laughing, as well as noticing; the fun, the playfulness. the quirks and the mucking about….and I try and plan to do a bit of that myself…