our evolving classrooms: involving students with autism in social studies
TRANSCRIPT
Our Evolving Classrooms: Involving Students with Autism in Social Studies
NCSS 2016Washington, DC
What is Autism
• Autism is a developmental disorder that impacts the way a person perceives and communicates.
• It is a spectrum disorder that affects each person to a varying degree, ranging from mild to severe.
-Organization for Autism Research
“You have children with autism who are non-verbal, and then you have children with autism who know more words than a university professor. You have children with autism who would rather be by themselves. And then you have those who want friends, but who do not know how to make them.”
Brenda Smith Myles, Ph.D. Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence Columbus, OH
General Considerations• Communication Difficulties
– Don’t initiate conversations, asking for help, clarifying, or expressing needs
• Sensory Sensitivities– Anxious– May have sensitivities to noise, scents, touch
• Routine Oriented– Like structure
General Considerations, Con’t
• Social Interaction Difficulties– Some students have very specific or fixated
interests• Repetitive Behaviors
– Some students may engage in prominent or less prominent body movements
– Need a “Home Base”-safe place
Activity Schedules
• Provide explicit instructions on:– What will they be expected to do?– How much will they have to do?– How will they know when they have finished?– What’s next?THESE ARE THE FOUR KEY QUESTIONS
FOR ANY ASSIGNMENT.
Examples of Social Studies assignments with accommodations
Group Jigsaw on Naming the Canadian Provinces
• Students will be in groups of 4• Each group will be responsible for submitting a
correctly labeled map of Canada from an outline map distributed by the teacher
• Each student will have a clue card with four clues which are unique-no one else in the group has the same clues. – Some clues will be helpful in filling out the
map, some will not
• Each group will decide on who will fill out the map and how the clues will be read
• The groups will then brainstorm the clues to come to conclusions about the location and names of the provinces
• The class will come back together as a whole, go over correct answers and talk about which clues were most helpful and the process each group used.
Suggestions for this assignment
Written Instructions Choose who will fill out the map Choose how the clues will be read Listen to each clue and try to figure
the location and name of province Fill in the map Next, the class will go over the correct
answers and discuss clues When finished get ready for lunch
Think-Pair-Share Activity
• Students are asked to individually give their opinion on what factor was the most significant in causing the Great Depression. They will write down their answers.
• After writing down their own answers, they will share answers in pairs and will be asked to write down something about their
partner’s factor that they hadn’t considered.
Suggestions for this activity
What was the most significant factor that caused the Great Depression?_____________
_____________
One thing I learned from my partner was: ____________
____________
Written Instructions Write one important reason that
caused the Great Depression. Share your answer with your
partner. Listen to your partner’s answer. Write one thing you learned
about the Great Depression from your partner.
Place your paper in the completed tray.
Get ready for PE
Lecture/Note Taking Scenerio
• The teacher will begin discussing the immediate causes of the American Revolution in a 15 minute segment, using a powerpoint as the outline for his/her lecture.
Suggestions for this activity
• Enhance lecture with visual information
• Provide graphic representation of the content
• Provide notes • Provide explicit instructions
about taking notes
Immediate Causes of the American Revolution:1. 2. 3.
Working with Primary Sources• Differentiated Lesson Activity on the Black Death• Four student groups examining four different
sources on the Black Death• Each group focusing on the same questions:1. How did the Black Death affect the treatment of family members toward one
another?2. What were the symptoms of the disease?3. How did people of the time view what was happening to them?4. What methods of prevention/cure were used and how successful were they?5. What was the effect on the population of the cities and towns?
• Group 1: Quotes from the time of the Black Death
• [The black death victims] “ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise.” Giovanni Boccaccio
• “Neither physicians nor medicines were effective. Whether because these illnesses were previously unknown or because physicians had not previously studied them, there seemed to be no cure. There was such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do…” Marchione di Coppo Stefani
• “Physicians could not be found because they had died like the others. And those who could be found wanted vast sums in hand [lots of money paid up front] before they entered the house…Child abandoned the father, husband the wife, wife the husband, one brother the other, one sister the other.” Marchione di Coppo Stefani
– “They died by the hundreds, both day and night, and all were thrown in…ditches and covered with earth. And as soon as those ditches were filled, more were dug. And I, Agnolo di Tura…buried my five children with my own hands…And so many died that all believed that it was the end of the world.” Agnolo di Tura del Grasso
Group 2: Description of the Black Death
•http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/05.shtml
•http://europeanhistory.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/07.shtml
Group 3: Prints, engravings and paintings of the Black Death
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/black-death-1.jpg
http://www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/black_death.jpg
http://i2.wp.com/scienceheathen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/image48-e1421693267291.jpg
http://openplaques.org/plaques/8254
Group 4: Video about the Black Death
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNHQlaT0MIM&feature=player_embedded#!
Suggestions for this Assignment How did the
Black Death affect the treatment of family members toward one another?
What were the symptoms of the disease?
How did people of the time view what was happening to them?
What methods of prevention/
cure were
used and how successful were they?
What was the effect on the population of the cities and towns?
1.
1. 2. 3.
1. 1. 2.
1.2.3.
Analyzing a PhotographAll students will be asked to use the
Photograph AnalysisSheet from Digital History and the
National Archives and Records Administration for their analysis
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/teachers/worksheets/photo_worksheet.pdf
Suggestions for this assignmentObservation Knowledge Interpretation
Describe three things you see in the photograph (for example, the people, the objects, the place, the season).
Name two things you know about this time period or event?
Would you conclude that the people in are happy or upset?
1. 1. Name one reason why?
2. 2.3.
RAFT Assignment
• ROLE- Kaiser Wilhelm II• AUDIENCE- European Heads of
State• FORMAT-Recipe• TOPIC-How to Start a World War
Suggestions for this assignmentIngredients:
1 cup 1/2 cup 1/4 cup 1/4 cup
Directions: Combine ___ & ___ Slowly mix in ______ Blend in _____ and mix well Bake 1 hour, or until ___
Analyzing Perspective
• French Revolution Diary – Decide who you will be: nobleman/woman, visitor from
England or U.S., peasant, bourgeoisie, clergy, royals, city worker
– 1. Give yourself a name– 2. You are going to produce 10 excerpts from a diary that
might have been written during the French Revolution. These should only be a few sentences long, but they should reveal what might be happening to you as a member of your particular occupation or Estate and how you feel about what is going on, at various times
from 1789 to 1794
Diary, con’t
3. Include the month and year of your event and day, if important.
4. Seven of the entries need to be based on actual events. Your first entry should also include an introduction to your character.
-Some suggested dates are: June, 1789, July 14, 1789, August 1789, October, 1789,
summer 1791, January, 1793
Suggestions for this assignment
• Provide step by step written instructions • Provide diary excerpts and have the
student identify the character, feelings, and time period or event.
• May require alternative assignment.
Homework Scenerio
• Students have been asked to compose an epitaph for a tombstone for Booker T. Washington, for homework, after studying him in class that day.
• They have been given the outline of a tombstone and are to write four lines or descriptors on the tombstone, then explain on the back of the sheet why they chose
what they did.
Suggestions for this assignment
Written Instructions Write two facts about
Booker T. Washington. Write two things he
accomplished. On the back of the sheet
explain one reason you choose each of the facts and accomplishments.
Put away in homework folder to turn in tomorrow.
Booker T. Washington1856-1915
Assessments
• Consider student’s best mode to demonstrate understanding
Resources
• Understanding Autism: A Guide for Secondary School Teachers- 4 videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yAAOI6JUsM) and a resource guide (http://csesa.fpg.unc.edu/sites/csesa.fpg.unc.edu/files/UnderstandingAutismSecondaryTeachersGuide.pdf)
Resources cont.
• Schopler, E., Mesibov, G., & Hearsey, K. (1995). Structured teaching in the TEACCH
system. In E. Schopler & G. Mesibov (Eds.), Learning and Cognition in Autism(pp. 243-268). New York: Plenum Press.
• Mesibov, G. B., & Howley, M. (2003). Accessing the curriculum for pupils with autistic
spectrum disorders: Using the TEACCH program to help inclusion. David Fulton Publishers.