EET It!

Earlier this school year I attended a conference in Baton Rouge for our state school-based speech/language pathologists. At this conference I had the priviledge of listening to Sara Smith present on her product, The Expanding Expression Tool (EET). I was impressed with what she had to say that I decided to write a grant to purchase the kit along with other accessory items. I have been using the EET for the past few weeks and I have to say, I am blown away! Since the conference, I have been in contact with Sara and asked if she would guest post on our blog so that we could assist in spreading the word about this awesome tool - and of course, she agreed!! :)

Looking for a way to help your students achieve improved oral language and writing? The Expanding Expression Tool™ (EET) can help. The EET is a hands on approach that is being used in both general and special education classrooms (preschool through college) to build both oral and written language.

What makes Expanding Expression unique is that we use a simple multisensory approach that guarantees quick results!! This tool can be used for general DESCRIPTIONS AND VOCABULARY, INFORMATIONAL WRITING, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES/BIOGRAPHIES, SUMMARIZING and more.

The EET Kit helps to build the following language skills:

·         Oral expression

·         Written expression

·         Vocabulary comprehension

·         Defining and describing

·         Making associations

·         Stating functions of objects

·         Categorization

·         Similarities and differences

*Students quickly learn each symbol and consistently describe and define objects and items providing 6-7 details in an organized manner.

The

Expanding Expression Tool Kit is designed to be used by teachers, literacy coaches, reading specialists, parents, speech-language pathologists and other specialists to support academics. Language arts is essential for academic success. It is at the heart of each curriculum area. Without oral language, students may have difficulty organizing information while speaking, writing, or pulling valuable information from their reading material.

They may have trouble defining or describing vocabulary or objects. The Expanding Expression Tool was designed to make things easier for all students. It provides structure for the struggling student and

enhances the skills of those students already strong in the language arts area. The Expanding Expression Tool provides students with a hands-on approach to describing and defining. As a mnemonic device, it provides visual and tactile information which facilitates improved language organization. The kit itself is designed to allow you to follow a hierarchical approach taking student's expression from words to paragraphs to reports. Therefore, it can be used by a variety of ages.

The kit consists of the Expanding Expression Tool, a manual, stickers for written expression, object cards for describing activities and a poster. The Expanding Expression Tool is color symbol coded. Students learn the code and from this code are able to provide detailed descriptions including the following elements: the category the item belongs to, the function of the object, the appearance, what the item is made of, the parts of the item, and its location.

* Entire schools have adopted the program to facilitate improved expression and comprehension.

*It allows students to quickly progress from word to phrase to paragraph to multi-paragraph levels.

THE LATEST NEWS: White pine academy in Leslie, MI reported that their 4^th grade writing scores went up 32% from using the EET (press release), Sheryl Stone (educator in Rockford Public Schools) introduced the EET to teachers in orphan schools in Zambia Africa, The EET is being used in over 10,000 classrooms across the United States, Canada, and Australia.

For more information and to order visit us at www.expandingexpression.com

For elementary school

and cognitively impaired students, a new learning tool is taking the intimidation out of the blank page when it comes time to write. The Expanding Expression Tool™, or EET . . . helps students describe objects and organize their writing say local teachers.

“This is the best writing

I’ve ever gotten out of any group,” said a teacher who has taught second grade for seven years. After comparing pre-EET and post-EET writing samples, she credited the tool for pushing her students from one-word answers and drawings to seven sentence descriptive paragraphs.

“What I love,

because of the way it’s going around, are teachers running into other teachers and nding out they’re using it,” said speech pathologist Gail Morris, from Jackson County ISD. “It’s a gold mine for provoking writing and self-questioning.” Morris said some of

her students have improved dramatically and returned to regular classrooms.

(Above excerpts from: Jackson County Citizen Patriot, by Tony Gonzalez)


If you have not tried the EET yet, I highly encourage you to do so; you won't be disappointed!!

Lesson Plans

Being an SLP in the public school system has its ups and downs . . . one of the "downs" is trying to figure out how to develop individualized lesson plans ... this is REALLY a downer when you have 65+ students with varying disabilities. After working in the schools for the past eight years, I think I finally found the perfect lesson plan for me. Holly came up with this layout last year and it has worked beautifully!

You can download an example of this fabulous lesson plan by clicking the pic above or by clicking here. You'll see that we have the day of the week at the top, with a place to put the date for that day, a To Do list and a Meeting list (this is really my two favorite parts of the lesson plan!!)  We create one for each day and save each to the desktop so that each morning when we turn on the computer we can print out our LPs. I have entered one group as an example for you. We normally do not type in the Activities, we just write in what we want to do ... we do type in anything we need to in the To Do list and Meeting list. The plans are arranged by group and the student's individual objectives are added. Depending on what I plan for that day, I will choose which objectives I want to target and highlight it to remind me :) 

You'll notice I have one group that says "Rotating Direct Therapy and/or Assessment" ... I put this in when I have gaps/breaks in my schedule. I use this time to schedule screeners or make-up sessions when needed.

I print my LPs in portrait form (as shown) b/c this is what works best for me; Holly, on the other hand, likes to print hers in Landscape....either way, I hope you like the plans as much as we do!

Ms. Pamela's Room

Well, it's back to the grindstone tomorrow! This summer has really flown by; but I have to say, I am really excited to get back to work. I have been working all this month on my new room/office. I am so blessed to work in a school that takes care of me!!  Thanks for all you do for me Ms. Debbie!!

So I thought I'd show you some pics of my new digs ;)  please excuse the mess (it's a work in progress!)

This is a picture of the room before I began the painting process...

This is what it looked like after priming the beautiful primary blue trim.

And ... drumroll please ....... here is the new color: Universal Khaki by Sherwin Williams

This here's a lovely shelf matching the primary blue trim....

This here's the same bookshelf, painted in French Roast by Sherwin Williams ... can you dig it??

This is my little nook...

This is where I keep all of my student files, portfolio files, SBLC files ... inactive files ... files, files, files ...

It's in my little nook, within my reach at all times.

In front of my desk is a student desk

This is my graduate clinician desk; I get a student from the university each semester....so I thought it would be nice for her (or him) to have a place of their own.

My kidney shaped table is in the middle of the room ... behind it I have a filing cabinet with all of my monthly themes and other thematic units. The cabinets hold my paper (copy, card stock, construction, scrapbook, etc)....some have said that I have a problem (I'll check into a Paperholic Anonymous club, I promise!). My metal cabinet to the left holds my games and workbooks.

This is a look from my door; kidney shaped table in the middle. My lovely curtains Holly helped me make :)

And finally, this is my door ... equipped with matching curtains Holly and I put together.

Well, I guess that's about it.  I hope my little tour can give you some inspiration for YOUR space!! Have a great day and I'll see ya soon!

Clipboard Giveaway

Holly and I got together today to do some Mod Podging!  FUN FUN FUN! Holly wanted to mod podge some clipboards to use for this upcoming school year and here are the two we made today.We want to giveaway a free CUSTOM clipboard to you! Just enter through rafflecopter (below pics)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway