April is such a wonderful month! Spring, Earth Day, AND it is Autism Awareness Month, or as I (and I am sure other people have said it too) like to call it, Awesome-tism Awareness Month!
I say, and type, awesome-tism, because it is way better than saying and typing “you have a diagnosis of autism.” As a teacher of kids with special needs, they obviously all have IEPs (Individualized Education Plan), but my kids are way more than these official ‘labels’. They’re awesome! So therefore, they have awesome-tism. We all have some awesome-tism in us, right? Duh. Who doesn’t want awesome-tism? Especially after reading the word awesome-tism so many times in one paragraph?
At the bookstore of my Spiritual Center, I found this amazing book titled “I Create My World” by Connie Bowen. It is beautifully illustrated, with simple, amazing sentences of positive affirmations. It is all about love and empowerment, and that is EXACTLY what I want to give my students every single day. I have heard Kerry Magro, a national speaker and awesome-tism have-r, say “Autism doesn’t define who I am, I define autism.” and THAT is something I would want my students to say every day. So why wouldn’t I teach them to say it?
If you have not seen the HBO Documentary “I can’t do this, but I can do that,” you definitely should. It is absolutely inspiring to hear these kids define themselves amd come out of their shells after the mere change of feeling welcomed by their teachers and their peers and not “a problem.”
Talking to my kids about their feelings, and being in my classroom, is something I have never done before. So this year, I am going to, and I will do it my way, which includes my kids being emotionally (and academically) stronger before the end of this year. Below is my introductory lesson plan. I will be filming and doing some kind of awesome creation as my unit/lessons continue. Stay updated on more vlogs to come!
Objective: You will use various materials to create your own world and answer/state empowerment phrases in response to a story.
Materials:
- I Create My World book
- GoPro
- Personal laptop
- headphone/microphone
- I Create My World Visual poster
- Earth worksheet
- art materials – stickers, cereal tops, scissors, glue, blue markers
Procedure: Teacher will read the story “I Create My World” by Connie Bowen. She will stop at various pages to ask questions and create discussions with students.
“So this month, along with it being saving the Earth Month with the Lorax, it is Autism Awareness Month. Or, as me and the Lorax like to call it, AWESOME-TISM! (show vocabulary card, put on SMARTboard.) Today, we are going to use different art materials to create our own worlds. What I want you to do is fill in your water, and water is what color? That’s right, blue. After you have colored in your water, you will use our cereal tops and stickers to fill in the land. Can you read what our activity sheet says? Yes! After you have finished your sheet, I want you to come to me in our filming area (bring cabinet inside, superhero side) and you can use your sheet say “My world is AWESOME-tism” or this (‘I don’t define awesome-tism’ visual). Now, we will all have a turn filming ourselves, so let’s be respectful of other friends and take turns and have super quiet mouths on our set!”
Students will move to their small groups and color in the water on the Earth blue, and use scissors to cut up cereal tops (my kids get breakfast every day – Froot Loops, Cheerios, etc) to color in the land. After, they will take turns getting filmed (by me). When students are done with their worksheet and filming, they will participate in cleaning up and dancing to “The Amazing Song” by Sesame Street (big shoutout in changing the awesome-tism world!)
