#Boardmaker share plus

ItвЂ™s rare and hard to come by being a special education teacher, so if you happen to be at a school where you feel and are supported, know that you are one of the lucky ones. And I donвЂ™t just mean from your assistant principal and principalвЂ¦ you need it all the way up. This is a big one because if you donвЂ™t have supportive administration, youвЂ™re going to have a rough time. For example, the day one of my students pooped in the urinal ( see, I was speaking from experience!) I was mortifiedвЂ¦ but now itвЂ™s absolutely hilarious. Some days you will go home so frustrated, defeated, or overwhelmed that you just want to break down and cryвЂ¦ and sometimes youвЂ™ll be able to do nothing but laugh about it. You will see everythingвЂ¦ and I mean e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. You may find humor in me writing about them, but in all seriousnessвЂ¦ you need them. Now these are the things that cost you nothing.

This stuff is genius! Now it isnвЂ™t strong enough to hold weight onto your board, but it works great for cookie tray tasks and hanging papers on the front board. You know whatвЂ™s best for your students, so if the only way a student will finish a writing activity is if you reward him with fruit snacks, well then youвЂ™d better make sure youвЂ™re stocked up. And, honestly, some of them are only rewardable with food. I know that lots of other teachers will tell you no candy or treats for kids, but guess whatвЂ¦ our kids thrive off of rewards. Yes, YOU need to have that secret candy stash for when that IEP meeting lasts just a little too longвЂ¦ or your room got trashed from a meltdown. This can be anything that you and your students like. Set up work task bins, organize all of your manipulatives, or use them to house snacks and other goodies. Color coded bins and any type of plastic containers are just what any SPED teacher wants and needs. You can also cut the pictures up individually for PECS and/or sentence strips.I could just stare at that picture for daysвЂ¦ it is just pure teacher Heaven. Make sure to print and laminate (or put in a plastic sleeve). (This process is even better if you can take digital pictures of items within your classroom/home and of the individual doing tasks.)Д¦. Ta da! Even better than a Boardmaker board because of the realistic pictures!

Add text to go with the images (important step as the goal of literacy is always important!)ДҐ. Lay them out however youвЂ™d like (easily moveable later).Д¤. Paste the images onto your Powerpoint table. HereвЂ™s the best partвЂ¦find an awesome image on google images and right click and вЂњcopyвЂќ.ДЈ. Open Powerpoint, could also be done with Microsoft word, but Powerpoint gives you the incredible option to add voice and make this a voice output device! (if anyone knows how I can share a powerpoint on this blog, I would be glad to share what IвЂ™ve made!)Дў.

HereвЂ™s a little tutorial I just put together on Powerpoint: Communication boards sans BoardmakerДЎ. How? By using tools you probably already have access to in addition to google images or digital photos.

Due to a nasty combination of old laptops in our district, plus old Boardmaker CDs that are somewhat incompatible with said laptops, many special educators in my district have given up on trying to use Boardmaker.ДonвЂ™t get me wrong, I love Boardmaker and use it almost every day, but truthfully that is mostly out of habit.В Everything (almost) I do on Boardmaker I could do without it.

Boardmaker share