(delete if this isn't allowed!)
__
Hey, brehs & brehettes:
Long story short: this is my first year as a special education teacher. Since there are
literally no other SPED teachers on campus, I am also the SPED director by default. (Is that legal? Nope. But this is a hood school, so nobody gives a shyt.)
Out of 87 students, I have a subset of them who are considered "emotionally disturbed". Every one of them has a behavior plan in place, checkins, etc. Their Individual Education Plans (or IEPs) call for a certain amount of minutes per week called Social Skills. This can be as simple as observing playground/classroom behavior, but for many of them, it involves journaling, role-playing, etc. These students are commonly disciplinary problems in the classroom and need extra time to "practice" how to follow the rules, how to win/lose, the value of teamwork, etc. It also helps with the kids who need more motor skills practice, the very shy kids who want to participate but need smaller crowds, the kids who miss P.E./recess b/c they have to come to pullouts, etc.
On Fridays, the students who have received all good reports (no writeups, no zeroes, come to all pullouts, etc.) get to come to the "arcade" during their set SS time or after school but before tutoring (there's a 20-minute window). Until now, I've been using this time to play educational games (Wordle, Boddle, Prodigy Math, etc), but our internet runs on the faith of a mustard seed and it ALWAYS fukks up. On a whim, I bought in my old Wii and balance board when we came back from break just to try something different. I thought it would be a disaster - we're talking the Fortnite/PS5 generation, you know? - but they LOVED it and begged me to bring it back. I tried running an emulator on a laptop, but the Wiimote syncing was a pain in the ass, so we're using my old Wii and the balance board.
I only have one old Wiimote w/the MotionPlus attachment and two limited edition Zelda remotes that I would lose my fukking mind if they turned up "lost" or broken. I could really, really use some of this old stuff lying around if you have it:
- Wiimotes - (preferably w/the built in Motion Plus so I don't have to keep up with them separately) (got 3, need one more)
- Silicone sleeves & straps (I can already tell these remotes are going to go flying everywhere) (got 3, need one more)
Battery chargers - four-remote charger and Wii balance board charger. (The older kids are REALLY into the Wii games that use the balance board, strangely enough.)Wii accessories, like the golf clubs, steering wheels, etc. Y'all have not LIVED until you've seen a kid swing and miss an invisible ball
Also, if anybody has an old PS2 lying around, that would also be amazing. A # of my kids are musically/dance inclined and I'd love to see them get their asses kicked by some flying arrows. (I don't expect this at all - I'm going to try this on a laptop instead.) Same w/a Wii U gamepad. Since Wii games can play on Wii U, I could bring that instead. Problem is my gamepad is the Zelda edition, so there's no way I can part w/it. (Again, not expecting this.)
If you want to just buy something, a wish list is
here, and my cashapp is $ridethemaverick82 if you want to buy us some snacks, batteries, cheap games, etc. Also, I'll take any advice you can think of about running a gaming club for kids, ESPECIALLY in the realm of suggestions/feedback for educational games. My students are
LOW (think 15% percentile and below), but they work hard for me and this is just a little time for them to relax for a little while during the week. The admins here are grudgingly for it b/c it keeps the problem kids out of their hair, but they won't let me fund it w/the SPED budget.
Oh, and as long as you're here - if you have any questions you ever wanted to ask about special education or need any tips, ask away. I'm happy to dispense the knowledge/resources that white parents seem to have in abundance.
