The Secret to Better Focus, Shape Sense, and Math Fluency

Hey everybody.

Welcome to Tier One Interventions podcast.

We are here today to
talk about a geo board.

Geo board is a very interesting device
and when I first looked at it, I only

saw it from an occupational therapy
perspective where we were working on

it with hand strengthening and such.

But I come to see how valuable
it is as a math tool as well.

Today we are going to blend the math
and the occupational therapy together

so that you can understand better
what it looks like to have a geo board

as a intervention in your classroom.

Welcome Jonily to today's episode
and everybody else who is with us.

It is great to have you here.

This is being recorded Easter weekend
and I know that you will have had

Easter before you hear this, but I hope
that you had a blessed Passover and or

Easter depending on how you celebrate.

So without.

Any further introduction.

I think we are good for getting started.

Jonily, go for it.

Yeah, we're gonna jump right in.

And as the math specialist, math coach,
math content expert, the Geo Board is

probably one of the most underrated tools.

The other most underrated tool
in mathematics is quiz air rods.

We're not talking about that today,
but just put a side note on that.

The Geo Board is often
the dark horse of math.

I would say math gap filling intervention.

The Geo Board can teach
many of our standards from

preschool through high school.

So there's a lot of math content that
can be uncovered with the Geo Board.

Today we're going to present the Geo
Board in about a dozen different ways.

So I might say a dozen ways
to use the Geo Board today.

And as I do that, I'm gonna be connecting
each of our techniques and exercises

with the math standards at each grade
level and how the Geo Board connects.

So we're gonna look at this in
terms of progressions, extensions,

interventions, all using the Geo board.

I will say that Geo Board is
our, one of our reference tasks.

It is much more of a tool than a task,
but the reason it falls into the reference

task category is there when we are.

In our units of study and mathematics,
the geo board can be referenced

during a number of topics.

So that is why that it falls
in the reference task category.

Again, a geo board is either plastic
or wooden, and it's got pegs that

you can wrap rubber bands around.

I am not, and for those of you that
know me, I am not a fan of a classroom

of 28 kids all having the geo board
hands-on with the rubber bands.

So what I do is I have about six
geoboards with rubber bands on hand.

I love the actual concrete geo board in
small group, not as whole class, but since

I have six geoboards on hand, typically
then I will identify students in the

classroom with deficits and struggles.

So here's where we're starting to
combine that occupational therapy with

intervention with differentiation within
the tier one core general classroom.

Because I have five or six of
the geoboards on hand, I'm gonna

identify kids with deficits that
I'm already aware of, deficits with.

Handwriting.

So maybe illegible handwriting
deficits with fine motor deficits

with focus and attention.

So when we are in classrooms or
we're talking with school personnel,

any stakeholder, parents, teachers,
intervention specialists, instructional

coaches, principals, curriculum directors,
whatever your role and title is.

When I ask what are your biggest
needs, we start listing a lot of these

deficits and gaps that kids have.

Their handwriting is a struggle.

They have pain when they write they
really struggle with fine motor.

They still can't tie their shoes.

All of those things that
we know are a struggle for

students, focus and attention.

The geo board, the physical geo board
can actually solve and close those

gaps and reverse those deficits.

The reason I have five or six
on hand is I know who these

students are in my classroom.

I can very strategically give them the
physical geo board, and then all students

then will have the paper copy of dots.

Or geo board templates.

I, for most of our students average
to typical to above average.

They will not need the physical geo board.

It is the only math tool and
manipulative that we can bypass

the concrete with most kids.

And I think all of that is really
important to say because there are

some manipulatives, like the blocks
that every single child from our

most struggling to our highest I'm
gonna say what words do I wanna use?

Very talented, gifted, mathematically,
often, much more insightful than the

instructor that is teaching the student.

Even those students need those physical
pieces to create what is in their mind.

So lots of tidbits on the geo
board before we get started today.

And I also want to launch us
today with reminding us what

is tier one interventions.

Tier one is the typical general core
regular instructional classroom.

Typically, if kids have issues
that we are responding to, they

are typically pulled out of the
classroom to have their needs met.

We call those tier two or
tier three settings, tier two

or tier three interventions.

Our goal with tier one interventions
is to have the students in the regular

tier one core general classroom with
the regular content classroom teacher,

with the intervention specialist, with
the occupational therapist, all in

the tier one core general classroom
setting, so that kids can get exactly

what they need without being pulled out.

Now, will we co completely
eliminate pull out?

Absolutely not.

I'm not advocating for that, but
the number of, or the minimal

number of pullouts that we can
create in our schools, the better

it's going to be for all students.

So the Geo Board is one of those ways that
we can have full inclusion and be able to

meet the needs of all of these students.

There are three very abstract math
content pieces that are a struggle for

even the general typical population,
and those are the concepts of time.

Money and measurement.

Today we're gonna focus
on the measurement piece.

I'm also going to define
measurement as we go.

Measurement with a ruler,
measurement with odd tools.

Measurement as far as repeated reasoning.

So we're gonna define measurement
in a lot of different ways.

If we can get kids to master measurement,
it is one of the ways that we can

improve their understanding of number
and improve their number sense.

Also, when I ask classroom teachers
and intervention specialists, what

are some of the math content pieces
that students most struggle with?

What are the things that we wish
students had more access to?

And these three topics always come up.

The first is computation, fact
fluency automaticity, those things.

The second one is understanding
equations and unknowns and inverse

and that whole set of thing.

The third one is always a bunch of
random stuff, but it always falls

into a category that I call shape.

So today we are gonna
focus on that shape piece.

Now if I ask teachers, intervention
specialists, educators what students

most struggle with in mathematics
typically shape is not the answer that

they say, but when I am uncovering
their thoughts and perspective on

students' struggles, all of those
things fall into a category of shape.

Understanding shape is the
number one way to improve.

Number sense measurement is very
much directly connected to shape

and characteristics of shape.

So I'm setting the stage today for
all of the reasons that Geo Board is

really the number one tool for not only
closing math gaps, but also extending

and increasing overall math achievement.

The other two topics that we're
gonna be talking about are precision

and accuracy and the similarities
and differences of both of those.

Sherry and I think very
differently about our fields.

My field is the math education field.

Sherry's field is the occupational
therapy medical field.

And we are a little radical and
very much outliers in the way

that we perceive our fields.

So oftentimes we are either misunderstood
or the understandings are misinterpreted.

And today what we wanna do is we
wanna share our perspectives and our

nuances of how we can in less time
achieve more by helping our students

in the tier one core general classroom.

Before I go on any thoughts, comments,
or questions on the overall outline?

For today's topics,

I want us to remember the big
highlights we need kids to understand.

Measurement in our focus
is measurement today.

Measurement is very much
connected to shape, and studying.

Shape is the number one way to
improve, number sense, and then also

in order to create fewer gaps with math
content and with non-academic issues

kids are having, we're going to talk
about this precision versus accuracy.

As well.

Those are our big topics today, and
every exercise intervention tool

and instructional facilitation is
gonna tie back to those exercises.

I am gonna share with you the folder,
the folder that's gonna end up being

the module in tier one with Geo Board.

There are a variety of audio lessons
in the tier one interventions

course module for Geo Board.

I think there are 24 audio lessons
of me teaching some aspect of

Geo Board with every grade level.

You can see grade one, grade two,
grade six, and a number of high school

sessions as well with Geo Board.

The lesson may not be specifically
related to Geo Board, but it is

related to measurement, shape,
and precision and accuracy.

What you're also gonna have in the tier
one interventions module is the standards,

which I'm not gonna pull that out of
this 'cause I have it saved elsewhere.

I'm not even sharing with you my screen.

I'm talking as if you can see
everything I'm talking about.

Come on, people here is here are the
audio lessons I was just talking about.

There's just a visual of the audio
lessons and I wanna show you, and if

you're listening to this podcast, the
audio version, you're obviously not

gonna be seeing what's on my screen and
I'll be articulate enough that you'll

get an understanding of what's here.

But if you go to YouTube Tier One
Interventions podcast, you'll be able

to see the screen as well as the audio.

But what I'm showing now is all of
the standards that are connected

to the use of Geo Board from
kindergarten through algebra.

And I'm just gonna scroll through this
because I'm actually going to relate each

of the exercises we do to the standards.

But just as a visual, you can see all
of the standards that we will accomplish

today just by using the Geo Board tool.

And I'm just scrolling quickly so that you
can see there are 22 pages of standards.

Now, obviously I copied and
pasted and the writing is big, but

there are 22 pages of standards.

And the way that we're gonna make
these connections today is with a.

Document called Geo Board Templates
and Notes, and this is titled Geo Board

Benefits Academic and Non-Academic.

And then there's a note on this document
that you will have access to C standards

because there are notes in the standards
of these connections to Geo Board.

And then also you have access to
audio files that you can listen to

that are me teaching actual students
standards based on the Geo board.

The first set of standards I wanna
talk about are the mathematical

practices because this is where
we can start connecting to some

of our non-academic standards.

There are certain mathematical
practices that G, that the Geo Board

will lend itself to mathematical
practice for is model with mathematics.

We want the students to have the
ability to see where math phenomenon

occurs in the real world, and that is
a visual concrete experience, hence

geo board mathematical practice.

Number five is using
appropriate tools strategically.

Geo board obviously is a physical tool.

Dot paper is a semi concrete
representational tool.

And grid paper is also another tool
that we're gonna talk about today.

All of those tools allow for a hands-on
visual sensory experience for kids.

So not only are we gonna be talking about
the math content and standards today, and

the non-academic interventions to help
students increase their functioning and

executive functioning skills, we are also
going to be talking about how to increase

students' habits and habits of mind with
math tools, practices, and processes.

When I talked about precision
and accuracy, there is an actual

mathematical practice, number six
that is titled Attend to Precision.

Precision.

In this mathematical practice standard
is really about students being

able to communicate precisely to
others, being able to be articulate.

And this really has to also
do with accuracy as well.

And we're gonna, again, we'll talk about
the similarities and differences and the

final mathematical practice that is gonna
be very evident today is number eight.

Look for and express regularity
in repeated reasoning.

Especially with use of the geo
board and dot paper, we are gonna

do the same exercises over and
over again with different numbers.

This gives us repetition.

We also are going to be practicing in
our classrooms spaced repetition because

I'm not gonna be doing a geo board
unit for two or three weeks straight.

I'm gonna be referring to and
bringing in the geo board or dot

paper tools during every unit that
I teach mathematics and referring to

those sensory visual pieces to help
understand the content in the new unit.

So through this space practice
and repeated reasoning techniques,

students are going to be able to
increase their precision and accuracy

and through repeated reasoning
of our specific measurement and

shape techniques, they're going to
increase their number sense as well.

On this notes document, I'm actually
going to be using the document to draw

the notes that I'm teaching today.

I will save those drawings and
then you'll have access to all

of the notes and visuals that
I'm creating as we speak today.

Let me pause for just a moment.

Any thoughts, comments, or questions?

And I see in the comments, yeah, low
scores and measurement across the board.

Because we typically will
do like a measurement unit.

And the other thing is measurement
is often very misunderstood.

So a couple of things today is,
number one, how to embed this idea

of measurement within the other con
all of the other content standards

we teach and not alone, but also
reinventing the interpretation of what

measurement actually is and looks like.

Very good.

Any other thoughts, comments, questions?

I'm gonna throw it in again
from a different perspective,

vertical versus horizontal.

So like when you're teaching it,
you're teaching it on the board and

then they're seeing it on a desktop.

So it's really hard to
change the perspective.

And I'm only saying that too because
as a, an evaluator when I show

things, it's a little different
than what the kids are seeing.

It.

So let's talk about this
in two different ways.

The first thing when you, this
is really fantastic, Theresa.

The first thing you said was
vertical horizontal, and that is

actually chunk number one today
that I'm ready to dive into.

But I'm thinking vertical,
horizontal as far as measurement

lines, your thinking perspective
of where the student it is being.

So we're actually going to jump
into chunk number one, exercise and

solution for deficits today, which
I'm going to call dots and spaces

and with Dotson spaces, the first
technique we start with is measuring

with vertical and horizontal lines.

But before we get into chunk number
one, let's call this chunk number zero.

Let's call this chunk
number zero, Theresa.

And then Sherry, if you guys can give
us a little bit of a behind the scenes

glimpse of what is it Theresa, that
students are struggling with and maybe

what is it called, or what is your
intervention that you use when we're

always showing things in the classroom
vertically, but the kids are sitting

and looking at their desk horizontally.

Can you both talk about that?

We're gonna call this chunk zero.

Sherry?

Absolutely.

Our brains have several reflexes
that automatically get triggered

when we move our head that the
main one is called is vestibular.

So a lot of teachers have heard that
word, but really don't understand what

it means, and I try to summarize it
and make it as simple as possible.

And basically the vestibular
system is trying to keep your

head perpendicular to the ground.

So when you're on a rollercoaster,
you're up, you down, you're going around

in circles, you might get upside down.

When you get off of there, that
first step or two, you feel wobbly.

It's also the same, similar thing
when you get off roller skates,

you're trying to figure out where your
body is in comparison to the ground.

The problem with kids who are struggling
is that system isn't working effectively

enough that it triggers that same effect
as if you got off a roller coaster.

Just by looking up at the
chalkboard versus, and then looking

back down at their paper, they
lose track of where they are.

Their body is going, oh,
I don't know about this.

This isn't making any sense to me.

They are very frustrated because
every time they look up, they

have to scan the entire board to
figure out where they left off.

Imagine the amount of time that is
wasting in their brain just scanning

the board, trying to figure out
where they left off so that they

can maybe copy the next segment.

That, come on, we have a pie, 3.14,
whatever the rest of it is, if you have

a hundred digits of pie up on the board,
they're gonna get lost awful quick.

And the same thing happens in
literacy where they're trying to copy

notes from the board, or you have
a word problem and they're trying

to get the content down on paper.

They're not gonna be able to get that flow
going from one step to the next, making

those associations with the vocabulary.

And the symbols that go along with it,
they're gonna get themselves confused.

So the make a quick connection for
the classroom teacher as a classroom

teacher and intervention specialist in
the tier one core general classroom.

Because I wanna make this point too,
and this is why we call this tier

one interventions, is because when
we pool kids in tier two, tier three

intervention, oftentimes we're not
showing something on the vertical.

So this may not be an issue.

And so kids go back to the regular
classroom and then we wonder why

they've done so well in small
group pullout intervention.

There's a lot of reasons, but
then they go back to the tier

one core general classroom, and
this is why we do this podcast.

This is why we do this course.

Because in the regular tier one
general classroom, the facilitation

practices are oftentimes very
different than in small group.

So number one, the reason we're
telling you this as a core classroom

instructor is number one, just awareness.

So if students tend to be
checked out or off task, or you

exi, or they're exhibiting some
behaviors that are negative.

This could be one of the reasons why.

So number one is awareness.

Just understanding the looking
up and down and up and down and

trying to find the place is causing
this quote unquote dizziness.

And so when we are feeling
uncomfortable, what's gonna happen

is we're going to act out in some
sort of negative behavior because

we are frustrated and uncomfortable.

So oftentimes when we're trying to treat
behaviors in the classroom, it's actually

much more associated to kids trying
to attend and are unable to attend.

So number one, awareness.

But number two, Sherry and Theresa
both, if you can talk to us about

what do we do in the classroom,
then that is a quick intervention.

Very subtle, allows for
differentiation, allows for

those kids to get what they need.

If we're identifying that
this is a struggle for them.

I'm gonna also throw another wrench
into this because Sherry did visual,

a vestibular, but there's also visual.

So if you have a visual tracking issue,
you are also gonna have difficulties.

So vestibular and visual can be
together, and it also can be separate.

So if you have visual tracking,
it's the eyes that are the

problem, not just the vestibular.

So what you can do for these kinds
of kids is give them a slant board if

they need to be seeing things on that.

That kind of a, an angle.

It's just a matter of also giving them
the time and also doing some remediation

in these kinds of kids as well.

So you work on, and the kids with the
vestibular, you're gonna, you're gonna

need them to be maybe standing to do
some of these tasks as opposed to sitting

because they may be better off standing
and not having to move their head as much.

The kids with the visual tracking
issues, you work on the visual tracking

exercises to help them because they
need it more so for the reading as well.

So you do some of the, the.

The box string kind of things.

You have them look out and
look back and things like that.

But those kids may also benefit
from, an eye exam and see if

they, they benefit from that and
they've had visual tracking issues.

But those kids can also use, the
slant board and things like that

to put it on a different level.

But I love a slant board right on the
desk because they're looking forward,

it's vertical to vertical and they can
write, they don't need to worry about it.

And it's very easy to do 1,
2, 3 of those in a classroom.

And just kids always have access to it.

There's no reason that they can't.

I love the next point.

They just may need to stand.

Boom.

So see, some of these things are
very simple that we just don't

think about as classroom teachers.

And then Theresa, you said one other
thing that I know for Sherry and Theresa,

these are all just very matter of fact,
but for a classroom teacher intervention

specialist, these are things that we don't
think about and they're very quick fixes.

But I can't remember the other thing
that you had said that was a quick

fix, but we'll remember it as we
go and I'll remember it as we go.

But other thoughts from Theresa or Sherry
For Chunk zero, which is the, which

are these, I'm gonna say non-academic.

Deficits or issues that truly affect
the academics that are just, there

are some quick solutions for in the
regular classroom, but any other

connections or explanations on that?

Back at you.

Sherry.

Sherry, we need to hear you.

She was on mute.

Let's try that again.

Back at you, Sherry.

All right then.

Let's do this better.

Okay.

So another thing that I think about is
the, before you start the instruction,

I talk about this all the time, is that
preparing the body for the movement.

So it's almost like getting that the
head ready for the bobbing up and

down, doing some exercises that are
going to help the brain get started

before you start the academics.

So it's prepped and ready to go.

Has anybody ever tried to.

I'm gonna just try to say that like simply
lift weights, like just even a three

pound weight, doing like an elbow curl.

The first one is oh man.

And then number two and
number three are pretty easy.

And then all of a sudden your
muscles get fatigued and then

they start to get hard again.

It's just similar to that.

So the exercise that I am going to
suggest to you is the handstand flip.

So I've talked about the handstand flip
before, but for those of you who may not

have heard this, if you are listening to
the podcast, the audio file, you're gonna

wanna go over to YouTube so that you can
see more of what I'm gonna have you do.

Just a moment while I stand up and
I will try to get back a little bit

further than my chair is going to allow.

Wow, we rise up in the world, don't we?

So here goes my head.

'cause I want you to see my arms.

There we are.

So you're gonna have your hands flat.

They're gonna be in full
extension over your head.

What you're trying to do is you're trying
to squeeze your glutes together, squeeze

your abdominal muscles together, keep
your hands flat toward the ceiling.

You'd be surprised how quickly kids
are doing this with their hands because

they don't have enough strength in the
back of their arm to hold that position.

One of the things that you can think
about when you're doing this is you

can prep the head, then look at the
ceiling, look at the floor, look at

the ceiling, look at the floor, look
at the ceiling, look at the floor.

While you're holding your arms up
over your head, you're squeezing your

glutes, you're squeezing your abdominal
muscles together to make yourself as

small as possible around your core.

And then right before you go back to
sit down, you go down and the try to get

those hands flat, palms flat on the floor.

Woo.

Stand up, sit down, go back to work.

What you've done is you've tensed up
your muscles throughout your entire

body for a brief amount of time.

You've given them a chance to relax.

You've activated your vestibular system,
and then you gave yourself by this

going flat to the floor and standing up.

You've given your, the muscles
that you tightened up, chance

to relax and come back to it.

But they're now prepped for movement.

Theresa, were you gonna add something?

I was gonna add the comment
you made about children not.

Being able to do some of these things,
you would be truly amazed if you, I

had an activity set up for the kids and
all they needed to do was move their

arms in circular motions following a
pattern, and they like maybe three times

into it, were like, oh, I'm so tired.

Oh, my arms hurt.

They just cannot maintain anything.

They, it's, they fatigue so, so quickly.

And these are the kids that are
outside running, kicking a ball.

But when it comes to the upper body,
they just fatigue so, so quickly.

So it's amazing to see them even
struggle to put their arms up.

But when you invented this and
thought about this it's the

opposite of what they're doing.

They're always down and so
having them go up is counter

to what they're normally doing.

So having them go up is stretching those
muscles in the opposite direction and it

is exactly what they need to be doing.

It also prevents falls.

I know this is sounds like
it doesn't have anything.

No.

This is really great.

This is like so life skill as well.

Go ahead Sherry.

I like this.

Yeah, it prevents falls.

So where I got this idea was after
reading some of the new research that's

out on fall recovery and one of the
things that they're, that we do for

falls in older adults is we create.

Situations where we're weightbearing
and the more you can full weight bear

with your entire body weight on your
limbs, the better it is for your limbs.

Great ways to do this
are standing and walking.

That's how we do it for our legs.

When we do it for our arms the plank
where you're out in front of you is

good, but it's not putting your arms
in a nine, 180 degrees from your body

that I was trying to figure
out a great way to do that.

And the best way to say that happens
is a handstand that is your full

body weight, but an actual handstand.

I have real honest in this handstand,
but let's face it, how many of us

can really get into a handstand?

If I don't want 28 kids to have geoboards
with rubber bands, I sure don't want

28 kids doing a full fledged handstand.

And even if we do it against
the wall, we look like dominoes.

So how I was trying to figure
out how to get that position

and still be effective now.

I will often have a four
inch book available.

So I'm putting different size books
on their hands when they're in that

extended position to see what they
will tolerate for several seconds.

I'm not saying that when you're
doing that in preparation for a math

assignment, that's something you do.

It's something that we can extend
like in a tier three situation in

preparation for that with the kids.

But this muscle back here in the
forearm is so weak for many of us.

That is one of the drivers to
illegible handwriting is the dorsal

side of our forearm is very weak.

Our triceps are very weak, so we
need to find ways to strengthen them.

Boom, y'all.

This is like hidden gold right here.

So just to reflect on chunk zero,
which was not planned chunk zero are

awareness definitions for the classroom
teacher and intervention specialist.

Being aware of what maybe behaviors
kids are exhibiting and then how

to reverse those negative behaviors
through some non-academic interventions.

And also, not only just awareness, but
what do we do as a classroom teacher?

What are some nuggets, exercises?

Quick 32nd techniques that we can embed
in our regular core tier one instruction.

So chunk zero, non-academic interventions.

Hopefully you got something from that.

Hey, if you wanna learn more about the
Geo Board, go over to disability labs.com

and look for the course that says Tier
One Interventions Workshop Geo Board.

We look forward to seeing you in class.