Communication Board Project Introduction

As mentioned in a previous post, one of my favorite read aloud books is Sharon Draper’s Out of My Mind. The book lends itself to powerful class discussions, and allows students to learn about differences and the importance of acceptance. While reading the book to my class last year I came up with a project idea, to create personal communication boards. Instead of jumping on the idea right away, I decided to discuss it with my class and get their thoughts on it.
 
I wanted students to put themselves in Melody’s shoes and understand what it would be like to live in a word where you couldn’t use your voice to communicate. Students were extremely receptive to the idea, and before I knew it students were working hard on creating beautiful masterpieces. Students thought long and hard about what they wanted to include. They had to decide what was important to them, what words they use the most every day, who they communicate with, whether they wanted more words or pictures, and the decisions went on and on.
 
When the final products arrived in my classroom I was shocked. Each student brought in a truly unique communication board to meet their individual needs. We designated some time one morning to have a “silent classroom” and we only used our communication boards to talk, no voices. It was one of the most powerful times I have had with a group of students.
 
As a class we learned how frustrating it can be not to verbalize your thoughts. We had to come up with ways to create words that were not on our boards. We had to stay patient and focus on each other to truly understand what was trying to be said.

Most importantly, we learned that there are many things we take for granted in our lives that we can’t imagine living without. Students reflected on how thankful they are for being healthy and living the life they do.
 
This Animoto that I created is to use with my new class this year. It will serve as an introduction to the Communication Board Project so they can get a basic understanding of the project and see samples. I can’t wait to see what students create this year!