The Diverse Classroom: Meeting Every Student’s Needs

It’s been a remarkable journey since I first shared my experiences with Boom Cards on Rachel Lynette’s Minds in Bloom blog and later on Boom Learning’s Blog. Today, I’m thrilled to revisit this topic here, reflecting on how these digital tools continue to energize my sessions and captivate my students. Boom Cards in Speech Therapy is a must, in my humble opinion. Whether you work remotely or face to face, they deliver an element of FUN WHILE LEARNING! With a portfolio of over 100+ decks covering a broad spectrum of educational themes, from language and literacy to articulation and phonemic awareness, it’s clear that the interactive, fun nature of Boom Cards remains a key motivator for learners.

We’ve all been there, small group intensive instruction and every student in the group is on a different level.  You have a student who is answering all the questions, eager to participate and excited about learning. Then there is the student who gets it but doesn’t really feel confident participating because they are not quite sure of their responses. And of course, a student (or two) who is completely lost and instead of asking for clarification, tries to deter the attention away from themselves by exhibiting distracting behaviors to interfere with others. 

This is the challenge that we frequently face and our mission is to differentiate or modify our lessons in such a way that we capture and motivate every student in the group.  We want to provide a level of rigor that challenges our highest scholar while still presenting the material in a manner that intrigues, motivates, and encourages our lowest level scholar. 

Why Fun in Learning Matters – Boom Cards in Speech Therapy

From my personal experience, I have come to realize that I get the best outcomes from my students when they are having fun and actively interacting with the content.  Kids today love technology and by incorporating it into my lessons my students come alive and get excited about learning.  I strongly feel that learning should be fun in order to keep students motivated and to ultimately foster a lifelong love of learning. 

When I think back to my school age years, the teachers that I remember most are the ones who were creative and who put forth their best efforts to offer a learning environment that was full of fun and engaging resources. Fast forward to the 21^st century classroom and it is absolutely imperative to stay on the cutting edge of technology – from digital interactive notebooks to digital self-grading task cards – there are infinite possibilities to differentiate your instruction digitally, while captivating and motivating your students.

Boom Cards: A Game Changer in Education

The discovery of BOOM Cards™ has really been a game changer for me and my small group sessions.  If you haven’t heard of Boom Cards yet, trust me when I tell you, they are EXPLODING into the world of education!  My students are so eager and excited by them, that they have even started to request them for homework.  When we as educators can excite our students to a level that they are enthusiastic about learning, we have hit the jackpot. That’s the way I feel when my students begin to request homework. 

Boom Cards are digital interactive task cards that display on Smartboards for whole group instruction. For your small group lessons they are awesome on computers, tablets, and iPads. They can also be played on Smartphones for independent reinforcement.  For my remote SLPs, they are PERFECT for your teletherapy session. I have been busy creating Boom Cards to address a wide range of language and literacy concepts in a fun and interactive way.  Below is a quick peek at one of my decks from my Evergreen Sequencing and Story Retell Series:

Personal Experience of an SLP: The Impact of Boom Cards in Speech Therapy

What I really appreciate most about Boom Cards is the fact that:

• I design them to be presented to my students in small digestible bites.
• They have visual cues built in to aid in comprehension.
• Technology is incorporated (which is very motivating).
• They can be read aloud to students who need extra support.
• For more advanced readers, they can demonstrate their ability to read, comprehend, and independently complete the task cards.
• Students receive immediate feedback .
• They are interactive with drag and drop features and point and click.
• PLUS they are SELF-GRADING!

The digital nature of Boom Cards coupled with the self-grading feature will save you a tremendous amount of time. Progress monitoring becomes a breeze. This will also allow for easier identification of the areas that students are struggling with most. With this valuable feedback you can offer increased repetitions and opportunities to master specific skills. 

Boom Cards for Language and Literacy Enhancement

Within small groups, I facilitate my Boom Card lessons in such a way that every student is challenged regardless of their skill level. The interactive nature of the cards (point and click, drag and drop, and fill-in the blanks) naturally reinforce learning. This is done in a way that keeps my students motivated. Therefore, I spend the entire session focused on targeting important concepts and don’t have to devote time to external reward systems. 

When my students are excited, it certainly shows in the area that matters most and that is – better measurable outcomes.  The increased attention level demonstrated by my students when using Boom Cards results in improved carryover. From one session to the next, we spend less time reviewing and more time on compounded growth.

Whether you are a classroom teacher, ESE teacher, or Speech Language Pathologist we all share a common thread. We want to see growth and progress in ALL of our students. As a reading endorsed Speech Language Pathologist, my passion is language and literacy.  I make a conscious effort to incorporate literacy into every session to maximize the time I have with my students. 

The Versatility of Boom Cards in Teaching

With the level of rigor that is expected from them in today’s classroom, I want to ensure that they thoroughly understand the connection between our sessions and the classroom. I make it clear to them that what we do in our small group sessions is to better equip them. We are working together to develop the tools they need to be successful in the classroom and beyond. For this reason, I have started a complete series of Boom Cards that target a wide variety of language and literacy concepts. 

My Sequencing and Story Retell Boom Card Series is designed to address sequencing, identification of story elements, answering wh questions, auditory comprehension, reading comprehension, vocabulary, use of context clues, and story retell. They are differentiated to encourage active participation. This series is inclusive and intentionally designed for ALL students. Regardless of their level it focuses on being fun and engaging while actively promoting learning. 

To help build the foundation for strong readers, I also have several Boom Card decks that address important introductory skills. From rhyming words, phonemic awareness, sight words, synonyms, antonyms, vocabulary and much more!  Every deck that I create is designed with a focus on differentiation. They are great for whole group lessons, small group intensive instruction, 1:1 sessions, or independent assessment.

The Future of Learning with Animated WH Questions

My newest Animated WH Questions Series has really been a huge hit with my students. The animations are truly game changing and highly motivating. This approach really offers an added level of differentiation. Again, I strongly feel pictures are worth a thousand words and therefore animations/videos are worth a million! Incorporating Boom Cards into Speech Therapy has resulted in increased engagement and motivation. Such an incredible combination to help improve measurable outcomes. To find more of my digital interactive lessons, please visit my store HERE.

Disclaimer:

BVG SLP is not affiliated with nor endorsed by Boom Learning℠ or Minds in Bloom. Both Boom Learning℠ and Boom Cards™ are registered trademarks of Boom Learning, Inc. Logo and names used with permission.