Self-determination: start thinking New Year's resolution ideas with a twist

Don't think I am rushing the season to an end here--I'm not! But I did have an idea a few weeks for my students. It got me thinking this week that it would be a great idea for resolutions for the new year. We made vision boards! We sat down together, got motivated from some motivational quotes, determined what is and what is not a realistic, just right goal and got to work! We decided to go for goals that the students could work on independently and then made a 'bucket list' as a group. We have a lot of seniors in our student organization so we decided to have an end of the year party to help them 'kick the bucket' from high school (they have to put up with my humor, you do too!)


Each of these students offered to share their vision boards with everyone. We have large print readers and Braille readers. Their vision impairments range from RP to Albinism to Usher's (deafblind) and more. This activity is also a great way to discuss realistic goals, planning, community & transition skills as well as self-determination skills. We used clear Braille labels for our Braille readers. 

We also made a Bucket List as a group. You can see it below! We are quite excited to finish our bucket list!! All of the students wanted the driving experience. I will blog about each of these as we do them. We are hitting the slopes in February.

The best part of vision boards? You can do this activity anywhere! You can do this as a class if your student attends a residential program, in an after-school student group (like my students) or better yet, as a family! I am excited to do this as I feel it is empowering for my students. They have to bring their vision boards to the rest of the meetings  this school year. They partnered up to help each other accomplish their goals and of course, they can always call me to help :)

Happy early New Year's!!