MSI Unit Curriculum - Sense

MSI Unit Curriculum: Phase 3Daily site walkEach day Amanda has a short trip outdoors in the school grounds. Thisactivity has been part of her timetable for several years, and is a key factor inmaintaining her emotional stability and motivation. It gives her a break frominteraction with people and also gives her time outdoors, which she loves.When Amanda worked at Phase 2, the walk had educational value in its ownright. At Phase 3, an obvious progression would be to talk about the walkwith Amanda while it takes place, but she has firmly and consistently rejectedoccasional attempts at this. Instead, we have searched for ways to develop theactivity without changing its nature or detracting from its value:• before her walk, Amanda now chooses which hat, gloves, boots and coatshe will wear, or alternatively helps to put on her suncream. She is workingtowards choosing appropriate clothing for the day’s weather;• during the walk, Amanda interacts with various landmarks – running a stickalong railings, for example. On the return journey she interacts with thelandmarks in the reverse order;• after the walk, Amanda operates a series of Powerpoint slideshows about thedifferent landmarks, using a single switch. We are still assessing how muchinformation she gets from photographs, and those used in this activity arestripped of their background, backlit and well-cued by the walk beforehand.A typical slideshow is shown on the next page. We have recently introduceda series of books using the same pictures, for Amanda to share with a staffmember.Amanda accepts and usually enjoys these newer aspects of her walk, and someof the learning objectives have in turn been transferred to other sessions – forexample, her greetings routine now includes short Powerpoint sequences. Thechanges have allowed us to maintain the site walk, which is very important toAmanda, whilst working within Phase 3. The site walk, like all Amanda’s activities,is cross-curricular, and some of the links are shown overleaf:The context of learningThe MSI Unit Curriculum addresses the contexts in which activities occur, as wellas the objectives, strategies and expectations which they embody. At Phase 3,pupils are:• using weekly timetables with key daily routines;• learning to interact with peers and a range of adults;• working in a range of learning environments;• experiencing change and greater autonomy in a range of contexts.77