Whole Body Listening with Howard B. Wigglebottom

Isn't it funny how nothing ever goes according to plan?  I was so ready for today's social skills lesson: a review of Whole Body Listening Larry at School (by Kristen Wilson & Elizabeth Sautter) and then a video of Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen (by Howard Binkow) to reinforce the concept and give the students a chance to make applications of their learning.

I stumbled upon the video several years ago, and used it with success.  I was excited to use it again this week with a few modifications.  Before watching the video, the students identified the components of whole body listening with surprising enthusiasm.  "Just wait until they see the video," I thought to myself.  "They're going to rock this!"  I explained to the students that they would be using their whole body listening smarts and applying them to Howard B. Wigglebottom.  We hooked the computer to the Smart Board and started the video.  (It worked even with the intermittent wifi service at school this week!)  It didn't take long before I needed to pause the video for the students to have time to process and analyze what happened.  What?  The video didn't pause?  That just wasn't going to work for the lesson.  (Insert huge sigh here.)   That's when the ASD teacher and myself decided to search for a new video.  Not necessarily a stroke of genius but we felt like it in a moment of panic.  A quick google search landed us this video of Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen.

We couldn't have been happier!  The video includes a pretty catchy song and pictures from the book for students to identify what listening does and does not look like.  Even our least attentive students were engaged.  It was a successful lesson, and we wanted to share it with you!