Show Notes

In this week’s episode of The Staffroom, we were privileged to speak to author, Apple Distinguished Educator and international speaker, Craig Smith (@wrenasmir). Craig is the National Coordinator working for Positive Partnerships and an expert in Autism pedagogy.

Craig spoke to us about creative educational best practices for young people with autism. He shares his experience of working with students with special educational needs and explains his views on technology to support the social and emotional needs of these students. We were mind-blown by Craig’s passion and expertise and certainly learnt a lot from him. 

So, without further ado, here’s a break-down of our chat complete with time-stamps:

• How does Craig explain his passion for working with students with autism? (4:00)
• What does Craig say about his experience in education and working with students with special educational needs? (5:27)
• What does Craig believe all teachers should know about working with students with autism? (7:25)
• Why does Craig believe there is an anxiety with some teachers who work with autistic students ? (9:30)
• Why does Craig believe an personalised and individualistic approach to create universal learning experiences is so important? (11:42)
• How does Craig feel about the integration of technology to support the social and emotional needs students with autism? What are his views? (14:08)
• How does Craig believe technology can support teaching and learning for students with special educational needs? (17:10)
• What does Craig say about Minecraft in the classroom? How did he use it with his students? (19:15)
• Why does Craig think it is important that synthesising information succinctly in a visual way is important to students with autism? (27:08)
• Why does Craig believe music can play a big part in the education of students with autism? What work has he done with Skoog? (30:40)

We hope you enjoy this episode of The Staffroom and find Craig’s educational ideas as inspirational as we did. If you’d like to learn more about Minecraft, Skoog or find out more about Craig’s numerous projects,  you should check out Craig’s wonderful website and blog, www.autismpedagogy.com!

We wish Craig all the best for 2019 and the growing success of his blog.

Until next time!

Jamie, Michael and Tessa

Twitter:

@XpatEducator

@Michael_Royall

@tessa_johnson2