Topic #11 Assistive Technology

This is my 2nd attempt to publish this post as my first one had an error and was deleted...ugh!

I had never heard of Assitive Technology until last week, so this whole idea is new to me and I don't know about many resources. I spent time on the internet looking at various recourses, and found a few that were pretty good.

My favorite site that I went to this week was the one we looked at for our homework (http://www.atto.buffalo.edu/). This is the site that offered the AT basics as well as the tutorials. I thought the tutorials were extremely helpful and offered some great ideas for implemenation in the classroom. I plan to use the Talking Books idea on power point. I think this site offers great explanations of the basics of AT and how to use them in your classroom.

I have also enjoyed reading the materials from Closing the Gap (http://www.closingthegap.com/). I think this provides great insight to AT for teachers as well as parents. I think the articles are very informative.

One site that I found is awesome. It's called Education World (www.educationworld.com/assistive/sp_ed/assistive/index.shtml ). This site has an ENORMOUS amount of resources for both parents as well as educaters and students. There are 3 sections. The first is "General Recourses" which includes articles/resources for technology in the classroom as well as basic information for parents. If you go to this site, make sure you check our the "Technology Center". This is a great section for teachers and tells you about many different resources you can use with your students. There is a great article by Larry Ferlazzo that offers 2.0 activities for students. I highly recommend checking it out. They also do an "On the Big Screen" spotlight and this month it features a software called Geographic Information Systems (GIS) which allows students to map different areas. It sounds a little like Google Earth. The two other sections inclue "Narrowing the Gap in Academics" and "Creating Independence". They showcase different sites such as PlaneMath to help children. They also discuss a program called Speak to Write which is a federally funded project and uses voice recognition to allow students with disabilities to write.

Washington University also has a great site called Access IT (www.washington.edu/accessit/articles?109 ). This site offers information on AT as well as a great knowledge base idex. This index has 162 articles about AT. These articles are anywhere from how to implement different things to identifying various AT needs.

I head Don Johnston's name when I was listening to the Dr. Nelson podcast. He also has a wonderful site (http://www.donjohnston.com/). There is an excellent tab called "Recourses" and there are many wonderful recourses that teachers can use with their students. All of the recourses are literacy recourses and they are amazing. You should check them out. His site also includes videos to see how some of his products are implemented.

Apple also has a site for their Mac (www.apple.com/education/special-education/?cp=WWA-EDUSEM-Q409 ). I had no idea that they had created an OS that focuses on AT. Their products help with Literacy & Learning, Vision, Hearing, and Physical & Motor Skills. I'm glad to see that Apple is focusing on the needs of people with different disabilities.

I am enjoying learning about Assistive Technology and look forward to finding more great recourses.

Topic 10 - Tech Skills

To be honest, when I started this class I thought I was somewhat "Tech Savvy". I am proficient in Word, Excel, and Power Point. I have a Promethean board. I use technology as part of my every day instruction. My specialization is going to be in technology, so I thought I would be right on track. I figured out pretty quickly that I have some learning to do! My first realization came when I took that MTT test...OH MY! All of those technical questions threw me for a loop! While I may be a more advanced technology teacher than some teachers in my building, I am far from being "Tech Savvy". I think I pretty much just know the basics.

Since the beginning of class, I have become more aware of what teaching tools are out there. One collaboration tool that I am excited about is blogging. I have never blogged before and I think my students would really love it. I think it is such a great way to interact with others and I think it allows you to get on a more personal level with people. I am also glad to have learned about Atomic Learning. I have not yet created my database, but I think the lessons provided on Atomic Learning are very helpful as tutorials. I am still not sure that I will use a database in my third grade classroom, but I can see how great it would be for high school aged students. I'm sure that webquests have been around for a while, but sadly enough, I had never heard of one! I think they sound awesome and I can't wait to try one with my students.

As I become more proficient with various instructional technologies, I plan to incorporate them more and more in my classroom. From reading the articles and learning more about distance learning, it sounds as if education is taking steps in that directions. While I still think F2F learning is very important, you can see the benefits of DL. I don't think DL should ever be the only choice for education, but I did like reading about the combined approach and incorporating both of them. I think that if children are going to be truly ready for college and the working world, they really need these technological skills. As a teacher, I think I need to look at some of the work I am giving my kids and see if it could be enhanced/improved with technology. I really want to have more collaboration via the Internet with my students and I want them to see what is available to them.

The Atomic Learning Self Assessment basically showed me that I have a lot to learn! The area where I struggled was the technological part. I wasn't quite sure about all of those technological terms. I think Atomic Learning is an excellent tool.

Topic 9 - Student Research/Publisher

Last week my students started their first research project (in third grade). Before we began, we reviewed what "kid-friendly" sites look like as well as the difference between a website and a search engine. We have been studying communities in Social Studies. I had them pick a different community in the U.S. and a different community in another country. I then gave them a research page that I typed on word. I thought this might be a good way to start them off so they could have a note taking page and their research would be structured. They had to research their own community and the two other communities that they picked.

We researched Dallas together. Normally, I don't allow my students to use Wikipedia, but I checked the facts about Dallas ahead of time and they were accurate, so I used this as a learning tool and explained to my students that anyone can go in and post on Wikipedia and is usually not the best place to find research. I then showed my kids NetTrekker, Enchanted Learning, and Google Kids. I gave them some time to research and find the specific information they were looking for.

The next step is creating a brochure on Publisher. My kids will tell about each of their communities in a brochure format. This part of the lesson is very guided by me since they have not used Publisher before. Last week we designed the covers. They got to explore with different layouts, fonts, colors, etc. They also were able to go to Google Images and find a picture for the front of their brochure. We are going to continue this lesson on Friday and my students will designate a portion of their brochure for each community. They will find picture of their community and describe the different cultures and interesting facts about their community.

I have enjoyed doing this sort of project over giving them the worksheets that come with the book. They are learning the same type of information, but this is hands-on and more "real" to them. I think they are learning more about different cultures by researching on their own and not just getting facts from the text book. I think this assignment has had more meaning to them because they were able to choose the communities they wanted research. I also think my students are highly motivated by technology. We started this project using our COW and my kids are always excited about using the laptops.

Topic 8 - Instruction Technologies Continued

When planning a lesson I think the most important thing to ask yourself is, "What are my objectives?" I think we often design a cool technology project and then try and fit your educational objectives into the project. You have to take a step back and figure out what exactly you are trying to teach and then decide what is the best type of technology you should use. Ask yourself this things: What media would help reinforce this?, What tools do we need?, How do I get from point A to point B and what are all the necessary steps?, What is my end result?

These are questions I have to ask myself when I am trying to plan instruction using technology. After I work through these things, I have to actually create a product myself. I think it is crucial for children to see the end result. They have to know what product they are either creating or using. I like to do things step by step. If I give a bunch of directions up front, I end up losing some of their attention and then they are lost by the time they get back to their computer.

I recently did a project on Google Earth. It was an extension of a writing assignment we had done about trips we had been on. After the writing portion was complete, I e-mailed parents to send me a digital picture of their child on a trip. I then printed a template for each child to write information on the trip. We then learned how to create a push pin on Google Earth where we had traveled. We are still working on this project, but we are doing it step by step. The end result will be a Virtual Vacation Tour and my kids are going to record themselves describing where they went. Many types of media are used here: digital photography, sound/voice/audio, web images, internet tools, different text styles.

This lesson has been so effective for my kids. It is not only a writing project, but a Social Studies project. They get very excited about learning and creating.

Topic 7 - Instructional Technologies

I feel as if I am being introduced to new types of technologies each and every day. While this is very exciting and I love technology, I think that teachers (myself included) can get overwhelmed by the vast amounts of technologies out there. If someone shows me 10 new things I can do and I try to learn all 10 of them, I get lost. I try to embrace one thing at a time.

The biggest change in my teaching career was when I was blessed with Promethean board. It has truly revolutionized the way I teach. As I learn new things I can do on my board, I get excited to use it. It's funny to think about what a big deal it is to my colleagues and me. I guess because we grew up with chalkboards, this is totally out of the ordinary. The kids in my current class have had Promethean boards since they were in kindergarten, so it's all they know. I think you have to take a step back and realize that a laptop to kids is almost like pencil and paper. They are like little sponges just waiting to learn something and they pick up new technology so easily!

I use different types of media almost every day. We love to find videos on United Streaming that reinforce what we are learning, particularly in Science & Social Studies. We have made PowerPoint presentations to teach people about ourselves and teach people about various things we are studying. In these presentations, my students explore different designs, texts, transitions, colors, and layouts. It is a great way to practice writing and even my struggling writers are engaged.

One of the greatest tools that my campus has been blessed with is a COW (computers on wheels). We have one for my grade level, so I'm able to use it whenever we want. You should see the expressions on my students' faces when they see the COW rolling in. I have everyone's attention and everyone is ready to explore, create, and learn.

The most fascinating project I have done with my students is to create their own web page. This was a lengthy process, but definitely worth it. My kids were able to find their own clipart, explore their favorite websites and upload them to their site, practice good design qualities and layouts, and much more. They were able to create a portfolio for their work and show it to their families online.

My district has a technology day every January and we get to choose 2 different things we would like to learn. I love this because you can find something that will interest you and you can pick something that you will most likely use in your classroom. I love the format of this day because it gives you time to totally learn something and learn how to apply it and practice using it. We have a wonderful TIS on our campus and she is always happy to work with us to give us lesson ideas on how we can integrate technology in our classrooms.

Topic 6 Spreadsheet

Spreadsheets
A spreadsheet is a program designed to organize and manipulate numerical data. The information is organized and stored in rows and columns where each position is called a cell. Formulas are used to calculate various data. It helps users manage numbers.

Benefits for teachers:

• Saves time
• Organizes displays of information
• Supports asking "what if" questions
• Increasing motivation to work with mathematics

As a teacher I have used spreadsheets quite a bit. I keep all of my students' grades in an Excel spreadsheet. I have it organized and formatted exactly the way I want it. I have it set up so that it automatically calculates averages for students as well as averages on how the class as a whole does on each assignment. This is helpful to see where my class is struggling and where we are mastering concepts. I also track our benchmark scores in Excel so that I can monitor the progress. My students also LOVE to use Excel. We use it when taking surveys and creating graphs.

Topic 5 Database

A database is a computer program which allows users to store, organize, and manipulate information. This information could be either numberical or text. The most beneficial attribute of a datebase is that they allow people to locate information through shared keyword searches. It is truly like a file cabinet or Rolodex card file. The purpose of a database is to store important information in a way that makes it easy to locate later. Teachers uses databases for the following reasons:

• Reducing data redundancy
• Saving time locating and/or updating information
• Allowing comparisons of information through searches across files
• Helping to reveal relationships among data

As a teacher, I have not personally created a database. That being said, I access our library database all of the time. It makes it EXTREMELY easy to locate books on certain subjects or by certain authors. I am very interested in learning how to use a database in my actual classroom, but I'm not yet sure how I would use one. If anyone has any good ideas for 3rd graders, I would love to hear them!