Project #10 Interview

Blog Post 16

I want my students to have the options to learn in different ways. I will be teaching the third grade. I want to teach this grade because they are so eager to learn. I plan to rearrange my classroom up as needed. I will have the desk arranged into groups so that the students can discuss about what they are learning. I also want my students to be able to work well and have the proper social skills to communicate with their peers.

My classroom will be mainly hands on. I do not believe in using worksheets for my students to learn. I will incorporate projects into every subject at least once a week. I myself need to have projects that are hands on to stay engaged in the class so I do not want my students to do the same. I also want my classroom to have an environment that the students are comfortable asking questions in front of their peers and participate in class discussion.

I plan on using the SMART Board for most of my instruction. I am still amazed at how much an be done on the SMART Board. I also plan to use the SMART Board Exchange because it has lesson plan already on there that I can modify. I will use the SMART Board because it is interactive and the students are more likely to stay engaged. I do not want to be in front of the class lecturing the entire class I want the students to be able to interact and learn from what each other are thinking.

I will also have a class blog and the students will have a blog of their own. On the class blog I will post a few times a week if not daily on what we are doing that day or throughout the week. When we do projects I want them to be able to video them and post them to their blogs. I will also have them do assignments on their blogs and they will have to comment on their peers work. It will be beneficial for the students to get feedback from their own peers and not just the teacher. Their parents will also be able to see their progress in the class.

As I have stated I want my classroom to be hands on. In my first blog post I was referring more to individual projects but after doing projects as a group I have changed my mind some. I do want my students to do some projects individually and some with their classmates. I have found that if they are a group they can learn from each other and also learn how to work with their peers more. I think now that I would have my students make iMovies for some of their projects because the options are endless on how to do a project on iMovie. I want my students eager to explore the different options that these types of things can have.

Blog Post 11

Mrs. Cassidy's Class uses blogs, internet, webpages, Skype and many other technological advances in everyday learning. The students’ post and EDM310 comment on them. The children explain how they learn from the comments. The students get video, audio, written practice. Mrs. Cassidy has been doing a class webpage for at least 10 years. She has been using a blog for at least 5 years. The administration supports her. This whole technological thing started with 5 donated computers. I would use computers in my classroom daily. So many students learn by seeing, doing and writing. If they see the keys, type the paper, then read the paper they may learn more from it. The blogs have taught me so much from this class. I can only imagine how much I could teach my students with the blog peer commenting. The excitement I have seen in these students is what gives future teachers hope that the technology advancements can bring a smile to education.

 Cassidy 13 Part 1, Part 2 , Part 3

In the videos Dr. Strange is asking Ms. Cassidy questions about the support she is receiving from the school, parents and students. The administrators do not encourage her to try new things but they support her in what she does. She sends a letter home to the parents to get permission from them for the students to have a blog. The parents enjoy the students having it because they can see their progress throughout the year. The blog reflects all subject but it mostly shows the students writing. While you are reading the students work you can see how their writing skill have progressed. The students love to blog because technology has become a part of their everyday life. The students are excited to be able to use technology at school and not just at home. Technology is something that is going to be around forever and always will be evolving. I think as teachers no matter what grade we are teaching it is important for us to be able to incorporate it into our classrooms.
In the second video, Ms. Cassidy is discussing why and how twitter or social networks are so important. Dr. Strange also comments and says how he use to never want to use twitter because he felt it was pointless. Then he was told by a few different people that he just needed to try it and since he did he met Ms. Cassidy and other educators. She also mentioned how she thought it was pointless but once she began to use it realized it was not. She discussed how as teachers we can communicate and meet other educators through social networks and learn from each other. I think using twitter and other social networks to communicate and learn is important. All teachers need to be communicating with other teachers to not only learn but share their work and findings with other teachers.

In the third video. Ms. Cassidy is answering questions asked by EDM310 students. She was asked realistically how much do your students get to blog? She explained that since has a smaller class they all blog together collaboratively. I think blogging together is a great idea because the students and feed off of each other. One student addressed the fact of protecting the students and what they see since they are on the internet. Ms. Cassidy makes to sure to tell the students to only use their first name and not to post pictures of themselves. She also teaching them that they need to be positive when commenting on other people's blogs. To protect the students from what they see, she uses her class blog as a hub for them to use. She will give them links to educational games but is sure to tell them that what she wants them to click on is in the middle not the flashy add on either side of the page. I think this a great way to keep the students off of sites that might not be safe. By using the class blog as a hub is a good way to keep them on the pages they need to be on.

Blog Post 15

Assistive Technologies for Vision and Hearing Impaired Students

Summarized By: Ke’Nesha Brown

Assistive technology is “an umbrella term used for assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices” (Wikipedia). It promotes independence by giving people the opportunity to perform tasks they were once unable to perform (Wikipedia). Assistive technologies give disabled children a chance to feel normal and interact with others in the classroom. It enhances their learning, remove all learning barriers, and pushes students to go beyond their boundaries. Assistive Technologies give each disabled child a sense of hope. In addition, it changes the way people think around them.

According to the video, one in 2500 Australian children have vision impairment (ATVHIC). Every day in Australia, one child is diagnosed with hearing impairment. With the statistic given, the curious questions for educators are “Are we doing enough to support impaired children” and “Are we prepared” (ATVHIC).

Teachers should be the main line of defense for all children when it comes to quality education. They should be willing to knock down old walls and building new ones. With assistive technologies, impaired kids have the ability to engage, investigate, and explore. Most importantly, it gives the students the ability to interact with their environment. 

There are many devices that can be helpful to sensory disabled children. Some of the devices are:

·         Text to speech devices

·         Text phones

·         Talking Calculators

·         Note takers

·         Sensory aids

·         Speech to text devices

·         FM radio’s

·         iPhone, iPods, iPads

·         Screen magnifiers

·         Flip cameras

The Mountbatten

In The Mountbatten video, they explains how vital immediate feedback is to struggling learners. The Mountbatten Braille Writer allows students to receive audio and tactile feedback. It produces braille while announcing what letters are being produced. In addition, the device is an advance tool. It has the ability to save files; transfer files to, and receive files from a computer. 

For teachers and students who don’t know braille, the Mountbatten Brailler is a great tool for mainstream classrooms. The braille text converts into print and is display upon a screen.  This tool allows blind children to be included in curriculum. It also allows them to receive feedback from teachers and participate in peer group projects.

Assistive Technology for Children with Autism

(written by Susan Strokes under a contract with CESA and funded by a discretionary grant from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction)

The assistive technology tool I found useful for the classroom was provided by Autism Consultant,Susan Stroke. She explains how technology have improve the quality of life for people who suffer with different disabilities. However, despite the fact that  technology attracts the children who has autism. Stroke explains how technology can be helpful for children who has autism. Stroke explains how technology can be helpful for children with autism. It can help them understand their environment. It also help them with communication skills, social interaction skills, and motivation skills. 

Stokes explains how the Visual Representation Systems are helpful for autistic children. Objects, pictures drawing, line drawing, and written words can be used with various modes of technology, as long as the child understands.  One software program Stokes mentioned is Boardmaker. Boardmaker is a software  from the Mayer-Johnson software program. It is a program for children, as well as adults, that provides 3,000 picture communications in black and white or color. PCS present a clear representation of objects or words. However, autistic kids may dislike color; therefore, teachers should take caution on what color they may use.

Another tool that provides a more concrete images without risking ambiguity because of background clutter is Picture This (20).   It has over 2,700 pictures from a lot of different categories like, creating schedules, sequence activities for following instructions, etc.  

Strokes tells us that some children who suffer Autism have difficulty understanding two dimensional visual representation system. These students may require an actual object, or True Object Based Icon. TOBI can be any line drawn picture that has been cut out in a shape or outline of what it is suppose to represent. The child has the opportunity to see and feel the symbol and shape.

Having assistive technologies in the classroom helps teachers and disable children communicate with one another. Every child’s learning ability is different; however, every child has the ability to learn. By providing the tool sensory aid children need, teachers are providing their students with a fair chance in receiving the same quality education as others.  It also teaches the other students how to interact and accept people who are different from them. I personally think this assistive technologies is a tool that all teachers should have. 

Teaching Math to the Blind,iPad Usage For the Blind

Summarized by: Chelsea Calvert

Both of these videos gave instructions and reasoning for using the two different resources. The first video discussed how it is almost impossible to learn or teach math through braille. The University of San Francisco invented a board or a work space for the student to lay tiles that had the letters printed on them and written in braille. The board also would connect to a computer and the computer would say the numbers as they were placed on the board.

The second video shows how the iPad has the over voice feature. With having this feature one could set the iPad to say out-loud what functions were being used. The video shows how to navigate an iPad with having the iPad read whichever icon you ran your finger over. It will also read books once they are selected. For the blind this is the only tool that you can turn on and have this feature in effect.According to the 2007 National Deaf-Blind Child Count, over 10,000 are children under the age of 21.(National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness. (2008, September)) This tool gives these students the ability to have a book at the tip of their fingers that can be read to them.

Both of these videos were informative on different subjects. I never thought about how difficult it would be to teach a blind person math until now. I think that the board would be a great asset to the classroom with a blind person. I think that this board would be helpful in learning the basics of math. I think both tools would be beneficial in the classroom. Using the iPad to read and for other things is a great tool. The students could read whenever they had free time and it would be an easy transition. I think the iPad could be used for every subject in some way.

Summarized by: Keri Brown
Teaching Mom What her Deaf/Blind Child is Learning on the iPad
This video shows a mother using an iPad to learn what her deaf/blind child is learning. This video showed me that just because a student is blind or deaf they are still fully capable of using technology. The deaf students can see all of the icons that are on the iPad and work the same way a hearing student does. For blind students, this showed the mother learning how to swipe with four fingers to change pages and when she scrolled her fingers over the apps and icons they say out loud what exactly they were helping the blind student hear what they are using or what they are looking for.

Apple has a special link on their website for special education students. They say "We believe that technology can provide great learning tools for all learning abilities. Every Mac and iOS device comes standard with innovative accessibility features." The iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch come with assistive features that have changed the learning landscape for students with special needs. These features help with learning and literacy, vision, hearing, and physical and motor skills. "Guided Access helps students with autism or other attention and sensory challenges stay on task." This allows the teacher to limit a device to stay on one app by disabling the Home button, and even restrict touch input on certain areas of the screen. "VoiceOver is a gesture-based screen reader that lets students know what’s happening on their Multi-Touch screen — and helps them navigate it — even if they can’t see it." This is great for blind students to still be able to work the technology and navigate through the assignments. "Closed captions offer all kinds of visual learners the ability to see captions in video to help with comprehension." This application is very useful for deaf students.