Assistive Tech - Final Takeaways

I really enjoyed this class. Being a new teacher (again), I love having to chance to learn about new technology that is available for us to use for our students. Technology is obviously the path of the future, so we may as well all get on board and learn as much as we can in order to best help our students.

Some of my main takeaways from this course are…

1)      iPads! I am definitely on-board with the iPad. They clearly are the most user-friendly, universally designed device. In my last class, our professor, who is blind, continuously told us how amazing the apple devices were for her. I didn’t know, until we went through some of the MANY features, how adaptable they truly are. Despite the price of them, compared to other tablets, I think it’s worth the extra money as they’ll go much further and provide much more support than some of their cheaper companions. I’m planning to apply for a tech-grant for my classroom next year & I really hope it’s successful!

2)      There’s an app for everything. Or extension…or ad-on. I had no idea how many options there were for all of the platforms. I really enjoyed how we went in-depth on different apps for all levels of the reading & writing process. Those two processes have, perhaps, the largest impact on a students’ success in school. I love how we live in a time where we have the option to put a child on an iPad/computer if they have trouble reading or writing. Years ago, those students would have been lost & potentially drop out of school. We’re extremely fortunate to have access to so many devices that can help these children who are struggling and I think the options are only going to get better!

3)      The complexity of the reading & writing process baffled me. I remember when I wrote my thoughts on the processes down and they maybe had 6 or 7 parts to them. Both processes are so layered and I now realize why there are so many places where a person could hit a roadblock. After listening to our case studies, it makes so much sense that the majority of them dealt with issues concerning reading & writing. The images that show the reading & writing processes should be shared with all teachers. We all need to be aware of how complex these processes are, and how we can assist when a student encounters a difficulty.
4)   UDL - Universal Design for Learning is so important to constantly keep in mind. I keep going back to Barb's piece of paper that she kept holding up. If you hand out that piece of paper, that is all it remains. It makes no accommodations for anyone. However, the minute you digitize that piece of paper, you get endless options. You can have it read aloud, you can simplify the language, you could edit it into manageable size parts...you can do anything with it! UDL is key. It needs to be in the forefront of how we design our curriculum and how we approach our classrooms.

These are just some of the many takeaways from this course. I’m really looking forward to the summer session & learning more about ways we can use technology to support all of our learners.

Assistive Tech - Day 6 Takeaways

Last day! Here's a quick summary of our case studies:

Tim

      Tim presented on his student Alex, who is in Grade 5. He is suspected to have ASD, but the wait list is 2 years to be officially diagnosed. I really liked the focus Tim put on Alex's strengths. I think we often focus too much on the negatives, rather than looking at the positives.  Alex had difficulty putting pencil to paper, but does very well when he’s on a computer; used read & write for Google…highlighter tool was very useful. He was able to take notes at a much quicker pace using R&W, compared to when he was writing by hand. Great job Tim! Nice to see a practical use of R&W for Google in the classroom!

Rose

-         Rose presented on Vaughn, who has writing difficulties. He would often draws pictures w/ limited to no writing. Rose  started using iBrainstorm and then introduced him to cowriter; was able to successfully use to write his thoughts down. Also tried book creator – made a book about his trip to the discovery center! I love the use of book creator & Chomp, well done Rose!

      

      Raeann - Raeann presented on Sarah was bullied in the early grades, until she had a great connection with her grade 5 teacher. I love hearing those stories about how a really great teacher can make that big of a difference to a student.  Raeann used the inspiration app, google docs, read & write for google & videoscribe app. Amazing to see the final product of Sarah's writing on her "awesome". Excellent work, Raeann! Awesome use of Chomp, too!

     Jude - awesome to see someone present on their daughter! It's amazing how children can adapt to speak and listen at such a young age, even with 70% hearing loss. The grade 3 teacher gave Cailin a "magic wand" to signal communication back and forth. Amazing! Into first year of university, no one had any idea of her reading difficulties. Jude used 3 different color transparencies to see if they would make some difference to help Cailin with her reading. The yellow transparency was the one that she needed to assist her; made a huge difference in her comprehension & reading! Great use of video in your presentation, well done Jude!

     Naomi - presented on Jake. So frustrating how 4 students share 1 EPA! There's definitely something wrong with that system. I appreciate how you shared your emotions with us...I think we all feel those at some time, and I think it's important for us all to express them. I really like the idea of using picture symbols to show what needs your child had and how to best meet them. Avaz seems like a really great support to use for communication, thanks for introducing it to us all!

     Reagan  - presented on Read & Write for Google Chrome. Nice to hear that the stigma on resource is not as prevalent as it used to be! Thanks for sharing your two students' stories with us. I think Google R&W is a great resource that we have & I'll definitely be using it in the future. I think you shared an important message that we have so many students who aren't on our radars, yet could still benefit from using technology in the classroom.

     Steph - Steph presented on Roy, a 14 year old in Grade 8. Roy has cerebral palsy. Writing is excruciatingly difficult task for him. Roy used the chromebook for literacy & organizational assistance. Nice to hear of his success with the chromebooks, as it seems like the different school boards in NS are all for the chromebooks. I also like how you could see Roy's personality shine through when he was writing on the chromebook, compared to when he was asked to put pen-to-paper.

    BJ - cool that you had the student help pick out the work samples that you presented. I like how insistent you were to get your students teacher on board with having all assessment pieces typed rather than hand-written. I'm not sure why some teachers have such issues with students using technology in a spot other than the classroom...if a student is passing in quality work as requested, get on board!

    Dawn - Sorry to have missed your presentation! I'll bring lunch next time!!

    Chelsea- I really like the setup that you have for your student, with everything nearby, but just out of reach. Your setup with his computer right behind him is awesome. It's nice to see how successful your student was with speech to text. I would have liked to experiment with that option more with Colton, if we hadn't been at the end of the year currently. Well done!

     Suzanne - presented on SAMR & how it could help her students prepare for exams. What a creative way to get students to express what it is they find stressful, difficult & overwhelming about exam time. I remember exams being such an anxiety-ridden time and can imagine how helpful your resources would have been. Well done!

     Corbin - presented on John. John was a major behavior problem; moved 11 times before grade 9! I think it's amazing how much information psych. ed tests are able to provide us. They can really give us a window into what is going on in a particular student. Glad to see how effective giving John the iPad was. They're a great resource for our students!

     Traci - presented on Chloe, who is globally-developmentally delayed. She used an iPad to assist in social skill development. Great to see such an increase in communicative skills between her & her classmates & her teachers/EPA's. I like the varied use of Book Creator that Chloe used. I think it's a great app that can give students a creative method for expressing themselves. 

     Christine - presented about how she could use technology in a scripted form of remediation. She is an Early Literacy Support teacher. Really cool how you used Tellagami to have your students express their oral language. Same thing with the sock puppet app...you found a way to integrated technology and make learning fun for these children. What an awesome way to introduce new vocabulary to these students. Very well done!!

    

     Cindy - presented on Samantha, who is recovering from a concussion. Samantha's unable to work as she can't read without worsening her symptoms. The difficulties associated with concussion recovery are so vast; it must be extremely difficult to work through the long, tedious process of recovery! I really like how you tried your best to keep the recovery options as economical as possible. Makes it easy to translate your experience to a classroom experience. I really like the sound of the TLDR extension. Sometimes the amount of information found on websites is so overwhelming...TLDR sounds like it would be super beneficial. 

      Ashley -presented on Jonah. Ashley used Google R&W to assist with his reading & writing. It was a good program for him to use so that he could show what he knew independently. Jonah loved using the picture dictionary & the highlighting option. I thought the highlighting option was one of the cooler features of R&W; would be super helpful in highlighting key thoughts & terms that need to be remembered in the future. Awesome to see how helpful R&W was for Jonah, sounds like a great match!

     

     

     

     

    

   

     

Assistive Tech - Day 5 Takeaways

This morning we started off experimenting with Kahoot. It is such a cool program where you can create your own multiple choice games for students to complete. It sets a competitive, yet engaging, atmosphere for students to show what they know. It would be a really fun way to end a unit, or to poll a class on a certain topic. It could also be fun to use in a professional development session! The really cool thing is that you can access Kahoot on any device, whether it be a tablet, phone or computer, which makes it incredibly accessible for all. Check it out @ Kahoot!

We took some time following this to create our own Bitsboards. Tim & I created a Bitsboard on provincial flags. After the Bitsboards are created, you can use them for a variety of activities. EAL students could have the province names read to them, the pictures could be made into puzzles and a ton of other mini-games. Click on the following link to have a look: http://bitsboard.com/ 

  Here's an example of the Bitsboard that Tim & I created. 

Following this, we used the program Explain Everything to explain a topic of our choice. I thought this program was really easy & straight-forward to use. I think with a little more time to play around with the app, that I could really make some interesting videos that would be fun and interactive for my class. Tim & I created our Explain Everything video to help people learn the 9 times table trick.

We also spent some time looking at different Math apps for students to use. I have a few students who would really find these beneficial and interesting to use. I'd also like to try them out with our EAL students, as I think the repetition of hearing the numbers read aloud to them would be very helpful. Check out my main page for some Math app suggestions!

Math Apps

Google Chrome Store Math Apps
Just click on the name of the game to be taken to the website!
To check out Microsoft Store apps and some additional Google Play, head over to Tim's site !
1) Math Games     

2) Pattern Shapes

3) Math Worksheets

4) IXL

5) Prodigy Math Game

Google Play Store Apps
1) Math Workout

2) BrainPopJr

 

Take The Pencil Out of The Process - Article Review

"Fair is not giving everyone the same thing, fair is giving people what they need." - Leslie Broun

I knew going into this article that I was going to be very pleased with the purpose of it. That assumption was confirmed once I read the above quote written by Leslie Broun. This article focuses on students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and the writing process. As we've discussed at length, the writing process is an extremely complicated, layered process that include so many different places where a person could struggle. For people with ASD, one particular part of the process that proves to be difficult is putting pencil-to-paper. The hand-eye coordination required can make the task quite daunting, and often ends up with the student putting more time & effort into forming their letters properly than putting their thoughts onto paper. The snowball effect is that a student may begin to write less and less, as the process becomes more draining.

Allowing students to have whatever technology they need is incredibly important. Nowadays, where technology is so prevalent in our everyday lives, it still seems as though some educators are leery to bring it into their classrooms. As mentioned in the article, some say that it puts them at an advantage if one student has a computer and the rest do not. However, as Leslie mentions, not all students need a computer to complete a task. Technology is there to give people what they need. It allows us all to be on a level playing field, and give us all a chance to express ourselves. All one needs to do is look at the samples provided in the paper from Julia to see the difference that technology can make.

I really enjoyed this article, and think it is one that should be shared with all educators currently in a classroom!