Week 4 & Tech Explorations 11-14

 

Week 4

 

This week I learned a great deal about PowerPoint Presentations.  We had a discussion forum as well as were asked to answer questions about a PPP that we created. 

 

1.     What was the presentation about and to whom did you present it?  Since we are out of school I created a PowerPoint and presented it to my children, ages 6 and 7.  My PowerPoint is geared towards helping special needs students prepare for daily activities at home and at school.  I broke it down into 4 main areas:  morning routine, behavior in the classroom, how to excel in the classroom, and homework challenges.

 

2.    Of which item in your presentation are you the most proud?  I was able to get the information that I wanted into the slides and present the material in a way to keep the children’s interest for most of the slide show.

 

3.    What might you do differently if you could create the presentation again?  If I were at school I would take pictures or videos in the classroom of how to do a few of the topics we talk about and spice the PowerPoint up a bit.  I would also work on the transitions, I chose a lot of the cookie cutter transitions and they are neat but after seeing 20 in a row they get monotonous.  Sometimes simpler is better.

 

4.    How did your students respond to the presentation?  They watched the presentation and really liked the slide transitions.  Most of the content was on a K-3 level so they understood it probably better than some of my special education students.  I kept their attention through about three quarters of the presentation and then they lost interest.  I think if I could go back and put in more pictures or add some videos to the presentation they would have watched the whole thing through.

 

5.    Do you have any new ideas or thoughts on how to use PowerPoint with your students in the future?  Yes, I never knew how easy it was to make PowerPoint Presentations.  I admit that I need to work on polishing them up and adding more multimedia content but I can see doing a lot of classroom activities on PowerPoint.  Plus if you couple PowerPoint with some of the other file sharing multimedia sites we have explored I can easily see putting instructions, assignments, fun activities, field trips, etc. on the web for students to use and parents to view.

 

My mind is literally spinning with all of the helpful resources that this TED.com has to offer teachers to enhance learning in their classrooms.  Since I am a special needs aide, I regularly collaborate with teachers in all subjects.  It has been my experience that middle school students struggle greatly in math and in science so I wanted to look at videos pertaining to those subjects.  I definitely wasn't disappointed by either video.

The first video that I chose to watch was by Dan Meyer.  "Math class needs a makeover" was very interesting to say the least.  Basically he is saying that any problem worth solving is not simple and textbooks in the classroom make problems seem simple without really ever having to "learn" the math.  The textbook has the example and from that you are able to solve the problem quite easily but again everyday problems in life are not like that at all.  You have to sift through information to find what is useful and may even have to research to find more information to "solve" the problem.  What I found most interesting is that he as a teacher changes the textbook problems and works in real life problems.  One example shown was asking "how long does it take to fill this tank".  He actually took a video of a tank being filled up so that they could visually and in real time be able to see and solve the problem.  I only wish that more teachers were like, Dan Meyer.  He stated in the video that he is able to reach students, who have problems in math and normally would not participate in the discussion, are now being quite involved.

I also chose to check out the video by Tyler DeWitt, "Hey Science Teachers--Make it Fun."  In this video, I learned that Tyler is a first year high school science teacher.   He quickly found out that his students weren't learning from their assignments.   They mostly were speechless except for one of his stronger students who told him that she really wasn't able to understand the material.  Tyler suggests making science fun even if you generalize things more.  Like saying all virsus' have DNA when in fact not ALL do, some could have RNA.  But he says with young learners knowing which details to leave out so that they main point comes across can be the difference between a student loving science or hating it.  A lot of time the textbooks are so scientific that its just too hard to understand and therefore the students give up.  Tyler wants science to be fun and he does this by making videos and storytelling.  He leaves out the seriousness, makes people laugh and care about what he is saying by giving examples on middle school terms.  He has gotten great feedback from these in his classes so I know he is doing something right. 

I feel that from both of these examples that you can apply them to any grade level that you teach whether it be elementary, middle, or high school.  In math, the student needs real life examples in order to grasp the concept.  When you are able to do this then they more than likely are going to "get it" and it will stay with them forever.  With science its more complicated but in essence the scientific terms need to be made fun and related to things that they are interested in.  When you do this they won't be able to get enough of science.  I feel that I can adapt both of these videos to teaching special needs children in their math and science collaboration classes.  I can't wait to meet with the regular education teachers and get their input as well.  

 

Tech Exploration # 11

Comic Life http:comiclife.com 

and iSpeech http://www.ispeech.org 

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Comic Life is a website that I know the students in special education would love especially the male students who read comics often.  I work with some amazing and creative thinkers who could use this to create a comic and in the meantime enhance their writing skills.  This website is sure to enhance their artistic and creative abilities by allowing them to think out of the box, so to speak.  As I have stated in the previous posts, any time you can incorporate fun and learning together you have excelled as a teacher.  This software works with Mac, Windows, and Touch Screen devices.    Ispeech is another resource that enables you to change text to speech.  However, ispeech is designed for a much broader array of uses.  This software is marketed to app developers and designers.  It also can be used on your moblile device, websites and even “smart” home appliances.  You can also use it so that your blog can be read to your students like a podcast.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	I can see comiclife.com being used in any subject that is offered in the school system and more specifically in English, Writing, or Art.  I know I have students that struggle in writing and staying focused, but using this website I feel that they would be able to express their thoughts more easily by using comics.  By incorporating this into my teaching, I feel that this might be exactly what they need to want to learn.   Ispeech can be used in many ways in my class.  Like I stated before with the other text to word programs, many of my students have problems reading written words.  With this program they will be able to hear the words and do the work themselves thus improving their comprehension and pride in their work.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I do recommend comiclife.com to educator’s especially those that need to reach certain students that are visual learners.  This might spark an interest in them to open up and let a little creativity out.  I can imagine several lessons that I could use this tool to visually get my point across and with comic strips being in sequential order this would lend very nicely to step by step instructions.  This site is inexpensive at $19.99 so it is fairly affordable to most anyone.  It seems very easy to use as well.   This is a very well written program and comes with many features.  These come at a price through and this program can cost upwards of $2500 to install on computers.  There are many free parts of this software and those could possibly be used in the classroom setting.  There is also a section called creative pricing and a section for educators that appears to let educators use the program at a reduced rate or even free.  In this capacity I can recommend the program.  If you had to pay the full price you would really have to need the program to justify the cost.

Tech Exploration # 12
www.voicethread.com

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	The website, http://www.voicethread.com, details information on a program that lets you upload images, videos, presentations, etc... to the cloud.  Once uploaded you can let your students log on and view the files and make comments or have discussions with other students. You have control on who sees the information.  You also can use the software and create teams where you can put parts of your classes against each other in debates or projects.  You can get a single teacher license for $80 and they offer discounts for whole schools.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	The uses of this software are endless in the classroom.  The teacher can upload lessons, seminars or assignments.   Students can go online and use the site for discussions, debates and getting assignments or missed lectures.  The good thing about the software is you can limit who sees the posts and who can comment.  It also can use virtually any multimedia source for visually pleasing presentations.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Even with its $80 price tag, I can recommend www.voicethread.com for educators to use in their classrooms.  The ability to place lessons and presentations online where students can view again and again is priceless.  This also lets visual learners watch lessons and assignments rather than have to read a book or write and read notes.

Tech Exploration # 13

Storybird http://www.storybird.com 

and Scribblar http://www.scribblar.com

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Storybird is a program that lets students read, write, share and sell stories they write.  The site has a lot of art to choose from that you can add to your stories or you can even sell artwork to the website if you have drawing abilities.  This website allows you to set who sees your work and if they can comment on your work.  This visual way of writing allows the student to open up creatively and may actually inspire students to write more than the minimum number of words you assign!!   Scribblar is a whiteboard program that lets groups of people collaborate and and post online.  With the program teachers can host a virtual classroom and have the students be able to comment and post also.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	The storybird app would be perfect for a class that focuses on writing or literature, poetry, etc.  The students can create stories and add artwork and really let their creativity shine through.  The program also lets others view their work and leave comments.   Scribblar is like many other whiteboard programs.  The teacher can use the app to present lessons to the students and the students can follow along and comment on the presentation.  You can also attach multimedia files to the pages of your whiteboards for others to see.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I can see storybird being used in selected classrooms.  Writing, literature, poetry and art classes would be a natural fit for this app.  This app has a free section but it limits the user on what he or she can do.  The premium version can be paid on a monthly or yearly basis.  Since a free version exists for one or two time users and the relatively low price for the better versions I can recommend the app for students.   Since scribbler is free I can recommend the software.  It is a pretty solid whiteboard program and has the ability to add multimedia elements so that is a plus.

 

Tech Exploration #14
Xtranormal –http://www.xtranormal.com and the National Library of Virtual Manipulative http://nlvm.usu.edu

 

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	Xtranormal is a website that lets you create animated movies by simply selecting a character and scene and then typing some text.  It is very easy and free for the online version that comes with limited characters.  You can purchase an upgraded version that unlocks many more characters.   The National Library of Virtual Manipulative is a mathematical website that you can select what you need help in and what grade level you are in.  This site offers help in Algebra, Geometry and measurements from preK to 12th grade. Once you select the subject and grade a program launches with many tutorial and problems to work through.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	Xtranormal can be used anytime you want to present a topic or subject in video form.  These videos would be great for teaching early elementary education and the students would really like the characters.  The ease of use and professional results are a big plus. I do however think older students would not be responsive to the cartoon characters.     The NLVM website is a very simple program that allows the user to pick out the subject and grade level.  Some of the tutorials lack any direction and you have to work through them trial and error to arrive at the right answers.  It does contain a lot of information in one central location.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Xtranormal I can recommend for preK-to maybe 4th or 5th grade.  Its ease of use and low initial cost is a win-win for this software.  You can upgrade for a very fair price and do a whole lot more than the free version.  Once students get to 5th or 6th grade I think the cute characters will not be effective with them and I wouldn’t recommend for those ages.   NLVM is a great little website.  It’s clearly laid out and pretty intuitive with the controls.  It does however lack directions on a lot of the tutorials.  It does have a free trial version so I can recommend it.  If there were cost involved I would have to think about recommending it though.

Week 3 & Tech Explorations 7-10

Week 3

 

This week has been a real eye opener, I had actually never heard of any sites that converted text to speech.  Almost every site that I looked at this week covered a topic or an area that could be used in the special education classroom.  My favorite sites that I feel are most useful to me as a teacher would be GPAT, http://www.4teachers.org/tools/, and http://readthewords.com.  I really am so excited to start implementing so many of the technology resources I have learned in these 2 short weeks.

 

Why are visual images important?  Some students need a visual aid to help them learn a topic.  These visual learners can greatly benefit from today’s technology.  These visual aids can be as simple as a graph or as complex as flash animation or a smart phone/tablet application.

 

How do you use?  How have you used in the past, or are now using visuals?  Personal or work examples?  Although I don’t have a whole lot of experience creating these myself my school districts use publishing programs.  Our school has used publishing programs to create pamphlets and brochures for various academic and extra-curricular activities.  Flyers and weekly schedules are also generated each week for the student body and parents.

 

1.     What makes the item visually appealing? What distracts from the message you are trying to communicate?

 

I believe that a lot of people use way too many fonts, font sizes and clip art pieces in their flyers and pamphlets.  For example if it’s Halloween it’s acceptable to place a jack-o-lantern or a scarecrow on the flyer, but I have seen examples where there were 20 clipart pieces surrounding a flyer.  Fonts have a big impact on a flyers wow factor.  Important information needs to be placed at the right location and the right size to get your point across. If important details are written in too small a font or hidden in a corner they may be overlooked. 

 

2.    Use a word processor or desktop publishing program to recreate the item and make it more effective.  Save the file as a .jpg and upload it to your blog.

 

I did not have an example from this school year so I made up a simple flyer about a pool party to get my point across. 

 

Before

 

After 

 

 

 

 

 

Tech Exploration #7

Assistive Technologies – www.gpat.org  

and Zoho http://www.zoho.com  

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	GPAT, which stands for Georgia Project for Assistive Technology, provides professional learning and technical support services for students with disabilities.  By searching the website www.gpat.org I learned many things about this organization.  Being in special education I always knew that students with special needs were able to use assistive services, however, I didn’t realize there were so many available.  Some Assistive Technologies are computer access and instruction, environmental control, mobility aides, oral communication, seating and positioning, and visual aids.  The website did emphasize that the Assistive Technology be documented in the students’ IEP (Individual Education Program) so that every year it can be reviewed and revised for students with disabilities.  The Dolphin Easy Reader Software can be used by students with blindness, low vision, dyslexia, or print disabilities.  I am so pleased that even though a student may have a learning or physical disability that there are services available to them so that they can get the same chance to excel.   Zoho is a website that bundles together word processing, spreadsheets, databases, wikis, and many other applications all in one location.  The website is broken into three main categories: collaboration applications, business applications, and productivity applications.  In the collaboration area you have instant messaging, email, social media programs, and the ability to transfer files.  In the business area you have an accounting, marketing, and other business software.  On the productivity side there are spreadsheets and word processing programs much like Microsoft office.  This website is very intriguing as it gives you access to hundreds of dollars of software and you only pay for the level in which you need it.  This could be used by a single college student up to a medium sized business.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	GPAT-In special education these resources are invaluable by enabling the student to learn no matter their disability.  Personally, I have worked with students with mobility aides, oral communication, and visual aids.  I have also been involved in looking over student’s IEP’s, which are evaluated each year in elementary school.  My son has an IEP for his speech.  This website is very informative and contains so much useful information for educator’s especially those in the special education field.    Since Zoho is a web based program you can use it at school or at home regardless of the brand of computer you have and files will be shared seamlessly between the two.  With its file sharing capabilities documents students can turn documents into teachers through this program easily.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I definitely recommend the GPAT resource to other educations.  Being in education there are always special needs students and this information is invaluable in giving them services that enable them to learn like the other students.  The website is very easy to use and is free.  I know that in addition to the information available to me at my school I also plan to use this resource as a reference in the future.   Zoho is a novel idea in software applications.  Never before have you been able to have a web based office type suite with file sharing capabilities.  This can be used by a single user or collaboratively by a whole classroom and because of this I do recommend this to educators.  The cost depends on which programs you need and how many users.

Tech Exploration # 8
http://www.4teachers.org/tools/
and Dimio http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	The website, http://www.4teachers.org/tools/, is a wonderful and very useful website.  The academic skill builder has many educational games that students can play.  What better way to get a child involved in learning than to use something that nearly every student already is engaged in.  On this site the students are able to play against each other in school subjects such as math, language and geography.  There is also a safety feature so that the student’s information is not shared with anyone else.  It was great reading the success stories that many teachers had posted on the site as well.    QuizStar can also be a very usual tool to teachers by allowing the teacher to generate a quiz for the students and even have it graded.  Preparing for tests and quizzes can be very time consuming for teachers and this site can help in cutting down that preparation time.  This site also has a multimedia function where you can attach pictures and videos.   Web Poster Wizard is a program that offers students and teachers an easy way to set up a website that enables students and teachers to post projects and assignments.  I can envision this being used by students to turn in essays or maybe journal entries.  There is an archive function that can keep the work for up to a month so that the teacher has time to grade it.   Dimio, http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/, is a freeware site by Dimitrios Coutsoumbas.  There are three parts to this website DSpeech, DShutDown, and DSynchronize.  The latter two are programs that deal with windows issues such are keeping files synchronized on different devices and managing shut down and restart of computers.  DSpeech, however, is software that takes written text and turns it into spoken sound.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	The link http://www.4teachers.org/tools/ is a website that offers many different programs and resources to aid the teacher.  The quizstar is one that I think many teachers would love and I look forward to using it soon in my classroom.  I think it is ingenuous to use games as a way to get them to learn.  As an aide in special needs I help out in many different subjects so I can see myself using this site every day to engage them into learning new and exciting things that they might otherwise be hesitant to learn.   Dimio-DShutDown and DSynchronize type software is included in a lot of today’s software.  These are a little different as they can be used as a stand-alone program.  DSpeech looks like a program that I may be able to use with my special needs students.  Many of my students are not able to read written text but do understand the spoken word.  This software might be able to help them be able to do assignments on their own.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I definitely recommend http://www.4teachers.org/tools/ for educators to use in their classrooms.  This site has so many resources in one place and there are success stories on each module from real teachers that help you decide if that particular program is right for you.  I plan to utilize several of the programs myself when schools starts.   Dimio-Being freeware I would have to evaluate over a longer period of time but DSpeech seems to be worthwhile and I can tentatively recommend it.  DShutDown and DSynchronize, while I don’t have a lot of use for them, could potentially be what someone else is looking for.  That being said, I wouldn’t recommend them myself but I can see where someone else could if they were looking for this type of software.

Tech Exploration # 9
FullMeasure http:/fullmeasure.co.uk/powertalk/

 

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	The website,http://fullmeasure.co.uk/powertalk, is much like the DSpeech feature in Dimio.  However, it seems to be more polished.  This text to speech program works with Microsoft Power Point and verbally speaks written text from slides.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	This resource would be a great asset to special needs children especially those that are struggling with presenting speeches orally.  The teacher can even use the software in class to verbally play a power point presentation.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	Even though this program wouldn’t be used all the time, I can see where it would be a great benefit to my special needs students.  The program seems very easy to use and is free.

 

 

 

Tech Exploration #10
WebQuest –http://www.webquest.org and ReadtheWords http://readthewords.com

 

1.	Describe what you learned from exploring this resource.  Be thorough in your response.
	The website, http://www.webquest.org, is in an inquiry-oriented lesson format with most of the information that the learner works with coming from the web.  A web quest can be created in word, PowerPoint, or even excel.  However, for it to be a true web quest it has to have all five of the following attributes.  Such as, an introduction that sets the stage and provides some background information, a task that is doable and interesting, a set of information sources needed to complete the task, a description of the process the learners go through in accomplishing the task, guidance on how to organize the information acquired, and a conclusion that brings closure to the quest.   ReadtheWords is a web company that converts text to speech in just minutes.  Text can be uploaded to their site from software such as Microsoft, PDF, txt, and html.  It can be spoken in Spanish or French, however, it must be written in that language before it is converted to speech.  Once converted it can even be embedded into a website or blog.  It can be saved onto an mp3 player or an iPod for listening to it repeatedly or at a later time.  This company started in 2008 mainly to assist students with learning disabilities using auditory learning and word processing.
2.	How could you use this resource in a school setting?  It does not matter if it is in your field or level, you need to understand how the resource might be used in educational settings.
	A web quest can be a great tool for both students and teachers. You could use a web quest for special education students by giving a lesson on teaching addition and subtraction using posters. By using the poster in pairs of two the special needs students could help each other. Students could then be matched in varying ability so lower functioning students can learn from higher functioning students. By making sure the format is easy to read this could be an asset for the teacher as well as student.   I can use ReadtheWords in special education in almost all of their subjects that I collaborate in.  Many of my students have great difficulty in reading so being able to upload a text document from a teacher’s computer and have it converted verbally would greatly enhance their learning capabilities in the classroom.  On the readthewords.com site it states that a teacher had success in the students raising their letter grade one level higher by using the services from this website.
3.	Would you recommend this resource to other educators? Like/Dislike; Ease of use, fee or not, and so forth.  Why or Why not?
	I do recommend the site, http://www.webquest.org, to educators.  It is easy to use and has information on all aspects of a web quest. There is a link on how to create a web quest and what it needs to contain to be considered a web quest.  I do believe that web quests could be very useful to special needs students if the web quest is catered to their specific needs and learning capabilities.  There is a fee so depending on your classroom budget you may or may not be able to afford the resource.   Readthewords.com is a site that would be used by many teachers in special education because of the great needs of the services offered.  And it is a free site and free is always good when you are on a tight budget.  I recommend this site without hesitation and look forward to trying it with my students to see how well they respond to it.