Assistive Technologies in the Classroom

The focus of this blog is on three of the many assistive technologies that are available, and beneficial, in teaching. By exploring some of the assistive technologies, I found some that would be especially valuable and that I could actually see myself using a classroom with or without students with special needs.

The first assistive technology tool that I would utilize is the Online Stopwatch. I think that this tool would be perfect to use with a science experiment. For instance, it could be used in an experiment on the time it takes food dye to color various substances (water, soda, sugar water, etc). You could have all of the students get their dropper of food coloring and open the Online Stopwatch on a nearby computer to begin the time. The student would then stop the Online Stopwatch when the food dye had completing changed the substance. This tool allows students to time their own individual experiments without having to wait for an available stopwatch. I remember many times that schools would only have a limited amount of stopwatches. The Online Stopwatch is also free to use, which makes it even better. Below you will find a link to the tool in case you would like to view it!

http://online-stopwatch.com/

The second assistive technology that I envision using in my classroom is Kurzweil. Before today, I had never heard of this program but I think it would be very beneficial for young elementary students and students with disabilities. With Kurzweil, students can have written words spoken to them by highlighting the words on the screen. Furthermore, students can highlight a specific word that they do not understand and get a definition read to them.

I could see myself using this tool with reading class. This program allows all students of all ages to have the book or page read to them. I would have the students open a small book and type the text they see on the page onto Kurzweil. If they do not understand a certain word even after they hear it, I would encourage them to listen to a definition. I think that the students would have fun with Kurzweil and be more apt to enjoy reading. While making students feel more comfortable and confident about reading, they will actually be learning new words and develop stronger reading skills.

To read more about Kurzweil and watch a video view http://www.kurzweiledu.com/K3000V11ColumnNotes.aspx.

The final assistive technology that I looked at was Dynavox. Since I am majoring in Teaching All Learners, I believe that a Dynavox will definitely be utilized in my classroom. A Dynavox is used to aid students with their speech and allows for much easier communication. The student types in or clicks on an image that they want read to a peer, teacher, or parent. It is really neat to watch a student with a speech impairment use the Dynavox because it shows how much they truly understand. I would use the Dynavox in the morning when students first arrive at school. I would ask students "how they were feeling", "what the weather was like", "what they were wearing", and "what they brought for lunch". These are just various questions that would have been difficult to answer originally for a student with a disability. This is because it is not a "yes" or "no" answer and requires much more speaking. I think by doing with this the students in the morning they will become more confident in using the Dynavox more frequently.

http://www.dynavoxtech.com/success/

Thank you for reading about different assistive technologies that are available. Please remember that there are numerous options for your students that you should take advantage of!

Rubric Comparisons

For one of my PDP goals, I chose to research summative assessments. The summative assessment that I focused on was rubrics. Rubrics for students come in great variety, and as I have learned, can be created using a variety of programs. Rubrics are a very important aspect of teaching and student learning. When rubrics are given before an assignment (highly recommended), students know exactly what is expected of them when completing the assignment. Similarly, teachers have an equal standard to grade all students on.

Through my creation of three different rubrics, I have found which one I prefer most. I created my first rubric using RubiStar. RubiStar is a free, online resource that allows for quick creation of rubrics. With RubiStar, one of the pros is that other rubrics may already be available for use. Teachers can simply click on that matches their assignment closely, and then adapt it if they need to. Once the rubric is made, teachers can access it like an Excel Document and print it out for the students.

The second resource I used for creating a rubric was iRubric. iRubric, like Rubistar, is a free, online resource. With iRubric, though, the finished rubric is still available online. Teachers do not have to print copies of the rubric. Instead, they can embed the rubric online and complete it for the students electronically. This is super convenient and saves A LOT of paper!!!!

The third resource I used was Microsoft Word. With Microsoft Word, I simply wrote a statement that related to the criteria area. Below the statement was a scale from 1-4, which represented the possible scores the students could receive for that section. By using Microsoft Word, you have to create your rubric completely from scratch. There are no outside sources, and printing is definitely the only option. After you print the rubrics for the students, you will have to recollect them with their papers so you can circle their scores.

So, can you guess which rubric resource was my favorite???? Well, it was........iRUBRIC!!! I have found that iRubric is most convenient and meets today's growing technology use. It would work perfectly in the upper elementary classroom.

If you would like to view RubiStar or iRubric, visit rubistar.4teachers.org and irubric.com!

Enjoy :-)

Station 1: Kidpix Pictographs

Part I: About the Station

• KidPix Pictographs
  
• Partner: Katie Dunbar
  
• This station allowed us to explore KidPix and create different images using the features of KidPix. We also worked with Microsoft Word tables and Clip Art.
  
• We described what a tally was on Microsoft Word. Then, created a tally chart with Microsoft Word using Clip Art and tally marks. After the tally chart on Microsoft Word, we worked with KidPix to create another type of tally chart. Finally, we created discussion questions that could be used with the tally chart results. In the second part of our activity, we got to use KidPix to create a snowman. Different features of the snowman described different aspects of ourselves.

• We both did our own tally sheets, tables, KidPix tables, questions, and snowman.
  

Part II: Your Work

Above shows a screenshot of the Word Document I created. This screenshot captured the definition of a tally, in words that a Kindergarten student would understand. It also provided images for the students to view.

This screenshot also came from the Word Document. It gives the students an explanation for how tallies will be used in the following activity.

This is an example of the tally sheet I created on Word. It provides pictures above the sport names so the students can understand exactly what category it is.

In the above screenshot, you can see various discussion questions I thought related to the activity and could be used during class.

Here is a screenshot of the tally sheet I created using KidPix. KidPix provides a much more interactive way of graphing and displaying information. Also, kids can have a lot of fun with it!

This final screenshot also comes from KidPix. It was what I created as part of activity two. This snowman contains different features because of the person I am. For instance, there are 18 snowflakes in the background because I am 18-years-old.

Part III: What did you think?

• If I were the student, I would really like the topic. I love sports so it would be interesting to see which sports my classmates liked. I also would really love playing with KidPix. It would fun to express yourself using a program that offers so many features. From the teacher perspective, I would really like seeing how creative the students would get. Some students may be super artistic and produce amazing work. As a teacher, you may also learn a lot more about students by seeing their artistic side and how they interpret things.



• As a student, there is really nothing that I did not like about the activity. I thought it was really fun, even at 18-years-old. As a teacher, it would be difficult to grade this activity. This may force a teacher to assign participation points for those who completed it. Also, in group work, you never know who is actually completely the work.



• KidPix was definitely exciting! I had never used KidPix growing up, but I really enjoyed it. I think that I will try to integrate this program into my teacher because students will enjoy it. I am suprised that I enjoyed playing with it so much, but I am still a kid at heart :-).

Evaluation of Video from K12 Online

The image to the left shows a snapshot of the video I watched from K12online.com. It was a really interesting video because it showed great ways to incorporate technology into young elementary classrooms. One thing you have to remember when working with students younger than 13 is the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). This restricts students of young ages to participate in social networking and some online sites that could be beneficial for teachers to use. This video provides many solutions to this problem. One of the websites that is very beneficial for younger students, according to Kelly Hines, is Wall Wisher. Wall Wisher allows students to post sticky notes online for all classmates to see. The next website Mrs. Hines mentioned is Wordle. Wordle shows a large collection of a variety of words that describes an event, a main idea, or topic. Students then have to work together to determine what the correct answer is. This allows discussion to arise in the classroom environment. Another interesting feature of Wordle is that the teacher can create their own Wordle creation!! This website looks so fun and I will definitely bookmark this on Delicious. A third website mentioned in the video is Comic Creators/Comiq. This website allows students to create their own comics based on different topics that relate to the classroom. For example, Mrs. Hines had the teachers create comics on the four different type of sentences using Garfield. Students really enjoy being able to imagine and create things on their own. The final website mentioned in the video is Edmodo. This website allows students to communicate with each other and the teacher using a note feature. Teachers and students are also able to create polls and ask questions to the whole class. All of the websites provided in this video were very beneficial. I am so glad that I was able to find this video. I will definitely remember these websites when I become an educator! If you are interested, I would view this video by clicking on the link below! :-)

http://k12online.ning.com/video/little-kids-big-possibilities-1

Evaluating Teacher Websites for Special Education

This website that I found is called Using Technology to Raise the Achievement of ALL Students. The website is sponsored by Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), which is a professional organization that specializes in utilizing technology in the classroom. The purpose of this website is to inform and educate teachers on ways technology can be incorporated for students with and without learning disabilities. It also provides information on laws associated with individuals who have disabilities. The layout of the website is very professional and easy to navigate. There are no ads visible other than logos of companies that the website incorporates. On the right hand side of the website, it allows viewers to sign-up for updates made by CoSN. This appears to be a nice feature for some teachers. As a future educator, potentially in the field of special education, this website would be extremely helpful. It would help me design activities that incorporate technology for students with disabilities. The website also provides a tab that contains many other resources that could be viewed. The amount, as well as variety, of resources provided is remarkable. There are resources that simply describe the laws associated with special education. There are resources that provide general information on students with disabilities. And, finally, there are resources that are more specific to technology and special education uses. A final point to note about this website is the self-assessment test feature. This allows educators to see areas of strengths and weaknesses when it comes to utilizing technology. When the results from the self-assessment are completed, the CoSN provides additional resources to view. This added feature is not something you always see on websites and could be interesting to examine.

Evaluating Teacher Websites for Elementary Education

This website is entitled Elementary Teacher Resources. It appears to be sponsored by Kelly Mikesell, a teacher for more than ten years. Within this website, Mrs. Mikesell has provided a collection of all her teaching resources (lesson plans, strategies, ideas, etc.) that she has accumulated throughout the years. The main purpose of this website is to educate other teachers and share ideas that she has found helpful. Not only does the website contain a lot of useful tips, it is also very easy to access. The navigation toolbar on the left hand side of the website is very convenient, and allows for easy mobility throughout the website. There are also no advertising links that get in the way while you browse. I believe that this website will be very beneficial to me as a future educator. If I do not know a good lesson plan for a specific subject, I could easily find something to match what I am looking for on this website. Even if I do not find a perfect match to what I am looking for, it will supply me with ideas that I could use to create my own lesson plan. It is always beneficial to learn from other teachers! Along with the Elementary Teacher Resources website, Mrs. Mikesell provided a lot of extra links that may be beneficial to explore at the bottom of her page. One of the most interesting links that I found contained her list of top teacher websites. This could be extremely helpful! Overall, this website seems really awesome. There is such a variety of resources provided for a variety of elementary school grades all compacted into one website. If you are in need of a good teacher website, I recommend visiting Mrs. Mikesell's page!