Did I Meet My Goals?

Well I do believe I met my goals for weekend #2. I became more familiar with Kidspiration and learned my way around Inspiration if I needed to use it. I enjoyed using Kidspiration and I know I will use it a lot more now. I probably won't use Inspiration as much because I work with younger children. I learned many more features of PowerPoint. I am very pleased with the things I learned which I used in my final project (a PowerPoint for open house.) I can't wait to experiment more with PowerPoint. The piece de resistance, however was the podcast! I cannot wait to make a podcast of my students singing our morning group songs for their parents!! Well, I'm getting ready to see a wiki (not an evil thing, Annette says!) Overall, this was a very productive weekend.

Technology Final Project

My final project is a PowerPoint for open house. The PowerPoint contains information that parents usually think about a few days later! Info about birthdays, shoes for the playground, contact inf, etc. The PowerPoint will be continuosly looping during Open House while I am talking to individual parents. I will also give each parent a handout with the slides printed to take home to refer to later. I think the graphics and sound effects that I have learned to insert will make the presentation informative and entertaining! I have had fun learning to insert the sounds and about animation and transitions. I had been a little afraid in the past to experiment with sounds and transitions so I have broadened my horizons! I have an extensive PowerPoint presentation that I put together for a parent workshop that I will go back and improve now. I was a basic "PowerPointer" previously. I feel more confident in my skills now.

Responding to blogs

I responded to Annie's, Sharon's, Margo's and Cyndi's blogs.

Kidspiration Schedule

This is a daily schedule for my class for the 2008 - 2009 school year. I will have this on my powerpoint that will loop continuously on open house night . I will also give each family one to take home. Playing with Kidspiration was fun. Experimenting with the options and graphics was also fun. Placement was the hardest thing for me. I felt like I was trying to cram too much together. The super grouper came to the rescue and Annette suggested that I use that in combination with color to emphasize the groupings.

Goals for Weekend #2

I have quite a few goals for weekend #2. I have never used Inspiration and have played briefly with Kidspiration. I would like to become familiar enough with these programs to use them for applications in my classroom. I am fairly adept at producing your basic powerpoint. I don't know anything about adding narration or video. I really would like to be able to add video of my students to my powerpoints. I need help with animation features as well. Now....podcasting...I'm open to learning something new!

Answer to question #5

5. How can technology assist students with special needs and extreme learning styles? If your school employs any assistive technologies, please integrate those into your presentation.

Technology is extremely helpful to special needs students and students with extreme learning styles. We brainstormed many many websites and programs that meet special needs or lean towards specific intelligences or learning styles. We felt that technology was beneficial in pre-teaching skills and concepts as well as presenting content, remediating and/or reinforcing.
In my specific case, I use a program in my special needs classroom designed for an Applied Behavior Analysis Program. The program is called Discreet Trial Trainer and allows students to work independently on pre-programmed skills at varying levels of reinforcement. Some of my students manipulate the mouse with finess but others use a touch window with the program. Other technology that is used in my classroom all of the time is BoardMaker by Mayer Johnson. This is used in a variety of applications from visual schedules to making social stories or just books to reinforce concepts. My students also benefit from websites such as starfall.com and pbs.org. They are developing refined computer user skills as well as acquiring basic skills and knowledge at the same time! We found that most of the programs and websites addressed all of the intelligences with the exception of bodily-kinesthetic. We did however note that the new Wii Fit which is taking the country by storm adresses the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence in a very fun way. Perhaps in the future another intelligence may be indentified that addresses the part of the brain that responds to technology!

Scrapbook Page and Final Thoughts on the First Weekend

This is one of the scrapbook pages that I put together using special effects. I really learned a lot this weekend. As much as I use digital photos in my classroom I needed to learn to use a photoshop program. I will use my newfound knowledge a lot in my classroom. I document growth and mastery using photos as well as make story books for the students. I will use a blog and upload photos to share and communicate with parents. Very useful knowledge!!

Walker in Special Effect!

This is my son Walker. He will be 11 years old on Tuesday, June 10! He is quite the sportsman!

Photo with Special Effects!

Wow! Learning to use the special effects was a little harder for me! I needed extra tutoring. Thanks Tamara and Margo. I like the way this dandelion turned out. It looks a little like a Warhol print to me. I really like the edge contrast effect and the background. I like the way you can try and try again all of the different effects.

A picture I took today 6/7/08

Augusta Cohort Out-take!

Augusta Cohort June 2008

Teacher-Created Electronic Books: Integrating Technology to Support Readers With Disabilities

• The Need:

No Child Left Behind data suggests that students with special needs still lag begind others

and remain a significant concern for teachers and administrators.

• The Solution:

One way to meet the needs of these students is to use assistive technology. This is defined

as anything that is used to increase, maintain or improve functional capabilities of a child

with a disability. Assistive technology allows us to meet the needs of individual students

in the regular classroom.

• Electronic Books, either commercial or teacher-created increase the level of interactivity

and are an excellent way to use technology in the classroom.

• Through e-books students are exposed to sound, animation, and interactive activities that

scaffold learning. The students are able to master tasks that otherwise may not be

accomplished independently. (Students with disabilities often feel confident with the use of

technology to support learning.) NAECY suggests that technology should be employed as

an active part of the learning process.

• E-books support students with both physical and learning disabilities by enhancing the

format and the opportunity for multiple readings. E-books boost self-esteem while

providing access to texts that were previously out of reach.

• Through multiple readings of text, e-books support student vocabulary acquistion and

comprehension while modeling fluent reading.

Solution: Teacher Created E-Books

• Using Powerpoint insert photos, clip art and text to create an e-book.
• Record narration if desired.
• Use the students' natural language as accurately as possible.
• Allow students to record narration if possible

After listening to the student-generated e-book as a group, copy the final product and load

onto each of the desktop computers in the classroom. Encourage the students to view the e-books during independent reading time.

Goals for Weekend One for GARTS 6008

O.K. Confession time! My kids think I am a techno idiot! I can use technology for very basic things - e-mail, word processing, basic powerpoint etc. Anything above and beyond I am at the mercy of my kids! Not a good spot to be in!

Goal #1: Improve overall technology skills. I want to really understand what I am doing so that I can actually do it again without asking for help!! Especially from my kids!!

Goal #2: I take thousands of digital photos at school and at home. I use digital photography in my classroom in a huge way. I make matching activities, books, charts, visual schedules and booklets for parents. I only have the basic skills of snapping the photos and loading them onto the hard drive and printing them. I cannot edit them in any way!!! Many, many times I have needed to delete or alter the photos in some way and I have no idea how to use any photo software.

Goal #3: Become proficient at blogging! Wow! Cool! Already on my way!

Goal #4: We are going to use video self-modeling in my program this coming school year. I need to be a lot more savy for out putting digital video on the computer for students to view.

Goal #5: (Personal Goal) Now that I have a million digital photos....how do I organize them or "scrapbook" them? Help?

Impressions of Born into Brothels

Born into Brothels was a thought provoking documentary. The first thing I felt was sadness and disbelief that children actually live in such terrible physical as well as emotional conditions. The second thing I felt was so removed and isoloated in my comfortable "cave" that I live in. Just because I don't see this type of living conditions does not mean they don't exist as I live and breathe everyday.
These children have an incredible insight for such young people that have only been exposed to the basest of living conditions. I cannot even begin to fathom living in the hopeless state in which these children do and are actually able to articulate about it so eloquently. Everyday I wake up with some new plan that gives me hope for that day!
I felt so sad at the bleak outlook these children had. In my eternal optimism I wanted, like Zana to be able to change their world. I wanted for them to have hope. Hope can change a person and their world.
Once again my faith was restored in the rightness of things. One person. One quiet but persistant person was able to change the world for nine children. Those nine children will multiply that rightness and pass it on. The ripple effect carries on. Maybe I too can in some small way make a positive change in someone's life that carry on.