Day 12 Last Day

Well, here we are, the last day of the course. During the first week, I was feeling very overwhelmed with everything that was presented. Now, that I have had time to collaborate with my classmates and explore some of the assistive technology, I am very excited about what I have learned! I am already trying to sync my apple devices together using iCloud to make the most out of what I have. Fortunately, I have an iPad and an iPhone and I will be able to further explore the capabilities of these devices over the summer.

As I already mentioned, our school purchased two iPads during the month of June, which sat in the principals office and will sit there until September. What a shame right? I'm looking forward to sharing some of the apps that can support student learning with my principal. Hopefully this will ensure that the iPads are put to good use right from the beginning of the year. Who knows, maybe this will incise our school to fundraise enough money to buy a class set! How awesome would that be? I'm sure Maureen and I will probably be fighting over them at some point, whether there are two or twenty five!

As for the blog......I actually enjoyed the experience! Looking over my posts for the past three weeks, I can't believe how much I have actually learned. I learned how to blog: adding gadgets, pictures and changing fonts. I also learned about the reading and writing task analysis', how to upload documents to Scribd, embed codes, upload videos, use Blackboard and my most favourite thing of all, the apps that support student learning. These apps will make differentiation so much easier for teachers and exciting for students and teachers!

Here's one last video that I found very interesting.




I'm looking forward to checking out everyone's group blogs! Have a great summer!

Day 11 Blogging

Todays class consisted of working on our group blog for Written Output. We met in the Irving Centre which was nice and air-conditioned! Here's a photo below of our "opulent classroom"(Wade) thanks to Wade and his iPad with the 360 app!

Since I was not familiar with the different types of assistive technology that could be used to support writing, it was great to explore them and find out where they could be incorporated into the writing process. I didn't actually think that assistive technology could be incorporate so easily into the classroom, i.e. pencil grips and slant board. Wade, Maureen, Lara and I spent the morning researching, compiling our findings and publishing the information into our new fabulous blog which can be accessed at http://writingtaskanalysis.blogspot.ca/ This blog is a great resource that can be used as a reference for supporting students who experience difficulties with the writing process. It contains research information, videos, tutorials, website links and a list of assistive technology and the target areas for the writing process. This blog will be a very useful source that I'm sure I will refer to in the fall. It is also a great way for us to share different resources that we find helpful and think others would too.

Day 10

Writing Task Analysis

Reading task analysis, blowing your nose task analysis and now the writing task analysis. Today in class Barb had us do some writing with a pencil and paper. It was an indication of how times are changing when there were quite a few people who didn't have any paper. We really do rely solely on our computers and other mobile devices.

This writing activity was the start of the writing task analysis, which I must mention is much more complicated than the reading task analysis that we completed earlier. The writing process depends on the reading process. In order to be a good writer, you have to be able to read well. Reading is decoding (deconstructing words) text and writing is encoding (putting words back together) text. These are two huge processes that students are expected to complete each and every day at school.

Below is the writing task analysis that Barb provided for us. It is quite the map. Last week I felt very overwhelmed when faced with this task. Today I was feeling much more comfortable when we are having this class discussion.

This process may seems like a lot to wrap your head around. However, before we can assist our students, we need to understand this writing process. Before we can recommend assistive technology to support students, we need to know exactly where they may be experiencing difficulty.

There are so many assistive technology programs that exist and I had absolutely no experience with any of them. I feel a little embarrassed admitting that since I have been teaching for seven years. However, I have never had any students who required assistive technology supports.

One of the software programs we looked at today was Co:Writer 6. Co:Writer is a program that offers word predictions when words are spelled incorrectly. It can be used in MS Word documents, Blogs, Email and online. From what I understand, it allows you to create your own word lists to de used when writing. This program seems like it would be a fabulous resource for students who experience difficulty getting their thoughts down because of their spelling.

Co:Writer 6 Product Demonstration

I am excited to explore some of the assistive technology that supports writing! We will be doing this as a part of our next assignment and putting it together in a new blog. Maureen, Lara, Wade and I will be working on this tomorrow and Thursday. I'm really looking forward to finding some apps to support students with writing difficulties. The link for our new blog is http://writingtaskanalysis.blogspot.ca/

Day 9

So....on the weekend, I discovered that I can save a blog post without actually publishing it! I apologize to those of you who have read some of my posts when they were only half finished. Learning new things everyday!

Today class started off by looking at Kurzweil, which is apparently easier to download to a Mac as opposed to a PC. It took me about 10 minutes on the weekend to download the trial version onto my Mac whereas it took others 12 hours and some people were unable to download it.

Kurzweil 3000 costs $1000!!! It is an expensive program but it can do a lot of great things. 

• It was originally created for people who are blind
• It is a compensatory strategy that provides students with reading and writing materials.
• It is easy for students to use
• Offers text to speech  
•  Magnifies text for students who are visually impaired
• Reading pace can increase and decrease
• Highlights words as they are being read (good for students with ADHD, engages students and maintains attention to task)
• Interactive (allows you to pause speech when necessary and repeat for students who need repetition)
• Provides independence and multi-reading oppurtunities
• Contains a dictionary that provides definitions which is good for students who can decode but do not comprehend (students with Aspergers)
• Can develop a picture dictionary for visual learners
• Offers translations in other languages
• Available in French
• Inspiration is built in
• Offers word prediction 
• Provides independence
• Engaging

I don't have any previous experience with Kurzweil, but it does seem like a program that contains a lot of great features. Although, when considering the steep price of $1000 per subscription the iPad seems much more appealing for schools that are operating on tight budgets. From what I understand, within HRSB Kurzweil can only be used by students who have a diagnosed learning disability, whereas, iPads are considered to be a UDL(Universal Design for Learning). Universal Design for Learning focuses on the idea of meeting everyone's needs, not just those students with diagnosed learning disabilities as do some forms of assistive technologies. i-devices are considered to be a form of UDL because everyone is buying them which brings the cost down for consumers. These devices also have a lot of built-in accessibility options available to all users. 

Time is also a factor! Kurzweil requires time spent scanning documents into the program, when most classrooms don't even have access to a scanner. iPads allow for documents to be scanned in seconds, put into a pdf and opened in vbooksz. It's quick, easy and students can do it! Within the school system we are moving in the direction of digitized information, including textbooks. The DOE should be working on creating these documents that are accessible to all learners. It is reality that very soon students will be bringing their own mobile devices to school to use within the classroom setting. We need to focus on making the curriculum accessible, not changing the students so they can access the material. All of the advances make me anxious and excited at the same time. There is so much new information to learn and what seems like so little time. There are also so many great programs that we can be using to assist us as teachers so we don't need to try and recreate the wheel time and time again.

5 websites from the UDL Toolkit 

(Click on the titles to check out the websites)

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

This website contains virtual manipulatives that students can use to demonstrate their understanding of mathematical concepts. It applies to students of all grade levels by incorporating interactive learning tools. This is one of my favourite math websites. The activities are engaging and students really enjoy them.

Into the Book

This website is a reading comprehension resource that focuses on using prior knowledge, making connections, questioning, visualizing, Inferring, summarizing, evaluating and synthesizing for grades K-4. It provides lesson plans and videos for teachers and interactive activities for students. This website promotes independence for students. It is a great way for students to improve reading comprehension strategies.

Story Jumper

Story Jumper is a website that allows students to write and illustrate their own story books. It offers templates that students can choose from to begin their stories. There are several colourful pictures, backgrounds, characters etc to choose from. Books can be shared online and hardcopies can be ordered. This website promotes the universal design for learning since students can create a book on any topic to demonstrate their knowledge.

bubbl.us

Bubbl.us is a brainstorming website. It allows teachers and students to create mind maps to organize thoughts and ideas. It is similar to Inspiration and Kidspiration. This would be a great website for any student or teacher to use to assist with brainstorming for science, story writing and pretty much any subject area.

Photo Story

Photo Story allows slideshows to be created using digital photos. Sound effects and voice narration can be added to the slideshows. There is also an option to add captions and titles to each picture/slide. Photo stories can be published as a movie. It is a program that is very easy to use. I used this program myself last year for the first time and I think it is something my students would really enjoy.

Day 8

Webinar: Fine Motor Skills

This morning I watched the webinar Fine Motor Skills. I was torn between which one to choose but since I'm not teaching math next year, I decided to watch the one on fine motor skills. I learned a lot of valuable information while watching this webinar, since it is not my area of expertise. Fine motor skills are the the ability to make precise coordinated movements using muscles and joints in the wrist, hands and fingers. This webinar presented many iPad apps that can be used to assist children who experience fine motor dysfunction. iPads can be used as a part of a comprehensive fine motor skill remediation program.

In the past, I haven't really had to work with children to develop their fine motor skills. This year I will be teaching a grade 1/2 combined and a grade 5 class that has a lot of varying abilities and behaviours. From the conversations I have already had with this years teachers and the learning centre teacher, I know that these apps will be beneficial to some of my students. As I mentioned before, our school did purchase a few iPads this past year. If Maureen and I prepare a list of apps that we think could benefit the students and suggest that our principal view the apps on youtube, I am hopeful that she will allow us to make purchases. By doing this, the iPads can be used as centre activities within classrooms and to support individual students. I know there will be some controversy amongst students because there are only two iPads, but once there is a routine in place while we have access to them, hopefully it will be successful. I'm a little nervous about next year, but I'm hopeful that I will be able to incorporate some of this assistive technology into my class to engage the students and motivate them to learn. 

I loved all of the apps presented in the webinar! A few of my favourites are:

           WritePad

WritePad costs $9.99. It is a handwriting recognition app that instantly converts handwriting to text. Students can use their index finger or a stylus to write. It provides some great activities to reinforce handwriting. I think this activity is a great way to motivate students to practice their handwriting. It is an activity that would benefit all students.

    Bugs and Buttons

Bugs and Buttons costs $2.99. It is a pinch and grab activity that requires thumb and index finger control. Students need to apply the necessary pressure on the screen to drag the bugs and other objects to the necessary jars. As the levels increase, the activities become more difficult. This is a great activity for students to work on developing their fine motor skills without them even knowing that they are actually working! Love this app!

            Dexteria

Dexterity costs $4.99. It is an app that provides therapeutic hand exercises supporting and enhancing fine motor skills. It also helps children and adults with their writing. It promotes dexterity, finger sequencing, isolation and control. A stylus can be used to complete activities. This app is very engaging for students in order to complete in class tasks. 

       Touch and Write

Touch and Write is a free app.It also the user to touch the screen with their finger or a stylus and learn letters, numbers and words. You can write with shaving cream, ketchup, gelatine, pudding, chalk or a pencil. There is a option of two high frequency word lists and you can also create your own. There is also a choice of 29 different paper styles. It enhances handwriting skills, control and grasp. This is a great engaging and creative way for children to write. 

Day 7

Today Maureen and I only had a few apps left to shop for and we were able to find those fairly quickly. We continued working on completing our chart where we identified 10 apps that can support and enhance performance for students with reading disabilities. I found this activity to be time consuming, but very useful. We had to become familiar with the apps by providing a description, indicating who they wold be useful for, how to integrate them in the classroom and where they fit into the reading task analysis.

Below is the table that we created. Scroll through the pages to view all ten apps.
Assignment #2

Day 6

I never considered blowing your nose to be such a complicated process! But boy do I take it for granted! This morning we attempted to create a task analysis for the process involved for the body and brain in order to blow your nose. Lets just say it involves a lot more than getting a tissue, blowing and putting the tissue in the garbage.

Blowing your nose requires attention to task, kinesthetic functions, auditory processing, working memory, visual processing, balance, gross motor skills, fine motor skills and the list goes on and on. There are so many steps that have to be in place before the task can be completed. From what I have learned today, this is no small task.

While Maureen and I were trying to complete this task, we experienced a little frustration along the way. We weren't really digging deep enough at first. We were focusing on the physical process, not everything else that goes along with it. This process really made me reflect and think about my students who experience difficulties completing specific tasks in class and how they might feel when this occurs.  This task analysis relates back to the reading task analysis that we are continuing to work on. As Barb said, "Reading never just happens, it is one of the most complex cognitive processes that occur in the brain." As I continue to work on the reading task analysis, I realize just how complex the reading process is.

PBS The Secret Life of the Brain

This film contains five different episodes: The Baby's Brain, The Child's Brain, The Teenage Brain, The Adult Brain and the Aging Brain. Below is the episode on The Child's Brain.

APP SHOPPING!

Who would have thought we would be shopping in class! We finished up today's class with a little shopping. Everyone I know loves shopping, so what better way to end a class? I really enjoyed searching for apps to support students with reading difficulties. As I was reading some of the descriptions and reviews there were certain students in my class last year that I knew could benefit from the apps we were exploring. I was also thinking of ways I could use these apps in my class this upcoming year. My school purchased a couple of iPads in June, so I look forward to testing out these apps with my students. We'll be compiling a list of the apps we chose and posting them here tomorrow. Stay tuned....