Course Wrap Up

     I have learned a lot this semester about how to use technology in the classroom.  I did not realize just how much technology can help not only in the general education classroom, but in the special education classroom as well.  I think that all teachers should utilize technology because in the long run, their students will really benefit from it and learn even more than they would have with out technology.  I feel that a lot of the activities we did with technology in class can be used in my future classroom and help make my students more engaged in learning.
     I think that one activity I would consider doing is making a webquest for my my students.  While I had a very difficult time completing the webquest activity, I think if it was done differently and made for children to understand, that it could be a great tool in the classroom.  Especially if students are working together it could be great because children who excel in school can help those who are having difficulties.  Webquests give children a chance to look up the answers in another medium besides a textbook.  Using the computer can make students more interested in the content and enjoy learning.
     I think that many of the assignments we completed in class are fabulous, and I definitely will consider using them when I have my own classroom.  Technology is a wonderful thing and should be utilized fully by teachers.  I think that by using technology, the students will be more involved in their learning, and by being more involved, they may even do better. 

Social Stories

     Many articles we have read this week have read this week have given examples of and implementations of social stories.  Polyxo.com stated "social stories provide an individual with accurate information about those situations that he may find difficult or confusing."  This statement actually tells the reader what social stories are.  Social stories as well as digital social stories are used to help students with disabilities understand different aspects of education that they may have difficulties understanding.  Social stories must be accurate to what you are trying to convey to a the students.  For example, if you are trying to teach your students how to properly take a test, I would not use something fictional like monsters in my example because that would be incorrect and possibly cause confusion to students.
     According to Cartledge,"Teachers must learn about diverse cultures, avoid stereotyping, and talk to families to learn about values and cultural practices".  This shows the reader how important it is for teachers to consider the history of each student and that we should not assume that all students will be interested in the same thing.  For example, I cannot have a social story about eating dinner and say that you must say grace before you eat.  This is because not all families say grace before dinner, and not all families even eat dinner at the same time together.  By talking to each family about their daily life, it would be easier to create a social story that all of the students can relate to.  
     Social stories can be very beneficial to students because they can help students understand how to handle certain situations.  Digital stories can be beneficial as well because they can give students a visual depiction of how to behave in different social situations.  Social stories I feel should be done in a way that can make students better understand the social situation.  If a social story is only related to one student, then it doesn't help any other students.  

Using MS Publisher and Sign Up Genius

    I really liked using Microsoft Publisher.  I have used it before for projects back in middle school and high school so it was not a completely foreign program to me, but since there have been updates to the program since then, the layout of the program was slightly different.  I really liked using Publisher for the newsletter.  I feel that this program is a wonderful tool for teachers.  I would be very interested in using it for newsletters for my future classroom.  I think that monthly or weekly newsletters are a wonderful idea because it can help teachers keep the parents involved in what is going on in the classroom.
     I also really liked Sign Up Genius.  I think that it was so easy to use and it prompted you every step of the way to make the process easy.  I thought it was cute that there were different layouts to choose from because it made the page look fun and exciting.  I would definitely consider using this in my future classroom because it is easier than printing out 20-30 copies of sign up sheets to hand out to parents.  I think that this website is a wonderful idea!

Blogs Worth Looking At

     I have looked at quite a few blogs on special education and and assistive technology, and have found four blogs that are very informative and helpful to future teachers or even teachers who have been educating children for many years.  
  The first blog that I decided to follow is called "Special Education" by Jerry Webster.  Webster blogs about numerous techniques for teaching individuals with special needs from his book titled Teach Like a Champion.  His blog is current, which I like a lot because it shows that he cares about the blog and wants to inform people.  In one of his posts, he talks about a program called Best Buddies in which young people with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities are paired with a member of a community of varying ages and they do things together.  I think that this program is a fabulous way to help people with special needs make new friends and work on social skills.  I also know that there is a Best Buddies chapter at Buffalo State, which I think is a wonderful way for students, especially Exceptional Education majors to get experience working with people with disabilities.
   The second blog i followed is called the "Assistive Technology Blog".  This blog discusses different ways people with disabilities can function well in society using different types of technology such as voice recognition software, or subtitles on Netflix.  One point in the blog that I found interesting was that there are now elevators with voice recognition so that people who have visual impairments are able to say the number of the floor that they desire to go to instead of having to search for the correct button to press.  Also, there is a system in these elevators that can detect wheelchairs (when 30 CM away from the sensor).  When the sensor detects the wheelchair, voice recognition is detected and the person can say what floor they want to go to so they will not have to struggle to reach high buttons.
   Another blog I followed is called "Reality 101:CEC's Blog For New Teachers".  I chose this blog because as soon as I saw that it was written by the Council for Exceptional Children, I knew that it would be an informative blog.  I found it interesting that they talked about diigo.com, a bookmarking website that helps people  save websites that are useful to them.  I thought that it was funny that they talked about this and so did we in class.
   The last blog that I followed was another assistive technology blog also called "Assistive Technology Blog".  This blog talks about many different types of assistive technology that people can use.  One of the posts on this blog discusses something called reference cards.  These cards are small enough to fit in a pocket or purse/wallet, and contain different cues, symbols, and devices that can be used in the classroom.  I thought this was interesting because it is a good way for teachers to have a reference on how to better assist students with special needs.
   These blogs are very interesting, and I feel that they are good resources to help one learn more about special education and assistive technology.  I definitely think that I will look more at these blogs and hopefully I will learn even more about how to better teach individuals with special needs.

Adaptive and Assistive Technology

     


     I learned so much about adaptive and assistve technology for students with disabilities this week.  I didn't realize all of the different tools that were out there to help not only children, but adults with disabilities as well.  Adaptive and assistive technology not only helps those with learning disabilities, but it also helps those who have disabilities that make it difficult to communicate with others such as hearing, sight, and verbalization impairments.  I also learned a lot about different laws regarding technology in education.  I knew the basics of some of these laws, but I didn't realize that schools are required to supply students with assistive technology if the student truly needs it.  I think that it is very important for people to understand the rights that their children have when it comes to assistive technology because it could greatly benefit their child.
     One item that I learned about that I found very interesting was the laser pointer augmentative board.  A person who is unable to speak or does not speak clearly can use a laser to point to letters on this board and spell out what they want to say as well as have certain spots with frequently used words that they can point to.  This can help a student greatly with their communication skills because they would be able to talk to their peers and teachers.  It also could improve their academics because they would be able to participate in class and become more involved.  This would help their families because they would be able to communicate with each other which is very important to families.  Adaptive and assistive technology is a very important part of special education that greatly impacts the lives of students, and I am very glad that I learned about it.
     Adaptive and assistive technology make it possible for students with disabilities to learn with their peers and not feel different than everyone else.  They can join in on class discussions, and do their assignments easier with the aide of technology.  I feel that Adaptive and assistive technology are a great resource for students with disabilities.  Many of the tools are expensive, but there are others that are low cost and just as useful.

Webquest

I truthfully was not a fan of the webquest assignment.  I think that the idea of a webquest is promising and could be very useful in the classroom, however this webquest in my opinion was very difficult to understand and I feel that because I had trouble understanding,  I did not do a good job on the assignment.  I did like that there was a very detailed rubric with specific things to look for while grading, and I also liked that there were links in the webquest, however the rest of it I did not like very much.  The questions were worded poorly and I feel that the expectations were unclear.  While I was very confused, I did do the assignment, and I tried my best.

Google Docs

     I really liked using google docs for this week's assignment.  I think that it is really cool that multiple people can write on the same document and share information that way.  The first time I looked at my team's google doc, I noticed in the corner that it said someone else was online looking at the doc, and I could see everything that they were typing.  I thought that it was so cool.  I also really like that it auto saves every couple of seconds.  I am the type of person who will click the save button every 20 seconds, and it was really nice not having to do that during this assignment.
     I think that using google docs would be a great tool for the classroom.  I was unsure about it at first just because it was all really new to me, and I never tried it before, but after using it, I can definitely see how it would be beneficial in a classroom.  Students could use it to work on research projects together, or just talk to each other in general.  A teacher could even make their own google doc for the whole class for if students have questions, that way everyone can see the question and answer which would benefit everyone.

Using Flickr in the Classroom

     I never knew all the possibilities of using Flickr in the classroom.  I heard of the website before, but I never actually used it or knew much about it.  After reading the article "Motivating Language Learners With Flickr" I learned that there are many educational ways of using this website.  For students with special needs and language learners, this website opens many doors and can help them learn new things, and have fun at the same time. 

    Once a person joins this website, you are able to create a profile and put different personal information on it such as favorite music, books, hobbies, anything at all.  All students in the class with or without disabilities are able to make their own profile, and they are able to look at the other student's profiles as well and search them for different key words on their peer's profiles.  People are also able to upload pictures on this site and tag people and things in the pictures.  

    For language learners, this website can be very useful.  For example, if a teacher was trying to have their students learn what different animals are, they could ask the students to post different pictures of different animals and ask them to tag them with the appropriate name.  This can also be useful for students with special needs, because Flickr can help a child work on their writing skills.  A student can have fun posting different pictures, and by tagging them/filling out his/her profile, they are able to work on their reading and writing skills.  Flickr can also help children with special needs make friends with their peers.  They can look at each other's profiles and learn what common interests they may have and comment on each other's profiles.  This can help with social skills for not only children with special needs, but also children in general education who may be shy or need help with making friends.  Flickr is very helpful and teachers are able to encourage students to "use the English language in fun and personally meaningful ways" by having them explore it.

     According to the article "Photo Sharing in Education" students can use photo sharing to "make storybooks, embed your photos into your school or class website, inspire writing and creativity, create digital portfolios where students and instructors can comment on the photos that are included."  I think That the possibilities for using Flickr in the special education classroom are endless.  There are even different applications students can use to make different projects.  

     I chose to use the website http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ .  I looked around the site and saw that you could make a movie poster.  I remembered that in elementary school teachers had me make movie posters for books we read and we would have to think of actors to play each character.  I loved that project, and I think that my students would have even more fun making a poster online.  This application was very easy to use, and I think that if I was to split the students into groups and had them work together, it would be a good way to help the students work on their social skills, and the students without disabilities can help those with disabilities.  In the movie poster I posted at the top of the blog, I chose the book Flat Stanley, and I put the name of the characters, author, illustrator, a mpaa rating, and a release date on it.  

     I think that students would love using Flickr for class projects because it is different than most projects they work on.  I never did projects on the computer in elementary school, and I think that this is a very fun way for students to learn and even work together.

     

    

Quizlet and Web 2.0

     When I looked at Larry Ferlazzo's blog, I was very interested in number 25 on his List of the Best Web 2.0 Applications For Education called quizlet.  According to Ferlazzo, this is the best web site to make online flashcards and help students study words in "game form".  I thought that this sounded very interesting, so I decided to look at the website.

Here is a link to quizlet for anyone interested in looking at it.- http://quizlet.com/

     When I went on the quizlet website, I started to look at different flashcards teachers have posted, and I really enjoyed it.  I always made a bunch of flashcards for different classes all throughout middle school and high school, and this website is a wonderful tool for teachers to help their students out so they do not need to spend so much time making flash cards.  This could be used to study many different things such as vocabulary words,historical people, foreign languages, math facts, and just learning different facts in general. 

     The flashcards can have voices added to them so that the students can hear the word or number they need to study which I think would be a great tool for a special education teacher because students who have trouble reading can use this as a way to learn the words and match the audio of the word to the written word.  I love that you can also make games with your flashcards because it makes it much more fun for the student to study if they are playing a game.  

     The website gives the user many times to try and guess the correct answer while reviewing which I think is wonderful because it gives the students an opportunity to correct themselves.  After when it is time to be tested, the student is given, multiple different ways such as matching, true/false, short answer, and multiple choice which I feel gives children a better chance of doing well because some students do better with matching, while another student may like true/false.  After the test, the student is shown what questions they got wrong, and the correct answer.  This is a good way for students to know what they need to work on a little bit more.

     I think that quizlet could definitely be used in an inclusive general education classroom.  I feel that if all of the students are able to have access to a computer, then they can study by playing the games on their own, or even with a friend.  One way this could be used is if the class is working on multiplication tables and they have to know all of their facts from 0-12, the student with disabilities may be only required to learn their facts from 0-5.  This could easily be done because the student with disabilities could have their own set of flashcards on quizlet so they can still do the activities like the other students, but do a modified version. 

     Quizlet is an awesome tool for teachers. I think that students would have a lot of fun using this website because of the multiple ways of reviewing through tests and games.  I definitely would consider using this website in my classroom, and I would encourage other teachers to try it too.  

     

2-9-11 class

I enjoyed my EXE 375 class very much today.  I wasn't sure what we were going to do in class since we did a lot of activities online already, but I think that what we talked about was very interesting.  What I enjoyed most about the class was watching a video on YouTube from 1994 about what the Internet is.  I found this to be very funny and interesting because now everyone knows about the Internet, and the fact that these people didn't even know what the at symbol meant or how to even go on the Internet was just a real eye opener to me.  This video makes me very curious as to what technology will be like in a few years because everyday there are new advances in technology, and it is only a matter of time as to what will happen next.  I am really looking forward to the rest of the semester, and I am sure that I will learn a lot about technology in education.

Web 2.0 and UDL

      Web 2.0 has become a phenomenal way for educators to fully execute a Universal Design for Learning (UDL).  Teachers not only can educate their students in the classroom, but they are able to educate outside of the classroom as well.  Web 2.0 has given us the opportunity to fully take advantage of the internet by not only letting us look up information on a website, but also by allowing us to post information to share with others as well.  we can share information with thousands if not millions of people at a time when previously we would have never thought that was possible.  By using web 2.0 students can interact with not only their fellow students, but also their teachers.  Previously people were only able to see information presented to them on web sites but now anyone can post information to share with other people.     

     Web 2.0 is a wonderful tool to use in education because it increases learning potential as well as success in students.  According to the Center for Applied Special Technology, UDL is defined as providing "a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs." UDL involves the use of technology and other sources to help students live up to their full learning potential, and web 2.0 is a wonderful source for students to do just that. 

     For students with disabilities there are many benefits to using web 2.0.  One benefit is that it gives students a chance to communicate more with each other in a way in which they otherwise wouldn't.  It also give higher level students a chance to challenge themselves more and help students who may need help which is yet another way to work on social skills.  I think that another wonderful thing that Web 2.0 can do for the special education classroom is make students more independent by letting them work on the computer on their own.  Also, children who may not have the ability to write can use the technology to assist them in their work. One negative possibility of Web 2.0 is that an educator may not fully understand how to utilize it in the classroom.  Also, another negative possibility is that a school may not have enough money in the budget for the school to provide enough computers needed for students to utilize this form of education.

     I feel that web 2.0 is a wonderful resource for the classroom and fits in well with UDL.  The purpose of UDL is to give all student the ability to succeed in the classroom, and using web 2.0 does just that.  Not only can web 2.0 help students succeed in the classroom, I feel that it can also help students enjoy learning which in my opinion is very important because students are more likely to do well when they are enjoying themselves.