Great Guest Speaker

Assistive Technology in Special Education is near and dear to my heart since I have a son with a Learning Disability. I thought that I would share with you the name of a speaker who is very knowledgeable on this subject. His name is Todd Cunningham. He is currently completing his post-doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Toronto. Todd is himself Learning Disabled and he speaks candidly about growing up as a Learning Disabled child and the impact assistive technology has had on his life. This sight http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Cunningham_Todd_276027061.aspx has some insight on workshops offered by this gentleman who has a great deal to teach all teachers about what it means to be a Special Education student in our school system and the role of assistive technology. Just a note I posted this sight from my forum where the hyperlink seems to work, but at least in the draft, it does not show the hyperlink.

The internet offers a place to share instant examples of inclement weather. These pictures are of a storm recently in Edmonton sent via e-mail by my sister.

Sonia

Power Point

As a teacher I have sat through many power point presentations and I've often thought how much better they would be with some video or audio components. Camtisia, a program that is easily downloaded from the web allows for this exact process. I am about to try to jazz up my power point presentation with this program. The tutorial makes it all look so easy. I'm just wondering if anyone out there in blogland has tried this program and if so, do you have any tips?

Sonia

Technology in Special Education

Technology is pivotal for special education students. I have used a digital camera as part of an assignment for a grade 3 student with autism successfully. Early in the school year, in cooperation with his E.A., I assigned him a project to take a picture of all of the staff of the school and pay attention to where their room or office was so that he could draw a map. This was my first position as a L.R.T. and I had little or no appreciation for how difficult this assignment would be for an autistic student, yet he persevered. My true goal in this assignment was to assist him in understanding pronouns, which to date he had not used. After much work and practice with his E.A., he finally presented his modified map, pointing out the pictures of the staff members and where he could find them, using pronouns. He was very excited because he took the pictures, I was very excited because he was using pronouns correctly. It was not very long after that until we started to see pronouns in his written work as well. Later, as an intermediate L.R.T. the use of the digital camera eased the transition to highschool for another of my students with autism, I allowed him to use the camera as he visited his new school with his mother, in order to take a picture of his new teacher and E.A. as well as classroom and cafeteria. This enabled his mom to review the pictures at home and calm him down about leaving our school. He had been experiencing great anxiety about the tranition and was starting to revert to stimming behaviours that he had not used in years, having the pictures to talk about what was coming next, really seemed to help. I have used Kurzweil, a text to voice program, to help some of my L.D. students research projects and Dragon Naturally Speaking to assist in printing projects and assignments with amazing success. One student in particular became so proficient that she is now a student mentor and trains other students on Dragon. The real reward to me though is the sense of accomplishment and independence this technology brings to these individuals. On a personal note, I was in the midst of having my son diagnosed with L.D. which is perhaps the reason I attended a workshop given by an L.D. P.H.D. student that was titled Technology in Special Education. That workshop inspired me to contact the board I.T. person and learn how to install and teach my kids how to use text to voice and voice to text software. As a parent of a now diagnosed L.D. son, technology gave me hope for his future, and the future of all my students. Finally, I'd like to mention the gifted student who I worked with in my first year as a L.R.T., I remember giving him an open-ended project using the internet as his research tool. He ran with it, and his classroom teacher was so impressed because he was having a great deal of difficulty with this student's behaviour. Having this student in my room to use the computer, allowed me to assist him with his social skills as well, which is often an area of concern with gifted students. All of this allowed him to have a very successful grade 8 year. I think often as teachers, we are at a loss when we have a gifted student in our classrooms. My advice is use all the technology you can and secondly, allow them a part in planning their curriculum and keep it as open ended as possible.

Sonia

Microsoft Highschool

It seems to me from all of my research that there are very few voices on the web for moderate use of technology in schools. Marc Prensky and his ilk would have us abandon our current curriculum and focus on more technological thinking. There are other voices that value the 3R's and hesitate to change. Trevor posted the, "Microsoft Highschool" in the forum and Ryan pointed out a very important quote from this article, written by Lianne George. "A study published earlier this year in the British journal Education 3 to 13 found that kids who read stories on computers don't retain information as well because they're often distracted by sounds and pictures. Also, computers don't require children to generate images with their minds, a process that serves as an important mnemonic device. In their 2004 study, University of Munich economists Thomas Fuchs and Ludger Woessmann looked at standardized test results from 31 countries and found that while students who never used computers or the Internet scored lower than those who sometimes do, those who use computers more than several times per week scored lowest of all." It does give one pause, if we are using digital storytelling to improve comprehension and the opposite happens, should we be employing this strategy. It is only one comment, but I believe that it is best to have a balance. I'm glad that I saw this quote, since I am very enthusiastic about going back to school and trying all of my new tech knowledge out, I may have overdone it without this sign of caution.

Sonia

Use Your Brain

This morning I had the frustrating experience of asking a new pharmacist a question about my asthma medication. Let me explain, in the last few years I have definately been spoiled, our pharmacy was run by a couple who were as friendly as they were efficient. They new almost all customers by first name, they could correctly recite all your medications without consulting the computer and they could quickly answer questions about any current medications. Fast forward to today when I asked a fairly simple question about dosage on my asthma medication and the young summer replacement pharmacist immediately assumed the position behind the computer asked illogical questions like, "you are only going to take it when you need it right?" and the she finally pieced together an answer that did not answer my question and I could tell that she was clearly flustered, often checking the computer for confirmation of her thoughts. I did not feel confident that she really new anything about my medication although I know that the education for a Pharmacist is extensive so I do not question her training, I just don't think that she relies on her brain enough. This brings me to my point, I'm sure my previous Pharmacists relied only on their brains as they graduated prior to the daily use of computer technology. In Marc Prensky's article he says that we are teaching a backup education, but isn't it important that we do backup our learning into the only computer that we truly have with us at all times. Our brains. After all brain research indicates that if we do not continue to fire the synapses of new learning the information will not make it into our long term memory. So yes, we can look up the algorhthym to division but why would we not want that information in our long-term memory, brain capacity is huge so we are not in danger of overloading our brains, but let's not underload them. If the information is truly unnecessary the brain has developed a system to prune unused information at least 3-4 times in a lifetime. I know that my young Pharmacist has time to review asthma inhalers and my hope is that she will fire up the synapses in order to commit the info to her long term memory because it would be so valuable for not only her customers but also her own career.


Sonia

Filming a Public Service Announcement

This past year I taught my grade 6 students how to compare and contrast P.S.A.s and commercials. I then asked them to develop and film a P.S.A. I had a great deal of difficulty accessing video cameras from the board so I went to the local high school. The media teacher agreed to lend me 6 of her grade 12 students as Media Mentors. My kids were split up into groups and then they developped a story board and a script and then they practised their P.S.A. I expected the mentors to come in and film for the day, instead they were actual mentors, they went over the storyboards, they made suggestions on the script, gave acting advice, and best of all they taught my students how to film it on their own. It was a great experience, so much so that many of my students sighted it as their favourite part of grade 6 during a E.Q.A.O. assignment. The second part was that I walked my class over to the highschool and they spent the entire morning with their media mentors, editting their film on the computer. Unfortuneately the teacher was going to get me a copy of all of their P.S.A.'s editted together for Open House, but she was unable to do so. Still in all I would not have missed the experience in fact I would add a couple of components, now I would have them do the storyboard on the computer and I would add an extra sound component. In fact, one of my students actually did use her i-pod to bring in the sound effect of a police siren which really added to their P.S.A., students really are ahead of us in technology.

Sonia

I'm such a Dinosaur!

Last week I had a huge argument with my older son because I would not purchase Airline Tickets on-line. I worry about using a credit card on-line. We have had this disagreement several times, because I believe he may be physically morphing into a cell phone or a computer, he is so attached to technology and he is frustrated with what he calls my paranoia about technology. I told him that I would buy my ticket at the airport as I always have but I did allow him to check for the cheapest ticket price, a compromise I thought. He said, "Mom, you're such a dinosaur". When I arrived at the airport I was shocked to find, Westjet no longer has a ticket counter. When I asked, I was told that everyone buys them on-line, but the young girl at the check-in counter let me buy my ticket at her register. I could almost hear the eye-rolls of the people in line waiting to check in for their trip, I flashed on my mother, this is something she would do. It occured to me, I'm such a Dinosaur!

Sonia

Guitar You Tube

Has anybody viewed the You Tube song about United Airways breaking a musician's guitar? It is amazing to me that it had over 500,000 hits at last count today. This has become a real tool for many disgruntled consumers. United Airlines was brought to its knees with one song on You Tube, amazing!Do you think this is a trend that will continue? Until now You Tube has thrust several people with some talent into celebrity, however I notice that it is rarely sustained.

Sonia

Equal Access

As I am reading all of the forums on audio and video recordings, I find that I am becoming irritated that the only Smartboard we have in our school is in the library and it isn't even hooked up yet. The new Prince of Whales School directly across the stadium from us has a Smartboard in many classrooms. I know that our school is likely slated for closure soon, but where does that place the students who attend our school now, and what of the teachers. I understand the financial implications of allowing equal access to technology boardwide are staggering but what are the academic and social awareness costs of not doing so on our students. My students had many questions for me about why P.O.W. could have Smartboards in their classrooms and not us. I can tell you that in the staff room there were many teachers with the same questions. We would like to be innovative and bring something new and fresh to our classrooms as well. As the new I.T. this year I will be ensuring that the library Smartboard is up and running and I will try to make sure that any classroom teacher who would like access to the Smartboard has a time period allotted, in cooperation with the Librarian and our Principal. Baby steps I guess.

Sonia

A great resource from website Read Write Think

Name: ___________________________________________ Date: _________________________
Blog Exemplar WebQuest
Visit at least three of the blogs listed below, choosing ones that match your personal interests. As
you surf through the content, notice the style of the writing, the format of the posts, and the special
features and details that attract your attention.
Environmental Blogs
Los Angeles Times “Greenspace”: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/
The Times (London) “Green Central”: http://timesonline.typepad.com/environment/
Got To Be Green: http://got2begreen.com
Travel Blogs
Everything, Everywhere: http://everything-everywhere.com
Food Blogs
Cooking with Amy: http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/
Cupcakes take the Cake: http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/
Sports Blogs
Reuters Soccer Blog: http://blogs.reuters.com/soccer/
Political Blog
CNN Political Ticker: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
Music Blog
Said the Gramophone: http://saidthegramophone.com
Now, go back to your favorite blog and answer the following questions.
1. Which blog is your favorite? _____________________________
2. What are the posts about and how did the author(s) format them?
continued
Copyright 2009 IRA/NCTE. All rights reserved.
ReadWriteThink materials may be reproduced for educational purposes.
Blog Exemplar WebQuest (continued)
3. What kinds of features are on the side bar?
4. How does this blog make use of graphic design?
5. Are there links included on the blog? How do the links relate to the content?
6. Are there photos or other kinds of graphics on the blog? How do they relate to the content?
7. List at least three features you noticed on blogs during this WebQuest that you would like to
have on a blog of your own design.
•
•
• It looks better on the website, see the forum Media2 post for the ReadWriteThink web hyperlink.

Media Literacy 2

Okay, I tried to get the hyperlink in my blog posts to work but it kept adding html language to the sights. I was wondering if that is where some of you are picking up the html language in your forums? Anyway, I decided just to add a forum and then copy it to my blog. I could not delete my first blog either, I could highlight the post but I could not cut it or delete it. I feel like a techno loser.

List of Online Resources for Media Literacy Brand Hype www.brandhype.org/MovieMapper/index.jsp

British Film Institute www.bfi.org.uk
Cartoons in the Classroom eagle.msnbc.com/teacher/

CBC www.cbc.ca Centre for Media Literacy www.medialit.org

Concerned Children's Advertisers cca-kids.ca English Language Arts Network www.elan.on.ca

Internet Archive www.archive.org/

Kids' Take on the Media www.ctf-fce.ca/bilingual/PUBS/ctfreport/kidsenglish.pdf

Library and Archives Canada-Learning Centre www.collectionscanada.ca/education/008-120-e.html

Media Awareness Network www.media-awareness.ca Media Ed www.mediaed.org.uk

National Film Board for Kids www.nfbKids.ca Newseum www.newseum.org

Newspapers in Education www.newspapersineducation.ca/

PBS Teacher Source: Media Literacy www.pbs.org/teachersource/media_lit/media_lit.shtm

Read Write Think www.readwritethink.org

Report Card on Canadian News Media www.cmrcccrm.ca/english/reportcard2004/01.html

Scholastic News Online teacher.scholastic.com/scholasticnews/

BBC Newsround news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/ Time for Kids www.timeforkids.com/TFK/


My hyperlinks are not working here, see my forum comment instead, they are working there. Peter can you let me know what I'm doing wrong, I'm using the link symbol but no luck

Media Literacy

In the forum that I posted ealier today, I mentioned the Ministry document, A Guide to Effective Literacy Instruction, Grades 4 to 6, Volume Seven Media Literacy and noted that there were quite a few online resources. I think some of these resources may be useful when completing research to write our rubric, as software is covered under the Media umbrella. I will copy my entry in the forum to the blog so as not to repeat myself. What follows is the list of online resources from the afore mentioned Ministry document.
Association for Media Literacy