Reflection

Reflecting back on this course is an enjoyable experience for me. I have so many "take aways" from the course! The best activity was by far the iMovie in terms of entertainment. I found that the iMovie was fun and easy to learn. I can see even young students being able to do this. I found this tutorial off of YouTube very helpful.

 However, in terms of content I think the apps we learned around using AT and UDL in the classroom most rewarding.

 The TedTalk on the Myth of Average was also very memorable. Watching this short video was really an eye opener for me because I seem to use or refer to the "Average" student very often.

 Being given the opportunity to do "online" learning using the Blackboard Collaborate provided me the opportunity to realize how great it was. I would like to take more "on line" courses because I think the learning is just as valuable as the on site....just different :)
 My least favorite activity (I liked them all but if I had to rank them) was the iTunes U course. However, I now  have a great resource to use with the staff at my school.

In September I will be using many of the great AT tools with my students. There is no app that I have been introduced to that I would not consider purchasing if it meets the needs of my student. My favorite apps are by far BitsBoard , ReadIris, and Co-Writer.

 

I have learnt more in the two weeks then I thought possible when it comes to AT! This sounds corny but I think I will be a better teacher because of this. This cartoon sums up how my teaching skills must take into account every student as an individual leaner.

 

July 17

Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning: Two Sides of the Same Coin by David H. Rose et. al  

check out the article link:

article

 

 

 In this article when it stated :

 "The focus of UDL is the learning environment rather than any particular students."

 

I found this statement to be very powerful because I think many

people think UDL is only to be used for students who are

struggling to meet outcomes. I know this is not true and that

UDL is a way of teaching and a "mind set." I feel

that more professional development is required for teachers to embrace UDL and use it!

 

"UDL and AT can be thought of as  two approaches existing

on a continuum."

 

The authors went on to explain what  was the same and different about both and it seems

 

to me that you cant have one with out the other. All the information about curriculum made me realize that there needs to be a lot of changes made in our current curriculum that are used because they are not designed for UDL. Reminds me of the Ted talk "The Myth of Average" ( see video link):Ted talk

 

In this Ted talk he talked about the fact that when curriculum is designed for the average student then it is really designed for no one.

 

Having the time in class to explore Clicker Sentences app was very enlightening. I was able to see first hand that it would be $25 well spent to purchase this app. There are so many features of this!

 

iMovie

 

Using iMovie was amazing and fun! My partner and I were both brand new to this app and were able to quickly and easily maneuver our way through it. It was so fun to watch everyone's iMovies.

 

July 16

Today was my first experience with "live' online learning. I can honestly say it was a positive

learning experience for me.
The Black Board Collaborative was very user friendly as a participant but am not sure what it involves to be the administrator.....
When we were asked to write a letter to the minister to request iPads for our school it proved to be quite the process for me. First I had to locate a pen and pencil in my bag because I have only been typing for the past two weeks! I had to think about every process involved in writing the letter and it was exhausting because writing has always come easy to me! Thinking of what to say was not too hard because I knew what I wanted to say and the format of a formal letter. I picked up my pen and off I went! When I thought about the skills I need to do that it was huge. I have worked with students who are not able to do what I take for granted and it is very frustrating for them. AT to the rescue :)



Here is an amazing outline/graphic of the writing process provided from the professor:

Here is a link to a great blog on AT created by my professor:

 http://writingatbwelsford.blogspot.ca/AT Blog

In this Blog you will see two videos at the top. We watched these two videos during our online learning today. The first video is by about an occupational therapist talking about the important of children core muscle development/ability when it comes to their fine motor processes. One part I found particularly  interesting is that when she is assessing students she said she often "looks under the desk" to see what their bodies are doing. I have never thought about this.
The next video is about all the low tech options there are available for writing. Some of the tools were awesome for example the writing bird:

The following apps were discussed and/or displayed for the class:

Dragon app.

My experience with this app is that it is an "ok" app but has a limited audience for in school. I tried to use it in elementary school for voice dictation but it was not successful due to articulation issues for my students. My professor stated that she had only recommend this app for three students in her school board and this surprised me.








The next app that we explored was co writer. I really

was impressed by this app and plan to use this in the coming academic year. I liked this app much better than word Q which I used this past year. I liked the feature of the topic dictionary because  they are personalized for the student and subject. For this app I think that it is important to consider that students who use this they require a certain level of "knowledge" about what they want to write about. A lot of my struggling writers have what I call "writers block" and have trouble with their ideas and thinking about what to say.

When it comes to "planning for writing" the app Inspiration is a great app to use. I have used this app before and I think it is very straightforward to use. The app provides templates to choose from and you can choose to have a linear display if necessary. I prefer the linear display so I really like this option.

An app that I need to spend some time personally using (tomorrow in class) the clicker sentences app. I enjoyed watching the online demonstrations today but need some time exploring this app on my own.

I am looking forward to playing with these apps on the ipads mini in class tomorrow! During our "lecture" today we were presented with an amazing visual on the writing process but I am going to figure out how to upload this to me blog.....

July 15- iTunes U

Today was a real "Whirlwind" for me! My group and I worked very diligently on our iTunes U

course. This was my first time using this app. I found the on line tutorials that Barbra provided for us were helpful but I had to watch them two times to really understand what was required of me. Once my group and I got organized and we had our "Jobs" everything seemed to run smoothly despite the fact that the wireless internet was not cooperating!
This was a great learning experience for me :)

July 14

Taking the Pencil out of the Process by Lesley Broun :

I had the opportunity to meet this author this year and she talked about the brain and Autism. I liked in the article when she stated that teachers should never assume that just because a student can perform other fine motor activities that they can write because other neural pathways are involved in the writing task.
I'm not sure if this task is old school or not but she described photocopying a keyboard and laminating it and playing games to teach kids the location of keys....I like it though. I'm sure there's an app for that!

Assistive Technology and Writing by Deborah Newton et. al:

This article listed low tech to high tech solutions for writing. I appreciated this chart because I find so often we want to jump to the high tech before trying the low tech options.

 

 

Online webinar:

The five different slides really took me through step by step how to make a course. I feel that I may have to refer back to the webinar as I am doing this assignment with my group.

 

Compensatory Apps for reading:

 

 It was exciting to use ReadIris  in class, which is now only $4.99. That is a huge drop in price! I found it rather straightforward and user friendly. The app Claro is also very  affordable and user friendly and the newest greatest app! These two apps allow students to have access to print. I would like to see an app developed to have the text reading all in one app. I think that teachers would have to pre-scan a document and provide it on Claro to very young students as Barbra mentioned in class.


Navidys: web browser for students with visual impairments or learning disabilities. What I liked about this app is that it looks like the other web browsers. I find children in class are so quick to notice when something is different!
The accessibility options built into the iPads are so important to utilize for our students and they are free.
Learning how to set guided access for my students, and children, is so important. I think that I will be utilizing this feature. This feature reminds me of the website I use ZacBrowser on the computers in my school. ZacBrowser does not allow the users to leave that site on the computer.  I will have to check out the app for this...

 

July 11th Webinar

This was my first experience doing a webinar and I have to say I loved the concept of learning anywhere/anytime!

Webinar: Apps to Enhance Executive Functions

The "lecture" on executive functioning provided by the presenter was very informative and easy to understand. I feel that I now have a greater understanding of what executive functioning looks like in our students! As the presenter was describing situations and attributes of students with executive functioning disorders I could see several of my students faces popping up at me and its clear to me that they are  struggling with this!
The analogy of the orchestra conductor to describe what executive functioning looking like in the brain was very easy to understand. I think that I would use these terms if I was talking with parents about executive functioning.
Every good teacher that I know does exactly what the presenter suggested we do as teachers with students who have executive functioning disorders....act like their frontal lobe! The importance of scaffolding, explaining step by step instructions, visual supports and the gradual release of responsibility are huge teaching strategies to use. Most students (I only have experience in lower elementary), I think, would benefit from having their teacher teach in this manner :)
I found all of the apps introduced on the webinar to be very interesting but I chose three to highlight based on my job in lower elementary and my own personal use.

App #1: Calendar App

I love this app and I personally use it everyday. First of all it's free which is a bonus and I find it user friendly. I have all Apple products so its synched with my MacBook, iPhone, iPad etc. that feature is awesome. This app can keep people so organized and on time because the settings can send reminders so your not late for appointments, classes etc.  I am not sure how user friendly it would be for a very young child. I think I would use the app Student Life Organizer which appeared to be more user friendly for the younger child. I prefer for very young children to have a picture based visual schedule which there are many apps on the iPad for. Students can be transitioned to use an app such as this one as they mature.




App #2:  Tools for Students $ 0.99
This app I thought would be useful for any age. Even in grade primary we are teaching our students to plan their writing. In my school board we have Smartboards in all of our classrooms. If you have a lightning cable then you can hook your iPad up to the Smartboard and display for students in a large whole class friendly manner. I can see myself using this affordable app in my classroom starting in the Fall.

App #3: Sock Puppets Free
I was so excited to see the Sock Puppet app suggested as a tool for social skills! In class, earlier this week, Ashley had shown and told the class about this app and how she used it in her French Immersion primary classroom for reading and writing workshop. I had never thought of using it for social skills until I watched this webinar. I will definitely be using this with my young behavioral challenged students this year in school. I love the way that one app can have so many different purposes.



Webinar: NEW Apps for LD

The LD webinar was very informative to me and provided me with some great apps to use with my students. I have only worked with a couple of students who have diagnosed learning disabilities (I work with students under grade 3) but I do not have to be a psychologist to know that several of my students will have a diagnosis in the very near future. Personally, I do not think that students require a "label" for them to have support for their learning because every students has individual strengths and challenges.
In terms of the iPad I prefer the mini over the full size. I have a full size and I bought my own children a mini. I agree with Barbra when she said the mini is easier to treat like a "Book" because of the size. I use full size iPads at school but I think several of my resource students would be able to easily have just as much success with a mini iPad.
This webinar also reminded me of the importance of updating an iPad to ios6 to access most apps.



App #1: Settings Free

I couldn't believe all the options that the settings offers that is 100% free with every iPad. I was not aware that the Settings offered Voice over, Zoom, large text, font chage, color change and speak selection. I have not really ever played around, on my personal iPad, with this Settings app and have left everything as is. I must say it was fun to follow along on my own iPad during the webinar. I did get a little lost a couple times with the zoom feature but I got the hang of it. For young children, an adult can make the settings suitable for that student. Older students could easily customize their settings to meet their learning needs.

App#2: ReadIris $37.99

The initial price of this app shocked me at first but after I was able to see what it can do it seems a small price to pay. This, in my opinion, is a top of the line app. When I compare ReadIris  to an app like Prizmo I think it is worth the extra money. It seemed user friendly and younger students would just need some support to navigate it at first. The features I liked were the color coding of the text and graphics that other apps don't offer. In this app the picture/graphics will not be read. I was also impressed with the language settings because I used to work in a French immersion school and I know how frustrating it is not to have a lot of apps available in the French language.

App #3: Book Creator $4.99

I couldn't resist highlighting this app. After using this app for our first assignment I was able to see first hand how user friendly and amazing this app is! The purchase price is very affordable for everything that it can do. Once again, as a classroom teacher I would use my lighting cable to conncet my iPad to the Smartboard so that the entire class could be taught how to use it. It could be a fun, interactive whole class lesson or individual students could be using it. The features this app offers would appeal to any age such as importing graphics (your own or from the internet), highlighting text, reading text and the list goes on!

July 10th

Reading Process Discussion:
Our class discussion reminded me once again that not all children have the same literacy experiences. Some children do not have exposure to books and do not have access to books and literacy. I have many fond memories of reading to my young children. The hours spent reading books on trucks and tractors. My children and I have a connection together to reading and it is a fun time for us. I have to realize that not all students have had the same experiences as my children.  There are so many contributing factors to the reading process. We can not possibly know the background and experiences of all of students. For example are they hungry, tired etc.? These factors have a huge impact on the reading process.

Attention to task is an executive function that is so important to the reading process. I have so many students who have attention issues and executive functioning skill difficulty.
"decoding text is not reading" I found this very interesting. In the past three years I have received a lot of professional development around comprehension...and how important it is.
The "Why" of reading is very important for me. My husband often claims he doesn't like to read but its because he considered reading to be reading novels. He reads all the time but I guess he doesn't see his reading as reading: ATV and motor cycle manuals, the news online, the Chive etc.


As a resource teacher I have met many young students this year who are having difficulty reading. I am hoping that these students will have access to AT in the very near future.
I love the point that Simon made about "at what point do we use AT?" In my experiences it is not until usually middle school that students are given the opportunity to receive AT from the school board in terms of learning disabilities. The Prisma app or Read Iris could have helped many of my students!
 

The videos we watched in class were quite amazing! There is so much involved for our bodies to complete simple tasks that I take for granted. Barbara reminded me of the importance of the repetition for our students. I do not think we do enough of this for students in school. Our brains our amazing....




 
 

Marilyn Jager Adams books is a book that I would highly recommend: She provided a great visual on what is involved in order to read.

Check out this video:

The Secret Life of the Brain Episode 2 by PBS. This video does a great way of outlining the struggles to read. The part in the video where it showed the teacher showing her class letters and they had to do an action reminded me of a program out that I use called Phoneme Touch and Say which has an action for every consonant and vowel. This program was developed by a Speech Language Pathologist who used to live in Berwick Nova Scotia.

iPads as instructional tools to enhance learning opportunities for students with developmental disabilities: An action research project by Therese M Cumming et al.
 

 

I found it interesting that study took place at a high school. Makes me wonder how many studies have taken place at the elementary level? This study found that using the iPads helped students to become ‘‘more independent learners.’’ This did not come to any surprise to me. We know that UDL is the best teaching method and that iPads are a great tool for UDL. Seems so simple but why is it not being done in all classrooms?