edu-Kate-ed

Top 10 Reasons to Use Technology in My Classroom

2009-06-29T08:52:00.003-05:00

These top 10 reasons are based on the needs (and realities) of an early elementary resource room. So with no further ado . . .
10. Screencasting The use of screencasts provide a way to visually represent the process of creating documents on a computer. Screencasts also allow students and their parents to view the process at home to help with homework assignments thus bridging the home-school connection.
9. File Security With Google Docs, backup programs, Wikis, and other media, teachers can secure their documents without charge. These files can then be accessible from multiple locations. If the district server goes down, files can still be accessible using web-based storage.
8. Behavior Management In the process of action research, I found my students to be more on-task when given the opportunity to interact with technology. Especially as a special education teacher, effective behavior management is crucial to conveying academic content.
7. Creating Savvy Consumers Our students are digital natives and use technology in almost every aspect of their lives. By directly teaching technology skills in the classroom, students can learn about Internet safety issues as well as reliability of information. Many of our students' parents may not have these skills and are dependent on the school system to help their children become educated computer users.
6. Student Engagement In reviewing research for action research, I found that disenfranchised learners have superior task engagement when they are allowed to interact with technology. Using visual strategies likely is a huge component of this.
5. Critical Thinking Skills The use of technology encourages students to use critical thinking skills to solve technology issues. We also learned with the LoTI scale how to create meaningful activities that promote critical thinking.
4. Diversity in Lessons Technology has allowed for a variety of lessons including WebQuests, collaborative presentations, blogging, podcasting, and graphics development. Websites of lesson databases like Thinkfinity and AT&T's Knowledge Network also allow teachers to explore how
colleagues around the world are using technology of their classrooms. Diversifying lessons is much better than the traditional sit and get lecture of our schooling experiences.
3. Digital Storytelling My students love it! We make our own books modeled after our reading books and classroom experiences. In addition to targeting reading and technology skills, we can practice our speech and language skills when making digital stories.
2. Academic Achievement During my action research, I had superior academic growth from my students when they were actively engaged in technology. Isn't this the ultimate goal?
1. Collaboration Technology allows for collaboration in ways that was never possible before. With Wikis, photosharing, Google Docs, and more, teachers, parents, and students can easily collaborate without the boundaries of the physical building or phone lines. Students can work on assignments together and the document history can be searched to make sure that students are contributing equally. Our district level PLC is going to move to using a Wiki next year in order to create a database of effective instructional strategies based on student deficits as well as to share modifications and materials that we have created for students. Outside of school, I find photosharing to be useful for my friends and family.

CED 581, Class Four - Class Relevancy

2009-06-18T09:04:00.002-05:00

When I started this class, I felt like it had little relevancy to my current teaching position, and I still feel like that. Other than purchasing software for work, I have little need to know about the capabilities of our work computers. Even those requests go through IT, and most of those requirements I was able to figure out before this class. However, career changes down the road may make this class more relevant for work. Only time will tell whether I give up special ed for something different.

On the other hand, I feel like I have become a much more knowledgeable consumer in my personal life. In the past, I had sort of assumed "more is better," and to some extent, that is still true. However, instead of generically thinking more is better, I now know that money should be invested in memory. I've also become more aware of the value of extended warranties. When I purchased my MacBook 2 1/2 years ago, I took out the warranty because I thought it was a good idea. Now knowing the cost of batteries and screens, I'm glad I did. I've also always been one who backs up. I thought everyone did this. I'm glad that I do and will continue to do so. I also now know that I will be mindful that virus protection will likely need to be considered in the future for my Mac. I, like many, assumed that Macs were always safe.

So, perhaps my bad attitude at the beginning of the course was not so justified. While it may not help me much in my current position, this class has definitely helped me to be a better technology consumer.

CED 581, Class Three

2009-06-15T13:14:00.002-05:00

I'm continuing to stretch my computer knowledge and be challenged to think in new ways.

The information on virus protection in regards to Mac was pretty new to me. I always thought that as a Mac user, I was pretty much safe from malware. After reading Richard Mogull's article, I continue to feel pretty safe even though I should be looking into virus protection software a little more. Any recommendations? As the sole user of my computer, I control what gets loaded onto my computer and which e-mail attachments are opened. However, as Mac continues to take a bigger share of the market, I feel like I should probably be protecting my computer a bit more.

The computer component assignment also forced me to think a little more about my profession. I was much more fluent in assistive technology devices when I first graduated from college. As I went back to collect data on pricing and all the features about different devices, I discovered how much this field has grown in the last 3 years. In reading other people's presentations, I also discovered how some of the devices (such as pen devices) that were designed for the average person to have greater ease of use have some good accessibility options for people with disabilities. I think that some of the pen devices may be practical for my students for next year. With the possiblity of having our assistive technology person in my building next year, I hope to get a little more hands-on experience with some of these devices.

As I write, I'm trying to wrap my head around the data backup and viruses assignments. This will require some thinking outside of my comfort zone, but I'm up for the challenge!

CED 581, Class Two

2009-05-26T19:57:00.004-05:00

The world of alternative operating systems was foreign to me before this class. I had heard of Linux but had never really looked at an alternative operating system or known anyone who uses one. As we were shown examples throughout class, I could see why you would want to use one. The idea of free software is quite compelling! In an age when we are continually asked to cut more and more from school budgets and further constrain our spending at home, it only seems to make sense that if viable options exist for alternative operating systems, why not pursue them? That said, I understand the comfort and familiarity that comes with using something that you've always used. I consider myself pretty open to trying new things but had a little bit of a set back with an alternative operating system this week. I downloaded the Slax Operating System this week and had every intention of using it for 3 days for the assignment. Ten minutes into using it, I became frustrated with my inability to access the Internet from the OS. (I checked my network connections and all that good stuff). I have enough experience to know that this is probably just a fluke and either my disc didn't burn correctly or there is a glitch with running Slax on a Mac. However, most people I know would give up after this one experience. (If anyone has a solution for me, I'm all ears!) In typical human fashion, I pretty much have given up on Slax after that experience, and am typing on my Mac with the MacOS configuration. There definitely is comfort with something familiar! That said, I'm interested in trying another system and will do so in the next week. Time seems to have gotten away from me this week!

The Triumph of the Nerds video is compelling to me for one main reason . . . I can't believe that anyone could be so committed to "an idea" that hasn't been done before! And not just one person, a whole group of likeminded people who networked really well! As I watched the video, I kept questioning whether ideas prosper now like they did in the late 70s and 80s. Since I'm fairly young, my perspective on whether this has changed is somewhat naive. With that in mind, I feel like corporate America today does not allow for this fairly free sharing of ideas and collaboration. Although, the Open Source community seems to be the exception to this. I'm assuming we're watching the conclusion of this video for next week. I look forward to seeing how it ends and keep pondering what it would look like 10 years later.

CED 581, Class One

2009-05-18T20:56:00.003-05:00

This blog entry should probably be titled "Using My Resources." I'm not really a hardware person. I like the software side much better. That said, I know lots of people who know the hardware side, well enough to do it for a living. To these people, I am very grateful! There's other areas where I have expertise, and I'm happy to share in these areas. I guess that's what makes the world such an interesting place.

While watching "Triumph of the Nerds," my background in special ed kept coming to the forefront of my mind. I admire anyone who can be so devoted to a task to allow it to become their life, much as the early computer developers did. Part of me sees the lack of social skills these people had. 40 years later these people may have been labeled as being "on the spectrum." It was a good reminder that even though these individuals may have social differences, they do have an incredible wealth of knowledge and an ability to make more money than I ever will!

Action Research #2

2008-12-16T19:52:00.002-06:00

What a process! I've learned a lot about myself and the jargon of the special education field and how to define that for other people. I can't say I truly understand this "full IRB" thing yet. My students (for this study) are really not that disabled. I don't get it! But, I've learned not to fight the system and just roll with it instead. The process of constantly making revisions has also opened me up to criticism a lot more. My defenses are down, and I'm learning to roll with the punches as they come.

I'm looking forward to the next semester and the opportunity to put these ideas into practice and make some much needed changes to my schedule to allow this research to occur. I'm just crossing my fingers that this all works out!

Action Research #1

2008-11-30T19:57:00.002-06:00

The process of preparing my proposal for approval has been demanding yet very reflective for me. Given that my caseload at school is so large and so diverse, finding a topic that is meaningful for a variety of my students and meaningful for me has been a bit challenging. I think I've finally got something that will work! One of the challenges that I've become more aware of (as a teacher) is that I really don't know where my students will be at academically in 3 months. Most teachers know what part of the curriculum they'll be at (roughly) at a given time. In special ed, you have to roll with your students' progress and constantly adapt so that you're teaching to mastery - following a traditional curriculum is not what I do. Therefore, I feel like I'm taking a huge leap of faith when I outline my lessons for 3 months down the road.

On a different note, I'm learning quite a bit from the research articles I'm reading. While not all are exact fits to my teaching situations, I try to take at least one or two points from each article and make connections to my own teaching. Through this process of reading and reflection, I'm beginning to deeply analyze my own teaching. I've also been having conversations about these issues with teachers and administrators at school. Although time consuming, it's been a valuable experience thus far.

CED 534, Week Five

2008-10-05T18:44:00.002-05:00

Video e-mails and VOIP calls could be incorporated at the early elementary level. Video e-mailing would be a way for me to send "be good" messages to my students when I'm out of the classroom unexpectedly. That should make them shape up! VOIP would also be a way for our PLC teams to collaborate outside of our meetings. Additionally, VOIP could be used as a way to include parents in meetings about their students without the need for them to leave work. I think it would be more effective than conference calling because we would be able to see the non-verbal communication and better understand their opinions.

Screencast

2008-09-28T14:00:00.006-05:00

Here's the link to a screencast I created for our Tosa Special Ed wiki.

I found the process of creating the screencast to be quite easy; however, I had difficulty with the format that Jing creates (.swf). I tried to upload to Google Video unsuccessfully. I also tried to convert the video using ZamZar and didn't have any luck. I ended up creating a screencast account, but the free account is only good for 60 days. I also had difficulty embedding it into my blog in a screen small enough to fit in the blog window. The process of creating the screencast was easy, but the sharing feature would need to be cleaned up for me to use this process on a regular basis. Did anyone find a way to convert the file to store to Google or another free site?

That's one big cherry!

2008-09-20T12:28:00.001-05:00

That's one big cherry!
Originally uploaded by kmschaus

Here's a perspective picture that I took of my sister in the Twin Cities last fall. I like the composition of the photo - the colors, shadows, and perspective of the cherry sitting in her mouth.

CED 534, Week 2

2008-09-13T14:42:00.000-05:00

My newly created teaching challenges by a group of fairly low functioning students has caused me to reanalyze many of my practices and is challenging me to find new ways to instruct. One way that I would like to eventually incorporate blogs is by using one as an organizational portal for myself. I often come across resources that I would like to make accessible to parents. A blog would be one feasible way to do so. (Here's the start of my classroom blog). Videos of class activities may be fun but I would have to make sure that I wasn't breaking any confidentiality laws by posting them on a blog. I know that they are permissible on our district website, but I don't know about privately hosted sites.
For our wiki assignment, I'm going to create a wiki for district special education teachers to share ideas and resources. Whether or not this idea will take off, I am unsure. We recently were granted district early release one day each week to discuss student learning and be provided with professional development. As a part of this, the district elementary resource teachers would like to be able to collaborate. A wiki would provide us with the opportunity to communicate on a more regular basis.

CED 534, Week 1

2008-09-04T20:24:00.000-05:00

Using blogs, wikis, and podcasts in the special ed K,1,2 setting may prove to be a bit of a challenge this year! Facing a major shift in the population that I serve, I have a feeling that doing these types of activities will be extremely challenging, if not impossible for my students. It's that I'm being pessimistic; I'm looking at my current reality and the very basic skill set that I am targeting this year. If I can find a way to incorporate these tools, I would love to do it!
Some of the Web 2.0 tools that we investigated in class, such as www.lookybook.com, may be useful for my students. I've found that the visual stimulation provided by using a projector increases their engagement in tasks. While my students may not actively be engaging in contributing to Web 2.0 activities, I utilize them on a regular basis and am always looking for new tricks! Embedding videos into blogs would be a potential way for me to organize activities and allow for parents to access the videos at home for reinforcement as well.
As I get a better handle on the needs of my students, I'm sure I'll have additional ideas as to how these tools can be included. Only time will tell!

CED 527, Week 6

2008-08-06T21:06:00.000-05:00

Tonight's class was a reiteration of what I am currently doing with my own school. While the process we went through in class was fairly extensive, it is minimal compared to the number of ways we analyzed data at school today. The process of analyzing data and implementing change based on that data is one that is central to my role as a special education teacher. Taking the additional analysis skills that we learned and knowledge of implementing change, I'm going to try to make some fundamental changes to my process for collecting IEP data this year. I need to be more systematic and find better common assessments to compare students to other students. I'm hoping that our district-wide PLC time will allow me to better collaborate with other resource teachers in the district to better collect and assess data. At the conclusion of today's data retreat, my principal commented that I did well at really disaggregating the data - I must have picked up some cues from this class! Thanks Kris!

CED 527, Week Four

2008-07-25T13:38:00.000-05:00

The Systems Thinking, Systems Changing game provided me with some valuable insight about implementing change in any system. While the changes that I implement are not at the district level, I am a part of a number of district changes currently in play. When personally implementing change in my classroom or in my department, I was reminded of the importance of keeping the man in charge in the know. I feel as though I do a decent job of this and sometimes feel like my communication with him is a bit overboard. As Kris reminded us, it's better to share too much than too little! Also, the importance of team work and skills building became very apparent to our team. As I will be informally in charge of bringing a new special education teacher and speech pathologist up to speed on our school's way of doing things this year, I need to be cognizant of the importance of making sure that they understand all of the "Tosa terms" and have support available when they need additional assistance. The simulation was an enjoyable way to reinforce these concepts of change.

CED 527, Week 3

2008-07-21T13:22:00.000-05:00

Last week's class put my feelings over past changes I've been involved in into a more concrete and research-based train of thought. The implementation dip shown at the beginning of class reminded me of our recent CMS implementation at school. Many of my co-workers are still at the resistance stage. A few of us are beginning to explore. I'm hoping that as time passes, we slide into the commitment stage quickly. I also particularly likes the chart that demonstrated what happens when we lack vision, skills, incentives, resources, or action plans. This would be a good chart to hang in a classroom or administrator's office. Not that it would necessarily force the leader to resolve the issues, but it makes a pretty good stab at what the causation of the problem may be. What we learned in class last week provided some valuable background for how to better handle my educational assistants next year. We'll definitely be in a transition year with a new special ed teacher, speech pathologist, and 2 aides. With all of this change, I'll need to be proactive and reflective as to why breakdowns in our team occur.

CED 527, Week 2

2008-07-10T13:23:00.001-05:00

Last night's class reaffirmed a lot of strategies and topics that our building already practices. I feel blessed to be in a place that is so student-centered and data driven. At points, I take this for granted. As a young teacher, I have learned to argue for points by saying this is what I want, and here's the data to support why. When strategies are supported in this way, the "age discrimination" comments tend to be minimal or non-existent. The information last night that was new to me was in regards to technology plans. While we have a great technology initiative in our building, "a SMARTBoard in every classroom by 2009-2010, our training or plan beyond that isn't apparent to the staff. As a member of the technology committee (which seldom meets), I haven't seen this plan. It will definitely be something that I look for this fall.

CED 527, Week 1

2008-06-29T14:49:00.000-05:00

Wednesday night's class helped me to see teacher leadership through a new eye. I have attended many workshops on leaderships skills; however, I've never truly considered what sets a teacher leader apart from other leaders. As we discussed the materials, I thought about the skills that I already possess as well as those which I need to continue to develop. Throughout this process, I was thinking about the two main leaders in our school - our principal and our reading specialist. Additionally, I was considering our cohesive staff and how many of us share a common drive and willingness to problem solve and share resources and how this has worked to help us increase our test scores (9 pts last year!!!). As we go throughout this course, I'm hoping to gain greater knowledge about how to be a more effective teacher leader as my responsibilities will again be increasing this year.

CED 533, Week 5

2008-06-16T15:14:00.000-05:00

I found it interesting that the majority of us chose the same CMS system. It's always interesting to hear different people's take on the same system. Even though we all teach in a geographically small area, our experiences with the same technology tools is often vastly different based on the support we receive from our district. I can't wait until Tosa upgrades their bandwidth. Some of the work that Toni showed was truly impressive. If only we could get greater bandwidth in our school! I'm a little limited right now in terms of what I can do since our district blocked so much after the system crashed a few months ago.
Learning a little about Java was interesting. I've always wondered how date stamps work. Now I know!
I just finished my final project and am happy to have that behind me! After Mr. Sklar helped me through some CSS challenges last week, it was smooth sailing. I should have called or e-mailed instead of getting so frustrated last week!

CED 533 Class 4

2008-06-05T19:49:00.000-05:00

I've officially found my learning disability. Part of my challenge is that I don't see the relevance of this material to teaching K-2 students with disabilities. While it's nice to have the background, I don't know if 3 credits worth is truly worth it. (Please don't take it personally Mr. Sklar). I would like more guidance on the artistic aspects to webpage design than the actual code. We've definitely found ways to beat the system - Dreamweaver, NVU, Front Page, etc. I just don't understand why one would write code rather than type it into a wordprocessing style document? Then again, people don't understand why I write my own curriculum when you can buy stuff. I guess it's a matter of opinion.
My other frustration is the number of group presentations that repeat the same thing over and over. I understand that presenting information is a part of the program; however, maybe we'd more interested in others' presentations if each group was assigned one presentation throughout the course (doubling up would be ok). It gets to a point where its extremely redundant. Again, not the fault of the instructor, but rather the design of the program.
To be fair to this negative rant, I have to apologize for my current frustration. The demands at the end of the school year are intense. To be handling the rigors of this program does not make it any easier. I'm sorry that my frustrations with "school" and "life" are an underlying tone to this blog, but sometimes, you just need to get it off your chest.

CED 533 Class 3

2008-05-28T20:48:00.000-05:00

I felt a greater level of comfort tonight with html . . . through the magic use of NVU! In my past life as a full time student, I worked extensively with Dreamweaver at UW Madison as an e-portfolio consultant. I was amazed at how similar these two applications were. Such, Dreamweaver has a few more features - but not $400 worth. Additionally, I was amazed as to how fast it all came back.
I'm looking forward to extending my scope a little more next week. I'm ready for a new challenge!

CED 533 Class 2

2008-05-26T13:45:00.001-05:00

It's all starting to come back to me! The html code writing that I did in high school programming class is beginning to become clear again. I have to say that I really enjoy Dreamweaver much more than actually writing the code however. Why go through the frustration of trying to write the code if Dreamweaver will do it without a lot of the frustration?
During last week's lecture, I developed a better appreciation for the true power that today's computers hold. I remember the Apple IIe's in my second grade classroom with the huge floppy disks and the "smooth" animations on the orange or green and black screens. I thought we had it made! It's amazing how far we have come in about 15 years. I wish that our students today could truly understand the impact of how far we have come. My students get frustrated when a website takes longer than 15 seconds to load or when a screen reader pronounces a word with a weird articulation. We really have come a long way!
Speaking of my students, I felt like I had a little bit of insight into their learning challenges this week. My attention was a little limited last week during class. About 30 minutes into the lecture, when CSS and other coding was being discussed, I had this "I have no idea what we're talking about" moment. For a few minutes, I sat there thinking that this is way above my head and I'll never be able to wrap my mind around it. Having a little better problem solving skills than the majority of my students, I was able to refocus and develop a little bit of an understanding of what we were learning about. Later in the lab, I felt much more confident with what was discussed. Just goes to show what a hands-on learner I am! In retrospect, it helped me to greater understand a challenging situation for my students the next day. As we were in the middle of a lesson on graphing, I caught that deer in the headlights look (which I had the night before) from several of my students. While I often get this look, I had a greater understanding for how they felt! Funny how a lesson which was totally unrelated to anything I would ever teach to first and second graders with learning disabilities would help me to understand them just a little better!

CED 533 Class 1

2008-05-18T09:30:00.000-05:00

I can't say that writing html code is my favorite thing nor anything that I would want to pursue a career in. However, I am doing my best to keep an open mind and give it a good try. I'm sure I'll find something relevant to my teaching situation. As we worked at the computers, I was amazed at how quickly my html training came back.
As we went through the history and evolution of the web this week, I was truly amazed at how quickly we have progressed as a technological society. I remember the Apple IIe's in my second grade classroom and thinking that they were the coolest things ever. I also remember the Macs with mice and colored (oooh!) screens in my fourth grade classroom and thinking this was it. What more could we ever need! My, times have changed! Having recently had the experience of being with no computer access from a Thursday through a Monday at work, I came to realize how truly dependent we have become on these devices. No e-mail, no IEP access, no SMARTBoard, no Microsoft Word. We were truly lost as a staff, as were the students who have known it no other way.
This will truly be a learning experience for me!

CED 531, Class Five

2008-05-04T10:14:00.001-05:00

The process of digital storytelling can be quite complex but very rewarding. I have completed several multimedia projects on my own to detail trips I've taken with friends and family. For my students, completing multimedia projects requires a great deal of support, but they are certainly within our reach. One idea I have been contemplating is doing something with VoiceThread to chronical special projects that we do in our classroom. There seems to be a lot of mystery in what takes place in a resource room. This would be one way to provide some insight for people visiting my website. My thought would be to load pictures of activities that we've done and then allow the students to make comments on the project. Doing so would give them the opportunity to evaluate what they have done and formulate their thought as to what they have learned. Additionally, Voicethread has the capability to add and delete pages over time, so it could be an easily edited on-going project. They would also build on their abilities to summarize important information from the activity and speak coherently. As I write this blog entry, I'm further convincing myself that I should be doing this project. As always, my greatest enemy is time. Any multimedia project that we engage in, my students and I take on with great enthusiasm. We'll have to fit it in at some point during the remainder of the year!

My First Podcast!

2008-04-27T12:11:00.000-05:00

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CED 531, Class Four

2008-04-27T09:16:00.000-05:00

Last week's class was not as relevant for my personal teaching situation as others; although it was still valuable information. Creating an assessment rubric for multimedia was an enjoyable experience. When four like-minded people get together and try to develop a rubric, it's amazing how fast we can develop an assessment or a technology-based project. I can't imagine being able to do the same with many of my colleagues. The rubric we developed was definitely designed for slightly older students. With my students, we would need to use pictures for the criteria. We would also need to spend significant time training them how to use a rubric. My students' tend to have an elevated self-confidence. Teaching them to be reflective and honest has proved to be a difficult task!
I have to admit that podcasting is one area of technology that I am not very knowledgeable about. In my classroom, it would probably be best used as a parent education tool. It's often challenging to get my students to stay on the same topic for more than a minute. With their many speech and language challenges, it would likely to difficult to get an intelligible piece recorded. Perhaps it would be a strategy for some of my higher functioning students. I've yet to be convinced.

CED 531, Class Three

2008-04-19T21:05:00.000-05:00

The use of storytelling in education can be extremely powerful. Using sites like the Screen Actors' Guild and RAZ-kids.com has been a beneficial tool for engaging my students in learning. I could see using the Point of View element of storytelling as a valuable way to tell stories in our social skills lessons. For children with perceptual disabilities, understanding other students point of view in social situations is often very challenging and requires intensive instruction in reading emotions to help them understand other people's viewpoints. However, when information is portrayed through digital media, they are often more engaged and better able to understand perspective. Therefore, I could use peer models to model social situations and then utilize voice overs to provide greater insights into how their peers may be feeling. In addition to using the point of view element, it would also incorporate the gift of your voice element. Now, if I could only create a few more hours in the week to get this done . . .

CED 531, Class Two

2008-04-13T13:39:00.000-05:00

I found this week's work on VoiceThread to be a great tool as well as a great frustration. Our frustrations were not born from VoiceThread's tools themselves but mainly from Internet connectivity issues. We were also disappointed that we were unable to upload music to VoiceThread. For the most part, I really liked VoiceThread for a few reasons and am strongly considering using it in my classroom. Primarily, I liked the ease with which photos could be uploaded and voice-overs recorded. When working with the population that I work with, the easier the better! Additionally, I like that the presentation is easily viewed by anyone you choose to share with. I did my first PhotoStory with my students this week. The process of copying and distributing the videos is much more time consuming than it is with VoiceThread. I could also see parents and co-workers contributing to VoiceThread from different locations making our project more interactive and enjoyable for the kids. I continue to be impressed with all of the resources available free to educators that are worth-while!

CED 531, Class One

2008-04-03T19:49:00.000-05:00

I feel like this class is going to be interesting, and I will finally learn some new technological skills. Theory is great, but application is much better! I currently use PowerPoint to write modified versions of books we read in guided reading. About a month ago, I had our library media specialist give me a crash course in PhotoStory. Next week, I'm going to attempt using PhotoStory to write a version of "Banana Sometimes," one of my favorite readers, with my first graders. Since it's a small group and a smaller project, I thought it would be a good maiden voyage.
As a resource teacher, I don't have much time to do anything other than teach reading and math. I would like to find a way to incorporate more creative applications into our work. One idea I have would be to do a portfolio of student growth. Since I typically have students for three years, it would be enjoyable and a great reflection tool to see their growth across those three years. I would also be happy to support classroom teachers in using digital storytelling to recap field trips, the second grade mealworm project (yuck!), or any other project they have in mind. I'm looking forward to learning simple but effective methods to tell digital stories with primary age children.

CED 521 Overall Class Reflection (Week Six)

2008-03-19T19:55:00.000-05:00

This class has greatly expanded my understanding of a philosophy behind technology integration. While I still question how practical this scale is at the early elementary level, my knowledge of the LoTI scale has encouraged me to re-examine my instructional practices and challenge my students to use technology in a manner other than to check the temperature and play reinforcement style games and activities.

On a personal level, the demands of this program and everything else going on at work and in my personal life has taken my ability to multi-task and handle multiple demands to a new level. While I always considered myself to be a fairly good multi-tasker, I have definitely gained time-management skills and an ability to be more relaxed about stressors than in the past.

I have also greatly appreciated the flexibility and responsiveness that Ed has given as an instructor. More than with any other class, I feel as though he understands the demands and reality of those demands. Although challenging and at times frustrating, it has truly been an enjoyable class.

CED 521 Class Five Reflections

2008-03-13T07:48:00.001-05:00

After reading through many of my classmates' blogs, I have a few reactions. Primarily, I felt my stress level rise as I read through everyone's anxiety-ridden rants about everything from work samples to managing life within the confines of this program. I too am feeling the stress of the program and knew that it would be intense. I wasn't prepared for the intensity that it has been! I'm hoping that once I get through the anxiety of report cards, conferences, a slew of IEPs, and moving, I will have more time to be more relaxed about this course. The philosophy I've tried to adopt within the stress of the last month is to keep plugging along, somehow it always all gets done. Who needs sleep anyways??? Another overarching theme is the lack of definition in criteria for assignments. This course has been better than most, although I still feel somewhat unclear. It would really help to have examples of some of the bigger projects (i.e. unit plan, comps). I additionally appreciate Ed's willingness to drop some of the "busy work" assignments from this course. We are still definitely meeting all the criteria without having to do as many seemingly pointless assignments. I sure hope he teaches again!

CED 521, Class Four

2008-03-07T15:28:00.000-06:00

I found Wednesday's class to be somewhat different. I liked that our concerns were addressed and questions were answered. It's nice to know that someone is listening!

I was surprised at the different takes on the LoTI presentation. I assumed that they would be very repetitive and somewhat dull. Instead, I found each presentation to be unique and somewhat different although the information presented was similar. I also found the unintended use of our web conferencing to be a new and valuable experience. I have to admit I was a little uncomfortable because it was so different than anything I've experienced before. In the end, I thought it was an excellent demonstration of our technology skills and a great way to problem-solve. In the past we would have post-poned the presentation. It's amazing what can be done with technology!

CED 521 Class Three Reflection

2008-02-28T19:51:00.000-06:00

I found tonight's class to be particularly intriguing and rewarding. Watching the examples of Ed's students was truly impressive. It makes me want to teach older kids for a while until I remember my high school teaching experiences! After watching his videos, we watched a kindergarten's class project on what their grandparents and parents recalled about kindergarten. I enjoyed seeing an in-depth project that young students were able to achieve! It gave me hope for this unit project.

While the assessment presentation was interesting, it was pretty much review. As a teacher in a Professional Learning Communities school, I have been assessed to death in the last year. Good information - but somewhat redundant from my classroom experiences.

The most valuable part of the evening was having the opportunity to work on our projects and ask questions. I often find assignment directions to be vague or confusing. Having the opportunity to muddle through it and ask questions was invaluable. It saved many frantic e-mails amongst our study team members! Thank you!

CED 521 Class Two Reflection

2008-02-23T11:40:00.000-06:00

In watching the George Lucas video this week, I was very impressed with the tasks that these students were completing. As a special ed teacher working with very young children, I often lose sight of the possibilities that exist for older students. In all of these activities, I saw not only the academic benefit of these projects but also the social skills that are learned through PBL. I would imagine that students who routinely participate in PBL are better equipped to meet the communication demands of the workplace than students who do not. What better way is there to teach and learn interpersonal communication?

After class, I viewed the "Pay Attention" video on TeacherTube. I found this to be a powerful video which may help to persuade some of the more technology reluctant teachers. As a younger teacher, I often find myself better understanding the student perspective of technology than the general teacher perspective of technology. While many of my co-workers are more than willing to try technology, I still find myself being an advocate for technology based learning a few times a week. Slowly, I think the majority of them are starting to come around.

CED 521 Class One Reflection

2008-02-17T16:52:00.000-06:00

This week's class forced me to look at my instruction through a new lens. I had always thought that I was a good integrator of technology. My SMARTBoard, in particular, has provided access to computers that was previously unavailable to many of my students. While I assumed that this was excellent integration, LoTI caused me to reconsider. While I understand that the ultimate goal is for the technology integration to be natural and the means for the source of information, I am still unsure of how this would look for students functioning at a three to six year level. Of the examples that I looked at on-line, none of them would push much beyond a LoTI Level 3. I'm interested in anyone's input on how to promote higher-level thinking skills on the computer and am continuing to seek advice from colleagues. This class was truly the first in the program that pushed me out of my comfort zone with technology usage. Although it's not a comfortable place to be in, I feel it is necessary to expand my abilities as a teacher and push myself to new levels.

CED 525 Class Four Reflection

2008-01-16T20:32:00.001-06:00

I found our WebQuest work to be very interesting. As an undergrad at UW-Madison, I created a WebQuest on using music in education for my computing class. Since that time, they have fallen off my radar of ideas for the classroom. With enough searching, I'm sure I could find one that we could do as a group in my academic instruction. I did find an excellent site that I shared with the second grade teachers on basic economics concepts. The WebQuest is entitled Making Money
They were elated to receive it! I'm looking forward to see what the kids do with it. One of the challenges of being a resource teacher is the feeling like I can't deviate from a reading lesson and basic math instruction. I'm hoping to have a little time in the near future to do some further investigation into some possible WebQuests that could be used in the resource room.

I also found the idea of Creative Commons to be new and intriguing. We often get lectured at school about copyright laws which has led many of us away from adapting things we find on-line for classroom use. I definitely need more time to investigate this concept further and develop a better understanding but I do feel as though this has good implication for technology based instruction. Time's sure are changing!

CED 525 Class Three Reflection

2008-01-13T11:30:00.000-06:00

While not being the most uplifting class, I found this week's class to be very informative and interesting.

I was very intrigued by the resources available on tappedin.org Several of the topics in the next month are of interest to me. I'll definitely have to check out the special education and "math and technology" forums to see if they are of value to my current teaching situation. I am always searching for new methods and materials to diversify instruction.

The time we spent on Internet safety was eye-opening for me. I have always considered myself to be very cognoscente of distributing personal information on the Internet and otherwise being savvy about Internet safety. I was amazed at the piece we watched on the soccer player in California whose identity was traced through the seemingly innocent information on her profile. This week's class made me re-think what the students in my school are accessing at home as well as the information they may be providing to others on-line. After viewing this information in class and then reading and viewing more at home, I think our school needs to take a stronger stance on educating children about Internet safety at a younger age.

CED 525 Class Two Reflection

2007-12-29T14:14:00.000-06:00

As I often do, I found the collaborative nature of this class to be most beneficial. I most enjoy hearing what others have implemented in their classes and the applications that can be done when students are older. As a teacher of young students, it is often difficult to visualize how these ideas could be used with older students. My classmates help to bring that to life.

I found several ideas that could be of use on AT&Ts "Knowledge Network." Some of the sites I found were new or ones I had forgotten about (such as PBSkids.org). Others were new to me. While A&T has many valuable resources, I found Thinkfinity to be much more extensive and better maintained than AT&Ts. Even so, it is a wonderful resource that I feel is less well-known than Thinkfinity.

The portion of the class dedicated to online quizzes was way beyond the scope of what my students are capable of doing. I could see creating a quiz for a review type game to be completed as a class on the SMARTBoard or overhead projector. Other than that, it's beyond my students' level. However, it is an interesting concept.

I'm very skeptical of the idea of using social networking sites for instruction. As I've talked to my friends who are "Facebook Junkies," they've been impressed that we use Facebook in class. However, they too are skeptical of how to use it for instruction. Ideas I've received include setting up group meetings, discussing educational topics on people's walls, and forming groups from which study teams could be developed. I see a site like ePals being much more educationally focused and more plausible for school districts to consider allowing. In short, I see possibilities with social networking; however, I think that it needs to be given more consideration before we dive into it.

Thinkfinity Reflection

2007-12-16T08:17:00.000-06:00

Wednesday's class opened my eyes to a plethora of new resources to use in the classroom. In the past few months, I have become bored with my typical computer activity to be an exploration on www.starfall.com While the resources there are wonderful and my students love to use it, I was frustrated with my inability to find other decent sources. While I found all of the sources investigated to be rich with ideas, I found ReadWriteThink and Illuminations to be most applicable to the the special education resource room. I was most pleased with the interactive student "games" on ReadWriteThink. There were a number of good phonics and phonemic awareness sorts which would easily work in our curriculum, require minimal prep, and be easily accessible to my students. I also re-discovered the PBSKids website through ReadWriteThink and am looking forward to using their materials in my classroom.

Since Wednesday night, I've been telling everyone about Thinkfinity! It's truly a wonderful educational resource that fits well into teachers' budgets.

CED510 Reflection

2007-12-05T20:43:00.000-06:00

This course has extended my knowledge of opportunities to use technology in the classroom. Conversations amongst fellow students and their successful use of technology in the classroom were most beneficial in extending my knowledge and challenging me to use the technology in the classroom. I particularly found the databases of teachers' compiled lessons (such as IDE@S, NetTrekker, etc) to be a useful springboard to extend my ideas of technology integration in the classroom. From one of these sites, I developed an interactive book that my students and I developed in the classroom. The application was enjoyable and educative for my students in learning literacy content and computer skills. For me, it was an extension of how to teach these skills in a resource room when basic skills are very minimal. In summary, the greatest gains from this class occurred from the opportunity to interact with professionals in the field to share ideas and extend student learning.

Issues and Implications

2007-12-05T19:28:00.000-06:00

The use of technology in education and society creates many new issues. The use of technology is drastically changing the demographics of the workforce. With many manufacturing jobs being forced to third world countries in exchange for technologically advanced jobs, voids are being left within the US's economy. As a teacher of students with disabilities, the jobs that my colleagues and I often prepare our students for revolve around the manufacturing world. Without this vital niche in society, many people who were once capable of holding moderately paying jobs are now left with minimum wage jobs or no job at all. An unintended effect of the technological advancement of our society will likely be a greater divide between the rich and poor and a higher unemployment rate.

Paralleled with this, greater disparities in socioeconomic equity and access are likely to result. My experience has been that the wealthier and more educated families who are often better in supporting students in traditional learning tasks are also the families that have computers and web access at home. Additionally, these students are learning vital computer survival skills which will open additional job markets for these students. With limited budgets and an increasing network of excellent free web resources, I increasingly find myself referring families to web-based activities as reinforcement of skills taught in class. Clearly, my "haves" have a greater access to these activities than my "have nots." Many also have challenges with gender equity resources on the Internet. While inequitable sites do exist, with careful review and screening, it is possible to find many unbiased sites with equal or better academic content. One of my favorites is www.readinga-z.com. This group of web sites has a number of downloadable books which are representative of a number of cultures, genders, and diverse topics. It is truly an amazing site!

Issues with Technology Implementation

2007-11-29T20:19:00.000-06:00

Teachers face a multitude of issues when implementing technology in the classroom. Some of these issues are within the average classroom teachers' control; others are not. A primary issue for many teachers is their personal competencies and comfort with available technologies. In the building that I teach in, the majority of teachers are willing to try new technologies but often look for guidance from teachers who are more experienced with the technology or our library media specialist. Additionally, many teachers comment that they would be more willing to experiment with technology if there was additional time to investigate these opportunities. With our district going to a weekly early release next year, I see a possibility of staff having more time to investigate new technologies. Teachers also have some input into resources and training available. While administrators and the budget often have a greater input on the resources and training available, teachers do have some input into their access to technology training and resources. Our building is currently in the middle of a 3 year SMARTBoard initiative. As a part of this initiative, teachers are gradually being trained in using the SMARTBoard. My experience has been that the greatest growth in our comfort with the SMARTBoards has come with the informal collaboration between teachers. As we discover something that works well, we share it with others. Similarly, when we are struggling with how to use the SMARTBoard, we go to our colleagues before calling tech support or our technology coordinator. While our initial training was very good, the informal training that has occurred among our staff has been much more beneficial! Another issue which teachers have some control of is the expectations of the technology coordinator and the classroom teacher. We do not have a dedicated technology person in our building. Our library media specialist incorporates technology into her classes but also supports classroom teachers in using technology to meet learning targets. My general observation has been that these lessons are handled as a team approach with the LMS modeling the technology aspects, the classroom teacher handling the content, and both troubleshooting to make sure students are achieving their learning targets. Another main issue of technology integration which is typically out of the reach of teachers' control is administrator support. My principal is a former "computer teacher" which means any effort to incorporate technology in an effective manner is readily embraced and supported through the budget. As a non-tenured teacher, I feel quite a bit of personal pressure to embrace my principal's initiatives. Luckily, we usually see eye-to-eye on most technology issues. Administration at the district level (technology coordinators, student learning, student services, etc) also impact our access to technology. My experience has been that if technology is researched-based to be effective, financial resources have been found to support teachers' desire to obtain a certain technology. Finally, budgeting often proves to be the bottom-line as to whether new technology is feasible for a school or district. As stated previously, our district seems to be able to find resources when student learning is at the heart of the proposed technology. Many issues surround the effective or ineffective implementation of technology. Those explained above merely touch the surface of the multitude of issues classroom teachers face when considering the use of technology in their classrooms.

Integration

2007-11-28T19:10:00.000-06:00

Integrating computer applications has great application for older students and staff. At the younger grade, I see greater importance in teaching student how to use applications successfully one at a time before integrating multiple applications. At the higher levels; however, I see a need to teach students how to meaningfully integrate so that they are ready to compete in a globally competitive market. As a portfolio consultant at UW, I worked with pre-service teachers to integrate documents into Dreamweaver. Had many of these teachers been exposed to the concept of integration at an earlier age, my job would have been much easier as a consultant! Additionally, their level of frustration would have been much lower. If students are exposed to these concepts at an earlier age, they would become part of a known skill-set such as using Word. The more skills we can "automatize" at an early age, the more competent computer users they will become as adults!

InTime

2007-11-21T19:46:00.000-06:00

I investigated several teachers' lessons on the InTime website. Lesson content varied in quality and feasibility. I was particularly impressed with the "Show Me" Missouri's Temperatures unit. This unit was a cross-curricular unit taught to fourth grade students in a resource room setting.
This lesson incorporated music appreciation, graphic organizers, data collection forms, writing forms, and computer-based applications. Through each step, she clearly modeled processes, particularly computer-based processes, on a SMARTBoard and then walked students through the process again so that they could engage in the process. One point that Ms. Camden made that resonated with me was in regards to assistive technology. She stated that no matter how interesting a piece of assistive techology is, it is crucial to keep the child's best interest at the center of activity and only use the assistive technology when it is appropriate to the situation. I see this as an important point to consider. Often times, as a special education team member, we are trained in how to use the "latest and the greatest" and then look for opportunities to use them. Sometimes we rush in just to practice our skills. Ms. Camden provided me with a crucial reminder. I can see using this resource to investigate possible activities in the future. While the content of this lesson was more difficult than what my students would be able to achieve, it was a wonderful demonstration of successful language to use as well as an opportunity to view instructional methods that I am familiar with in a new light.

databases

2007-11-18T20:06:00.000-06:00

In class last week, we used the Internet application DabbleDB. We first imported data from WINNS to become familiar with the application and then created our own database. I organized my Christmas shopping and preparation. (Sometimes you have to take care of the personal issues!) I was very impressed with the amount of tasks you could accomplish with this program. It has been about 10 years since I have used a database program. I'm quite impressed with how far they have come! I see the application of database programs to be more teacher-centered for me than for student use. I am on the Response to Intervention (RtI) committee at school. I could see using a database program to keep documentation on students' interventions and their effectiveness. Trends could then be analyzed over-time. I could also see using databases to document classroom materials, reading records, or behavior records on students.

Reflection on Spreadsheets

2007-11-11T20:30:00.000-06:00

In class, we developed three separate spreadsheet activities. The first was a theoretical gradebook; the second was a theoretical college budget. The final was a magic square in which a 3 by 3 grid needed to have the numbers one through nine with each row, column, and diagonal adding to 15. Because my students are very young, these activities would be beyond their ability level; however, spreadsheets are something that I use in my classroom. I use them to develop math graphing activities and keep a database of reading activities. After our experiences in class, I am encouraged to start using Excel to track students' reading fluency growth. I used spreadsheet in the past with older students and can see the potential in using them with my students. In the coming weeks I am going to do the pictograph idea explained in one of my previous entries as well as work on fluency records for one of my reading groups. My hope is that once I make using Excel a part of one of my groups, I can easily extend this process to my other groups. I am also interested in using pictographs to help one of my lower math groups to better develop their counting and graphing skills.

Website Evaluation

2007-11-07T20:20:00.000-06:00

I looked at Kathy Schrock's Guide and New Mexico State University's Library webpage to review evaluation criteria for websites. The students that I work with are not at the academic level to be reviewing websites. However, I could use these forms to inform other teachers of criteria for "good websites" and for possible uses in the upper elementary levels. My observation has been that many teachers need more specific instruction or training in how to choose good Internet-based materials. Many seem to take all information on the web at face value and don't look deeply into biases presented, undertones to the site, etc. New Mexico's site would be very helpful for adults to review sites, particularly those adults who have little Internet experience. Each of the criteria have examples or non-examples for those needing greater clarification. I have found Kathy Schrock's evaluations to be very user-friendly for young students and also more scientific in that sites can be easily compared using discrete criteria. In summary, I would use New Mexico's site for use with adults and Kathy Schrock's site for student evaluation.

Spreadsheets

2007-11-07T20:19:00.000-06:00

The idea presented in this link would provide a basic starting point for me to use with some of my higher level students. While the picture here is semi-complex, I could come up with a simpler message to convey to my students. I would use the SMARTBoard so that the picture could be developed in front of the entire group. This would probably be more of a lesson in using co-ordinates instead of using spreadsheet programs to enter data. I also saw an idea in the "Spreadsheet Magic" book to make pictographs which could be used with some of my lower level students to reinforce basic counting skills.

Word Processing Assignment

2007-11-04T12:14:00.001-06:00

Although the basics of this assignment were very much a review for me, I found the Google Docs aspect of the assignment to be promising. I am amazed that Microsoft has a basically free version of their office suite on-line! A single site license of the full program is quite expensive. I do understand that not all of the features are available; however, I think the Docs version would be sufficient for most individuals. In the field of education, Google Docs would also offer a better monitoring process for group projects than Microsoft words. Teachers could be added as collaborators and have the ability to log on to students projects to view which elements each group members edited. While this would be beyond the scope of what my students are currently able to do, I could see using Google Docs or Notebook to keep a parent-teacher communication notebook. It would eliminate the hassle of desperately scrambling to write notebooks at the end of the day and allow me the flexibility to do so after the school day is over. So while I felt very confident with Word before this class, I have explored new options and alternatives to enhance student learning.

Using the Presentation Program

2007-10-30T16:50:00.000-05:00

I used the coin activity that I designed using Empressr in my class yesterday (described in my last entry). While the students seemed to enjoy the activity, I could tell that they were wanting to be a more integral part of the presentation. They are definitely habituated to the interactive nature of most SMARTBoard activities, so while this activity met its objectives, I continue to feel as though there are better presentation programs to meet the needs of my students.

Presentation Programs

2007-10-28T20:22:00.000-05:00

I used Empressr to create this presentation on coins. While the application looked practical and easy to use from the site description, I found it to be extremely frustrating to use and not very user-friendly. I would not use it again! (Note: The graphics occasionally do not show up even though they are visible in the editing mode.) Text size could only be changed one line at a time when in the bullet function. Additionally, it took extremely long to load images and then load the presentation on the web. I found Google Docs to be much more user-friendly and possibly accessible to my students. I use SMARTTech's SMARTNotebook in my classroom on a daily basis. This program is a free download, is rather easy to use, and is very accessible to my students. It's like Power Point with many more bells and whistles (and a lot easier to use!). I much prefer SMARTNotebook to any of the sites which we explored in class.

Graphics Assignment

2007-10-24T19:38:00.000-05:00

I created this graphic using Mr. Picassohead. I used the resize, rotate, and color tools as well as the drag and drop features to portray the emotion of furious. As a K-2 special ed teacher, I could see using this graphics program to teach or reinforce social skills lessons on emotion recognition and identification. I like this particular program because it is accessible for my students. I explored ArtPad as well. ArtPad would not be accessible to my students unless we used it on the SMARTBoard or a touch screen due to the fine motor challenges that they possess. The playback feature would be a nice option for teaching drawing skills; however, it would need to be more of a demonstration mechanism than an option for allowing students to access technology.

Activities incorporating graphic design and visuals is usually a highly effective instructional strategy with my students as it taps into the visual-spatial intelligence, eliminates or reduces language demands, and is a highly motivating process for them.

Reflections on CED523

2007-10-21T14:37:00.000-05:00

Coming into this class, I truly felt like I had a good basic understanding of the Internet and World Wide Web. I knew how to do advanced searches, find decent instructional resources, and even use some software to put together a web page. Really, how much more could there be to learn? Within the first hour of class, my (suddenly) naive understanding of the web was being pushed to new limits. I was completely amazed at the plethora of resources which were easy to use and available for free!

As a resource teacher with very young children, many of the applications explored in class posed little relevance for my students. However, I challenged myself to find other practical applications to be used in my interactions with colleagues and parents. The most powerful time-management strategies I saw were Google Calendar and Google Docs. Calendar could allow us to schedule IEPs, the computer lab, field trips, and conference rooms. Docs could be used to keep collaborative documentation on students' progress towards goals, exchange ideas, and even more without the hassle of e-mailing files back and forth. Additionally, a Wiki could be used to share much of the same information but in a more public way. For instance, a Wiki could be used for us to share our Professional Learning Community (PLC) data and goals with everyone in our building or district. In this way, PLCs could group together collaboratively over the Internet, thus breaking group or building barriers typically put upon us by the constraints of the school day and meeting arrangement.

I also challenged myself to see the idea of a blog in a new light. Blogging could provide a medium through which I could post exceptional educational websites, share successful reinforcement strategies, and discuss other pertinent topics to parents of children with disabilities. This medium could provide a method of sharing the somewhat random ideas that often pop into my head and may be relevant but do not typically belong in an e-mail or notebook.

While this course was relatively short in duration, I felt like my knowledge of practical applications for the Internet grew immensely, constantly challenging me to see the Internet in a new light and find new ways to use an existing resource to extend my abilities as a teacher and collaborator.