Journal 10 E.C.

Mortensen, C. (2011). Mission possible: keys to one-to-one success. Learning & Leading with Technology, 39(2), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-august-2011.aspx


Mission Possible: Key to One-to-One Success: NETS-T 3/4


Mortensen, a teacher from a middle school in Pasadena, Texas went to see one-to-one in action at another middle school in El Paso, Texas. After the experience and seeing the success that the school in El Paso had, she decided to bring one-to-one to her school.One-to-one means every student has a laptop and uses technology to learn in the classroom.Mortensen knew that the teachers at her school wouldn't use one-to-one unless they saw it in progress and saw that it worked to educate the students. Thus, a demonstration was carried out for the other teachers to witness one-to-one in progress.Along with the training session the teachers need to be supported before during and after the  introduction of technology into their classroom. Next the teachers in the Pasadena school learned how to make digital curriculums as a whole and for each student. Mortensen is now using other technological tools in her class to keep her students engaged. 


Mission Possible: Keys to One-to-One discusses how integrating technology into the classroom gives each individual student their own laptop to use while using technological tools to learn. In order for all teachers to be on board the teachers have to see the program in motion and use it themselves before bring it to their students. The teachers also must be supported throughout the integration of technology into the classroom. Once this is done the teachers can bring in other technological tools to teach the students with: Wiki, blogs, and digital movies. 


I think bringing technology into the classroom is a great idea. It helps keep the students interested, it makes the classroom a place of excitement and it can lead to less disciplinary actions in the class and greater achievement by the students. Although technology could bring new challenges that teachers must face: learning how to use the material, making sure the students are doing work on the computer and not playing games, and keeping things safe and appropriate for all. If this can be monitored then technology in the classroom should be a successes. 


1. How can teachers implement one-to-one in the classroom?
First by making sure that the school is on board. Then have trainings where teachers and faculty learn about the new material and how to use it. Next everyone needs support throughout the process so that the transition of technology into the classroom is smoother. 


2. How can one-to-one or technology be apart of the faculties learning?
The faculty can use technology to send one another emails/memos. It can also be used to make lesson plans and the curriculum/individual curriculum, which can be sent to the students and their parents, as wells as manage class activities. 

Journal 9 Adaptive Technology!

AAC (Augmentative and Alternate Communication) : is a method for helping with communication. The AAC helps those without a voice to have a voice. It can be done electronically or through pictures and words. AAC devices reach their audience either through the help of voice output or through the use of pictures or simple sentences to help communicate with others.
NETS: 1, 2, 3, and 4

1. No/Low-Tec Tool-
 No/Low-Tec tools are the tools that don't  need a power source and help to facilitate with communication. An alphabet board is one such device that helps children with aphasia to communicate. It does this by spelling out answers or simply answering yes or no questions. The children who use the alphabet board do this by pointing to the pictures on the board. Once the child is able to use the images to spell out answers or answer yes or no questions the alphabet board can move the child forward and help the child to express their wants and needs. Using no/low-tec devices are inexpensive, easy to use, and can be personalized to the child's needs. No/low-tec devices are used for children with a limited vocabulary. The alphabet board  can be personalized for the child using it, so in the classroom it will help students learn how to spell and understand their vocabulary words. It allows the student to answer yes or no questions that the teacher can ask the child, thus, having the student participate in class. Later the students can use the alphabet board to express what they want like pencil or paper.


2. High-Tec Tool-
One AAC technological device that helps children with autism communicate is DynaVox V+ or DynaVox Express (the portable version). Both the DynaVox V+ and DynaVox Express  are  speech generating tools. The DynaVox V+/ Express help children with autism by helping the child select pictures, symbols, letters, words, or phrases to illustrate verbal communication. In some cases with the help of these two devices, some children have been able to develop natural speech. Due to the fact that the DynaVox Express is portable this tool can be used in the classroom.  For example, if the student with autism is in a teachers first grade class and the lesson is learning how to put a proper sentence together this student would be able to use DynaVox Express to put pieces of the sentences together. It may start with symbols or pictures, but with the help of DynaVox Express it will move into letters and then sentences and maybe even verbal words.

Accessibility (Hardware and software)
The ultimate goal is to transition children with special needs into the mainstream classroom. It doesn't matter if the child has mild, moderate, or saver disabilities, all are to be incorporated into the classroom. With technology in the classrooms there are some input devices to help students with special needs.

1. Hardware:
 Students who have saver motor disabilities where a mouse won't work can use switches. These switches work with the computer along with the software scanning program. The switches come in all shapes and sizes. The switches are also able to be used on multiple points on the body: foot, hand, head, eyebrow, and  mouth. One example is Eyetec SGD, it's an input device that students can use simply by the movement of their eyes. For instance, the child can either stare or blink, which acts as a click if you are using a mouse. This will help students control environments, play games, and synthesize speech.

2. Software:
A tool students can use is word prediction software. This software helps to limit the keystrokes a student needs to make a word. It does this by using the initial letter of a word that is typed and producing a list of possible words from the students history of words. To select the word that the student wants,  the student just needs to type in the number in front of the  selected word to have it appear. An example of this tool is buddy button, which students can use in the classroom to create essays, answer short answer questions on tests, and more.

Journal 6

Journal 6 - EH
"Student Voices for Change," by Shannon McClintock Miller NETS-T 1,2,3,4


McClintock Miller, S. (2011). Student voices for change. Learning & Leading with Technology,38(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-august-2011.aspx

The article, "Student Voices for Change,"  talks about Van Meter Community School and how it has become an inspirational  educational transformation school. Van Meter began its journey at a testimonial held for the Iowa House and Senate Education Appropriations Committee. Administration and students came and spoke in front of this committee about their one-one invite program and their virtual program. The article then gives examples from what the  students to the committee. One example is Marcous Benton, a tenth grader who talked about computer efficiency, workers language(CEWL). He used PREZI to explain student technology groups. Next in the article came the praises from the committee and other school groups.The main point of this article was that these students from 5th-12th grade were able to have a voice and that their voices are causing the change in education.


Van Meter Community School students are put into the one-one invite program. In this program each student receives a laptop to do all their work. Students create things like PREZI presentations, YouTube videos or have their own YouTube channel, blogging, skype, and twitter. Students also create 2D and 3D virtual projects. With the one-one invite program the students are given a voice. The students are able to express themselves, reflect on their work, collaborate with others, learn from their teaches, and teach their teachers. One program the school used to become the inspirational educational transformation school is CEWL (worker language). CEWL helps by starting to assist teachers and students with technology questions and integrating tools into the classroom. (Skype, iMovie, or Blog) All this tied together has formed students who are passionate about learning and teachers who are also life long learners. 


A statement in this article that really spoke to me was from the superintendent John Carver, when he said that the students are our greatest resources and then said that we(schools) today do not empower or listen to the students. Carver then went on to say that at Van Meter they believe that their students have a voice and they honor a persons passion and help to develop their strengths. This part of the article spoke to me because I believe it to be true. Every student should have a voice, be able to be passionate about learning, and receive support from their teachers and families. I find it sad that not all schools are trying to empower their students to strive to be their best. I plan on bringing what this article speaks about to my future classroom and hope that one day my students will be voices of today. 


1. How can students be given a voice in the classroom?
The teacher can allow the students to create projects like PREZI. Using PREZI the students can use their own individual creativity, and voice what they think. Also the teacher can have the class incorporated in class procedures, having the students voice what they want and need. The students then feel involved in the class. This can be done by setting goals and using a blog. The blog contributes to the students voice by keeping the students interested and engaged in class. Thus, the students want to learn and express themselves further.


2. What can be used for teachers just starting out with technology?
Teachers can use the CEWL program(Worker language). The CEWL program helps by answering questions for teachers and students and integrating digital tools into the classroom. (Skype or iMovie) Taking it one step at a time. 

Journal 8

    

  Ferrell, K. (2011). Find the truth about the pacific tree octopus. Learning & Leading with Technology,1(39), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-august-2011.aspx

 Find the Truth about the Pacific Tree Octopus NETS-T: 1,2, & 3

h   Finding the Truth about the Pacific Tree Octopus isn't actually about the Pacific Tree Octopus. It's about how a fourth grade class learned how to research information on the internet. Their teacher asked them to look up information about the octopus. The students' first instinct was to use google and click on the first web site google gave the students for information. The students came back with information that was highly inaccurate. The teacher then showed the students how to find the right sites and gather the right information.

    

    The fourth graders in this class decided that the first link that google search gave them was the best one to find information about Pacific Tree Octopus'. The information the students came back with sounded like this: "Christopher Columbus was born in 1951in Sydney, Australia," or "The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America." There were other examples just like these. After the teacher had a class discussion about the inaccurate findings, the students began to realize how wrong some of the information was. The teacher proceeded to show them the right way to search for information. The teacher told them to look for the 5w's: what, where, when who, and why. The teacher also described url suffixes: edu, gov., etc. The students then found sites with information that was accurate from teachers who created the sites for students. This lesson on searching for information, helped the students complete their projects correctly.

    I believe that teaching the correct use of the internet to find information through trial and error is a great strategy to have students learn first hand, rather then through written instruction. I believe this was a great way to teach his students because the students had to learn the hard way by going down the wrong path before finding the right one to find information. Thus, the students will never forget this lesson and the students will think twice before using the first thing that pops up.Doing it this way has a lasting impact on the students. 

   1. How can other teachers use this lesson in their own classrooms?

    Other teachers can use this lesson to start off the first project that requires research. Simply tell the students the topic and basic guidelines needed for the research project. From here the teachers can do what this teacher in the article did and have the whole class go over the information they found on the internet and see how accurate it is. Next, these teachers can perform whole class correction and show the students the right way of finding information on the internet.

   2. What are some correct ways of searching for accurate information on the web? 

    One correct method is looking at the suffixes in the url of a site. Some good suffixes to look for are edu or gov. Another way to make sure the site is accurate is to cross-reference it to other sites that have similar information. Finally, use the 5w's of what, where, who, when, and why, when looking up information on the internet. 

Creating My PLN!

Journal 7: Personal Learning Network (PLN)-EH
NETS- 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5


PLN stands for Personal Learning Network. With my own personal learning network I can gather information, collaborate with others, and gain life long learning. Such technological tools that contribute to my PLN that I've used are: Twitter, Diigo, Google Docs, Skype, and more.  I use my PLN to consult others who share similar interests and have discussion and comments between others near and far. A PLN helps me to connect with others through the world wide web by bringing the world to me by a click of a mouse. With my PLN I have another way to be a life long learner and to make the classroom, that I will one day teach in, more interesting.


Twitter 
Twitter is a social network that one can use in their PLN. Twitter allows me to take part in online chats with others who share my interest, it also allows me to gather information and collect it on my twitter account. In Twitter I am able to use hash tags to find others interested in a subject I'm interested in or find information on that subject. The five people who I decided to follow are : Dean Shareski a teacher, learner, and someone who try's not to take twitter too seriously. Heartteacher is a H.S. teacher, who likes art, education, and sports. Tiffany Della Vedova is an educator, runner, and mini mountain climber. Kendra Gilmore is a music teacher, coach, and likes to incorporate technology into the class. Lyn Hilt is an elementary school principle, technology integrator, coach, reader/writer, and likes connected learners. I choose all these people because I feel that I can learn something from them and because we share similar interests. I participated in 2ndchat on 7/25/11. Its a chat for second grade teachers. The discussion topic was about goole + and skype. The discussion talked about how goole + and skype can help second grade teachers connect and share ideas for their classrooms. Google + is a video chat between several people and skye is very similar. Two websites that people recommended were guide for skype: http://bitily/hov14 or skype for educators at http://t.co/zuwltkl. As I was watching the discussion reveal itself I noticed that it was going at a fast rate and I had a hard time keeping up or getting a word in. I ended up agreeing with someone and saying it sounded like a great idea. This only happened after three other people had tweeted, after the comment I originally wanted to reply to. It seems like a great way to bounce ideas off of others and get information for one's own classroom and teaching strategies.


Diigo 
Diigo is another social network or PLN that has helped me not only retrieve and share information, but it also bookmarks sites of interest and gives ideas for other relevant sites. I have used it to bookmark a few sites thus far, along with using tags, which allow me to go to other sites that pertain to that tag. I have used these bookmarks and tags to gather information and display it on my Diigo library for others to see and read. Therefore, I have created a information gathering cycle through networking with others who use Diigo. I am currently following these five people: Sylvia Martinez because she is interested in web2.0 which is finding facts fast, and wiki. Martinez also knows secrets about macs, which I would love to learn more about. Barnara Lindsey caught my eye because she knows about google+ , which I learned about in the 2ndchat on tweetchat. Also she is interested in twitter and classroom setup and procedures which I think all new or beginner teachers should know about. I decided to follow J. Black because like me she seems hands on. She is interested in design, photoshop, newsletters, which we did in class, and blogging. I choose Caroline Bucky because she knows about google apps which I'm trying to learn more about. She works in k-12 sites and I figured she would have good information for elementary school teachers and has lots of activities for the classroom. I decided to follow Julie Elmore because she is a science and linguistics elementary school teacher. I prefer art and english so I thought Elmore could help teach me things about science that I could use to teach my future students.
Tagged PLN on Diigo:
-Personal Learning Networks 101
- Comments 4 Kids
- English Companion 


 Digital Discussion Forums(Ning)

Visit The Educator's PLN
I decided to become a member of the Educators PLN. I had to become a member and be evaluated so that the site could check to see if I am a scammer or not. My membership is still pending. It is a Ning site, which is another collaborative site. I used it to find information through the videos that are on the site among the links and discussions it also has. I went to the videos on the site and  checked out, "What is Google+ (Google Plus) and do I need it?" In this video I learned about google+ and what some of its features are. Google+ is a social network, like Facebook. In google+ not everyone is your friend, rather contacts are grouped into circles.  From here I can choose what to share with each group (circle) and what not to share. It also groups together other google apps that may be interesting. Google+ also has the ability to do conference calls, or group video chats. I chose this to stick with the theme from my 2ndchat that I participated in on twitter. I discovered that this a tool that links to my PLN and a tool that I'd like to use and learn even more about. 

All About Me Survey!!!

Journal 4

Courduff, J. (2011). One size never fits all. Learning And Leading with Technology, 38(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/digital-edition-june-july-2011.aspx


Journal 4 NETS-T 1

“One Size Never Fits All,” is about integrating technology into the special education classroom. It talks about how Etiwanda School district in California is implementing technology into its schools. They are doing this by having the teachers trained in technology and giving them support and guidance once the teachers are back in their classroom. This article also gives steps on how to make technology reach more special education classrooms with tips, ideas, and examples.

In “One Size Never Fits All,” it gives specific examples of how to incorporate technology into the classroom. It says that teachers must be trained for at least three years in technology and what it can do for the classroom. From there the teacher will still need help once in the classroom to get it started, because of time constraint, student needs, and IEP goals among others. Thus, teachers need group mentoring, collaboration, and support to get technology off the ground in their classrooms. The article then discusses how its three tiers will help with this. Teachers will take part in hands on workshops to learn how to use Fusion Writers. The next tier talks about e-portfolios, which are then student lead conferences. Tier three explores teachers getting help face to face and digitally. It is time consuming, but the end result is worth it. Some of the technology tools one can use in a special education classroom is speech-to-text, which is a program that allows the student to talk to the computer and the computer writes what the student says. This can help with a student who needs help with writing, spelling, and grammar, making them comfortable and feel empowered. It then can go text-to-speech, which is where the student types and as their typing the computer says the word that is being typed.

In this article it sounds like special education doesn’t always receive the perks that other students receive. This article is trying to make this known and to get the perks into the special education classrooms. If I were to become a special education teacher I would definitely use speech-to-text with students who have a hard time in writing. I agree that it can be difficult to initially get technology started in the class, when one hasn’t been using it, but I also agree that it is possible and that collaboration and support will help it go a long way.

What can speech-to-text do in a special education classroom?

In a special education classroom, speech-to-text can help the students who struggle with writing, spelling, and grammar. It does this by allowing the student to speak into the computer and then the computer typing out the word that is being said. This will then boost the child’s confidents and hopefully give them the strength to do it on their own.

What kinds of things can special education teachers do to gain more knowledge of technology for their classroom?

The teachers can take a three year training course. This is followed up by group mentoring, collaboration, and support. Time must also be flexible, so the teachers should create short term and long-term goals to meet their technology goals.