Journal 9: Assistive Technology

   (NETS-T 2, 3, and 4)

     AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. It is used for people with severe communication disabilities and allows for more interpersonal and social interaction, and easier participation in employment, education, volunteering etc. There are numerous tools out there to help with communication so that people with disabilities can have a higher quality of life. They can be non-technical (like pictures  that show what is being communicated) or high-tech (text to speech, speech to text, and more).
    
     A great tool that is non-technical that helps with communication is the use of pictures. The website Do2Learn.com has ready to print picture cards that are grouped together in categories such as Social, Safety, Self-help, Activities, Calendar, and Home and School. Under the Social Category, there is a behavior page, and an emotion page. Some self-help examples are toileting, clothes, personal care, and more. For safety, there is fire safety, street safety, and safety signs. For activities, there are everyday activities and leisure. For home and school, the subcategories are home, school, and food. for Calendar, the subcategories are holidays, summer, and days & weather. This is a great resource because there are so many pictures available. There are 34 pictures just in the Toileting section. They can be printed as full-size coloring pages, in two-inch sizes with or without words, and in one-inch sizes with or without words. Printed and cut out, these can be used singly or grouped together. Ways to use these pictures include schedules to organize activities, strips to tell a story, and individual cards exchanged with another person as a form of visual talking. For students who do not speak, they can show pictures of what they are trying to say, or for students who do not understand language very well, seeing a picture can be very helpful in understanding what someone else is trying to tell them.

     A high-tech tool that is very useful for communication if the TextSpeak Large Keyboard. It is suited to aid voice impaired individuals because when typing, it generates speech out of speakers. The keyboard is twice as large as a regular one so it is easy to see the keys and does not require as much hand-eye coordination. Another great thing about this device is that it does not require a computer, yet still can transfer an unlimited vocabulary to speech! It is portable, has male and female voices and can have 30 programmable phrases that are used frequently, so that not as much typing is required.  It can be taken anywhere because it is light and battery operated, but would be ideal in a school setting where a student is not able to speak, but might not want to use pictures. The speed of speech and volume of speech can be manipulated. In a classroom, this is useful for students who are learning to type, and allows them to be heard without them actually having to speak. 

     A useful hardware for accessibility in the classroom is the IntelReader, which is about the size of a paperback book and weighs just over a pound. This amazing technology is a device that has a high resolution camera that is used to take pictures of printed text, and then converts it into digital text, which is then read aloud to the student.  This easy to use technology is great for students who are visually impaired, or are struggling readers. This allows students to read any printed resource, whether it be a library book of their choice, magazine, or a book assigned for the class. The student can even use the IntelReader to take pictures of printed out instructions from the teacher for any assignment they are doing. All it takes is to point, shoot, and listen to the device read the printed text. The buttons are easy to locate, and the menus are straightforward enough for students to learn to use with only limited help from an adult.

     Another awesome tool that helps with  accessibility for special needs students is the software called ZacBrowser. It is the first internet browser developed specifically for students living with autism or variants of autism. It was created for a specific boy, Zackary, who was always frustrated with computers, especially the right hand click on a mouse, and having to minimize and maximize pages in order to see the task bar. With the new browser, ZacBrowser, the functions are limited to only essential ones, so as to avoid confusion. Since students with autism have been known to respond well to pictures (PECS), they created an icon based navigation system, and also blocked inappropriate sites. It is colorful, kid-friendly and free! Additionally, it is offered in English, Spanish, and French. It is compatible with MACs, PSs, laptops, netbooks, touchscreens, and tablets. It is a more simple, and safer way for students with autism to search the web, as well as play games and be entertained with computers. It can be used in classrooms as a way for all students, not just ones with autism, to search the web.

Journal 8: Find the Truth About the Pacific Tree Octopus

(NETS-T 2)

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

In the article "Find the Truth about the Pacific Tree Octopus", Kieth Ferrell describes a great lesson he gave his fourth grade class on searching the web. He gave the students two options on how to approach the assignment. Students were to search either “The Tree Octopus” or “All About Explorers” and then share their findings with the class. They were to search the exact phrases in the quotes. He states that most of the students went right on to Google and used the first link that came up (Ferrell, 2011) Some of the "facts" the students discovered on the topic of exploration were: "Christopher Columbus was born in 1951 in Sydney, Australia", " Marco Polo, Bill Gates, and Sam Walton helped finance Magellan’s expedition to the Spice Islands", and "Lewis and Clark were inspired to become world-famous explorers after being mesmerized by the stunning color photographs in National Geographic magazine." (Ferrell, 2011). On the topic of the tree octopus, the "facts" the students found were: "The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests of the Olympic Peninsula on the west coast of North America", "Unlike most other cephalopods, tree octopuses are amphibious, spending only their early life and the period of their mating season in their ancestral aquatic environment", and "Tree octopuses have eyesight comparable to humans" (Ferrell, 2011). After some discussion, the students realized what they had found were not real facts at all. The students were shocked that websites could look so real but not post the truth, and these sites were the first ones to come up on Google. The discussion ended with the teacher telling students to "[use] the '5 Ws'— who, what, when, where, and why—[to look] for URL suffixes (.edu, .gov, etc.), and [how] to double-check sources" (Ferrell, 2011). Ferrell thinks that this lesson will truly stick with the students as they search the web because of the reality check they experienced when finding wrong information.

QUESTION 1: Why is this lesson more effective than a simple lecture about how to navigate the internet?
Students will likely remember what they learned better because they actually went out and did research that they thought was good until they discussed it and noticed its flaws. Having had the experience of actually getting erroneous information, students will remember the right way to go about researching to avoid being in the same situation again.

QUESTION 2: Would I incorporate this lesson in one of my classes?
I would like to do a similar lesson, but I have concerns on how it might go over in a kindergarten class. I have never heard of students that young searching the internet in a classroom, let alone on Google. This might be a little too advanced so another way to do this might be for me to demonstrate it as if I am one of the fourth grade students who is unaware in the beginning but then realizes the mistakes I made.

Journal 7: Creating my PLN

(NETS-T 3, 4, and 5)

    A PLN is a "personal learning network". It is a way of using social networking to increase your professional development. A way to have your questions answered, as well answer other people's questions. It is a way to keep up with developments in your field by following blogs, using social bookmarking such as Diigo, and following people's Twitter streams, and participating in conversations and chats on Twitter. Other things that could contribute to a PLN could be digital discussion forums such as Educators PLN or even email. The amount of resources available through PLNs is endless. My personal learning network includes Twitter, Diigo and the Educators PLN.

     Twitter is one of the best ways to connect with people who share your interests. You can simply follow them and see what interesting thinks they post that might be helpful for you and once you feel comfortable, you can start having conversations with people who you "follow".  The people that I follow are all interested in education, as I am. However, unlike me, they actually are teachers in the field and therefore have great resources for me to explore. First, I follow Angelyn Cheathan from Texas who is a  "Lover of all things technology and ways to use it in elementary education". She post several interesting links daily and has hundreds of followers that would also be beneficial for me to follow as well. I chose to follow her because I, too, want to teach at the elementary level. The next person I follow is Lorraine Mulick, whose biography states: "Elementary Education; Research; Ed. Policy; SPED; Change Agent; Leadership Acquisition; I care about education; My greatest achievement is student success." She posts so many great tweets about how teaching values, life skills and forming relationships are just as important as learning the basic standards such as the ABC's. I agree with her and enjoy seeing these posts. I also follow Mr.Nesi, a social studies teacher, because social studies is my favorite subject. Another person I follow is Suzie Nestico. She is an aspiring principal currently teaching kids and is a Flat Classroom Certified Teacher. I was attracted to her page because she has over a thousand followers.The last person I follow is Matthew Nathan whose bio reads: "Analysis and perspective on the intersection of K-12 education, policy, research and business". I chose to follow him because he offers a different perspective (policy and business) on education, compared to most of the teachers that I follow who post ideas that are useful in the classroom.

     Another great aspect of Twitter is participating in educational chats. The chat that I participated in (or more accurately, lurked in) was #edtech. I chose to participate in this chat because it is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so it fit well with my schedule. I participated twice, first on Thursday, July 28th, and again on Tuesday, August 2nd, both in the middle of the afternoon. Also, I  was sure that it would fit with everything I had been learning in this ED422 class. I was right! Though the format of the chat was different than I expected (I expected more of a "conversation" between people), it was still very informative. I was a little surprised how it was just people basically posting links related to the topic, but nonetheless, I was directed to some great resources through this chat. I saw several posts about ipads and the fun apps and games that can be used on them, 1-1 initiatives, and then a lot of posts about blogging, which seems to be a very widespread technology in classrooms recently.

On Diigo, a social bookmarking website, I follow Casey Mayfield, an 11th and 12th grade teacher who is passionate about using technology in the job that she loves. I also follow Melinda Waffle, an educational technology consultant, Steve Moore, an excited new teacher that is bursting at the seams with enthusiasm for education, Tracy Seyb, an elementary K-5 technology teacher interested in exploring the vast resources for my kiddos that are out there on the internet, and Sylvia Martinez, who does not have a bio but bookmarks several useful technology websites and blogs. Along with people in my network, I also have a library with blogs and websites related to technology, education, and of course, PLNs. A few examples of items in my library include, "Cybraryman Internet Catalog", which I tagged under PLN, because it relates to twitter chats. I also tagged the website "The Educators PLN" under PLN (of course). Another item that I have tagged with PLN is "How to Use Twitter to Grow Your PLN" on Edutopia. The use of tags is helpful so that anytime I want to find something that I bookmarked that relates to PLNs, I just have to click on my PLN tag and everything I have ever tagged with it will appear. This resources saves a lot of time and is a very helpful organizer of online resources.

     The last part of my PLN is the Digital  Discussion Forum (Ning) called The Educators PLN. On this website, members of the PLN can message each other, read blogs, watch videos and more related to education. One video I watched on this website was titled "Karen Cator on Cyberbullying". In this video, Karen Cator, the Director of the Office of Educational Technology in the U.S. Department of Education, talks about how all of the tragic events related to cyberbullying are a call to action. Adults need to give students wisdom about digital citizenship. There needs to be a way for everyone who is online to know what is appropriate and what is not. Students need to know that the effects of cyberbullying are amplified compared to "playground bullying", and more importantly, that what they put on the internet will stay with them for life. A video they made about a classmate can always be resurfaced and can cost them a job. She is in favor of a campaign in this country to teach digital citizenship to all.