The idea of creating a classroom website is exciting, but once you get over the thrill of the idea, it quickly becomes intimidating. Where to begin? What will be its main purpose? How will information be presented? Who will have access to the site and how secure will it be? What links and resources should the site include? So many factors to consider can make the development of a website very overwhelming.
Luckily, our text provides some good resources to help answer some of these questions. It offers both commercial and free software for web design. The Google Sites seems most user friendly and free. I think I would start with this basic set-up, with the purpose of my website as an interactive site for both students and parents. However, I am one who likes to keep it simple, so I would try not to get too overambitious.
The website would let parents access the class’s pictures (after obtaining permission for pictures, of course), homework, upcoming events and links to important parent resources. I would post links to parent support groups, or websites related students’ particular diagnoses. I would also use it for parents to contact me directly, keeping several lines of communication open.
The students would use the website to access their pictures, homework (in case they forget it), and as a starting place for any instruction using technology. In the lessons I have planned thus far this semester, I have the students connect to sites I have already read and approved. So instead of starting the browser and going though the favorites, they can just connect to links on the classroom site, which I would set as my home page. Eventually, they could begin to add and expand the pages on the site, creating their own cyberspace. I think this would be very motivating for some of my higher functioning students.
I would try to make it as user friendly as possible, using tips from experts. Why reinvent the wheel? Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox) is a great and simple link to avoid all those annoying little things about some websites. FindSounds - Search the Web for Sounds is a good tool to add sound to your webpage. Who wants a boring webpage?
I hope to get started soon on my classroom page. I just hope I can maintain it over the entire year. I have observed several teachers’ web pages in the last few years, and as the school year goes on, the updating happens less and less. I will endeavor to not let that happen.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Assignment 9: Diagrams, Maps and Webs
I use visual learning tools all the time. Being a special educator, the use of visual information to augment textual information is a crucial part of my instruction. As in my previous blog entry illustrated, the use of pictures, clipart and video can lead to a wide variety of activities and learning opportunities. These opportunities almost always begin with other visual representations, such as a Venn diagrams, writing and math graphic organizers, and outlines. These diagrams would help my students make connections to their reading, using prior knowledge and existing schema.
My fourth graders get introduced to outlining with several diagrams. We begin in content areas, such as social studies. In reading, I use storyboards, idea maps, and concept webs. These help my students make much needed connections to their reading- connections to the world, connections to other material read and connections to their own lives. Students brainstorm ideas on a simple chart, then they may use a map or web to categorize their ideas or connect those ideas to other ideas. For example, I’ll use a story web of a literary text we are reading to make a connection to another web we had created in social studies. However, because of either program limitations or my own, we had to print hard copies of both and connected them on a poster board instead of on the computer.
In fact, until a few years ago, I hand drew these graphics, failing to use the technology that was right in front of me. Since then, I have created several templates that I use frequently. But I still feel there is more I can do with these technological tools. The trouble lies with using the software. I can find it very difficult to use. I usually used a simple drawing or paint program, and manipulating the tools could be very frustrating. Objects would be hard to change once drawn. Lines and arrows would disappear. Formatting text and graphics together would be very time consuming. Forget trying to teach my students how to make their own. If I was having difficulty, then there was no way I could teach it effectively.
That’s why I would like to get more experience using programs such as Kidspiration. It seems much more user friendly. I could use it to create the graphic templates I employ repeatedly. I could teach my students how to make their own graphic organizers. Using visuals in lessons is an integral part of my program, and I am always looking for ways to enhance or improve this part of my direct instruction. It also provides simple ways to accommodate or modify format and style based on my student’s particular needs.
My fourth graders get introduced to outlining with several diagrams. We begin in content areas, such as social studies. In reading, I use storyboards, idea maps, and concept webs. These help my students make much needed connections to their reading- connections to the world, connections to other material read and connections to their own lives. Students brainstorm ideas on a simple chart, then they may use a map or web to categorize their ideas or connect those ideas to other ideas. For example, I’ll use a story web of a literary text we are reading to make a connection to another web we had created in social studies. However, because of either program limitations or my own, we had to print hard copies of both and connected them on a poster board instead of on the computer.
In fact, until a few years ago, I hand drew these graphics, failing to use the technology that was right in front of me. Since then, I have created several templates that I use frequently. But I still feel there is more I can do with these technological tools. The trouble lies with using the software. I can find it very difficult to use. I usually used a simple drawing or paint program, and manipulating the tools could be very frustrating. Objects would be hard to change once drawn. Lines and arrows would disappear. Formatting text and graphics together would be very time consuming. Forget trying to teach my students how to make their own. If I was having difficulty, then there was no way I could teach it effectively.
That’s why I would like to get more experience using programs such as Kidspiration. It seems much more user friendly. I could use it to create the graphic templates I employ repeatedly. I could teach my students how to make their own graphic organizers. Using visuals in lessons is an integral part of my program, and I am always looking for ways to enhance or improve this part of my direct instruction. It also provides simple ways to accommodate or modify format and style based on my student’s particular needs.
Assignment 8: Digital Imagery
I have used digital imagery in my classrooms for years; however, it has never been beyond simple decorations or representations. My students would use pictures from the web to decorate pamphlets or brochures they had designed on MS Publisher or Word. I also had them find clipart and pictures from the web and from program files to show representations of vocabulary words in content areas and in literary texts. Within the last few years, I have used digital images to represent steps in a process or classroom routine, putting them in daily schedules or checklists. My students were able to follow the class schedule, predict upcoming events and organize materials. I feel as if these strategies, especially the latter two, were enhancing my students’ learning, providing visual representations to help them understand and remember new concepts. I like encouraging my students’ use of these technologies because they almost never seem to practice these skills at home.
I think home is a great place to show your kids how to access digital images. All a household needs is a computer with an internet connection and a decent printer. Many reasonably priced models are photo printers/copiers. They can scan, copy, and print from computer files or directly from your memory card. There are also thousands of images on the internet to find. It seems to me that many parents are still uncomfortable with this technology and unsure how to use it at home. I have suggested to several parents at meetings that they could make checklists to help their children with executive functioning skills, using digital images to enhance the list. Also with my nonreaders, pictures alone represent the steps in the routine.
Getting images has never been much of and issue for me. I’ve used both photos and clipart in a variety of documents. I would also like to make more use of web cams and other applications like Google Earth. I have little experience with video and movie making. I would like to use this more in my classroom. Performing plays or recording presentations would greatly augment my instruction and enrich their experience.
I think home is a great place to show your kids how to access digital images. All a household needs is a computer with an internet connection and a decent printer. Many reasonably priced models are photo printers/copiers. They can scan, copy, and print from computer files or directly from your memory card. There are also thousands of images on the internet to find. It seems to me that many parents are still uncomfortable with this technology and unsure how to use it at home. I have suggested to several parents at meetings that they could make checklists to help their children with executive functioning skills, using digital images to enhance the list. Also with my nonreaders, pictures alone represent the steps in the routine.
Getting images has never been much of and issue for me. I’ve used both photos and clipart in a variety of documents. I would also like to make more use of web cams and other applications like Google Earth. I have little experience with video and movie making. I would like to use this more in my classroom. Performing plays or recording presentations would greatly augment my instruction and enrich their experience.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Technology and Teaching Children to Read (TTCR)
PBS Kids
PBS kids offer great games for learning. They are simply formatted, displayed with contrasting colors and give great feedback.
Starfall.com is a great website. I have used this site in the past with my low readers. Some pages are a little crowded, and my pose some tracking difficulties, but it offers very good phonics practice using word families, and word structure.
Teacher Tap has some great audio of stories online. It contains text formatted so it is easy on the eyes and audio so low readers can follow along. It has a large selection so teachers can make connections across the curriculum.
The power point presentation identified the factors in effective teaching of reading and illustrated ways to use technology to aid instruction.
PBS kids offer great games for learning. They are simply formatted, displayed with contrasting colors and give great feedback.
Starfall.com is a great website. I have used this site in the past with my low readers. Some pages are a little crowded, and my pose some tracking difficulties, but it offers very good phonics practice using word families, and word structure.
Teacher Tap has some great audio of stories online. It contains text formatted so it is easy on the eyes and audio so low readers can follow along. It has a large selection so teachers can make connections across the curriculum.
The power point presentation identified the factors in effective teaching of reading and illustrated ways to use technology to aid instruction.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Assignment #7: Spreadsheets
The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education website was full of interesting collaborative research projects. They seemed very interesting and easy to implement. They make you a little nervous with the requirements links, but the organizers just want to make sure you are committed to finishing the project.
The projects themselves can be applied to multiple grade levels. There are both secondary and elementary projects. In reading about them, they seem to be easy to maintain once the initial footwork has been done. A teacher would need to make the data collection a regular part of the classroom routine. This opens the door for a wide variety of application opportunities. A variety of reading, expressive, and math skills could be modeled, practiced or perfected. Collecting data; recording and interpreting results; writing conclusions; publishing and posting results using presentation software and web tools; comparing and contrasting data from around the world are only the beginning of the many skills that could be incorporated into the class’ participation.
The Franklin Institute had some good sites linked to show how to incorporate spreadsheets into your classroom. Some links did not work, but many did. They can be a little hard to read, but the step by step instructions given seem easy to follow. The timeline applications were a good introductory activity for spreadsheet use.
The site also had some good instructions for making graphs and charts. Some instructions had visuals to go with the written directions. Those were easier to use for me. If it’s easier for me, then I’ll better be able to explain it to my students. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Navigation from link to link was easy enough, but some pages were not printer friendly. Printing some directions would take a lot of ink.
Finally, I reviewed the site linked to Interactive Spreadsheets. I liked this site because it was simple and user friendly. It showed how to create and use interactive spreadsheets. I had no idea they could be used this way. I had never seen them applied this way. Students could respond to math, reading and language questions in the spreadsheet and it will tell them if their response was correct. A teacher could create a variety of activities on multiple levels. It’s true that it would take some work to establish, but once a number of templates were created, they could be tweaked as needed. The website also has several examples whose links still work, so that helps in not “reinventing the wheel”.
I found this review very educational. I discovered whole new uses for spreadsheets. I liked the interactive activities and the visual stimuli they could generate.
The projects themselves can be applied to multiple grade levels. There are both secondary and elementary projects. In reading about them, they seem to be easy to maintain once the initial footwork has been done. A teacher would need to make the data collection a regular part of the classroom routine. This opens the door for a wide variety of application opportunities. A variety of reading, expressive, and math skills could be modeled, practiced or perfected. Collecting data; recording and interpreting results; writing conclusions; publishing and posting results using presentation software and web tools; comparing and contrasting data from around the world are only the beginning of the many skills that could be incorporated into the class’ participation.
The Franklin Institute had some good sites linked to show how to incorporate spreadsheets into your classroom. Some links did not work, but many did. They can be a little hard to read, but the step by step instructions given seem easy to follow. The timeline applications were a good introductory activity for spreadsheet use.
The site also had some good instructions for making graphs and charts. Some instructions had visuals to go with the written directions. Those were easier to use for me. If it’s easier for me, then I’ll better be able to explain it to my students. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Navigation from link to link was easy enough, but some pages were not printer friendly. Printing some directions would take a lot of ink.
Finally, I reviewed the site linked to Interactive Spreadsheets. I liked this site because it was simple and user friendly. It showed how to create and use interactive spreadsheets. I had no idea they could be used this way. I had never seen them applied this way. Students could respond to math, reading and language questions in the spreadsheet and it will tell them if their response was correct. A teacher could create a variety of activities on multiple levels. It’s true that it would take some work to establish, but once a number of templates were created, they could be tweaked as needed. The website also has several examples whose links still work, so that helps in not “reinventing the wheel”.
I found this review very educational. I discovered whole new uses for spreadsheets. I liked the interactive activities and the visual stimuli they could generate.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Word Processors in My Classroom
Using a word processor in a special education classroom at the elementary level can be a very challenging task. The students have a wide variety of needs. It takes quite a bit of research and a crowbar in the school department’s budget to find appropriate software or hardware to best meets these needs. But as far as word processing goes, I have had experience with integrating it into my instruction in several different ways.
First, when word processors came out in the early 80’s and into the 90’s, I used them to motivate students to publish their writing pieces. I still use them for this purpose. It can be a very enticing tool, especially for kids who do not have access to technology. Soon, I began to use the programs to teach editing skills, making changes based on edit marks.
As programs improved and features were added, I could adapt them in different ways in my classroom. For example, Word Perfect introduced a highlighting feature. I would use it to have students select all the nouns, verbs, etc. I could also use it to leave comments on my more advanced students’ pieces.
I have also used other kinds of software, such as Zoomtext to enlarge the screen and read text for visually impaired students. Click and Type is a free download that puts the keyboard in alphabetical order and lets the student type with the mouse.
Hardware, such as waterproof keyboards and boards with larger keys have been valuable tools in the past. They can be easy to break or wear out, so their effectiveness is inconsistent.
Currently, I use word processors for the students writing pieces, symbol matching, copying text, and simple publishing. My more advanced students will insert pictures from saved files or from the internet. They also are learning to use text boxes and format text style, font, borders and color.
I like to use them daily, but time and lack of equipment make it difficult. I would also like to get them to create hyperlinks in their pieces, as well as showing them how to use them for note taking. And seeing shows like Digital Nation and the prevalence of computers in classrooms, I think my students will be behind if they can not utilize the technology.
First, when word processors came out in the early 80’s and into the 90’s, I used them to motivate students to publish their writing pieces. I still use them for this purpose. It can be a very enticing tool, especially for kids who do not have access to technology. Soon, I began to use the programs to teach editing skills, making changes based on edit marks.
As programs improved and features were added, I could adapt them in different ways in my classroom. For example, Word Perfect introduced a highlighting feature. I would use it to have students select all the nouns, verbs, etc. I could also use it to leave comments on my more advanced students’ pieces.
I have also used other kinds of software, such as Zoomtext to enlarge the screen and read text for visually impaired students. Click and Type is a free download that puts the keyboard in alphabetical order and lets the student type with the mouse.
Hardware, such as waterproof keyboards and boards with larger keys have been valuable tools in the past. They can be easy to break or wear out, so their effectiveness is inconsistent.
Currently, I use word processors for the students writing pieces, symbol matching, copying text, and simple publishing. My more advanced students will insert pictures from saved files or from the internet. They also are learning to use text boxes and format text style, font, borders and color.
I like to use them daily, but time and lack of equipment make it difficult. I would also like to get them to create hyperlinks in their pieces, as well as showing them how to use them for note taking. And seeing shows like Digital Nation and the prevalence of computers in classrooms, I think my students will be behind if they can not utilize the technology.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Assignment #5: Webquests
Webquest 1: 3rd grade level
Webquest 2: 3-5th grade Social Studies
I found these webquests for my particular grade level, but it was not without a lot of trying. The Webquest site is not very user friendly. I found the search feature to be hit or miss as far as locating subject matter. Also, there is no database I could find to access to see a listing of available webquests. Furthermore, if the webquest is more than a year old, many of the links do not work, so they must be double checked before using.
All in all a great tool to use, but it requires a lot of research by the teacher first.
Webquest 2: 3-5th grade Social Studies
I found these webquests for my particular grade level, but it was not without a lot of trying. The Webquest site is not very user friendly. I found the search feature to be hit or miss as far as locating subject matter. Also, there is no database I could find to access to see a listing of available webquests. Furthermore, if the webquest is more than a year old, many of the links do not work, so they must be double checked before using.
All in all a great tool to use, but it requires a lot of research by the teacher first.
Assignment #4: Portfolio comparison/contrast
Portfolios, for me, began years ago. The use of portfolios as an assessment tool is not a new one, but now in the digital age, it has begun to reassert itself as an effective assessment tool. Back when I first began compiling a print-based portfolio, it was very difficult to gather all the needed pieces. Today, however, students of all ages can easily combine media types and develop well rounded digital portfolios.
I am speaking of working portfolios of course. Those used to gather artifacts to document a teacher’s or student’s progress toward meeting performance standards. I have experience using a working portfolio as an assessment tool for my students. The RI Alternate Assessment began as a print-based assessment portfolio, and then progressed to digital media as a way to generate the print-based assessment. I hope they move to completely digital soon because keeping track of all of the pages and corresponding artifacts can be difficult. Items can be lost or misfiled and cost the student a good score because of a paperwork error.
I am speaking of working portfolios of course. Those used to gather artifacts to document a teacher’s or student’s progress toward meeting performance standards. I have experience using a working portfolio as an assessment tool for my students. The RI Alternate Assessment began as a print-based assessment portfolio, and then progressed to digital media as a way to generate the print-based assessment. I hope they move to completely digital soon because keeping track of all of the pages and corresponding artifacts can be difficult. Items can be lost or misfiled and cost the student a good score because of a paperwork error.
I have never had to build a showcase portfolio, which is used to promote oneself into gainful employment. I feel like I’ve missed getting in on the ground floor of a new technology, because now the trend is moving in the digital direction, and I have a very limited experience with the tools needed to even make the most basic presentation. It is one of the primary reasons I enrolled in a class with a focus on technology.
Assignment #2
Classroom Organization Resources
This website contains many useful links to other websites. While some may require a fee, others contain a variety of free information and teacher resources. I found a bullying archive that had step-by-step interventions at school, classroom, and individual levels. In addition, some organizational tools on another site could help keep my students work and materials in order. I also found some good tips for room arrangement that could provide a more effective configuration. Finally, I found a great link to a website that generates very useful project based checklists that I will use to create rubrics. I will also generate some for my students to evaluate their own or their peers work.
Education World
This site is full of units that cross all areas of the curriculum. I could use these as a whole, or use selected pieces, such as some charts, graphs and timelines to enhance my own lessons or my students’ progress. Another website with easy science experiments using common school objects would help meet district requirements. Another link led me to a variety of free lesson plans. Finally, I found a place value lesson that would provide a change of pace to my “usual” delivery.
New Horizons
This site has many good resources for teachers and parents of children with special needs. I found a great link that shows 55 ways to manage a “tough” class. It could very useful in planning environment, interventions, peer and teacher interactions. I found an article providing examples of how some networked computers could guide instruction in many areas, not just reading. Finally, I located an article that explained some approaches that will be helpful in working with a student I have that has a spectrum disorder.
This website contains many useful links to other websites. While some may require a fee, others contain a variety of free information and teacher resources. I found a bullying archive that had step-by-step interventions at school, classroom, and individual levels. In addition, some organizational tools on another site could help keep my students work and materials in order. I also found some good tips for room arrangement that could provide a more effective configuration. Finally, I found a great link to a website that generates very useful project based checklists that I will use to create rubrics. I will also generate some for my students to evaluate their own or their peers work.
Education World
This site is full of units that cross all areas of the curriculum. I could use these as a whole, or use selected pieces, such as some charts, graphs and timelines to enhance my own lessons or my students’ progress. Another website with easy science experiments using common school objects would help meet district requirements. Another link led me to a variety of free lesson plans. Finally, I found a place value lesson that would provide a change of pace to my “usual” delivery.
New Horizons
This site has many good resources for teachers and parents of children with special needs. I found a great link that shows 55 ways to manage a “tough” class. It could very useful in planning environment, interventions, peer and teacher interactions. I found an article providing examples of how some networked computers could guide instruction in many areas, not just reading. Finally, I located an article that explained some approaches that will be helpful in working with a student I have that has a spectrum disorder.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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