Sunday, December 5, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Tools that can be used by ELL students
This site contains a 150,000 word database and makes personalized spelling tests for the individual learner.
LearnThatWord provides a faster and more effective solution to commit words to long-term memory. The site takes into consideration multiple learning styles: Students can listen to related audio files word pronunciation, sample sentences as often as needed in order to fully absorb a word's spelling and meaning. Parents and teachers can log onto the LearnThatWord site to review a student's progress, see which words have been mastered and which need more work.
Technology to Assist English Language Learners
The article gives a great example of students who used laptops and the students were able to communicate with them. This allowed the students to practice their use of the new language and also work together and complete an assignment. There are many form of technology that will be able to assist student who are English Language Learners, finding one just takes knowing your students and the most effective way to teach them.
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te800.htm
Mod 12 Assissting English Language Learners
However, some would argue that although software might be effective and very helpful,teachers may not have the right training to use the web or computer to assist English Language Learners. But technology can serve as a great aid. Take for example Margaret Hawkins, a professor as University of Wisconsin. She believes that the use of technology for English Langauge Learners is happening outside of the classroom, such as online games, chat rooms and other Web based interactions. Technology is making an incredible impact on students who are English Language Learners, making it easier for them to be part of a classroom and not feel as if they are just a body in a desk. Technology is a great way to bridge the gap between English Language Learners and students who already speak English.
www.edutopia.org/technology-software-english-language-learners
Friday, November 19, 2010
Kasey Vice: “The Word and the World: Technology Aids English-Language Learners”
The article, “The Word and the World: Technology Aids English-Language Learners”, provides an insight on what technologies help English Language Learners and how these technologies can help these students. The article begins by analyzing the ELL students of Cinnabar Elementary School in Petaluma, California who make up half the school’s population. The lead teacher for the Cinnabar Elementary School ELL program recommends using technology for ELL students to provide “structured one-on-one English practice” to engage ELL students. The technology that Cinnabar Elementary uses includes Read Naturally and Rosetta Stone. Read Naturally is a multimedia reading program that helps students become fluent in the English language. Rosetta Stone is a language-learning software that helps students associate pictures with words and gradually advances to vocabulary building and sentence structure to offer the students a challenge.
This article also discusses the rise in population of English Language Learners. It is predicted that by 2015 one in three American students will be English Language Learners. With the rise in numbers schools are beginning to prepare for influx by strategizing ways to fill this gap. It is said that schools are looking to technology as the answer since the increasing number of students outweighs financial and human resources, such as ELL teachers.
http://www.edutopia.org/technology-software-english-language-learners
Technological Tools for Assisting English Language Learners
All three of these English learning strategies can be applied directly to the classroom and the teacher can provide the needed assistance to his/her students as the students visit these online websites that can further enhance their English learning. The teacher should visit these websites prior to displaying them to their students and familiarize themselves with the material so that they can better assist their students with any help that they may need while they are exploring the English language.
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=10516
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Technological Tools for Assisting Students with Special and/or Diverse Needs and Noting the Specific Learning Outcomes for each Technology
Powerpoint presentations are another method if assisting students with special needs to understand lessons in smaller amounts at a time with visual stimulation to assist with the learning of a lesson.
One of the advantages of online learning is that it can be customized to those who have special needs and assist them with their lesson.
http://www.suite101.com/content/e-learning-solutions-for-special-needs-teaching-a242287
www.brighthub.com/education/special/articles/27704.aspx
Tania's Podcast
wesites highlighting technological tools for assisting students with special or diverse needs
Technological Tools for Assisting Students with Special Needs
This site specializes in computer adaptations and builds custom software solutions for children with disabilities. The product that they highlight is called vocalize, it’s a speech assistant that was developed with speech impaired persons to enable them to speak in a friendly human voice using standard computer equipment. Voice-enabled communication boards, as well as cognitive rehabilitation tools adapted to the special needs of the disabled are also products offered by this site. Included on the page is a “describe your needs” tab where one can characterize the impairment or disability, and the site will offer the technology best suited in order to aid and compensate for this disability. I found this very interesting due to the recent visit I made to Pine Ridge Middle School. In one class, a student was using a device for augmentative alternative communication. This particular student would not be able to communicate his needs without this device.
Mod 11 Assistive Technology for Children with Autsim
Another great piece of software they could use is called Picture This. This allows a more concrete representation and has over 2,700 photos to choose from. Children with Autsim can use low technology, mid technolgoy or high technology. Depending on the severity of their autism they may choose to use different products. In high technology this is were they would use technology such as cameras, computers and adaptive hardwar. There is new technology being created everyday to assist children with autsim and this has made it much easier for not only the child but the teacher as well.
www.specialed.us/autsim/asst10.htm
Module 11-Technological Tools for Assisting Students with Special and/or Diverse Needs and Noting the Specific Learning Outcomes for each Technology
There are many technological tools to help students with special or diverse learning needs. In my opinion it should be known that technology does not cure or remedy the learning disability but rather allow a person with a learning disability to demonstrate and apply his intelligence and knowledge. Word processors can assist students with Dyslexia. A learner that struggles with reading can use reading systems, which allow text on screen (document, web page, or email) to be read aloud through the computer's sound card. A talking calculator is an appropriate tool for people with Dyscalculia, a learning disability that affects mathematics skills. Not all assistive is computer-based. Common office supplies such as Post-It Notes and highlighter pens provide elegantly simple means of sorting and prioritizing thoughts, ideas, and concepts. It is noted that tools that are made by a person with learning disabilities usually provide the most effective and comfortable accommodations for learning.
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Stem/articles?71
Sean Stathas' Podcast
This podcast describes two websites that relate to the topic of assistive technology.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Sean's Blog for Technological Tools for Assisting Students with Special Needs
Rehabtool.com provides a wide variety of search options that one can browse when looking for an assisting tool. They simply ask that one describes the specific needs for the individual and then this website will help search for the best assisting tool that will meet those needs. They are a proud member of the Alliance for Technology Access and they do their best to ensure the greatest productivity for all special needs individuals.
http://www.rehabtool.com/
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Kasey Vice's Podcast
This podcast discusses two articles found on the Internet about Assistive Technology.
Kasey Vice: Assertive Technology for student's with learning disabilities
Assistive technology (AT) is used to help individuals with various types of disabilities. These disabilities can range anywhere from cognitive problems to physical impairment. Assistant technology helps students focus on his or her strengths so they can reach their maximum learning potential. An example used in the article discusses how a student that has trouble reading might benefit from listening to audio books instead. It can be said that assistive technologies have the capabilities to compensate for a deficit of the student’s skills. Assistive technologies can assist a student in various subjects. Listening, math, organization and memory, reading, and writing skills can all be addressed when working with assisting technologies. Some assisting technologies include electronic math worksheets, personal FM listening systems, portable word processors, and talking calculators. Keep in mind that these are only a few of the numerous assisting technologies that are available to students with learning disabilities.
When purchasing assistive technologies, there are some key factors consumers should keep in mind. Some of these factors include the setting the AT will be used in, if the AT is simple to learn how to operate or not, and if there is technical support is available for the AT device. As for the setting, the consumer should think about where the AT will be used and stored either at home or in the classroom. The consumer should also keep in mind that the AT should be fairly easy to operate and come with step-by-step instructions to show the user how to operate the device bought. If there is potential for confusion on operating, the consumer should also consider the availability of technical support that they can call with operating questions.
http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/assistive-technology/assistive-technology-for-kids-with-learning-disabilities-an-overview.gs?content=702
http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/assistive-technology/evaluating-consumer-AT-products.gs?content=783
Saturday, October 16, 2010
National Educational Resource
This website provides access to national level education data. Although it just provides a summary of the data, it does provide descriptions of the study. Other information provided included data tools, figures, tables, and surveys.
hcl.harvard.edu
Mod 7 Websites Providing Test Data from National, State and Local Educational Resources
Information about other things pertaining to the classroom are also posted on this cite.Such as General Information sources and Search able databases. This is a web page I would recommend to teachers who have questions about which web pages to browse and use when searching for test data for educational purposed. I think not only is it a good page to look over, but a page that may benefit those who are unaware of how to use test data and apply it to their everyday use.
http://www/datacenter.org/research/education.htm
Mod 5 As an Educator How can You Evaluate Software and Hardware tools Used for Instructional Purposes
Common Wealth of Learning not only offers clear and concise information about learning objectives, but also gives great information about copyrighting and licensing. This webpage also offers feedback as well as case studies for teachers to view. This is absolutely a webpage I would recommend to any teacher, new or old. This is a page that teachers could learn from and apply to their everyday lesson plans.Common Wealth of Learning offere teachers simple guidelines that they can use when trying to reach all different types of learners. Definitely, a webpage that should be looked over and applied while in the classroom.
http://www.col.org/resources/publications/trainingresources/knowledge/Pages/designLO.aspx
Test Data from Georgia State Department of Education
The Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT)
Stacie Staple
Since I am from Georgia and I graduated from a Georgia public high school this testing data is somewhat important and personal for me. The purpose of the GHSGT is to provide information and statistics on the strengths and areas that need improvement for Georgia High School. The passing of the all sections of the test is required for graduation and the issuance of a diploma.
If you are unable to pass the test which include subject areas in english/ language arts, math, science, social studies and a writing assessment, but have met all other graduation requirements, rather than a diploma the student will be issued a “Certificate of Performance;” however the student may retake the test an infinite number of times after the issuance of a Certificate of Performance has been issued to earn a diploma.
From a students that was required to take and pass the test and now as an adult conducting research on the test; I find the test very valuable and beneficial. It is a great tool to measure the overall academic success of the students as well as provide accountability methods for administrators to access the educators. The GHSGT was found to meet nationally recognized professional and technical standards for assessment programs.
http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_testing.aspx?PageReq=CI_TESTING_GHSGT
Friday, October 15, 2010
Sean's Post on Test Data for Educators
Once a school is chosen for data analysis, the website provides the following ratings: overall quality, teacher quality, extracurriculars, school safety, after school programs, as well as special needs programs. State scores for the subjects of reading and math are also provided and the proficiency of these test scores over the past five years is given in the form of a line graph. In addition to test scores, classroom profile data is also given in regards to the student per teacher ratio, enrollment total, and the various ethnicity percentages throughout the entire school.
schoolmatters@ccsso.org
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Kasey Vice: Websites Providing Test Data from National, State, and Local Educational Resources
The National Center for Educational Statistics conducts the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, which provides feedback of student assessment throughout the United States. The NAEP assesses students in various subject areas such as mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history. The test used for the given subject area is uniform throughout the country and changed only ever so slightly to ensure that the results show academic progress successfully.
The NAEP link also informs that state assessments began in the 1990’s and only test in four major subject areas: mathematics, reading, writing, and science for fourth and eighth graders in public schools only (both public and private schools are assessed nationally). The results of state assessments can be viewed using the “State Profiles tool” located at this website.
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Kayla's Two Websites
The first website I looked into was Bay Con Group tutorials. This website was great, not only great for beginners but it also has tutorials for people who know all the basics about the programs already and just need more advanced help. I thought by far this was the best website because it really went into depth on how to do what you needed to do, and it also had directions on how to go back in later and fix something that was already completed. The information provided in the tutorials is also very easy to understand so it would be great for students to use with out an adult around to explain everything.
http://www.baycongroup.com/tutorials.htm
The second website I looked at was Internet 4 Classrooms and this website would be very good to have your students use when they need help with something specific within each program. It has shortcuts through the three different programs so that you can go to the specific part of the program you need to and just learn how to do one thing instead of using the whole program.
Kasey Vice's Two Websites
Internet4Classrooms:
This website was very educational in guiding a computer user to success in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It lays out the different features you can use depending on if the user has a Windows PC or a Macintosh. In addition, it gives you options for tutorials based on your prior knowledge; for example if you are a beginner or advanced.
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line.htm
Microsoft Office Tutorials and Resources
This website provides users with an array of options to expand their Microsoft Office knowledge for students as well as teachers. For Excel it provides links for tutorial videos and provides explanations for certain ideas such as, “What is a spreadsheet?”. The PowerPoint option teaches users little tricks to make your project easier, and the Word link provides users with the knowledge of how to accomplish projects like making a newspaper in the program.