My generation has become very dependent on technology. I have for sure! During this course, I have often wondered how people use to live without cell phones, mapquest and many, many more technologies. I cannot imagine keeping in contact with family or friends by writing them a letter and waiting days for them to receive it. The thought of using a map to get directions makes my head hurt! What would I do without that voice saying, "You have missed your destination, turn around as soon as possible." If I had to live a day without any technology, I'm not sure I would survive. Anyways, here is my list of the top 10 technology tools I can't live without:
10. Smart Board
9. iPad
8. DVD player
7. itunes
6. navigation system
5. internet
4. television
3. email
2. computer
1. cell phone
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Week 6: iPad Apps I Use in My Classroom
I teach in a three year old preschool special education classroom. Recently I purchased an iPad mini for my classes use. My students love it! I am able to use the iPad when I work one-on-one with students and large and small group activities. I have truly enjoyed discovering new apps my students would benefit from. My favorite apps are Autism Apps, Photo Touch Farm Animals, Shapes and Little Writer.
Autism Apps by Touch Autism is one app that was designed to be a resource for people living with or working with those with autism and all other types of disabilities. Some of the categories are communication, applied behavior analysis, social stories, choice-making and even IEPs. All of the apps that Autism Apps offers have been experimented with by autism specialists before they add them to their app.
Photo Touch Farm Animals by Grasshopper Apps is the best app i have found to teach farm animal vocabulary. This app is unique because you can go into settings and choose which animals to use, how many are presented and even a voice recording option to use your own voice. My favorite trait is that the pictures are of real farm animals. They are not illustrations or animated.
Little Writer by Alligator Apps is a great tool to use to practice writing. The teacher or parent can control which letters to practice and upper and lower case. Not only does this app teach how to write letters but also numbers, shapes and words.
Shapes by Toddler Teasers is unique because you can input students and it teaches to their individual needs. Shapes are not the only category that is taught. Colors, letters, numbers, animals, seasons and transportation are also taught. This app keeps data on each students progress and can even produce report cards.
Autism Apps by Touch Autism is one app that was designed to be a resource for people living with or working with those with autism and all other types of disabilities. Some of the categories are communication, applied behavior analysis, social stories, choice-making and even IEPs. All of the apps that Autism Apps offers have been experimented with by autism specialists before they add them to their app.
Photo Touch Farm Animals by Grasshopper Apps is the best app i have found to teach farm animal vocabulary. This app is unique because you can go into settings and choose which animals to use, how many are presented and even a voice recording option to use your own voice. My favorite trait is that the pictures are of real farm animals. They are not illustrations or animated.
Little Writer by Alligator Apps is a great tool to use to practice writing. The teacher or parent can control which letters to practice and upper and lower case. Not only does this app teach how to write letters but also numbers, shapes and words.
Shapes by Toddler Teasers is unique because you can input students and it teaches to their individual needs. Shapes are not the only category that is taught. Colors, letters, numbers, animals, seasons and transportation are also taught. This app keeps data on each students progress and can even produce report cards.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Week 5: Digital Citizen
Being
a good digital citizen is using the internet and software appropriately. For example, a good digital citizen would not
plagiarize or use illegal software. By
being a good digital citizen, it would allow you the potential to be granted
access to making your own websites.
People in the technology community will respect you more. When a good digital citizen has more respect,
then his or her peers are more likely to use your information to cite their
work.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Week 4: Material generators
IEP generators are tools that I am very familiar with. Since I'm a special education teacher I use IEP generators almost everyday. The type that my school system uses is TieNet. On TieNet I can not only write the IEP but generate notices of proposed meetings to go home, assessment documents and outcome forms. TieNet also keeps track of our IEP due dates. That way it makes it very difficult for us to miss an annual review date.
Wed page design software is something that I would like to become more familiar with. This year our school required every teacher to design their own webpage. It was a great idea but most of us did not know where to start. I would love to take a training on how to design a webpage for my classroom. The one I designed is very, very basic. I have a homepage that welcomes everyone to my website. A page that introduces myself and my two paraprofessionals and a page that has links to educational websites.
Another tool I would like to be able to use more is an Interactive White Board. I have a Prometheam Board in my classroom but I never use it. The reason I never use it is because I teach 3 year olds and the board is hung too high for them to interact with it. When I was student teaching at a school in Auburn, their PreK classrooms had their White Boards hung close to the ground. This enabled the students to interact with it everyday. They used it for calendar time, counting, music and interactive games.
Wed page design software is something that I would like to become more familiar with. This year our school required every teacher to design their own webpage. It was a great idea but most of us did not know where to start. I would love to take a training on how to design a webpage for my classroom. The one I designed is very, very basic. I have a homepage that welcomes everyone to my website. A page that introduces myself and my two paraprofessionals and a page that has links to educational websites.
Another tool I would like to be able to use more is an Interactive White Board. I have a Prometheam Board in my classroom but I never use it. The reason I never use it is because I teach 3 year olds and the board is hung too high for them to interact with it. When I was student teaching at a school in Auburn, their PreK classrooms had their White Boards hung close to the ground. This enabled the students to interact with it everyday. They used it for calendar time, counting, music and interactive games.
Week 3: Software
Instructional software is a computer program that has been designed to help teach a topic. There are 5 types of instructional software functions.
The first type is drill and practice. Drill and practice is when a students works problems and it gives them immediate feedback. The Math Machine is a website that gives students problems and once they give their answer it shows them the correct answer.
The second type is tutorial. Tutorial is just like it's name, it's basically a tutor. It gives summaries, explanations, practice, feedback and assessment. Ultimate spelling is a website that is a step by step tutor to teach kids how to spell.
http://www.ultimatespelling.com/a?utm_expid=12279646-16&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prweb.com%2Freleases%2F2012%2F10%2Fprweb9910750.htm
The third type of educational software is simulation. Simulation shows real or imaginary problems and explains how they work to show underlying concepts.
SimSE is an educational software engineering simulation environment that gives students the opportunity to use what they have been taught at school.
The first type is drill and practice. Drill and practice is when a students works problems and it gives them immediate feedback. The Math Machine is a website that gives students problems and once they give their answer it shows them the correct answer.
The second type is tutorial. Tutorial is just like it's name, it's basically a tutor. It gives summaries, explanations, practice, feedback and assessment. Ultimate spelling is a website that is a step by step tutor to teach kids how to spell.
http://www.ultimatespelling.com/a?utm_expid=12279646-16&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prweb.com%2Freleases%2F2012%2F10%2Fprweb9910750.htm
The third type of educational software is simulation. Simulation shows real or imaginary problems and explains how they work to show underlying concepts.
SimSE is an educational software engineering simulation environment that gives students the opportunity to use what they have been taught at school.
The forth type are instructional games. Instructional games are a fun way to promote motivation to learn.
A good example of instructional games is Brainpop.
http://www.brainpop.com/
The fifth and final type of educational software is problem solving. Problem solving software teaches by using practice and explanations to the steps in problem solving. It gives students opportunities to solve problems.
Gamequarium involves problem solving games. Once the student is done solving the problem,
gamequarium goes back & explains the steps to get the correct answer.
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