Assistive Technologies for Learning Disabilities

The assistive technology that I chose to explore was Magnifier, offered by Microsoft Vista. The learning disability that Magnifier helps is those who are visually impaired (but not completely blind). Magnifier creates a faux magnifying glass for individuals to use in helping them see the text on the screen more clearly. By running the cursor over the text, it is then magnified onto another screen that shows the images in a larger version. The next three screenshots are examples of this process.

This is an example of me using Magnifier on OnCourse. Since the text is rather small, using Magnifier allowed me to see the announcements in a larger font, making them easier to read.

This screen shot offers another example. Sometimes tool bars offer a large amount of options, which in turn, could make it harder for the visually impaired to read them. So in this example, if one wanted to click on YouTube from a list of options, the Magnifier makes it easier to do so.

This final example shows a list of options on the computer that are offered to students. This amount of information could be overwhelming to a visually impaired student because the font is small and the text is close together. Therefore, the Magnifier will make it easier for the student to see his or her options by zooming to view each item more closely.

Station 6 Persuasive Speaking Survey (Language Arts Required)

Click here to take our survey about the addition of lanes to 45/46 in Bloomington, IN.

Three people in our W200 class took the survey. Their results can be found below by clicking on the screen shot.
















This Google form was created by Sami Malloy, Megan Rippey, Shannon Weber, Nicole Bangs, and Jennifer Lapp on 11/4/09.

Professional Development Plan / Long-Term Goals #1 and #2

In addition to my short-term goals, I established two long-term goals for me to hopefully reach by the end of my education here at Indiana University. Here are my two long-term goals:

• Be able to design technology-based learning activities
• Be able to take existing lesson plans and adapt them by incorporating technology tools

For my first goal, just by being a student in our W200: Using Computers in Education class really has opened up my eyes to the infinite amount of possibilities the Internet provides for teachers. I have already determined that I will either create my own website and/or blog to keep both my students and their parents constantly up to date on what is going on in the classroom and what is expected of each student. I will either use Google to create my own website or Blogger to make my own blog. These online tools will help me stay in constant contact with my class, as well as upload potential class assignments, quizzes/tests, reminders for upcoming events, etc. They will also provide additional ways for my students and/or their parents to get in touch with me instead of just via email.

Another online tool that I learned about was Delicious. It is a tool I will also utilize in my future teaching. Delicious allows for me to bookmark any website (whether it be a learning tool for my students or an example lesson plan) to my account, where it will stay unless I delete it. Delicious also serves as a great learning tool for me as teacher to stay updated on the newest and best online tools by allowing me to access any other Delicious users' account. By visiting other accounts, I can pick and choose other bookmarks that I find relevant to my subject area.

I have not yet decided what specific online tools I will use for teaching the specific aspects of my subject area, such as writing, reading, etc., but I will continue to research these areas as the year progresses and bookmark them to my Delicious account. As I continue on my research, I will eventually be able to incorporate the online tools I find into creating multiple technology-based English activities for my future students.

In accomplishing my other long-term goal, I have began to search online for lesson plans that other teachers have posted. It is so interesting to me how much is available to me online! I have found an abundance of lesson plans, although I will note that I am not interested in using a lot of them. I will provide either screen shots or links to lesson plans that I found were interesting and would be useful in my future teaching below.

This screen shot is a picture of an example lesson plan that Google apps provided. A major reason why I chose it as one of my favorite lesson plans is because it already incorporates technology into it (in my long-term goal, I wanted to find lesson plans and incorporate technology into them to make them just as successful). This lesson plan on Greek mythology has students research 12 different Greek Gods and Goddesses and requires them to use Google Docs to create a presentation of their research. Seriously, what does Google not offer?! I never knew how developed of a network Google was until recently, and it blows my mind that Google offers so many different tools for anyone to access.


Another lesson plan that I found was through the Curriki site, which you can visit by clicking here. This teacher offers numerous ways to evaluate English students, grades 6-8, on their grammar skills. He posted multiple games, projects, quizzes/tests, and other grammar activities. I like how he shows different options on how to evaluate students on their grammar skills. After looking at a few of the examples, I was definitely able to see where I could incorporate technology into the activities. For instance, I could have my students use either Google Docs or Microsoft PowerPoint to create their grammar presentations.

The last website that I found lesson plans that I would be interested in potentially using in my classroom is called ReadWriteThink. It is affiliated with the National Council of Teaching English (NCTE), and the website provides dozens and dozens and dozens of lesson plans, concerning every element of English that one could possibly imagine. Here is an exhaustive list (and it still does not cover all of the topics offered) of some of the topics:

• Fluency
• Process Writing
• Comprehension
• Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation, and Vocabulary
• Collaborative Writing
• Research
• Technical Writing
• Drama
• Critiquing Texts

In other words, I will definitely be using this website in the future to help inspire me while creating my own lesson plans. If you are interested in viewing this website, click here. Now, due to the enormous volume of the lesson plans offered via this NCTE website, I have not yet chosen which ones fascinate me the most. Therefore, I have also not decided what technological tools would be the most useful to incorporate into these lesson plans. But, I will keep on looking at this website, as well as others, to find more lesson plans and decide how I can reshape them to include technology as I continue in my education.

Lastly, because I am really fond of these lesson plan websites, I added them to my Delicious account. If you would like to access the websites through my account instead, click here.

Professional Development Plan / Short-Term Goal #3

The third and final short-term goal that I made for myself was to learn the copyright laws as they apply to teachers.

I used the Google search engine to look up information regarding copyright laws for teachers. I stumbled upon an extremely useful website. It is called the "Educational CyberPlayground." I chose this website over other ones that even looked more professional because after reading through it, I felt like I gained a much better perspective of the copyright laws for teachers than after reading others. Instead of using professional language, it just told me exactly what I will or will not be able to use as a part of my future teaching instruction. This website offers copyright laws regarding multiple medias, such as:

• Audio/Music
• Lyrics
• Text (from books, workbooks, etc.)
• Motion Picture
• Illustrations/Photographs
• Numerical Data Sets
• Mulitmedia Projects

I also added the link to the Educational CyberPlayground website to my Delicious account so that I will always have easy access to it in the future. Therefore, if I ever have any copyright questions, I can easily refer to it via my Delicious account. You may view my account here.

Below is a picture of what the website looks like. Click here to visit the actual site.

One other thing I noticed by researching the copyright laws for teachers is that there are many administrators and/or teachers who are coming together with hopes of revising some of the present copyright laws for teachers. Their reasoning is that due to the recent developments and improvements of technology over the last decade, these laws should be revised in order to benefically adapt to the present teaching environment. As of right now, though, no real significant changes have occurred yet.

Professional Development Plan / Short-Term Goal #2

The second short-term goal that I established for myself was to learn how to communicate and become involved in online communities.

I started to research learning communities that specifically focused on teaching English/Language Arts in the classroom. One that I was especially interested in joining was the National Council of Teaching English (NCTE). Click here to visit their website. It is an organization that joins teachers together to help them improve their teaching strategies in English studies, literacy, and Language Arts. I chose not to join the NCTE at this time because they charge a fee for membership. But, I will definitely join in the future.

After researching a couple other communities online, I chose to become a member of the National Writing Project. (NWP) If you would like to visit this website, click here. Unlike the NCTE, the NWP has free membership and only takes a minute to join! I liked this learning community because its members work together with the goal of improving writing and learning in the nation's schools. I feel like many students struggle with their writing, so through my participation in the NWP, I hope to improve my teaching skills so I can be the most prepared towards helping students of all different writing skill levels. Also, it has a RSS feed that I could subscribe to, which would send me constant updates from the website. Proof of my membership is evident in the picture below (see my name?)

Professional Development Plan / Short-Term Goal #1

I created three short-term goals in my Professional Development Plan for me to complete with hopes of improving my overall knowledge of technology and my ability to use it proficiently.

My first short-term goal was learning how to use a digital colloborative tool. Over the semester, I decided to familiarize myself and use Google Docs for projects, in-class assignments, and connecting with other classmates. Here is a picture of a presentation that three other group members and I solely used Google Docs to create:

This presentation is about the online tool called Moodle. I helped design the layout of each page and the information presented on the slides. I learned that using Google Docs is a tool that helps make learning more efficient. My group members and I did not even have to meet together because Google Docs allows for any person of your choosing to be able to both edit and view any document you want from any computer. If you would like to view this presentation, click here.

Another document I created with a group using Google Docs was an example Artifact Proposal. Click here if you would like to view it. The three of us were each on different computers, but as we collaborated together, we would each write and update the document on our own time. Google Docs is especially helpful because it does allow for multiple people to edit a document at once, rather than having one person do all of the work. Below is a picture of this document.

By using Google Docs, I learned to create, save, and share a document. After entering one's Gmail username and password, at the top of the webpage, click on "Documents." If I wanted to create a new document, towards the upper left-hand corner, there is a button that says "create." By clicking on this, I can create a new document, presentation, spreadsheet, form, or folder. After clicking on one of these options, a new window will pop up. Then, towards the upper right-hand side of the document, there is a tab that says "save." That is how one can save a document, presentation, etc. Finally, if one would like to share their creation with another person, right next to the "save" tab is the "share" tab. By clicking on "share," one can invite others to view the document.

I will definitely use Google Docs as a future teaching tool. Instead of requiring students to meet outside of class for projects, I could have them use Google Docs to create their presentations. This will relieve some of the stress students feel about meeting up with other students. This would be especially helpful if the group members had conflicting schedules because it then would allow students to work on the project when it is most convenient to them. I also could use Google Docs to create any type of lesson plan (using documents), class lecture (using presentations), survey of how I'm doing as a teacher (using form), etc.

Classroom Communication

I am hoping to be a 7th-grade English teacher in the near future. Therefore, it will be my responsibility to utilize some technological tool to stay in touch with my students and their parents. I will either create a classroom website or blog that will keep students and parents updated with the class material and what is expected of each student in order to be successful in my class. For example, I will include weekly recaps of what went on in the classroom so parents are more aware of what their child is learning. I will also upload homework assignments, quizzes/tests, and any other upcoming events onto a calendar so students always know what is expected of them. By doing this, my students will not be able to complain if they forgot to write down a due date in class because it will always be available to them online. I want to include a gradebook in relation to each student so students and parents can keep up on how the student is doing in my class. Also, since some students are unreliable in passing on information to their parents, having a website or blog allows parents to always feel involved and informed. In order to help my professional development, I will display various ways that one can communicate with me, such as by providing my e-mail address and/or telephone number. That way both students and parents can provide me with feedback with how they think the class is going and what I am doing well and what I need to improve on in my teaching.

Using Adobe Connect

At first, I felt overwhelmed about using Adobe Connect because it is a technological tool that I was completely unfamiliar with and had never used before. Even though I reviewed how to use it via the forum posts before class today, I still remained apprehensive about using it. I do think that by being in a group and putting our heads together to figure out how to use Adobe Connect definitely helped me understand the program more. After figuring out the basics, it seems that Adobe Connect is relatively easy to use, once all of the programming issues are solved, such as getting the audio and video to work. I personally would only be comfortable using it in the future if I was a participant in an online chat, like what we did in class today. Since I was in the TTL with two other groups, I was able to explain to another group how they could use Adobe Connect to present their project. But I definitely would not feel confident enough to run my own online session unless I was shown how to do it. Also, I would not recommend using this in a middle school or high school classroom between a teacher and his or her class because I find it would be challenging to keep students on track. But, one way I do think that Adobe Connect could be used for in an English class would be potentially connecting with an author of a poem, short story, or novel that we were reading in class. That way, the author could possibly read something to the class or answer questions regarding the book or poem we were reading at the time. Using Adobe Connect in this manner would enhance students learning because they would generally not have the opportunity to meet one of the authors of a book or poem they were assigned to read. Also, the teacher could monitor his or her students involvement with the program because he or she would be present in the classroom with them, listening to the author as well.

Inspiration

I reviewed the content exploration tool called Inspiration, specifically for Language Arts Education. I plan to teach middle school English, so using this tool would definitely benefit my teaching. Inspiration offers more efficient ways for both teachers and students to organize their ideas. It allows them to create concept maps, webs, and/or idea maps. Then, in one click, any diagram can be turned into an outline.

Another feature of Inspiration is that it can help improve writing proficiency. It does this by providing users with auto spell checker and an innovative dictionary and thesaurus called Word Guide. Inspiration also allows its users to "drag and drop" their information, allowing teachers and students to organize their thoughts in a quicker manner. It offers many different symbols and templates for people to utilize if they desire and permits video and/or audio to be inserted into projects or assignments. Inspiration presents teachers with 50+ curriculum packets that provide unit plans with multiple templates that they could use to teach high school-level English, Social Studies, or Science. In addition to the packets, Inspiration also has on-demand training videos that either teach one how to use the program or how to complete a project in an efficient manner.

As I said, Inspiration provides teachers with many different templates that can help them teach their students a concept or idea that will benefit their learning. But a teacher can also create their own diagram or outline to help teach a more complicated topic by providing an organized visual aid for the students to see. For example, if a teacher wanted to explain to his or her students how to write a proper biography, the teacher could create a diagram similar to this one.

Inspiration also offers certain tutorials, videos, and webcasts that can help teach an important concept to students. For instance, here is a video that explains how students can write a research paper with Inspiration. Once you have clicked on the link, scroll down and select the video that says "Writing a Research Paper with Inspiration" under Webcast Archives in order to view the correct one.

Storybird

The last website that I am posting is called Storybird. This website allows students to create their very own storybooks. To see Storybird, visit http://storybird.com.


Storybird provides students with an opportunity that they would not be able to do at their age. It gives them the correct tools and directions to make a professional looking story that they could share with their classmates. Therefore, instead of having to write and draw their own story by hand, Storybird provides students with all of the necessary tools they would need to make it all completely online. Thus, Storybird enhances students' learning because it provides students with the opportunity to create a very professional-looking story without even picking up a pencil.

Scholastic

Another website that I found is called Scholastic. It promotes interactive learning through its online activities. There are games and lessons for all ages ranging from PreK to the 12th grade. Scholastic can be found at http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/learn.jsp.


Scholastic provides students with games, recordings, workshops, and other types of lessons on their web page. These multiple online tools offer a more innovative and exciting way for students to learn their different subjects because it offers help in language arts, social studies, science, and math. By offering a variety of activities, students will be able to pick and choose which ones will help them learn most effectively.

Revizr

Another useful website is Revizr. It is an online tool that allows its users to edit and revise papers by using technology rather than having to print off the paper and correct it by hand. One can find Revizr at http://www.revizr.com.


Revizr eliminates many steps in the process of editing a paper by allowing individuals to edit their own and other people's papers online in a simple, quick fashion. It has easy-to-follow directions and revises the paper in a logical and organized manner, making it easy for the writer to follow what should or should not be corrected. Therefore, Revizr is an online tool that provides its users with a much more efficient approach towards editing a paper.

Reading Logs

The next website I find interesting is called Reading Logs. It claims to make reading, spelling, and vocabulary more simplified for students. To visit this website, go to http://www.readinglogs.com.


Reading Logs is a online learning tool that makes learning more efficient for both teachers and students. This website helps get rid of having to distribute reading logs and/or spelling lists because it provides online versions of them. For reading, teachers can upload reading logs for their students to fill out online. This eliminates students' excuse of saying that they left their reading log at home because it can all be posted on this website. Then for spelling, teachers can upload spelling lists for students to use and play games with in order to learn the words. Lastly, instead of having to make a billion note cards when trying to learn new vocabulary words, this website will make online note cards for the individual, which eliminates preparation time and allows the student to spend more time actually studying. All in all, Reading Logs provides a learning tool that helps students learn their English material at a faster pace.

Lexipedia

This first website that I found is called Lexipedia, and it helps students with their vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. One can access this website at http://www.lexipedia.com/english.


This website helps a student learn more effectively. The learning tool allows for an individual to type in any word into the search bar. Along the left hand side, definitions are posted of the word in question. Then, in the plain white space covering most of the web page, the word will appear with what looks like a web coming out of it from all angles. Along each web line are points containing other words similar to the original word, as well as synonyms and antonyms. One can also read definitions and usages of the words that correlate with the initial word by dragging these points around with the cursor. Thus, the multiple options this website offers proves its overall effectiveness. By using this tool, students can search for words they do not know, as well as learn about other words that are similar to the original word and how to use them in a sentence.

Teaching Resources: First Draft

Technology Tips for Classroom Teachers
http://www.edzone.net/~mwestern/tutorials.html

I chose this website because it is extremely informative regarding how a teacher can use technology in his or her teaching. It provides many links that offer step-by-step directions on how to use different types of technology efficiently and to one's benefit. It would help any teacher who was struggling with technology tools, such as Microsoft Word/PowerPoint/Excel, etc., as well as creating webpages and using images/digital cameras. This would be a very useful "go-to" website when one is struggling with understanding how to use a certain technology format.