Thursday, August 11, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Kindergarten Learning
Kindergarten classrooms have changed over the years. I can remember my Kindergarten classroom. It was huge. There was an area that you walked into and hung your coats up. In the back of the classroom was a stage (a real stage!) that we played on and was filled with toys. On one side of the room there were two long benches and a TV that was attached to the wall. We would watch Sesame Street in the mornings. On the other side of the classroom was a rug and our teacher taught us little lessons. In the middle of the classroom, was this beautiful circle with all the letters of the alphabet and pictures made out of marble. It was gorgeous. I can remember playing The Farmer in the Dell in that circle. There was plenty of room for several round tables and we had two very large bathrooms. One for the girls and one for the boys. We only went to school for a half day. That classroom still exists today, but I am sure that the learning that goes on is quite different. Instead of learning how to cut and paste they are learning how to speak Italian and read. If you haven’t guessed it, I went to Kindergarten back in the 70’s. Times were different.
Today, my Kindergarten classroom is not nearly as big. I have tables, and a rug and a classroom library filled with books. We are learning letters, sounds and how to read. In math, I am teaching numbers and then addition and subtraction. Kindergarten classrooms today offer more formal learning, but that does not mean we cannot still stimulate children’s curiosity to want to learn more and be excited about learning. Students come to school and have an understanding that words are every place. They already are able to see a grocery store sign and read it, pass a McDonald’s and know what it says. Teachers are expanding a child’s language by creating rhymes. We are constantly reading to the children and having the children read back to us, circle words and letters that they can recognize. We teach them strategies to decode words.
Even with all the changes, the main goal that teachers strive to reach is the same as many years ago. Teach them a love of learning, teach them social skills that will stay with them forever, love them and realize that you are their role model and they look up to you. For many children school is the one place that they can go to and the consistency and their feeling of safety will always be there.
As a Kindergarten teacher, I am so grateful for all the resources that are available to students and myself. Years ago, my students would not be able to sit at a computer or use an iPod as a listening station. The interactive whiteboards have created a learning environment, which captures my student’s attention and gets them excited about learning. I am able to communicate with the click of a button to find or talk to others about ideas for my classroom. I am excited to be able to share and find things that others have made for their classrooms so I do not have to reinvent the wheel. The children of today are born into this world that many of us are still learning how to use. It is an exciting time and we should embrace it and remember to keep it as stimulating as possible.
Written by Kinder Glynn
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Monday, August 8, 2011
Cyber Monday - Free Teaching Products Today Only!
Just in case you haven't heard about the Cyber Showcase, here is a link to get you started! This was the brainchild of the amazing Laura Candler so of course it is top notch. Basically, you can download 15 great products from 15 Teacher Pay Teacher sellers for free, today only. There are products for literature, math, vocabulary, and more! Over $85 in free products. This is a goldmine if you teach grades 3-5. Even if you don't, you may find some things you can adjust to fit your needs. So head on over!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Featured Teacher-Author: Pegi Bevins
1. How long have you been on Teachers Pay Teachers? What made you decide to be a part of it?I’ve been on TPT since 2007. I used to teach high school English, so I was part of a school district and had a lot of contacts within the district. When I left the public school system, my pool of contacts shrank, so I thought TPT would be a great marketplace for my products, and it has proven itself to be just that. Also, I had tried having my own website, but I couldn’t get any traffic to it. TPT has provided me with a customer base that I don’t think I could have reached on my own.
2. When did you know that you wanted to be in education?
I had an excellent English teacher in high school who showed me that literature can be more than just a story. This inspired me to want to be like him.
3. How are you currently involved in education?
I teach remedial writing at the community college level. Most of my students never planned on attending college, but with the current state of the economy and job market, they realize that it’s the best way to become employable.
4. What would be your advice to people who are considering joining Teachers Pay Teachers?
Offer a variety of products that can be developed quickly, keep the price down, and make them both fun and educational—something the students will enjoy doing and the teacher can be confident in the educational value of. Also, keep in mind that sometimes the simplest things work best.
5. What has been a highlight, thus far, about being on Teachers Pay Teachers?
A highlight has been that teachers actually implement my products in the classrooms, so students all over the country are being exposed to them. Also, I’ve received wonderful feedback on my products from teachers, which inspires me to keep creating them.
6. What is something fun about you that other teachers don’t know?I am a weaver. Yes, people still do that! Also, my husband and I are beekeepers.
7. Do you participate in education outside of the classroom? In what type of role?
No.
8. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?
I would like to explore the field of library science, which is probably pretty typical for a teacher of literature.
9. What profession would you not like to do?
I would not like to work somewhere where I would have very little contact with other people and do not have the chance to meet a new group of people each semester.
10. Who is your favorite author? Favorite educational author? And why?
I’m into the classics—F. Scott Fitzgerald, Harper Lee, and Charles Dickens. The classics have more depth than a lot of the literature today.
My favorite author for classroom use is Harper Lee at the high school level, Lois Lowry at the middle school level, and Natalie Babbitt at the elementary level. Their books have such wonderful life-changing messages in them. I don’t anyone can ever be the same after reading them.
I have 23 editions of ThemeQuotes games, which I started developing when I taught high school. The games link famous quotations to the themes of popular books taught in the classroom and promote values, encourage teamwork, develop students’ understanding of theme, and challenge students’ reading-for-detail skills. They are a great way to wrap up a book unit. The games are based on most-taught books from fourth to twelfth grade.
I’m also proud of my unique types of crossword puzzles. I have puzzles that focus on figurative language, homophones, anagrams, trivia, authors’ lives, character quotations, synonyms and antonyms, and analogies, just to name a few. I have approached crosswords in a unique way to make them challenging and fun. I like to say that students learn from my puzzles without even knowing it!
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Thursday, August 4, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Answering your Assistive Technology Questions (That You Didn't Even Know You Had)
By: Anna Colley
Think about a typical day in your classroom. You may stand in the front of the room and lecture, show a slide show, have students come to the board for interactive white board activities, ask students to work together in groups, and give reading assignments. You probably have directions, labels, and signs posted around your classroom. If you’re like most of us, you probably talk quite a lot during a typical day, and you ask your students to talk to you, to the whole group, and to each other. Your students probably put pencil or pen to paper several times throughout a day or class period.
All of this can be broken down into a typical model for learning that looks something like this:
Now ask yourself: What if a student does not have easy access to the input or the output?
Assistive Technology, or AT, is defined by the Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988 as “any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of children with disabilities.” The oversimplified translation: AT helps students to receive the input or deliver the output.
What’s the difference between assistive technology and plain-old technology?
They may look exactly the same! AT is not so much defined by what the technology is as by its purpose. Is the technology being used as an enhancement, or as a necessity? As Mary Pat Radabauer so aptly put it, “For people with typical abilities, technology makes doing things easier. For people with disabilities, technology makes doing things possible.”
So what is it, exactly?
The answer to that is very complex, because AT comes in such a wide variety of forms. Generally, it can be grouped into 4 categories: no-tech, low-tech, medium-tech, and high-tech.
No-Tech AT consists of procedures, services, and environmental conditions that do not require special equipment or devices. Think about services such as speech therapy, and accommodations such as preferential seating in this category.
Low-Tech AT would involve the use of devices or items that are simple and non-mechanical in nature. For instance, adapted spoons, no-spill cups, tinted transparency overlays for reading, clipboards, and Velcro can all be used for assistive purposes.
Medium-Tech AT are relatively complicated mechanical devices, like walkers and wheelchairs.
High-Tech AT uses electronics to provide assistance. This would include computer software, specialty digital devices, and consumer devices like iPads.
The tasks aided by the use of AT can be grouped into 10 categories, with some overlap between them.
- Daily living aids help people perform everyday tasks such as eating, sitting, moving, or toileting. Examples: adapted spoons, no-spill cups, adaptive toilet seats
- Assistive listening and amplification devices help individuals to hear or to attend to audio. Examples: Portable FM systems, hearing aids
- Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices are used for communication for individuals who have no speech or limited speech. Examples: Tech Talk 8, Little Step by Step Communicator with Levels, DynaVox
- Computer access devices and software provide assistance for using computers. This includes hardware that help individuals access the computer physically, and software that helps a person accomplish tasks on the computer. Examples: adapted mouse, trackball, or keyboard, PixWriter software, JAWS Screen Reader
- Environmental control devices allow a person to control some aspect of the environment, such as adjusting a thermostat or controlling the TV with a special remote. Examples: oversized TV remote, talking thermostat
- Mobility aids include walkers, wheelchairs, scooters, and crutches.
- Recreation and leisure aids are used to assist persons in participating in leisure activities, such as listening to music, watching TV, or reading a book. Examples: adapted toys, page fluffers, iPod remote control, adapted bowling
- Seating and positioning aids help individuals to maintain a certain position, or to be more comfortable or safer in a given position. Examples: scooters, pillows, adapted chairs
- Aids for vision impairments include a very wide variety of devices, adaptations, and software to help people with low vision or blindness to perform everyday tasks. Examples: Web Anywhere mobile screen reader, tactile learning materials, electronic magnifiers
- Cause and effect training devices help those with severe and profound disabilities, and very young children, to learn that their actions can change the environment and the behaviors of those around them. This is a necessary first step in teaching someone to use other devices such as switches or an electric wheelchair. Examples: switch-activated lights, switch-operated toys, devices for making choices
Low-tech and no-tech AT are in use at virtually every school, and many teachers use them every day without even realizing they are doing so! Any time a teacher allows an ADHD student to stand while working, provides extended time for an LD student to complete an assignment, hands out a pencil grip or lined paper to help a student improve handwriting, or gives a primary student a “spaceman” word spacer, the teacher is using AT.
Medium- and high-tech AT are less prevalent, but you are likely to see mobility aids such as wheelchairs, AAC devices for communication, a variety of switches that are used to interact with anything from computers to electric pencil sharpeners, and specialized software. You’re more likely to see AT in a regular education classroom if you happen to have a student with a hearing or vision impairment, or if you have a mainstream student from a self-contained classroom.
How can I learn more?
I highly recommend the A.T.TIPScast podcast for easy ideas for implementing AT solutions in your classroom. Rather than focusing on specialty devices that most of us don’t have access to, podcaster Chris Bugaj helps teachers address the needs of students in regular education classrooms with tools and materials that are readily available to anyone. What’s more, he strives to do so in an entertaining way and in a short format of about 10 minutes per episode. He often highlights the use of Web 2.0 tools within the classroom, and that alone is reason for every educator to check it out! The podcast will be useful for any teacher who works with students with learning disabilities, attention issues, or students who read below grade level.
For those that provide professional development, check out Chris’s easy to implement PD solution! He’s provided all you need to create self-study AT courses for teachers in your school or district with his free PD Kits—13 courses in all! I am excited to be using these at my school this year and providing participating educators 2 hours of staff development credit for each course completed. Chris is also available to teach workshops. His information is available on the website.
If you are interested in going deeper with assistive technology, you may want to check to see if your district has an AT department. Contact your district’s special education department to inquire. Our district’s AT department (which I never knew existed until a year ago) provides a monthly newsletter with ideas and training opportunities, and anyone in the system can request to be added to the distribution list.
Other resources are listed below.
Related Links:
Anna’s Prezi presentation for this topic: Feel free to use it for professional development or reference
AT.TIPScast blog: For regular, quick and easy tips to implementing assistive technology in every classroom. The blog also provides links to download the podcasts.
ATiA—Assistive Technology Industry Association: Includes information about their annual conference, as well as other resources.
The Practical (and Fun) Guide to Assistive Technology in Public Schools by Christopher Bugaj and Sally Norton-Darr: The authors of this book use pirates, monsters, and monkeys to keep you engaged in the topic of AT, but don't sacrifice the tips, strategies, and insight that will help improve your AT program.
Standards.gov Assistive Technology page: Overview of applicable U.S. laws related to AT, a list of categories, guidelines, and standards, and a list of links to other resources.
ISTE—International Society for Technology in Education: Search for assistive technology or RTI.
Many U.S. states and regions have educational technology associations which put on annual conferences, and many of these include AT resources. Try a Google search for educational technology conference and the name of your state to find one near you.
By: Anna Colley
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