An evening with Joy Zabala...

Tonight in my Assistive Technology class, Joy Zabala skyped in!

                         

Some Joy quotes from the evening....

• "An attitude about creativity and possibility can do wonders"

• "Assistive Technology can be a barrier if to cumbersome."

• "AT doesn't eliminate the need for instruction in social and academic skills."

• "Don't talk about the tools until you have talked about who is going to use them, where they are going to use them and what you are using them for."

Assistive Technology Legislation In Canada

Did you know that in Canada there is NO legislation that makes considering assistive technology for students with disabilities mandatory?

I have to be honest… Every time that I have an American textbook, I quickly peruse the chapter that looks at the legal focus of IDEA because it does not apply directly to me.  Last spring, I took an Assistive Technology Implementation course through Portland State University (PSU).  I was 1 of 2 Canadians in the group, with Americans who were from different states across the USA.  My American colleagues were very surprised to hear that in Canada we do not have the same type of policies related to Assistive Technology that they do in the USA.  IDEA mandates that assistive technology devices and services be provided to students with disabilities if the technology is essential for accessing education and education-related resources (Dell et al, 2008).  

Popular Misconceptions - Assistive Technology

This semester I am registered in 2 graduate classes - Research Methodology (not my favorite topic!) and Assistive Technology (one of my passions!!!).  We are currently reading:

Bugaj, C. R., Norton-Darr, S., & International Society for Technology,in Education. (2010). The practical (and fun) guide to assistive technology in public schools. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education.

              

In Chapter 2 - Bugaj and Norton-Darr discuss Popular Misconceptions in Assistive Technology.  Here is their list of "Things That Aren't True"

• the purpose of assistive technology is to help students become independent
• assistive technology is only computer stuff
• assistive technology makes a teacher's job easier
• assistive technology is just for students with severe disabilities
• i'm not tech savvy enough to implement assistive technology
• an evaluation needs to be done to provide assistive technology services
• assistive technology is just for students with communication difficulties
• assistive technology always costs a lot of money
• a trial needs to be conducted for every assistive technology device before it is purchased
• only people with specialized training in assistive technology can provide assistive technology services
• a separate implementation plan needs to be written for every assistive technology device
• a formal evaluation for assistive technology can take place anywhere

This is NOT AT…  Things I found interesting:

•   “The purpose of Assistive Technology is to help students become independent” – I agree that this isn’t the purpose, but it is an AWESOME by-product of AT.  For example, our kiddos are not going to be able to depend on having a “reader” in the “real world”, but they will be able to be independent with difficult text using text-to-speech (TTS) software.  The purpose could be to have the student access text and material they couldn’t before.  The by-product is increased academic independence! 
•  “Assistive Technology makes a teacher’s job easier” – I agree with the authors.  I actually think it is time consuming and a lot of work.  The student will need support with the AT, the teacher may need training with the AT and there will be data to collect – more than the “typical” student.
• “Data should be collected on every assistive technology device”, “A trial needs to be conducted for every assistive technology device before it is purchased”, “A separate implementation device needs to be written for every assistive technology device” – These common misconceptions I found interesting!!!! 
• I think doing a trial before an individual purchases “high-tech” software is important.  High-Tech Tools can be very expensive and I think it is important to trial it before spending a lot of money on something that might not be the best fit.  Do I think a trial needs to happen for all low-tech tools –NO.  A pencil grip is less than a dollar – just buy one and use it!!!  Without collecting data, how will you know if the technology is supporting what you had hoped it would?  I think data collection is important in the AT process; however, I think the data should be student focused not device focused.  I also think the an implementation plan is part of the data collection process – once again I don’t think you need a separate AT plan for devices, but the AT should be student focused by collecting what worked, what didn’t work and what could be improved.     

What do you think of Bugaj and Norton-Darr's list of "Things that aren't true"?  Do you agree with them all?

What will I do differently?

I'm linking up with Finding JOY in 6th Grade for:

 See what I hope to do differently!!

•  This year was my first year in a new school division, school and position.  The majority of the year I spent learning about the school and the students.  I was definitely not the most efficient and effective teacher.  Next year I plan to set up my targeted literacy group using a Daily 5 / 4 Block for Literacy model.  I have used this model in the past, but this year it just didn't happen.  I plan on making sure my targeted strategies are in place at each centre.  Stay tuned, as I plan more this summer (we still have 4 weeks left with kiddos) I will share my templates.  I'm taking a Reading disabilities course during the first week of July.  I'm hoping to incorporate what I learn into this structure!

•  I just finished taking a course on Assistive Technology Implementation from Portland State University.  The course was pretty good.  It made me analyze how we implement AT and how to review the AT plan.  We already use the SETT (Student, Environment, Task, Tool) framework to assign AT at my school but we need to collect more data to see if the AT we are implementing is actually making a difference.

• I am going to graduate next spring with a MEd in Special Education!  I am so excited, but I'm unsure what I would like to do after the fact.  Time will tell hopefully!!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Kelsey

Wow.. what a start

Well we are 5 days into the new school year and wow has it come on with a bang!  I started a new job this year.  After teaching for 5 years in a special eduaction self-contained classroom, I am now a learning support teacher with a caseload of 35+ kids!  Wow is this been a challenging change for me!!!  Learning a new district, school and kids, while we are in a growing/ developing year for the role of Learning Support Teacher!  All I can say is I am SUPER OVERWHELMED!

But on a positive note I started my communication and LIFE skills groups today!  They went awesome!!!  I am SO excited to teach both of these groups!  Stay tuned for a preview of these activities!

I came across a great website for visual supports.  If you use Boardmaker in your classroom, check out this webpage!

http://www.boardmakershare.com/default.aspx

Happy Monday Everyone!

Errorless Writing

This year I began using the program Classroom Suite 4 with some of my students.

I have struggled for the past few years with the writing block in my class.  I don't want my students to just practice printing (this isn't writing!), but they are not all developmentally ready to print sentences or don't see the power in writing.  This year I figured out how to program the "Errorless Writing" portion of classroom suite.  It is AWESOME!!  My student are able to independently get there ideas down on "paper" just like their peers who are typing or printing!

Picture Choice Boards

I use picture choice boards in my classroom all the time!  I use them with students that have little to no verbal communication, with students that have a hard time expressive language, and with students that have english as a second language.  I use them so that all of my students can participate in group conversations or activities.  I also like to use them because they are a low tech option that are super quick and easy to create!

Making a Picture Choice Board:

1. At the beginning of each new story or theme I make a list of new and repeated vocabularly that I will be using.
2. Next, I think about the activities I am going to be doing during with the story or theme and make a list of words needed.
3. I usually use Boardmaker (Mayer-Johnston) to create my choice boards, but you can use any images you like or draw or pictures you take.  Next put the pictures into cells or a table making sure that the pictures are large enough for your students to see.  I also like to pair each picture with the appropriate label (I never hurts to increase the amount of print the students see!).
4. Use it with your students!!!

This is a picture choice board that I created for the story "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak.

Sky, Grass, Dirt Paper

I wanted to share this printing paper.  I use it to teach my students how to print legibly.  For example, letter "p" starts in the grass and digs into the dirt or letter "l" starts in the sky and stops in the grass!

Animal Life Cycles - Part 1

As part of my grade science curriculum, every year I complete a unit on animal life cycles.  I LOVE this unit.  Not only is it fun for my students to watch the metamorphosis (frogs, butterflies) in different animals, but I love the literature that I use during my guided reading block to accompany the unit!!!  I thought I would share some the literature ideas and activities that I use.

We started this unit with the life cycle of a butterfly!

I started this unit out by reading the story "Waiting for Wings" by Lois Ehlert.  This book has beautiful pictures in it!  This story shows the metamorphosis of the butterfly.  Not only do we read the story as a "shared" reading, we also do partner reading.  For my students who have limited verbal or reading skills I use a couple of technology resources to include them in partner reading.  First, myself or I will ask another student to read the story on to a step-by-step switch.  The second resource I use is "Bookflix" ($).  This is an online scholastic book club that has over 100 fictional titles in digital formats.  For every fictional title their is a paired non-fiction book.  There are also comprehension activities for each pair of books.  Luckily "Waiting for Wings" is on Bookflix.

The second title we read for the life cycle of the butterfly was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle.  This story is an oldie but a goodie!!!  My students love this story!!!  They all read it out loud as i read it to them!!!  This book is on the Online Storytime on the Barnes & Noble webpage.  I always love for my kiddos to interact with different versions of books - digital, classroom made, big books, iPad books etc.

Attached is a smart notebook file that I created with my class.  It has a KWL chart in it and a few vocabulary activities.  There is also a link for the students to create a tagul for the information they learned about the butterfly life cycle.

Things I couldn't live without!

I'm joining up with Teacher Idea Factory for Rockin Resources: Things I couldn't live without!

1) iPads - I love having iPads in the classroom.  Not only do I use them for academic skills such as math and literacy skills, but I also use them for speech and OT apps.  My students especially love working to use (free time) them as their reward from their Token Economy.

2) MeVille to WeVille Resource - As iI teach in a special education classroom, finding great literacy resources for my kiddos is a challenge!!!  This resource is amazing!!!  Not only is it engaging but it provides you with an "Action Dictionary" that help you adapt lessons using assistive technology.

3) My Assistive Technology kit - In this kit I have a Go Talk 9, power link, big mack switches, step-by-steps and jelly bean switches!

4) SMART Board - My students have become "experts" this year on how to use the SMART Board and SMART Notebook software.

5) Kelsey's Third Grade Livebinders - Livebinders is an online "binder" that holds your favorite "URLS" in sub-sections.