BP14_20091103_ZacBrowser

Introducing Zac Browser : A web 2.0 tool for children with developmental disorders.

BP13_110903_Peer Posting

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2009

BP#13_2009103_web20_tool_Raylit

Raylit is an educational site that addressed the needs of student. There are cartoons that host the educational sessions which are composed of fun learning games, videos, music and stories-things kids love. They talk about interesting things and guide kids through the lessons and games, making learning fun and effective. This site is good for kids from 3-7. What I like about this site is that you can type in your student's name to register them. Once you have done that the cartoons that guides the students through the lessons will call them by name. This makes the game personal for the kids.

Each session has 5-6 educational items. The items I had when I signed up under my daughter's name was, sequencing, matching the professional with the correct tool, learning numbers and counting, science knowledge clips and a sing along called Mr. Son, Mr Golden Son. The child's age will give you different educational items.

I plan on using this site with my second graders. I have ELL students and students that are working towards level that can really benefit from this site. It is hard for teachers to go back and teach skills that was suppose to be taught in kindergarten and first grade. This site will supplement to help fill the gaps in education.

As a teacher, I like the fact that I can send a text message to my students that will be spoken by the cartoon characters. I can click on their names to update their profile and settings. I can also view their current curricula and track their progress.

This site is not free, but I believe it is beneficial, therefore I plan to propose this site to administration at my school. I will try the trial version, track my student's progress, and show the data to my principal so that he can see how useful Raylit is.

picture from www.raylit.com

BP12_110903_Peer Posting

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2009

BL15_2009113_Researching and Blogging about Web 2.0 tools

I had a great time looking at everyone's sites but was really excited at some new Web 2.0 sites I found.  You will need to check this site out because it has numerous creative aspects to use in your classroom.  I can not wait to use this for a lesson next week. I will create it this weekend to help me teach my students. This site is called "Proprofs" - click on the link so that you can explore http://www.proprofs.com/ I zeroed in on the flashcard part of this site so that I can teach Web 2.0 vocabulary to my students. http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards  

Many sites are blocked at our school but I want to introduce my students to the vocabulary so they can check things out at home. My sixth grade students love flashcards that they can play with on their computer screen and work at their own pace. Since we do not have programs at school the students can use I will be able to type in my own definitions and terminology to customize for my classroom usage.  There are also different flashcards that are premade by others in many different subjects to choose from. By picking a premade set you can customize them to fit your class. This site also has a way to create and customize quizzes as well.  The quiz section allows you to shuffle your quiz, add images to your quizzes and also have two-way feedback. ProProfs provides free knowledge sharing tools and free online education. It also has blogs, wikis and a webschool.  Let me know what you think!

BP11_110903_Peer Posting

Sunday, November 8, 2009

BP #6 20091105_ Research Web2.0 tools - 1

Castroller.com is a podcast cite that one could create their own channel. Your channel could be your class discussions that your students would have the ablility to review for test material, if the student was out, they could listen to the podcast to gleen the information discussed in class that day. Cast Roller's settings allow you to limit who has access or ablility to set permissions.

I could see this being used with Art History lessons or lessons that students are working in groups with the class textbook.

BP10_110903_Glogster

Glogster is a nice web 2.0 tool for many different classes. You create an account then have the freedom to make a virtual poster. It can contain video, audio, images, and text. Glogster has clip art you can use or you can upload your own images. This tool has many different uses. One use of it would be in a creative writing class. Students could write a book or short story, then create a poster to advertise for the book. Another idea is using this program to create social awareness posters or posters for activities that are coming up. Also, it could be used to create visual study guides. If a student has to learn different characters from a book, have them create a poster about each character so they have a visual to think about and make synonymous with that character. I am not going to bore you and go on about ALL the ways you can go use this program. You can click on the link and go explore. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. :)

Below is a snapshot of my glogster. Click here to see the live version.

Glogster: www.glogster.com

BP9_110902_Skype

Here is a link to my Skype Podcast. Enjoy.

BP8_110902_Vizzle

Vizzle is a nice tool for younger students or students with learning disabilities. With vizzle, you download the program onto the computer then log in. It has a free trial but if you would like to use it long term, you do have to pay for it. You can create lessons in any of the following four types: matching, a game/quiz, a book, or printable worksheet. There are images included in the program or you can add your own. Also, there are lessons and tools included if you do not want to make your own. Let's use a hypothetical situation to explain how this program could be useful in a classroom. You have 20 students in your class of first graders and four computers at the computer center. During centers, on the computers you pull up vizzle and have a playlist of activities for the students to do. The playlist consist of a matching game and a quiz game. The students will go at their own pace but the computer helps guide them in the activities. With the matching game, if they get the answer wrong it takes it away or puts an X and if they get it right, it cheers them on. After completing the game, it has a fireworks animation for the students. They do the same thing with the game/quiz which automatically helps them with counting because they have to count their moves. The whole time the students are learning the pictures with the words and reading. You can make it harder or easier and include a lot of variety with the lessons so you can use it the whole year. Also, with the printable worksheets, for students who don't communicate well, you can print out the picture squares and allow them to use those for communication. For example, have a pictures of the different things on the lunch menu then at lunch time have them pick the card that shows what they would like for lunch.

Below is a picture of the game format.

Vizzle: http://www.monarchteachtech.com/vizzle

BP7_110902_Photoshop Express

Photoshop express is a great Web 2.0 tool for photo editing. For people who are new to the world of photo editing it is a calm introduction to photoshop. I have seen many people who are overwhelmed by photoshop because of the amazing amount of tools. I am not anti-photoshop, I just think some people need a basic version for simple things like changing color. I would use it to teach students the basics of photoshop and to teach them common graphics vocabulary. Students can create a gallery for others to view and they can join groups. One really cool idea I had is having all the students join a group, then post pictures one by one to tell a story or have only one picture and each student makes one change to the picture so it will morph into something else. To use this program all the students will need an Adobe ID but that is the only issue some may have. Sidenote: If you use social networking in the classroom, Photoshop Express connects to Facebook, Flickr, and a few more social networking sites for ease of access.

The images below are my original picture and the edited picture and the final edited decorated picture.

Photoshop Express: www.photoshop.com
Adobe Photoshop: www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/family/

BP6_110902_ToonDo

ToonDo is a great web 2.0 tool to allow students to express their creativity through cartoons. It is a very user friendly application. You do have to set up an account but other than that it is simple as can be.  

After introducing the students to ToonDo,  they will be able to work the program without any help. Another good use of the program would be in a creative writing or english class. Students could use the application to illustrate their stories or stories they have read. It will allow them to give a visual image for their reading.

BP5_110902_Using Flickr in the Classroom

I think the use of digital cameras is a necessity in any classroom. Of course, depending on the class, the activities may have to be changed. I have several ideas on how to use cameas and photo sharing sites such as Flickr and Picassa may be used in education.

1) With a chaperone per group, break the students up into groups of 3-5 for a scavenger hunt. Give all the groups the same list of objects to find, but make sure the list is generic and there will be multiples of the object. An example list would be "green", "circle", "shiny", "sport", etc. Have the scavenger hunt outside on the school grounds. This way the groups can spread out and come up with many different versions of the same list. When the students find an object, have them take a picture with it. After they come back in the classroom, have them upload the images to the photo sharing website of your choice, then have them tag the pictures with the category. To easily manage the images, you could use a group in Flickr or a collaborative album in Picassa. Once all images are uploaded, view them on the big screen and discuss the differences in the images even though they are the same categories.

2) Have a student be the photographer for the day any time there is an event in the class. Anything from class party to a field trip, choose a different student to photograph the day. As you go along, make a digital scrapbook for the class. At the end of the year, burn it to disk for all the parents to keep.

3) Whenever your class is studying geography or specific places, have them find photos of those places on Flickr. It will be amazing what they will come up with because it is done by tags. Also, having them find images will give them a visual to go along with the place.

These are just a few ideas on how to use photo sharing in the classroom. I hope to have more soon.  Below are the photos I have uploaded to the Flickr group.

Category: Education

This picture is the East pediment on the Parthenon from the acropolis

 of Athens, Greece. I believe this photo fits into the category of

education because the Greeks had a major influence on the

 education system. Also, Socrates spoke on the acropolis

 many times and most of his teachings taught basic

thinking skills.

Category: About Me (Student)

I have only ever been a student so I chose that as my "professional"
category. I chose this photo because it had a huge impact on my
life as a student. I did an internship in Wellington, New
Zealand in the summer of 2008 and this is the
Parliament building. I learned more from
that internship than I did in
four years of college.

Category: About Me (General)

This is a picture of pig and duck. They travel with me pretty

much everywhere I go. They solve all the issues of

bordemn in planes, cars, trains, everything.

They have their own scrapbook

 of all the places they've

 accompanied me.

BP4_20091101_Web2.0 tool of the week

After looking through many web 2.0 resources and testing them out, I have come to a conclusion. Are you ready? I have decided Vuvox is my new web 2.0 tool of the week. It is a tool that creates amazing collages. When I typically think of a collage, I picture many still photos crammed together in some intriguing way that makes them all look well. With Vuvox this is not the case. It has many different tools you can use including video, voice, hotspots, cutouts, and more. I think it would be a great tool for nonverbal children. If you taught a child with autism how to use this tool, the array of assignments available is endless. One assignment that I think would work well is using the tool to build a timeline. For instance, as a teacher create several cutouts for the child like a hairbrush, tooth brush, school uniform, socks, shoes .... you get the idea. Also create several different scenes like sunrise through a child's bedroom, a kid in pajamas out of bed, a kid in front of the mirror ... basically morning routine. Then have the student create the collage or slideshow putting the scenes in order then placing the cutouts that belong with them. You could do this endless amounts of time for everything that has a routine or schedule. It would also be beneficial for working with the students when the schedule is going to change. If the child has some words, then you could plug in the words with the activity they represent. An example of this would be a child that knows the sentence "put on socks." When it came to the scene with the socks, record the child saying it, then make it a hotspot on the socks.

Web 2.0 tool: www.vuvox.com

Below are examples of cut outs I have made.

BP3_20091101_Google Reader Articles

 For this assignment, I have chosen five educational google reader feeds. The feeds are all important to me for different reason. As you read on, you will be able to tell that I am not going to be your typical teacher. Number one reason is that I am not yet a teacher and the number two reason being I want to be a special ed resource teacher. Before 2007, I had never knowingly met anyone with Autism. I babysat two boys on the spectrum and it has changed my life. The feeds below reflect that change.
#1) Autism Hub - this feed is many blogs by people with autism or their caregivers. I feel it is necessary for me to read these blogs because it gives me an insight to understanding people with autism. So far, I have read some blogs of adults with autism and aspergers. They are amazing to me because some explain what they go through, how they function in everyday life, the way they are perceived by the world, and what is they are actually thinking.

#2) Autism News - this feed is more from a news standpoint. It is not as personal as the Autism Hub feed. The information here is necessary for me to learn more about what is going on in the world of autism on from a global standpoint. Some articles present research findings.

#3) Special Education - this feed is about Special Ed in general. Some articles contain lesson plans for Special Ed. classrooms and general information about the acronyms and things that go on in the Special Ed. world.
#4) Educational Technology - this feed will teach me about new technologies used in the realm of education along with things that work and don't work.
#5) Social Media in Learning - this feed is productive because it is all about ways to use social media. This feed contains more than you ever wanted to know about Web2.0 and all the tools. I enjoy it very much.

BP2_20091101_Blogging In Education

Educational uses for blogging is what I am doing my Action Research Project on. Some of the areas I am hoping will improve because of the blog are reading, writing, spelling, creativity, memory, and technology.  I think blogs foster a nice writing environment for students who have been tortured by papers and pencils. They are already on the internet so students who are struggling for things to write about already have easy access to a creative environment where they can look for inspiration. If you have students keep a blog about a specific class, then they will be able to recall the information better because of the repetition and seeing the blog repeatedly. Again, with the same theory of the repetition, students will become better readers from reading each others blogs and will increase writing skills because of the want for the other students to be able to clearly read and understand what they are writing about. Blogs also allow for the students to collaborate in and out of class. Or, they can be used as a place for teachers to post an article and then each student can post their response to the post. Another idea teachers can use for a blog is to post the beginning of a story. Then each students will add on to the story. Each post will add on to the post above it. As a class, you will end up with a story that each student has put their thought and effort into. Blogs have many wonderful uses in education. One last idea iscreating a class blog and allowing the parents to make comments and such. With the parents reading over the blog, it is another way of opening the lines of communication between students, teachers, and parents. 

BP1_20091101_iGoogle Screenshots

Home Page

AR Page

ETC page

... also on this page is google reader and google bookmarks.