Alia's+Learning+Log


====After my first day of class, I am feeling a bit more confident in my computer skills than I previously thought! I am excited about starting my wiki page, and I look forward to using this application in the future! I feel that creating this wikispace will be useful to not only myself but my students, in making the curriculum more available to them. Although I am not a classroom teacher as of yet, I do find this a great resource in terms of allowing daily communication to parents as well as students. ==== ====When my partner and I completed the webquest activity, I found myself coming up with many ideas in how services or curriculum can be delived to every student. Although NCLB mandates that teachers and schools accountable for success and achievement, I feel that this should not only be a professional requirement but a personal requirement for every teacher. The laws put in place to ensure that students goals are being met appropriately seem tricky at times serve an important purpose. The laws force educators to continuously challenge themselves to deliver the curriculum in new and innovative ways! One question that I still am mulling over in my head is : how can I differentiate instruction so that every student in my classroom may benefit at any given time? will this mean that I need to offer several variations of 1 lesson plan, or just keep a few students in mind when I do create lesson plans and seek accommodations for my students?====

Daily Learning Log 2/10/09 Second Day of Class-f2f I was very impressed by the vast amount of information regarding special education law in our course. I felt that everyone did a wonderful job condensing the information and hitting on key points of the law and how it affects your child. I am currently enrolled in the legal aspects course, and find it completely overwhelming, however, after the presentations, I feel more confident in my knowledge about the law. I can see that there are three main laws regarding special education that are extremely important and how they build upon one another. I also found it fascinating how every group was able to display their information in totally different ways. Many groups made the information presented accessible and understandable to the wary, yet concerned parent, which I think is fabulous! I also think that we all did a wonderful job at incorporating technology in our presentations and the different ways in which it will and can be utilized within a classroom. Lastly, I feel that by clearly defining that accommodations and modifications are fair and necessary as well as legally mandated, many parents will be able to understand that every child is unique and that as an educator it is important to see that every student's learning ability is unique as well! Daily Learning Log 2/16/2009 After class on 2/10/09, I definitely have a better appreciation for UDL. I have been noticing how it can affect a person's life when it is not implemented and I do think it should be considered in everything that we as educators do. It seems that without the incorporation of UDL, people are being discriminated against. As the weekend has passed, it is very noticeable that without incorporating UDL, students much less individuals may feel very isolated. I also think that our discussion of UDL goes hand in hand with AT. As a future educator you want to include everyone in your classroom, make everyone feel equal and important and the use of AT in conjunction with UDL allows for this option. When I finally start teaching I will remember to take into account my classroom layout, the adaptations necessary for instruction as well as the technology component that will aid all my students in becoming a successful learner! Daily Learning Log 3/3/2009...continued After class on 2/24/09, I felt even better about the incorporation of AT and UDL in my classroom. I was ashamed that I didn't really know about UDL or the various resources for AT before!! I feel that there is a wealth of technology for AT that is readily available and user friendly, even for computer illiterate people like myself! After reading the pencils article, I am even more convinced that I definitely could have benefited from the use of graphic organizers and a seat change in courses such as math and science! I was thinking that my lesson plan will be enhanced with the use of graphic organizers and I really look forward to utilizing the resources presented in my own classroom. Lastly, I feel that the AT wheel and class matrix was great resource that the both the student and the teacher can use to help each student! I was a little concerned that the class matrix would be a problem as far as privacy, but I figure that if I assign a code each student, they would not know who needs what support or different accommodation. I also think that giving the students a copy of the matrix or wheel in the beginning of the semester and allowing them to take a multiple intelligences test will allow them to tell me how they prefer to be taught. I really appreciated the multiple intelligences test, I did know that I was a visual learner however I did not know that I was a linguistic learner as well! I think that everyone should take this test, due to the fact that it outlines what areas you may need improvement as well as where your strengths lie! As a result of the intelligences test, I feel that I have one more goal to work on and I will remember to incorporate the strategies into my unit lesson plan! Hopefully with practice I incorporate AT as second nature!

3/3/2009 f2f-In Class notes augmentative
=Augmentative Alternative Communication for students with low incidence disabilities--everything but LD = Pic. Communication symbols: universal set from board maker, generates symbols can create own grids to make it look like whatever you would like it to look

3 Different Programs --used in communication, social stories: students with autism, MMR etc.
speaking dynamic pro--word anticipation(prediction)--can link boards so it can talk and go to something else boardmaker plus--can talk and communicate, ex: as you touch picture it talks! board maker--create templates, visual schedules for ppl who need picture help, aides in direct selection Board maker picture symbols may be used or you can use digital pictures to communicate Multiple Devices in Continuum--reference handout from class: objects to abstract line drawings Lots of controversy in this delivery--annotation and inflection in voice when asking board maker to do something must figure out what student needs to show student what you want them to do Headliner Material--fuzzy velcro, loop-can find in fabric stores used for bulletin boards with picture symbols--use as necessary binders with baseball card holders, put symbols in so kids can say what they like Devices: Communication Builder- can choose age appropriateness multiple grids, can have a large amount of students on one device can change with record button to whatever is on builder, can aide in developing language, some students may never learn to talk this helps with keeping students on cognitive level Go Talk--buttons that record, students can plan Aided Language Stimulation--when you point to pictures when reading with board maker When deciding what student wants to talk about: Student should choose, instructor should observe before giving options and start where STUDENT would like to start dynavox--computer base software with picture symbols can customize pictures Maryland Assistive Technology CoOP-state supported Go to Baltimore City public school website, hit assistive technology and begin:ex: webmath, speaking of speech Fears & Myths of using Aug. Communication

3/17/09 & 3/24/09 =Class Profile Matrix & Individual Innovation= After speaking with my group about the cpm, I came to more of a realization that although a cpm is helpful for students identified with disabilities, this idea is helpful for ALL students gen ed. and sped. as well as organization for the teacher. As far as using the cpm for the instructor, I feel it would serve as a checklist to ensure that the teacher is meeting ALL of the students needs for learning and accessing the curriculum. My group members and I had a very interesting discussion which spoke of the use of calculators for accomodations and when teacher's are being "nice", in other words the difference between necessary for instruction and optional uses for instruction. One valid point that I brought up and my classmates agreed was the fact that you want the student to know the process of how to perform the function, not memorize and be unable to display higher order of thinking. It was argued that the student should know how to do the process not use strictly memory due to the fact that in everyday society we use tools such as tip calculators on our cell phone's or online banking to manage our checkbooks. The innovation that I managed to come up with was sparked by my consumption of a peach gummy ring! As I ate the candy I realized that for students with fine motor issues, an eraser which is shaped as a ring could be very helpful. In addition, I realized that an art store pliable eraser called a "working" or "kneaded" eraser would be a great lo-tech idea in order to address this issue. By working the eraser to fit a student with fine motor disabilities finger, this would allow the student to erase easily without being frustrated with using the big pink eraser which contains corners which would be hard to use for students with this issue. Another low tech idea would be a fat pencil which would be easier for the student to grab and use without worrying about the pencil slipping from their grip! I enjoyed viewing the different applications and websites for adapting math curriculum. I was very surprised to find out how advanced math applications can be used online to aide students who have difficulties. I will be sure to access some of these websites to show my colleagues who are planning to become math teachers, and I may even use some of these websites myself!! This is very useful! 3/31/09 &4/7/09 After reading about quality control indicators through QIAT, I feel that AT not only is helpful for the students who are in need, but a sigh of relief for parents and educators alike! QIAT seems to serve as a checks and balances system, ensuring that whatever assistive technology that is put in place, is useful, and implemented correctly! I really appreciate the three standards they maintain, #1 being to ensure that the AT is legallay correct, #2 it is useful and this is shown by ongoing communication by educators and families and #3 they maintain a code of ethics. I also think that the QIAT matrix serves as a helpful checklist, to ensure that AT is properly implemented in the IEP for the student and those working with the student to use! I find it fascinating that this group started with only 14 people and now it has reached far and wide! Talk about Inspiration! Speaking of inspriation, I really enjoyed getting to know my Inspiration Software! I really felt that this software should be implemented in every classroom if possible, school wide! It definitely allows the students to show their learning, through sequencing, outlining or webbing their ideas! I thought that it was especially helpful for the students who not only are visual learners but kinetic learners due to the fact that they are using the computer in class! It is also very helpful for the teacher who is wondering if her students are paying attention to her lecture, to create a graphic organizer with missing blogs for the students to fill in as they listen. The graphic organizers created by Inspiration are wonderful due to the fact that they can be used for all academic subjects! I really like the versatility to be able to use them in not only English but Science, Math and World studies! This means that it has the potential to engage students who feel they are strong in certain subjects but not all! For example, maybe if I had this software in school, I would be a stronger student due to the fact that I would have something (visually) besides numbers to connect my learning to! This would allow myself (visual learner) to have something to reference back towards making it easier to get through challenging math courses! In the end, I am happy that I have a better understanding of Inspiration and plan to use it when I begin my teaching career! Open Source Software** After reviewing the different types of open software to use within the classroom there were three that really caught my eye! They are as follows: Very Helpful in ALL subject Areas  Very Helpful in Classes such as History or English Very Helpful in Math Class such as Stats!
 * QIAT and Inspiration**
 * 4/21/09
 * Talking PPT**--Speaking Powerpoints
 * Can be used in all academic subject areas
 * Great for group/individual presentations
 * Awesome for students who have reading difficulties, extreme anxiety, speech issues-sluring, lisp
 * Purple View**-Paper review software, sort through relevant information
 * Useful for research papers
 * Allows students to weed out irrelevant articles which do not pertain to subject
 * Papers sorted and classified in categories to eliminate endless searching
 * Survey Monkey**-Software used to create survey gather data in class
 * Great for anonymous classroom opinions
 * Great feedback survey on teacher performance-room for improvement or how things are going so far!
 * Useful as aid in making classroom decisions


4/28/09 Accessibility After reading the MDA article on Public Accessibility and the Accessible Gaming article, I must say I am impressed! I have only traveled out of the country once and I did not notice how difficult access to buildings and leisure could be for people with disabilities. I am impressed with the fact that the USA seems to be on the cutting edge of accessiblity. From cut side walks to ramps, I never thought of how a person in a wheelchair might gain access to a resturant located in a downstairs building or a French castle. I think it is our duty as educators to find out how we can make accessiblity a non-issue in the classroom to inspire people to go out and show concern for accessibilty in other countries. Afterall, disability is not prejudiced to race or country, access should be for everyone at anytime regardless of the circumstance. I was also impressed with the article on gaming for students with disaiblities. My boyfriend is very into his games and after reading this article I thoughout about the difficulty of holding a controller. First off, the controllers are not made for people with disabilities but in the article for game access, I saw how gaming and accessiblity fused together! I am impressed that a game company can come up with tailor made controllers, motion sensored controllers and one hand controllers! It really shows how people have come and where we have yet to conquer still!