Monday, February 24, 2014
Dragon: The Naturally Speaking Voice Recognition Software
Monday, February 17, 2014
UDL ToolKit: A teacher's best friend!
For teachers, it is important to have an arsenal of literacy tools, study tools, audio books, graphic organizers, and the like to help students become more engaged with their learning. I was recently checking out this UDL Toolkit wiki page and found a lot of different tools that will help students to access different content through the use of different materials. Here is a brief list of what tools you can access on this site.
Graphic Organizers:
bubbl.us/- is a mind mapping tool that can be created on the computer as your lesson unfolds, this mind map can be customized to any content and is simple to use so that older students can use independently or as a different way to take notes.
Prezi- Prezi is a organizational tool that can also be used as a presentation format. Instead of the standard linear presentations that powerpoint allows, Prezi can be linear, or more of a fluid way to present information. Prezi is definitely a more graphically interesting way to present information. This can be used as a way to present information to students or for an assessment tool for students to use.
Literacy Tools:
Star fall- Star fall is a website with engaging games to help students from Pre-k to 2nd grade learn phonics, and create phonemic awareness. There are games and most of the site has audio so students can wear headphones. Only recommended for primary students and those students in Special Education who need work of phonics recognition. Games and audio are juvenile.
Inkless Tales- This website has lots of short stories that are animated and put together with music and voice overs to help students be more engaged while reading. It looks like books that come to life! The website states that the "books" include Dolch sight words, which would be great for my students who have reading goals that include mastering Dolch/Fry sight words.
Study Skills:
Study Stack- Study Stack is a website that allows you to access premade or create your own study flash cards. The premade ones are already sorted into categories. All you have to do is choose your subject and start flipping! I can't wait to send this to my mother who is a 8th grade Science teacher, who tries to incorporate technology into her lesson plans.
There were similar sites like study stack but this was the only one that did not make you sign up for an account and allowed the user to immediately start "flipping note cards."
Math Tools:
Geo Board- This geo board is a great way to engage students in learning about shapes and how to make them. Geo boards are a staple in any primary classroom but can be cumbersome with all of the materials. This is a great tool for whole group instruction and even for a small group activity.
Base Ten blocks- Base Ten blocks are another great math manipulative to teach students the basics of place value, number sense and adding with regrouping. This can be a useful tool for whole group instruction with each student using their own base ten blocks or as a instructional how to.
Other great resources: Lately, I have been using Teachers Pay Teachers, Pinterest and Boardmaker. Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest have great center activities, games and bulletin board ideas. Boardmaker is what I use to make student schedules, instructions, and social stories.
Graphic Organizers: bubbl.us/- is a mind mapping tool that can be created on the computer as your lesson unfolds, this mind map can be customized to any content and is simple to use so that older students can use independently or as a different way to take notes.
Prezi- Prezi is a organizational tool that can also be used as a presentation format. Instead of the standard linear presentations that powerpoint allows, Prezi can be linear, or more of a fluid way to present information. Prezi is definitely a more graphically interesting way to present information. This can be used as a way to present information to students or for an assessment tool for students to use.
Literacy Tools:
Star fall- Star fall is a website with engaging games to help students from Pre-k to 2nd grade learn phonics, and create phonemic awareness. There are games and most of the site has audio so students can wear headphones. Only recommended for primary students and those students in Special Education who need work of phonics recognition. Games and audio are juvenile.
Inkless Tales- This website has lots of short stories that are animated and put together with music and voice overs to help students be more engaged while reading. It looks like books that come to life! The website states that the "books" include Dolch sight words, which would be great for my students who have reading goals that include mastering Dolch/Fry sight words.
Study Skills:
Study Stack- Study Stack is a website that allows you to access premade or create your own study flash cards. The premade ones are already sorted into categories. All you have to do is choose your subject and start flipping! I can't wait to send this to my mother who is a 8th grade Science teacher, who tries to incorporate technology into her lesson plans.
There were similar sites like study stack but this was the only one that did not make you sign up for an account and allowed the user to immediately start "flipping note cards."
Math Tools: Geo Board- This geo board is a great way to engage students in learning about shapes and how to make them. Geo boards are a staple in any primary classroom but can be cumbersome with all of the materials. This is a great tool for whole group instruction and even for a small group activity.
Base Ten blocks- Base Ten blocks are another great math manipulative to teach students the basics of place value, number sense and adding with regrouping. This can be a useful tool for whole group instruction with each student using their own base ten blocks or as a instructional how to.
Other great resources: Lately, I have been using Teachers Pay Teachers, Pinterest and Boardmaker. Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest have great center activities, games and bulletin board ideas. Boardmaker is what I use to make student schedules, instructions, and social stories.
Things to Consider: ULD Lesson plans
When creating UDL lesson plan that are able to provide all student the chance to access and fully understand curriculum teachers must consider the three principles of UDL; Multiple Means of Representation, Multiple Means of Engagement and Multiple Means of Expression.
Fortunately, Cast.org has provided a great checklist for teachers to self-reflect on their lesson plans as it pertains to the UDL principles. Here is a sample of the checklist.
I was able to recently reflect on one of my lessons using the UDL checklist. It helped me to see my strenghts and weaknesses when incorporating multiple means of expression, representation and engagement into my lessons.
I felt that I was strongest at providing multiple means of engagement by providing choices of materials to use, using movement and songs as a way for students to fully understand and remember content, and providing multiple stations with different activites as way for students to learn new content.
My second strongest area was allowing students multiple means of engagement by allowing students to have autonomy at self-guided stations, varying demands on students through prompts and scaffolds, providing choices on materials so students can relate to materials and fostering collaboration and community through student jobs as well as helping facilitate personal coping skills through direct instruction on social skills/replacement behaviors.
I would say that my biggest weaknesses are providing multiple means of representation for curriculum content. I need to remember there are numerous ways to provide audio information, guide students on using background information and making connections to their schema, and providing adaptive and alternative tools to access curriculum. I mainly think that this is because I am still not sure what technology and tools are available to use, as well as in which context to use them. I am hoping my course in Assistive Technology at Cabrini College will help to provide multiple ways of using assistive tools. Another weakness I have is in creating rubrics and tools to aid in assessing students learning. I need to help my students set their own goals and then come back to self assess their learning and their behavior. This always comes as an after thought for me, as I rely heavily on formative data and anecdotes/notes I make at the end of the lessons.
Fortunately, Cast.org has provided a great checklist for teachers to self-reflect on their lesson plans as it pertains to the UDL principles. Here is a sample of the checklist.
I was able to recently reflect on one of my lessons using the UDL checklist. It helped me to see my strenghts and weaknesses when incorporating multiple means of expression, representation and engagement into my lessons.
I felt that I was strongest at providing multiple means of engagement by providing choices of materials to use, using movement and songs as a way for students to fully understand and remember content, and providing multiple stations with different activites as way for students to learn new content.
My second strongest area was allowing students multiple means of engagement by allowing students to have autonomy at self-guided stations, varying demands on students through prompts and scaffolds, providing choices on materials so students can relate to materials and fostering collaboration and community through student jobs as well as helping facilitate personal coping skills through direct instruction on social skills/replacement behaviors.
I would say that my biggest weaknesses are providing multiple means of representation for curriculum content. I need to remember there are numerous ways to provide audio information, guide students on using background information and making connections to their schema, and providing adaptive and alternative tools to access curriculum. I mainly think that this is because I am still not sure what technology and tools are available to use, as well as in which context to use them. I am hoping my course in Assistive Technology at Cabrini College will help to provide multiple ways of using assistive tools. Another weakness I have is in creating rubrics and tools to aid in assessing students learning. I need to help my students set their own goals and then come back to self assess their learning and their behavior. This always comes as an after thought for me, as I rely heavily on formative data and anecdotes/notes I make at the end of the lessons.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Identifying Barriers for Diverse Learners
When trying to teach students using the UDL principles, an educator must first identify students' strengths and weaknesses and be able to understand how the materials and instructional delivery can help or hinder students' understanding of the content.
A nice tutorial I recently checked out was one that simulated a student's disability in a chosen course (such as social studies) and it gave me a chance to try and evaluate the barriers that this particular student would have in trying to understand the content and using the materials.
My student was Sophia, a talented choir member, who was legally blind but had peripheral vision in both eyes. She was fluent in Braille but would also use textbooks with the help of a magnifying glass. Although this helped Sophia access the information in the textbook, this would slow her down as she was not able to skim/scan the readings as fast as her fellow classmates. I then chose 5th grade U.S. History as the course this particular student would be taking. This course requires the use of textbooks, videos, paper and pencil assignments, and rarely provides word processing opportunities except for certain assignments.
This tutorial provides space for evaluation on identifying student barriers for this course. I've identified 4 barriers that Sophia has when trying access materials and curriculum for this course.
Here is what I identified as curriculum barriers for Sophia when trying to learn in her 5th grade Social Studies Class:
I would highly suggest going through this tutorial and trying to identify areas where the simulated students have difficulty accessing the materials and curriculum. It will help you to find barriers for your students in your classroom.
A nice tutorial I recently checked out was one that simulated a student's disability in a chosen course (such as social studies) and it gave me a chance to try and evaluate the barriers that this particular student would have in trying to understand the content and using the materials.
My student was Sophia, a talented choir member, who was legally blind but had peripheral vision in both eyes. She was fluent in Braille but would also use textbooks with the help of a magnifying glass. Although this helped Sophia access the information in the textbook, this would slow her down as she was not able to skim/scan the readings as fast as her fellow classmates. I then chose 5th grade U.S. History as the course this particular student would be taking. This course requires the use of textbooks, videos, paper and pencil assignments, and rarely provides word processing opportunities except for certain assignments.
This tutorial provides space for evaluation on identifying student barriers for this course. I've identified 4 barriers that Sophia has when trying access materials and curriculum for this course.
Here is what I identified as curriculum barriers for Sophia when trying to learn in her 5th grade Social Studies Class:
I would highly suggest going through this tutorial and trying to identify areas where the simulated students have difficulty accessing the materials and curriculum. It will help you to find barriers for your students in your classroom.
UDL and the Pressures to Teach ALL Students
More and more responsibility is being placed on teachers to make sure that we educate all students and allow them to reach their fullest potential in the classroom. District, state and even national standards are being adopted to ensure that teachers are being accountable. On top of this, classrooms are being transformed into inclusive classrooms, where one teacher will have to handle students on multiple reading and academic levels, different behavioral or attentional issues and ever students who have mild-moderate learning disabilities. The pressure to reach all students has never been higher for educators. BUT this is why Universal Design for Learning has become so important for teachers to implement.
Long before Universal Design for Learning, educational theorists had believed that all students brains are similar in how they operate before, during and after learning new information. Now with new information from science on how the brain functions and with new educational theories being recognized (Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligences) educators are finding that their instructional delivery needs to be as varied as the students themselves.
Luckily, along with new scientific discoveries of the functioning of the brain has come new inventions to help educators deliver instruction using diverse resources. The internet has become a great tool for educators to use, for websites, videos and visuals/graphic organizers to help students better understand the curriculum. Digital books and audio books have also become great tools for educators in need of providing differentiated material for their students with specific learning disabilities. CAST, Center for Applied Special Technology, is a great resource for videos to help you learn more about UDL, and tools for teachers to use in the classroom.
Long before Universal Design for Learning, educational theorists had believed that all students brains are similar in how they operate before, during and after learning new information. Now with new information from science on how the brain functions and with new educational theories being recognized (Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligences) educators are finding that their instructional delivery needs to be as varied as the students themselves.
Luckily, along with new scientific discoveries of the functioning of the brain has come new inventions to help educators deliver instruction using diverse resources. The internet has become a great tool for educators to use, for websites, videos and visuals/graphic organizers to help students better understand the curriculum. Digital books and audio books have also become great tools for educators in need of providing differentiated material for their students with specific learning disabilities. CAST, Center for Applied Special Technology, is a great resource for videos to help you learn more about UDL, and tools for teachers to use in the classroom.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
UDL:The "WHAT, HOW & WHY" of Learning
When it comes to the human brain, there are three primary brain networks that aid in the act of learning. These three brain networks are: The Recognition Networks, The Strategic Networks and The Affective Networks; otherwise known as the WHAT, HOW and WHY of learning.
The Recognition Networks:
The Recognition Networks allows us to gather facts through what we see, read and hear and put these facts into categories. This network helps us to recognize letters, words, or numbers. Therefor, in order to reach all students, teachers should present content in numerous ways to reach all type of learners. Teachers should not only use lectures for auditory learners, but visuals/posters for visual learners, activities such as role play or dance to get kinesthetic learners moving etc.
The Strategic Networks:
The Strategic Networks of the brain allow the brain to perform planning type tasks. These networks also help us to organize ideas such as in writing an essay, or solving a complex math problem. Just as the teacher should provide multiple means of representing the information while teaching, the students should be allowed to express their knowledge in a variety of ways. Not all students can show what they have learned through testing. Different ways of representing the information include making posters, brochures, power point, videos, websites, blogs, or create a role play. The possibilities are as endless as your or your students' imaginations.
The Affective Networks:
The Affective Networks allow for humans to engage in an activity, to have feelings, to feel excited, interested or challenged. As a teacher it is important to related the content material to subjects that relate to the students. If the curriculum is related to things that students can understand such as sports, age-appropriate TV shows, songs, or celebrities. These can typically be used as the "hook" of the lesson, which comes at the beginning to hook the kids attention. The more a teacher can related the information to a student's life the more the student will be able to apply the knowledge and understand the information.
The Recognition Networks: The Recognition Networks allows us to gather facts through what we see, read and hear and put these facts into categories. This network helps us to recognize letters, words, or numbers. Therefor, in order to reach all students, teachers should present content in numerous ways to reach all type of learners. Teachers should not only use lectures for auditory learners, but visuals/posters for visual learners, activities such as role play or dance to get kinesthetic learners moving etc.
The Strategic Networks:
The Strategic Networks of the brain allow the brain to perform planning type tasks. These networks also help us to organize ideas such as in writing an essay, or solving a complex math problem. Just as the teacher should provide multiple means of representing the information while teaching, the students should be allowed to express their knowledge in a variety of ways. Not all students can show what they have learned through testing. Different ways of representing the information include making posters, brochures, power point, videos, websites, blogs, or create a role play. The possibilities are as endless as your or your students' imaginations.
The Affective Networks:The Affective Networks allow for humans to engage in an activity, to have feelings, to feel excited, interested or challenged. As a teacher it is important to related the content material to subjects that relate to the students. If the curriculum is related to things that students can understand such as sports, age-appropriate TV shows, songs, or celebrities. These can typically be used as the "hook" of the lesson, which comes at the beginning to hook the kids attention. The more a teacher can related the information to a student's life the more the student will be able to apply the knowledge and understand the information.
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