Assistive Technology

Microsoft Ease of Acces Center has several tools that would be able to benefit those with visual, hearing or physical ailments. Also, it could benefit those with learning disabilities such as ADD.

The first tool that I explored was setting up the high contraster. This particular application makes it possible to change the screen colors so they contrast eachother and therefore making it easier to focus on the text. This could be beneficial to students that have trouble keeping focus, as well as students that have poor vision. In the screenshot, you can clearly see the color differences on the screen and how the bright colors would enhance the reading process.

The next tool I looked into was the narration tool, this could benefit a number of different people. This application reads the text on the screen for the person trying to understand it. In particular, this could be benefical to students with poor vision. Also, it could aid in multi-tasking, because people can listen to information while simultaneously doing another activity.

Professional Learning Network (PLN)

My professional learning network will be created through iGoogle. The iGoogle pages allow for organizing multiple resources on one page in order to be able to access the various information simultaneously.





On my iGoogle page, I have included several resources that I find beneficial to the learning process and believe would be useful in the classroom. My iGoogle page looks like this:

The tools included on my iGoogle page are TeacherTube, Twitter for Teachers, Delicious, Facebook, YouTube and Blogger. Each resource, I believe, is beneficial to staying organized and updated while teaching.

Twitter for Teachers and Facebook are both useful because they allow me to subscribe and follow different teachers. Like Blogger, these three tools make it possible to access different lesson plans and ideas of teachers in a similar subject area. This will be an easy way to stay up to date on the happenings of other teachers like myself. TeacherTube and YouTube will allow me to present different video examples to my class regarding the subject being discussed that day. Delicious will allow me to keep important links organized so I can access them when necessary as well as subscribe to other teachers.

Therefore, for my PLN, I created an iGoogle page in order to keep myself organized. It makes it possible for me to access different, constantly updated pages quickly and without hassle.

Classroom Communication

In order to keep constant communication between teachers, parents and students, I will have a class blog that is updated daily. This blog will consist of a review of each day in class. This includes activities, homework or projects that are assigned and major topics that were covered that day.

This way, parents will be able to view and keep track of what their students are doing daily.  Also, students will be able to look at the blog for clarification on homework assignments and due dates or when they are unsure of what topics were covered.

In my opinion, a blog is more useful than a website or daily e-mail newsletter when it comes to keeping constant communication in the classroom.  A blog allows for pictures to be uploaded and documents to be attached. Also, blogs make it possible for parents and/or students to post comments or concerns about the day's post.  This way, the teacher can then respond back and the post is made available to all people. Because this is possible, parents and students are able to see the questions of their peers and therefore questions will not repeated and information will be more easily granted. 

Station 2: Measuring Ourselves

Screenshot of data in plot view.

Screen shot of data in chart view.

Yes there is a relationship betweem hieght and wingspan. We can see from the graphs that taller people have longer wingspans.

Yes tehre is a relationship between hieght and foot length. We can see from the graphs that taller people have longer feet.

Station 6: Persuasive Speaking Survey

Link to my form

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGNKVFVnS3h5azhhV0I5Q0VQNEc2Nnc6MA

Screenshot of Spreadsheet

Form in Progress

Communication Tools

PBWiki is an application of the Wiki Websites which allows for creating, organizing and linking multiple websites and information together. PBWiki is primarily a collaboration website, it includes websites that can collaborate notes and important facts while also connecting parents, students and teachers.

This video gives a brief overview of how to create and edit a PBWiki:

The PBWiki serves as a superior communication tool for teachers for multiple reasons. It makes learning more efficient. By utilizing the aspects of the website, teachers are able to communicate notes and facts about subjects to all students quickly and also keep parents well informed. The PBWiki is an effective learning tool for students because it requires them to read over and contribute to class discussions outside of class, that can be further analyzed and developed during school hours. In addition, this communication tool has the ability to enhance the learning process because it is a simple way for students to share ideas and have easy access to accurate information and the opinions of their peers. 

The disadvantages of this tool are few, because it is predominately dependent on the Internet, there is always the chance that the technology will fail.  Also, in some areas or school districts, students may not have access to the PBWiki website at home therefore requiring alteration in the dependence of it. Finally, to a person new to technology, this particular website may seem overwhelming and difficult to understand at first. 

In English, this tool could serve very useful. The teacher would be able to post prompts or discussion questions for the class on the website. After it is posted, students would then be able to analyze and develop the questions and post them to the PBWiki.  This way, all students in the class would be able to view and think about the opinions and ideas of their classmates. By using this method, group discussions during class would be undoubtedly more productive, because the students have already had the chance to look at and begin to understand the material. 

Technological Innovations for English Education

I plan to utilize Inspiration as a tool when teaching Secondary English Education. The application allows for creative designs of worksheets, quizzes and organizational instruction. Inspiration can provide a visual aid to understanding concepts and visualizing thoughts. In particular, students can benefit from the concept maps and paper outlines. 

Also, templates such as the Peer Editing template can be used by students when interacting with each other. Inspiration provides these templates in a way that the students can easily edit and revise each other's pieces of writing. 

In addition to organizing and editing writing assignments, Inspiration offers applications such as the Vocabulary Word template. This allows students and teachers a clear and simple way of seeing the definition of words and therefore learning the meaning more efficiently. 

Because Inspiration provides mostly templates for learning and organization, it would most likely be considered an integrated learning system.