iPads in the classroom

Looking over numerous different apps tonight and looking at the evaluation forms. Both have merits on evaluating an app. However, I felt that the critical evolution of a content based mobile app allowed for a more comprehensive evaluation of an app. Review was easy to follow and allowed for some flexibility. The summary section is imperative when looking to see if an app will be effective for your students. The rubric evaluation did not call for such a section. Ultimately, downloading and playing with the app is the lost effective way for me to determine if the app wil be right for my students. 

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a great tool to have in your tool bag. This software not only benefits people in education but also people in all walks of life such as business. Excel is great for compiling data and sorting through it in a quick and efficient manner. Also, as I learned in class recently can effectively keep a grade book. Something else I learned recently is that it's a great tool to make a timeline. Before class last week, I was wondering how Excel could be used beyond administrative tasks and grade book duties. Creating a timeline on the computer can be often times challenging and fustarating. However, when using excel is didn't feel those emotions. I found is extremely beneficial to utilize a step by step guide such as the one I found http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelArticles/create-a-timeline.html 

This site was instrumental at easing my frustration. While many programs are very powerful, I feel Excel when used correctly can be a grat took in the classroom. 

Looking back

Looking back on my research paper, the results of the findings of the numerous studies conducted using assistive technology make sense. I say this because the devices/techniques I chose to evaluate are very repetitive in how they operate device that is very repetitive can help build a foundation in which can be built upon for communication. The interventions I chose, video modeling, computer-based intervention, and augmentative and alternative communication devices, help assist students with autism in an effective manner because they are very repetitive in nature. Also, the three poses the ability to be altered when a desired result is reached.

When evaluating students with disabilities and determining which intervention to utilize it is imperative to use an intervention that will enhance to the abilities of the student. Often times, individuals get stuck on the fact that the student has a disability. Rather than focus on the disability, focus on the ability the student poses. The object of utilizing an assistive intervention device/technique is to make learning easier, not more difficult.

Working with students with disabilities, I have seen how assistive devices have impacted these students. The research that I have found, supports the theory that if the device/intervention is repetitive in nature but also has the ability to be altered students will be successful in communicating with their peers.

An eye opening experience

Day after day, I walk into a serve and multiple disabilities classroom. I've worked in a number of these settings through out the years. However, not once have I thought about how students with learning disabilities feel in the room in which we co-exist everyday, until now.  This video provided me a chance to reflect upon the very students that I help everyday. 

One aspect of the video that captured my attention was when all of the teachers were looking at a drawing and couldn't figure it out. I think it turned out to be a cow or something. This caught my eye because it made me think that do all of my handouts look like this for my students? Understanding words on a paper can be far more confusing than interpreting a drawing. 

This video provided me a chance to take a look at what I've already done and will do and simplify it to ensure my students can understand it. 

Visual Learning

As an educator I need to take into account the many learning styles in which my students learn. One style in which students tend to learn the best from is visual as oppose to auditory. I believe this is the case because of the strategies that can be utilized to engage visual learners. Some of these strategies are flow charts, use of font and different colors. Each of these rather simple strategies can have a vital impact on the success of a student. 

For instance, having students creating a flow chat of historical events in software such as Inspiration gives an opportunity to review the material while having fun with this user-friendly but yet effective software. Inspiration gives students the ability to add symbols to create a connection to the topic. By adding symbols students can make a correlation between the content and the symbol that can come into play later during assessments. Moreover, Inspiration provides a clean, crisp and organized platform in which students can create their own flowchart to organize anything they want in which they can understand. I like to emphasis that point because every student learns differently and likes things organized differently. 

Organizing in general is critical and can be done in a number of different fashions. One of the ways in which a student can organize content is through the use of different fonts and colors. Fonts, rather it is different typeface or if it bold, italic and underline can have a different meaning. Colors can hold significant weight as well. For instance, when I was in undergrad, I would highlight my notes with different colors depending on the how they related to the subject, cause, effect, and major event. 

On the surface, these strategies seem simple but they are highly effective in helping visual learners become successful in the classroom. The utilization of creating flow charts in Inspiration, use of font and different colors gives students the ability to take large chunks of information and break it down into simpler, more manageable pieces that make sense to them.