Class 4- Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013.

     Times they are a changing'... as mentioned before, children are coming to school being able to navigate mobile devices, yet are unable to tie their shoes. However, with Velcro and alternate shoe designs, as well as shoe tying tutorials, instead of worrying about what kids are not able to do, we need to focus on what technology is enabling them to do.
     More and more parents are investing in mobile devices once they realise what they are enabling their child to accomplish and the educational freedom they offer their child. Our instructor Barb, showed us a video today of students sharing their enthusiasm and excitement for the technology they are using. They are excited to share what they are able to accomplish; you could see them oozing with pride and self motivation. It was very inspiring!

Ruben R. Puentedura's blog is also very inspiring and a must read as it contains a wealth of videos, pdfs, presentations and information on education and technology. I warn you when you visit his site, there is an overwhelming amount of information presented. I wanted to explore and read it all, but as time is limited for now, I have to put it on my nightly reading list. Today I did some exploring and found a great video introducing the SAMR concept. Have a watch!

He brings up many good points to ponder, one being the integration of technology in the classroom. However, there are so many variables with this, it is very hard to compare a classroom in one school to that of another due to available resources the school has invested in, as well as the teacher's comfort level and knowledge of technology. One school I was at had a very involved PTA, that was supportive of the teachers wanting a SMART Board in at common room that could be used by everyone. The administration gave us PD days to work with technology integration specialist and be trained on how to use it, but only a handful of teachers decided to do it as others stated they had to much on their "plate" already to add one more thing to do/learn.

In another school there was a large group of teachers hungry for technology but there was only one mobile LCD for the entire P-9 school. Due to the administration and PTA's being able to make decisions (within reason) as to where they would like to spend the money. This creates unfair situations for students who could benefit from the use of technology in the classroom but do not have it available in the school they are in, or the teacher they have that year is not comfortable or knowledgeable in how to use it. Students should not suffer due to where they live in HRSB, or because of their teacher's comfort level with technology, but it is happening and I am not sure how it can be rectified.

I would like to see a Province or at least Board wide technology centre that housed resources for students, so it did not matter what school a child was at, if they needed an iPod touch/ iPad, they would have access to it (and not just for a few months like most resources). Ideally they would be paired up with a technology team member who knew the products available, how they could be utilised and would work with teacher and student to make sure everyone was getting the most out of what was available. I understand teachers who feel like there is enough on their plate now with learning how to do three part lesson plans, a new report card system, new curriculums, committee meetings, regular PD, as well as maintaining adaptations and IPPs, but the reason why were are in this career is to teach students and prepare them for society, we can't let students slip by because we don't have the time. We need to teach and work smarter. Hopefully the Board or Department can work with teachers to figure out this situation that is only going to get more and more complicated as time goes on.


PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) is a picture communication system used for non verbal children. It is introduced in six phases, beginning with learning how to exchange a picture for an item they really want, to phase six where they are putting together simple sentences answering questions such as , "What do you see?" with pictures that say "I see a", "bird". When a child is not able to use speech to express him/herself it can be very frustrating for both child and others who are trying to communicating with them. Exchanging pictures can be started at a young age to begin learning another way to communicate. Once a child makes the connection between presenting the picture and getting what they want, they are on their way to being able to communicate their needs and wants which everyone wants to be able to do at some level. As the child gets older, exchanging tangible pictures as a way to communicate could be replaced by using the more easily portable technology of an iPod Touch or iPad and a program such as Proloquo2go.

Groups presented their Proloquo2go boards in folders today that they made to support case study students. Using Proloquo2go instead of Board Maker is like driving a Lamborghini instead of the family station waggon. Both are modes of transportation that will get you where you want to go, but one is obviously more of a higher calibre and more fun to drive. Having seen Learning Centre teachers slave away using Board marker ($499 USD on sale)- finding pictures, decide which ones to use, printing them, cutting them out, buying a personal laminator (because schools no longer have laminators) to laminate them so that they last longer and then buying cardboard and velcro to make the boards, as well as employing at substitute at $180/day. It is said that it takes approx. 15 min. to make one visual aid for a board. When teachers are making 50 for communication binders, they time you are looking at for one student could be upwards of four hours/student!

This is just not as efficient as Proloquo2go ($189.99 USD). With Proloquo2go, you can create virtual "binders" worth of visual boards on an ipad or ipod for students in a fraction of the time and with much more variety and personalisation. Changing the size of icons for the visual/tactile needs of a student, changing background and file colours to what they like as well as what offers a good visual contrast. It is simple and can be adapted and changed easily when needed- no need to go back to the printer and laminate to make a change. It gives a voice to the student and provides an opportunity to communicate what they need/want when they need/want it.


 PicCollage, a free app, is one of the most fun and versatile apps I have ever used. The ways you can utilise it are limited only to your imagination... I will admit mine is not as great as it was when I was a child... but as a class we discussed a few ideas and then Nancy and I worked together and thought of the following uses for this app. in a matter of 30 min. Imagine what you can come up with when you work with grade level partners for an hour!
1. Pull in a Graphic organiser, you can take a picture of the one you are using in class or copy one from the internet.
2. Take a pic of pics in a book for sequencing activity, great for students who can't get can't get writing information down but can still show their knowledge
3. visual schedule- can use check marks to show task completed, easy to change, save to photo library to pull out common days, email out
4. Practise beginning/ending sounds- you give them the letters mixed up and they drag them up to spell correctly
5. Show me more than/less than a number
6. Sort animals into habitats
7. Cloze activities with word bank
8. Put a picture of a thermometer in as well as various items students have to rank along the thermometer from hottest to coldest
9. 100s chart- we took a pic. of the 100s chart, set it as our background and we copied
and pasted a bunch of hearts from the stickers option, they can be placed over the
numbers to skip count/highlight patterns

10. Addition with counters- we took pic. of red and yellow sided counters, copied and
pasted a bunch of them on the page, they can be used to represent addition sentences

11. Base 10 materials- we took pic. of units, rods and flats, copied and pasted a bunch,
they can be used to represent numbers in a variety of ways, manipulatives are always in
scarce supply so this solves that problem as you can copy and paste as many as you want!

12. Journal entry- we searched for pictures on the Internet, saved them and added them to
our text to make a picture journal entry

13. Money matters- again took pic. of the manipulatives so that they could be copied and
pasted and used in a variety of ways, they could develop math stories that involve money
and show it with pic.



14. Venn diagram- searched and made a venn diagram from the internet our background,

copied pictures from the internet to make an animal sort

 

Pic Collage could also be used to make Social Stories with pictures to accompany the story. Social stories and video modelling are two strategies that can be used to teach students with autism or behaviour issues what appropriate behaviours look and sound like. Often students with autism or behaviour issues do not know what the desired or appropriate behaviours in common social interactions look like and they need it modelled for them so they can learn what it looks like and also learn how to do it themselves.

The Early Childhood Services team of Toronto put together a tip sheet for creating Social Stories that I thought most useful to share part of, as the language used in writing a Social Story is very important so that the message to the student is direct, clear and contains all necessary pieces to learn the behaviour. Here is the example they gave:

There should be at least double the amount of DESCRIBE sentences as DIRECT sentences.

This is an example of a Social Story:

My name is Matthew (line leader).

I love playing with the big, yellow truck (descriptive).

Jonathan likes to play with the yellow truck, too (perspective).

Jonathan pushes the truck on the floor and puts blocks in it (descriptive).

He likes to make “beep-beep” noises when he pushes the truck (perspective).

When Jonathan is playing with the truck, I can say, “Can I have a turn please?” (directive)

 I wait until he is finished his turn (directive).

It is OK to wait (affirmative).

My teacher will help me stay calm while I wait for my turn (co-operative).

My teacher is happy when I wait for my turn (perspective).

When Jonathan is finished, it is my turn (descriptive).

I have fun playing with the truck (descriptive).

I can remember to ask Jonathan for a turn and to wait (control).

 

Descriptive = 4 Perspective = 3

Co-operative = 1 Affirmative = 1

 

Directive = 2 Control = 1

TOTAL DESCRIBE = 4 + 3 + 1 + 1 = 9

TOTAL DIRECT = 2 + 1 = 3

I feel this is a valuable tool for every classroom teacher as we all deal disruptive behaviours on a regular basis. Having this model will enable you to make your own social stories that are relevant to your students and their situations.