Blog Post #16

My Final Reflection

I look back at the If I Built A School blog post and think, "How naive you were." Honestly, it is humorous to me because I remember thinking that I had it figured out. I knew what I wanted to do and I was going to be great at it, or so I thought. I had answered the question, "What Do I Want My Children To Know?" with an answer that merely stated that I wanted them to love learning. However, I never told exactly what that was nor how I was going to get them to do it. Well, I think I am now prepared to state what I would want for them to know in more clearer terms. There is really only one thing that I want my students to learn from me. I want them to know that they have the power to be their own teachers. If I can show them how to find the answers to their own questions, then there is nothing they won't be able to accomplish once they set their minds to it. For example, I like to imagine certain areas of the brain getting stimulated every time they are required to think independently and creatively. I imagine those areas fire off other areas of the brain until the whole brain is alight with creative function. I want for my students to have creative function and freedom to want more knowledge and know where to go to get it.

There are a number of tools that I have learned about this semester that will be great in my future science classroom. The first and most important tools that I will incorporate are computers, iPads, and tablets. I think they are extremely important because they allow students a faster, more efficient medium for learning than the typical classroom textbooks which tend to be boring anyway. I want to have prepared lesson plans on a Google site just as we have learned in EDM310. Students can check on the site so that they can immediately get started on what is expected for the day. I love the idea of making group podcasts using information that is gathered by the students. It is a good way to teach them technology as well as subject content. Another tool I have been pondering is Twitter. I have thought about it being a neat way to get students to answer questions during classroom discussions. Imagine the involvement I would receive when I said, "Okay class. Now, get out your cell phones or tablets and Tweet me your thoughts." I bet that would be the day I would have 100% participation from the class. They might even want to come back the next day too. iMovie and the use of Podcasts is a fun way to get students involved and engaged in their own learning process too. It feels like playing a video game, but teaches better than a lecture. All in all, I say they are winners.

My methods of teaching have changed quite a bit since the writing of the first blog post. I no longer agree with my need to lecture for part of the instructional period. I now realize that there is another method of teaching that can reach people of any intelligence and Project Based Learning is that method. I will create assignments based on student interest in order to ensure proper engagement. I will also include community based assignments such as water quality testing which will make learning both relevant and empowering. If it is found unclean, then students will learn how to take proper steps in getting that water up to EPA standards. They will learn who to contact and what to do to make their voices are heard. It will empower them by teaching them that they can make a difference in the community around them. My plan is to stop testing students in the classroom because I don't feel this is an accurate means to identify knowledge gained. I want to allow them time to research topics, run experiments, create presentations, and then present those presentations to the class as well as others when possible. Then, I should be able to ask questions and give scenarios that they can apply their new information to so that I may properly gauge the knowledge that they gained.



I can't believe that I am about to say this, but I am going to miss this class. I have learned more in this class than I have in most others combined. I think it is because I had to take a proactive step in my own education which has always proven successful to me. One of my favorite assignments was the Randy Pausch Last Lecture assignment. In it, he recommends that we teach our students something difficult by incorporating it into something fun so that they never notice that it is difficult or even that they learned it. I asked Dr. Strange about whether or not he includes a "head fake" in his semester assignments and he said, "of course." Well, I believe I have figured out his head fake, but I wonder... did you?

Blog Post #15

Assistive Technologies Available To Teachers
by Danya Croft, Carla Young, and Nathalie McCarty

Assistive Technologies for Vision and Hearing Impaired Children stresses the importance of allowing students the ability to interact with their environment. In order to do that, it suggests the use of technologies such as:  Text-to-Speech devices, Speech-to-Text devices, talking calculators, iPads, sensory aids, and screen magnifiers.

The Mountbatten Braille Writer is a useful device that allows for audio and tactile feedback by sending and receiving files to and from a computer. A person with visual impairments can input information that needs to be converted to Braille for later reading. It has an audible playback feature and can translate writings into other languages so that teachers/students can read what was written. It allows for full classroom participation from all persons involved.

In Teaching Math to the Blind, Professor Art Karshmer tells of a device that the University of San Francisco has been working on to aid persons with visual impairments. It allows them the ability to see in their mind's eye the way a math problem should be set up in order to properly solve it. He explains that Braille is too linear to show the 2 to 3 dimensions associated with mathematics; it is the reason people with blindness find it difficult to go into the fields of mathematics, engineering, technology, and computer science. The device consists of a touchpad and wooden blocks with Braille writing on the top and a bar code on the bottom. When the wooden block is placed on the touchpad, it describes to the listener what block was inserted and where it was placed so that the problem can be properly arranged and solved. It allows for persons with visual impairments the freedom to work on math problems and perceive that information better than by linear Braille alone. Those with visual impairments can especially attest to the statement, "Mathematics: The Mother of Science & The Bane of The Blind." 

The videos iPad Usage For the Blind and Teaching Mom What Her Deaf/Blind Child Is Learning On the iPad demonstrate the freedom that iPad usage can give people with visual impairments. VoiceOver is an Apple app that reads what is being presented on the screen of an Apple device such as the iPad. It can read homepages, books, and even describe images shown. VoiceOver allows the ease of moving your finger across the screen to read the names of the apps so that you know where the app is that you want to use. Kindle and other eReaders do not offer an app that can compare to this.

Some helpful blogs to help in classroom technologies can be found in 50 Must-See Blogs For Special Education. It can help teachers find ways to allow equal opportunity for everyone in their classrooms. For example, the blog Assistive Technology shares information regarding technologies such as IPEVO Interactive Whiteboard System, MimioTeach Interactive Whiteboard, and Co:Writer App for IOS. These technologies help children with impairments thrive in the classroom because it allows them a more interactive approach that is catered to their personal needs. Another blog, Teacher Sol, is from an Exceptional Needs Specialist who shares updates on what is going on in her classroom. Maria Angala fights a near constant battle so that she may have a small part in improving special education. She shares ideas that teachers could try in hopes of creating an environment where everyone can learn.

Algebra Touch is an app used on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad that can be helpful in the secondary mathematics classroom and costs only $2.99. This app can be used by students with visual or hearing impairments as well as students with learning disabilities. It allows students the ability to rearrange numbers by dragging, simplification by tapping, and elimination of terms by drawing lines. Students can switch between lessons and get additional practice through randomly-generated practice problems. They are able to create their own set of problems to work in the equation editor, and have them appear in other devices via iCloud.

iLab Central is a website that offers virtual mathematics and science labs that can be performed by students in the classroom. It can be used Mac computers as well as iPads and costs nothing. Coupled with VoiceOver, students with visual or hearing impairments can benefit from information learned while getting the hands-on experience of lab work without the added cost of materials and supplies. An example of a Physics lab is the Dynamic Signal Analyzer; this lab allows students the ability to perform frequency measurements on electric currents and control current systems. Investigating the Safety of Nuclear Energy Using Real Radioactivity Data is a Chemistry lab that, "Investigates nuclear energy, storage of nuclear waste, and the controversy surrounding using nuclear power as a source of energy for our country." Radiation and Cancer: Cure or Cause? is a Biology lab that teaches students about radiation and how it can be used as a therapy for cancer, and also a cause for cancer.

iSpeech is an app offered by Apple that turns text into audible speech. It can be used on iPads, iPods, iPhones, and Mac computers and is absolutely free of charge. The purpose of iSpeech is to help students or teachers who may have a speech impediment or impairment. The speech quality is compared to that of a live person. There are a variety of voices that can deliver speech in many different languages and it converts quickly.

One might say that a music teacher is limited when it comes to assistive technology, but that is actually not true. One new invention that is used is the Soundbeam. What is the Soundbeam? Well, Soundbeam can be compared to a metronome in the way that it gives off sound. It can be used for mainstream students as well as students with limitations such as autism. The cost of the Soundbeam ranges from $3,500 - $5,400. This device is a ultrasonic beam that senses movement and responds through a MIDI sound effect. Its motion sense ranges from a eyebrow movement to a wheelchair moving across a room allowing students to not only be present in the room but interactive. The true beauty of the Soundbeam is that the Obama economic stimulus funds a sizeable amount for training and use of the device.