Module 8 - Classroom Tools/AT

Slater Software has been developing and publishing software for the Special Education market since 1994. Both Jean and Jim Slater wanted to find an innovative solution to some of the problems they faced with their public school special education caseload. PixWriter v3.0 is a software program for early writing intervention. It motivates students to write by providing a picture for most words that they enter. A teacher can easily make and organize picture buttons that also include words. The student may also select picture/word buttons from templates to write. It is easy to hold the shift key and drag words into place to create sentences, complete sentences or write whole paragraphs. Built-in speech gives students immediate feedback on the selections they make or lets teachers create talking documents for early reading experiences. This can be used in the classroom to support individual student writing either in an expressive format or as an additional way to assess student knowledge.

http://www.slatersoftware.com/

I also like an Internet based product called write on line by Crick Software. It is software for writing that virtually re-defines what a normal word processing program can do. This also includes speech software which enables students not only to hear what they have written, but also to listen to the words in both the word bar and the word predictor before writing them. Write Online is more aimed at those who are learning to write but certainly can support those who are already writing. Teachers can include supportive words or phrases in the Words Bars and they become part of the predictive text that shows up as children write. We are always looking for a means of supporting student writing to increase fluency and of course MEAP scores!

The word prediction is driven by Crick’s “Word Flow” technology. It makes intelligent predictions as to the word the user is going to enter next, and gives point-and-click access to the most likely words. The level of vocabulary assistance can be tailored to individuals or to groups. The software will even give you statistics about the writing. In addition, the software lists spelling errors and shows the corrections and the context. It can even detect if passages of text have been copied into the writing. Since it is available on line, a student can use the program at home or at school. Teachers can add in comments and mark the work online. Meant to be used across the curriculum, the software can be set up to include crucial vocabulary in all subject areas. Student work can be stored online or on school machines. One of the many features is that you can even use the online software if you are not connected to the Internet for a couple of days!

http://www.cricksoft.com/uk/writeonline/

MultiMedia

As the technology teacher I use multimedia on a daily basis in my classroom. All of my students use Power Point to present facts and ideas. Most recently, I had my kindergartners create one PP slide with their name and choice of a favorite item they could not live without. We had read a story and watched a DVD just prior to their creation to give them ideas about a special stuffed animal, blanket or toy. We are now using the voice feature of Power Point to record their story in their own words. Our final assessment piece will be a story, created and read by kindergartners. I have also used Publisher on several occasions to create brochures that went along with a 4th grade regions project and with the 5th grade school newsletter. It is very easy for the students to update a Publisher template off the student file portion of our server and link the finished document to our school website. Our school principal has also just begun to use Publisher to send out his "Weekly Word" newsletter. Unfortunately our school video camera is not digital (we need an upgrade) but I have used my personal camera and video camera to record classroom events and play back student presentations. It always amazes me the insight they have into how to make other student's presentations better. Music is so important to the students at Woodmont. We constantly create raps and lyrics to go along with important lesson concepts and I occasionally play music to set the mood in the computer lab. On Wednesday, we will be recording Fox 2 News as they come to Woodmont to broadcast live from our 2nd grade classrooms. We earned the honor of having our student letters to Obama delivered to the President himself by one of our local representatives.

I want to continue to use Power Point and the voice recording options to excite students creating reports. I would also like to have the 3rd and 4th grade create a games challenge using power point and the slide hyperlink and transition features to reveal answers. Finally, the 5th grade will be continuing to utilize the versatility of Publisher to create graduation invitations for our Kindergarten, invitations to our Peace Makers project and the opening of our nature trail.

The digital camera and scanner has been a recent favorite technology project for my students. They love to take a picture, especially backgrounds, scan the pictures into the computer and then use a drawing program to draw themselves or other items into the picture. We have had alot of fun doing weather reports, taking pictures and comparing them from day to day. Finally, I have been scanning and saving student work into digital files to create student portfolios. These will be saved on personal flash drives at the end of the year.

MET 6203: Module 5 - Spreadsheets

I was amazed at how little I knew about the capability of spreadsheets! My first year at Woodmont Academy, the PE teacher emailed me a spreadsheet she had created to calculate and track student grades. I remember trying to figure out how to change formulas to suit my needs and doing some things by calculator. I wish I had taken the time to find and use the tools! Our Power Grade system shows me a spreadsheet like grade book that averages student grades. This is a feature that I must turn on withing the system. Right now, we run on 4 quarters with all work weighted equally and each quarter counting as 25% of the student's final grade. All I have to do to change this function is to indicate how much of 100% for the term the assignment or test is worth. I like that if I want to copy this information into an Excel sheet, all I have to do is cut and paste. I use this to let classroom teachers know what outstanding assignments students have and to give them updated progress report information. It is easier for me, at this point, to have the classroom teacher stay on top of the students for missing work! I have used and taught Excel to 2nd and 3rd graders as a way to input simple data (counting skittles) and creating a chart to display that data. The specials schedule and technology inventory was also done using an Excel spreadsheet this year. I have also used spreadsheets to create phone lists.

The students in our elementary school have not had much training with spreadsheets, which I hope to change. They have used this format to collect survey information, data for certain math and science projects, classroom library and video inventories and for making charts and graphs. I love the idea of using the spreadsheet design to have students create budgets. The fifth grade just talked about opening a school store and Excel would be a great resource for me to show them.

I would like to try to use a spreadsheet for my lesson plan template and to create game boards and crossword puzzles. I do have a great online template for puzzles, but Excel is a fun option for myself and students to use. Teaching the students to use it has become easier as they understand how to look for things in the toolbar and just play around! I am sure more ideas on how to use this software will present themselves as my classes go along.