The book says “In general, assitive technology is defined as any technology that, when used by a student, enhances the performance of a target skill, including cognative processes, learning, communication, and physical abilities. Technology is being used to accommodate many of there children. In high school I worked with a group of 11th and 12th graders with disabilities. They teacher had me think of a game or movement activity that they all could do. So we did DDR and wii! It was so much fun to watch the kids have fun! One girl was in a wheel car so she couldn’t do DDR because thats with your feet but we called the company and said that your game was not for all ages and types like it said. So they made a special game pad for her to use for arms to hit the different arrows that went accross the screen. I was so happy that they did this! Not just games and computers are the helpful hint to teaching. Visual reality is a great thing that all technology has and I would have technology in my classroom almost every day.

            Voice-recognition software achieves one of the primary goals of technology: convenience. Not only is it convenient, but it’s very reliable, too. “Speech and voice-recognition software,” state Bitter and Legacy, “usually allow the computer to be ‘trained’ to recognize your individual voice patterns, rhythms, syntax, and vocabularies” (Bitter, Legacy 94). Now that’s high-tech! Think about the applications: VR technology could not only help in the regular-ed classroom, but in the special-ed classroom as well, assisting students who have speech-related disabilities and tracking their progress. VR software could open up a whole new world of oral tests, thereby eliminating paper and allowing the teacher to conduct the tests all at once instead of scheduling them at separate times. Yes, I’m very excited to see what opportunities voice-recognition software presents to education in the next few years.

Within the upcoming years I believe teaching will be taught mainly through the white board also known as the SMART Board. This piece of technology will help students become more engaged within the classroom. It will help children with their confidence level and hopefully give teachers many new ways to incorporate different learning techniques with every lesson. As an upcoming teacher I am excited to learn all the new and exciting things the SMART Board has to offer.

Students of day and future students want to be engaged in the learning process rather than just being lectured to. These two items allow for the students to be involved and makes learning more enjoyable! The SMART board website states that their projects help to make learning ‘simply inspirational.’ Their product is user friendly, and their sales (1 million boards sold) show how much the classrooms are already eating up the product! This product seems to be really worth the money invested into it!

]]> http://professoryates.com/fsc/?feed=rss2&p=252 3 http://professoryates.com/fsc/?p=249 http://professoryates.com/fsc/?p=249#comments Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:24:44 +0000 Butler http://professoryates.com/fsc/?p=249 According to “Using Technology in the Classroom” by Gray Bitter and Jane Legacy, chapter four asserts that “emerging technologies continue to play a major role in our future.” Video games, iPods, personal data assistants, and wireless tablets are just a few of the well known gadgets being used. Among all of these I feel that the interactive white boards will have the greatest impact on my profession.

The SMART Board has quickly become one of the most used tools in education and their website was recently updated to note their one million mark in sales achievements. I believe that educators will soon base all of their lesson plans around the SMART Board to incorporate it into all aspects of the curriculum. I think that this tool will is a great way to keep all students of all ages engaged. If educators will take advantage of this technological opportunity, SMART Boards can provide a more efficient and more productive learning environment for the future.

]]> http://professoryates.com/fsc/?feed=rss2&p=249 1 http://professoryates.com/fsc/?p=246 http://professoryates.com/fsc/?p=246#comments Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:20:01 +0000 Davis http://professoryates.com/fsc/?p=246 The internet is a tool that is used daily throughout the world. I personally could not image not having the internet to look up simple information whether it is for school or for personal use. I feel that students are not using libraries like they used to. You can go online to even our school library and use many different search engines and find what you need without leaving your desk chair. I think that in the upcoming years that searching for information on the world wide web will be easier than it is today.

The world wide web is affecting the teaching field tremendously. In the text “Using Technology in the Classroom” by Gary G. Bitter and Jane M. Legacy it says “Even with the understanding that the Internet may yet be in its developmental infancy, educators cannot ignore the limitless resources available from the worldwide community.” (54) Teachers are taking technology and using it to benefit the classroom in every aspect possible. I feel that in these upcoming years teaching is going to be more engaging and exciting for students. Technology in the classroom is getting better every year I can not wait to see what the upcoming years have to offer. Especially since this when I will be entering the classroom’s as a teacher.

I can’t remember the last time, at least in high school, I had to actually go to the library and select a real book to look information up on. Google has a feature called GoogleBooks which allows the user to look up actual books, and in some cases, can read the whole book. There is a search engine on that site where you type in your search item (such as a persons’ name) and it will search through all the books and come back with page numbers in those books where the name is mentioned. If these happen to be books they don’t have the whole of online then the students know at least what they are looking for when they go to the library, ultimately cutting back on student work time.

I was rather amazed that on page 82 of the book that Wikipedia was mentioned. It is an encyclopedia, but students need to know that they should use that one very carefully. People surfing the net can very easily, or at least it used to be very easy, edit the different pages. I find that using Encarta or Britannica Online a better source for information, and that is what I will promote in my classroom.

I am sure that the resources available online will continue to grow and expand in the later years and will make it even easier for students to gain pertinent information easily for their assignments.

I feel there is one particular aspect of the Internet that is likely to have a significnt impact in the near future, online chat and video conferencing.  Currently, at many major colleges and universities classes are being held virtually.  Videoconferencing abilities have eliminated the traditional classroom by allowing students to participte in activities, discussions, and even assessments without leaving their dorm room.  Moreover, online chat alows individuals to communicate instantly, as if their conversation were in person.

In the future, I can picture that Internet tools will eliminate the traditional classroom setting.  Hopefully the internet will not eliminate the teaching profession entirely however, at this point, anything is possible with technology!

          Personally, I love the fact that so many reference books and anthologies are now being made available online. I find myself going to the library to access books like the Oxford English Dictionary and Encyclopedia Britannica less often. All of the major reference books like Encarta and The World Fact Book have seen the implications of the internet years ago and placed their respective publications online (82). This makes updating editions a lot easier. Fewer resources are necessary (paper, publishers, distributors, etc.), so the consumer only has to pay an access fee to use said reference companies’ products. 

         Since I’m such an avid user of reference resources, I can only hope more authors and editors turn to the world wide web for distributing their product to their customers. It’s a digital world, and it’s only going to get more digital as software and computer companies develop more efficient, cheaper, and innovative ways to make the internet more accessible to everyone.

Key concept: Students will be able to identify specific ideas, concepts, events, and people that lead up to and caused the abolition of the slave trade in England. Also, students will know information about the very important figure in that movement, William Wilberforce.

Key concept: Students will be able to identify the nine basic stage directions and should be able to cross to that part of the stage should a director tell them to do so. Student will also identify things they should and shoud not do on stage.

Key Concept: the types of clouds

Key concept: Mastering the letter S

Key Concepts: Identifying the mood of a poem

“iTales.com started as a simple enough idea…create a website to house bedtime stories I tell to my children. But what started as a simple project based on a love of storytelling, evolved into a much better and more complex idea, still based on a love of storytelling! That idea became iTales, a website that allows storytellers to upload and sell individual stories.”

IT LOOKS SO FUN

Digital storytelling seems to be, at least from my experience, something rare in today’s teaching environment. I don’t see why seeing that it is not only an easy process to create one, but would enthrall the students and encourage them to learn. And this method is not limited to one age group or subject.

I plan to teach history/geography in high school, and it is rather hard to get the students involved in the learning process at that age. One example of how I would incorporate digital storytelling into my classroom would be through teaching my students the different capitals and countries in Europe. When I was in my seventh grade geography class my teacher had these songs that made a rhyme out of the different places and put it to a catchy beat. I would put those songs into a podcast and put maps and pictures of the places to go along with the music to help them memorize the places.

When I do do different projects based on history I would include real pictures, not just clipart, music, and different video clips. There are many movies out these days that address historic time periods such as, Amazing Grace, The Other Boleyn Girl, Luther, etc; I would be able to take clips from these movies and place them in my digital story to emphasize certain important information. There is also the topic of music, which I could take from the same time period or put into the presentation to give it a more dramatic undertone to keep the students engaged.

·         For the first project I would use dry macaroni and have them make their favorite letter after they have heard the letter book.

·         For the next project I would have them use crayons and heavy paper to make a book similar to the digital letter book.

·         Last project they would do would be to use paint to paint a picture. The first letter they learn will be the first letter of the word that they paint.

While telling stories through digital storytelling pictures, video, music, and sound will help keep the students interested. Examples will be available and students will hopefully have a better understanding. I can not wait to experience a classroom with digital storytelling and see student’s interactions.

                For example, at the Elementary level students use numerous songs that help with memorization.   I could create a podcast that had pictures or even a video to go along with music.  This will allow my students to have a visual memory that could have a greater impact on those individuals who are visual learners. 

                When teaching the months of the year, I could create a short digital story which allowed students to see a picture that is associated with each month.  Instead of giving them the answers, students could write down which month they think it is.  The only materials needed would be paper and I could use this activity as a form of assessment.  Digital storytelling is something that I hope to learn more about because I want to utilize this tool as much as possible in my classroom.

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