Reflecting On My Own Learning

Blog Posting Assignment #2

I look back over the last five and a half months and am very surprised with what I see,  “I’ve come a long way baby!” where technology is concerned. I also want to say “phew” I am glad it’s over! It is a very good feeling when you set out to accomplish a risky new venture and you are able to achieve that goal successfully and I feel that is what I have done. Technology is a challenge for me, which makes the successful completion of CEP 810, 811, and 812 even sweeter.

I needed a new challenge in my life, I get bored easily, and that is what this series of classes has been a challenge. They have made me reach out of my comfort zone and enter the new, exciting, and scary world of technology. The classes opened my eyes to a wide array of computer and Web 2.0 tools that can help meet the needs of students in the classroom and that was my goal to learn new technology that can assist educators in assisting students.

Technology is a tool that allows for the integration of many learning strategies, for me as a special educator the scaffolding of support is very important. Over the years we have had to accommodate and make modifications for many of our special needs students, but often times we do not pay attention to when we should back off. Scaffolding allows for that support initially but I think creates an awareness that we need to decrease that support as students’ independence increases. If we support them when they are first learning the skill and do this well, we can then reduce this as their learning progresses. The learning process moves from the “sage on the stage” to the “guide on the side”.

We covered a great deal in such a short amount of time: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, NetVibes, social bookmarking, blogs, webquests, StAIRs, webpage development, podcasts, discussion groups, on-line chats… Many of these terms I had never heard of and others I had but did not have a clue as to what they meant. Now I can say “I did a podcast” and you know we could use podcasting to make our professional development available to educators who could not leave their classrooms. I participated in a threaded discussion and feel we can use this technology to meet a need in our RtI pilot project to share information/ideas about progress and ask questions when it is not going the way we want. While creating a webpage for my assignment I was thinking about all the many uses for a new page, a way to bring together and organize the resources that are out there concerning my position as a teacher consultant. The list goes on, too many ideas with too little time.

My plan was to finish the certificate classes and I have done that. Now I am looking forward to using this summer to go back and spend more time with a few of these tools and see how I can apply them to my job.  What can I do that will benefit and meet the needs of students? No, let me rephrase that, what are the student needs that must be met and what technology will best fill that need to benefit students?

Internet Research for TechQuest Project:

The internet was not my only source for this project. I used a combination of internet resources and professional development information to research my TechQuest project. I was also in contact with other professionals in hopes of picking their brains, gaining a better hands-on understanding of the scope of using alternate text formats. I do know that the information I have obtained has only scratched the surface, with a basic understanding of using alternate text formats. This project will require ongoing research with constant progress monitoring.

Google is what I used as my search engine, because of the wealth of information there was no need to go elsewhere. I tried to be as specific as I could; otherwise I was overwhelmed with information. Most often I did a keyword search, but there were times I tried a phrase search.  I searched using terms, such as: alternate text formats, audio books, MP3 players in the classroom, assistive technology, UDL, Chaffee Amendment, differentiated instruction, e-text… Information received in the searches often provided another resource or an idea of another way to search. I would check the first page of my search results by quickly reading through the site explanations, if they did not appear to have the information I required I would move on quickly.

Another source for me was a webinar on BookShare, this was a new experience for me and very worthwhile. There was not an opportunity to ask questions during the webinar but you could e-mail questions and then they sent out the answers to all questions asked, this will be a helpful resource. They also made the webinar available in audio format, as well as sent out the PowerPoint for future reference or use with another group.

The issue I found with internet research is learning to focus your search, without being too narrow. Something I need to do is spend more time learning how to do research on the internet and using other search engines. I have done some with the CEP classes, but because of time constraints it has always been quite rushed. I would not mind taking a class on research, because I know it can be done much more efficiently than what I have done with my project. Often times I would get sidetracked with all the information out there.

Project Evaluation- Session 4:

How would you approach another project of this type differently given what you’ve learned here?

This project was started just like many others I have initiated. Over the years my philosophy has been slow and steady wins the race and that has worked for me. I have never been one to rush out and do it all at once; I like to try a little piece here and a little piece there. I would rather start with small pockets of success to demonstrate to people yes this can work, rather than fall on my face because I bit off more than I could handle. It is a great way to get those who aren’t so sure on board. Begin with those who show interest (much less work that way, too) and when the others see the benefits they will ask to be included. I don’t want to shove new ideas down people’s throats because that is a great way to turn them off; they need to think it was their choice.

The issue with this project was lack of time for implementation, of which I have no control. I am assigned by my supervisor only one-half day per week to do assistive tech and this is only one piece of my responsibilities. Next year we hope to expand the project, but will not be given additional time. So it will take focus and organization to make it work.

What are the lessons learned that others might benefit from knowing about?

One thing that comes to mind is asking a few more questions and doing a little more planning with the participating teachers when making a selection of who would like to take part in the project. The middle school teacher I worked with basically gave up and did not request additional books after the first student thought the narrator read too slow. I should have first sat down with her and discussed her book list for the year and brainstormed ideas on how to implement the books in the classroom. Also talked about what will happen if this student doesn’t like the narrator is there another option? Work on creating an attitude that OK this one didn’t work, let’s try something else. Something that may be helpful is trying to bring together a resource to assist the teachers in using the MP3 formatted books.

In what ways will you endeavor to do the same project again, and what will you change or not do?

Like I mentioned in the first question, our hope is to expand the project to include additional teachers. We still will not open it up to everyone, because if the demands grow too much more we will not be able to meet the needs due to our time constraints. If we cannot fill teacher’s requests they will stop requesting and the students lose. We will approach other teachers and invite them onboard and hope that their interests will grow, increasing requests. Those requests will be tracked and data collected which will then be used to prove to administration that more Assistive Tech time is needed, allowing us to open the program up to the entire ISD. 

TechQuest Project Implementation: Podcast- Alternate Text Format

My First Podcast

Assignment: Project Description Session 2

Define: Alternative Text Formats- “alternative text formats can be more flexible, depending on the learners’ needs. E-text, which refers to digitized text, makes alternatives possible. For example, e-text might be spoken out loud, displayed in special color combinations, presented in different styles, enlarged, or displayed in a combination of these formats.” http://www.ldonline.org/article/23003  

The Educational Need and How I Plan to Address This Educational Issue With Technology: For students to succeed they need to access the curriculum, alternative text formats allows that access. 

The Project Addresses the Four Common Places of Education:

• The Teacher Will:
  • Be provided with professional development in the alternative text formats
  • Assess student needs (UDL Handbook)
  • Instruct students in the use of the alternative text formats
  • Structure lessons using learning strategies
  • Locate sources of alternative text formats (The Rescue Project, Bookshare)
  • Embed alternative text formats within the structure of the classroom environment
• The Learner Will:
  • Be instructed in the use of the alternative text formats
  • Use the alternative text formats in their daily work, at school and at home       
• Subject Matter
  • Learn to utilize the alternative text formats within all content areas
• Context/Setting
  • Create a classroom environment that is accepting of all learning styles and needs
  • Educate parents on the use of the alternative text format for use at home

Special Interest Group Proposal: Brain Based Bloggers

Assignment: Special Interest Group Proposal (Group)

Group Members:
Beth- Differentiated Reading with On-line Support
Arin- Meeting the Needs of Tech Savvy Students: Game Based Learning
Jen- Fostering Enthusiasm for Writing
Pam- Alternative Format Text

Major Categories of Resources:
Professional Organizations, such as: IRA, MITS, CAST, MRA, NAEYC, brains.org
On-line articles
Tech Help Forums: techlearning.com, edtechtalk.com, podcastingforteachers.com, techandyoungchildren.org, rtecexchange.edgateway.net
Websites: bookshare.org, rescue.wikispaces.com

Pam’s Four Common Places in Education:

The project addresses the four common places of education:

1. The teacher will:
   1. Be provided with professional development in the alternative text formats
   2. Assess student needs (UDL Handbook)
   3. Instruct students in the use of the alternative text formats
   4. Structure lessons using learning strategies
   5. Locate sources of alternative text formats (The Rescue Project, Bookshare)
   6. Embed alternative text formats within the structure of the classroom environment
2. The learner will:
   1. Be instructed in the use of the alternative text formats
   2. Use the alternative text formats in their daily work, at school and at home  
3. Subject Matter
   1. Learn to utilize the alternative text formats within all content areas
4. Context/Setting
   1. Create a classroom environment that is accepting of all learning styles and needs
   2. Educate parents on the use of the alternative text format for use at home

Assignment: Draft #1 of Project Description

The compelling problem in my educational world deals with those students identified at risk for learning difficulties and the majority of those students have difficulty in the area of reading. Look at the curriculum and you know there isn’t an area of education that isn’t touched by a student’s ability to read. The main goal of early elementary teachers is to teach students to read, but as we know that goal is not always attainable. Washington tells us that “all children will read by third grade”. That is a great dream, but I feel a dream none the less. It’s a statement made by bureaucrats who haven’t seen the inside of a classroom since they were students, not educators who live it day after day. Teachers aren’t in education for the money they are there because they want to make a difference in a child’s life and sometimes they can’t do quite enough. Not every student will leave school with survivable reading skills.

So do we just pass them on doing what we have done in the past or do we look elsewhere? If we continue on the same path our drop-out rates will continue and will likely increase. One report I saw indicated in 2001 that one out of four students in the state of Michigan did not graduate. With today’s economy what is the likelihood of students who drop-out to find employment that will pay a wage to support a family. Not very and then the cycle of failure within that family continues.

We know that just because a student can’t read doesn’t mean he or she isn’t capable of learning. Students labeled as learning disabled are intelligent; a disability just means they will require support to learn in a different manner. What then as educators can we do to meet the needs of this diverse group of learners? Brophy talked about “scaffolding students’ task engagement”. This means “the teacher provides whatever assistance students need to enable them to engage in learning activities productively”. The question then becomes how do we engage our learning disabled and at-risk readers?

StAIR: Journey to the Monitor

Class Participation Assignment: Bringing it All Together

As with the first class I have really enjoyed learning this technology “STUFF”, but found 811 to be much more difficult than the 810. 811 was filled with uncharted territory for me but in the process of completing this class it has opened up a whole new world of technology vocabulary that I have heard mentioned but knew nothing or very little about. I still have a huge void of technology background knowledge that I don’t know will ever be filled, because my brain just doesn’t grasp or work that way. But, I am a step further than I was seven weeks ago.

Looking back over the assignments I found it very easy to apply effective teaching strategies in the StAIR design. Pressey talked about the importance of feedback and I was able to incorporate both feedback and scaffolding support in the question section without difficulty. If you get this answer correct you move on, if not this is why it was incorrect and let’s try it again. With the information I was providing the Deductive strategy worked best in the situation. I provided the rule and then examples of that rule. In general, technology creates the opportunity to making learning more “real” keep the learner involved, rather than a passive observer.

I can see using podcasting, web pages and blogging as a great communication tool to support our jobs as itinerant staff here at the ISD. Podcasting as a way of providing professional development to staff who cannot leave their districts for one reason or another (we have had a ton of PD this year), and to keep the PLCs in touch when they have to miss a meeting.  Blogging as a way to keep in touch, post questions on what is going on with RtI or UDL in each of our seven districts, and a web page to provide basically a central clearinghouse for the RtI information we have created.

I feel I have done quite well in meeting my goals for the class, but wish I had a clearer picture of the steps in publishing my web page and WebQuest. I had difficulty and Michael assisted me in publishing but I am not sure where I dropped the ball if it were to happen again. However, Google Page Creator is a great option. I am taking 812 and am looking forward to a time, when I no longer have CEP homework, to play with all the technology we have learned.

Reflection Assignment: Instructional Strategies and Web 2.0 Technolgies

 An instructional strategy that I see as a naturally occurring part of a blog is the importance of feedback. Give feedback on what they present on their blog and then adjust your classroom instruction accordingly. I have never taught in general ed and special ed only at the elementary end and at a time before the technology explosion, so correct me if I’m way off base but… I think it would be easier and quicker to sit down with a computer and respond to student work on their blogs then to sit down with a pile of papers and a red pen. They would be getting the feedback much quicker than if they had to wait for the return of the paper. (And I know this is my dream world of everyone having access to a computer and the internet.) Feedback was mentioned by Dave in one of his blog posts, he talked about how the peer editing was anonymous in his assignment so comments weren’t based on friendships. Thus more honest feedback was received with hopes of higher quality editing. 

I really don’t see how a blog wouldn’t fit into any of these strategies. It is a way for students to respond to questions/reflections on class content, giving you the teacher insight on their level of understanding.

Blogs are a means of gaining knowledge and sharing of ideas. There are many hot topics in the educational buzzword arena and by reading others’ blogs or creating my own I can gain a greater understanding of what is going on in education today. What are others saying about Response to Intervention (RtI), Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Assistive Technology (AT)…?

Bonus Question: Blogs could also be a great way to help special education teachers understand all the changes that happen with IEPs and all of the other components of the special ed process in general. The ISD could have a blog site where all the changes were posted with explanations and the special ed teachers and principals would have a forum to comment and ask questions.