Twitter

My experience with Twitter this semester has been great! I have had the opportunity to make several professional connections through this social media site, which has been insightful. It also helps when trying to stay abreast of relevant educational topics! I have really enjoyed making the professional contacts on this forum. As well as exploring all of the ideas that other educators are incorporating within their classes. My top three would have to be Vicki Davis, The Education Trust, and Great Schools. I will continue to use Twitter in my classroom as well. I think that it will be an interesting way to start students thinking about various units throughout the semester. I also think it will be an excellent way to announce upcoming timelines and dates throughout the semester to help remind students of upcoming deadlines.

@plnaugle @kti_traci great voice thread idea! Using iPods! #ED5059413UWA

— Becky Alexander (@BeckyACCHS) July 16, 2013

@NEAToday @WideOpenEd check out these techniques......#ED5059413UWA

— Becky Alexander (@BeckyACCHS) July 16, 2013

Assistive Technology Assignment

Mild Disability Students with mild disabilities can vary on the spectrum from learning disabilities, emotional issues, to mentally challenged. The most important areas of focus when dealing with students with mild disabilities are reading, writing, memory, and retention (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Many of these students have issues in only one area of the course of study (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Common assistive devices for these students are the NEO Writers. Below is a website that can be helpful for students with a mild disability that focuses on math remediation. http://www.mathplayground.com/games.html Moderate & Severe Disabilities Students with severe disabilities oftentimes have issues in several areas of the core curriculum. Many students that are affected by severe disabilities must focus on daily living skills (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Teachers working with these students will need a vast array of assistive technology in order to best meet their needs. Alternative keyboards are one of the common assistive devices when meeting the needs of students with severe disabilities (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Listed below is a link to software that helps in servicing students with these special needs. http://www.jubalearning.com Physical Disabilities Student’s affected by a physical disabilities can have difficulties with fine or gross motor movement (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Assistive technology can include the student’s wheelchair or any type of modification to aide in the student’s learning process. Students with severe disabilities may have wheelchairs that are outfitted with several devices that help aide the student complete daily tasks. Listed below is a link that aide’s students with severe disabilities. http://www.especialneeds.com/solutions-students-with-severe-disabilties-software.html Sensory Disabilities Student’s that are affected with hearing or vision loss or impairment have various assistive technology devices that aid in their academic performance. Some of the more common devices for students dealing with vision impairments are canes, print conversions, and screen readers (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Those affected by hearing loss may have access to FM amplifiers within the classroom setting (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). Listed below are two links that provide aide for hearing or visionary impaired students. https://www.microsoft.com/enable/guides/vision.aspx http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/assistive-devices.aspx At Risk Behaviors/Students At risk student populations may need a variety of assistive devices and those devices can differ greatly. Some student’s may simply need access to the Internet while others may need more comprehensive remediation techniques in order to compete globally. Listed below is a resource that can help aide at-risk students. www.google.com Gifted & Talented Students that are intellectually gifted can greatly benefit from a variety of assistive tools. These tools are meant to help with scaffolding and expand concepts taught within the classroom. Ultimately, these tools encourage creative thinking, brainstorming, and problem solving (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). An amazing device that gifted and talented student’s seem to excel with are the iPad. Listed below is a software tool beneficial when facilitating gifted and talented students. http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/

Social Bookmarking Assignment

Web 2.0

This weeks assignment as you can see below related to incorporating Web 2.0 resources in the classroom. I think that the Glogster tool as well as the Animoto tool will be very helpful. I like the Glogster because it is interactive and can be all encompassing with each unit being taught. The textbook Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching the organization of such sites created by the instructor is critical to their success (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). I really appreciated the fact that you could choose from ready made layouts and the appearance was professional. Globster allows for high student interaction which research suggests tends to move students' performance (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). This is a vital component according to Roblyer and Doering. I also feel that the animoto will be a web resource i will use again to present short pieces of important information. I loved the fact that it can be used to communicate projects for various classes and allows to have visuals while also viewing requirements. I think this site can also be critical for demonstrating step by step procedures for repetitive labs. This strategy is also noted in the textbook as a great tool for students when the assignment or procedure will be repeated throughout the class (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). I also used Big Fat Labs to create a motivation poster but feel that Glogster and Animoto will be more conducive to the courses and levels that I currently teach. Check them out and let me know what you think.......

Big Huge Lab Creation

Chemistry Project

Chemistry Project

Glogster

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23 Creative Apps

23 Creative Learning Apps http://t.co/XGL2R3oRnB via @teachthought These 23 will help anyone get started! #ED5059413UWA
— Becky Alexander (@BeckyACCHS) July 2, 2013 ">

Apps, apps, & more apps!

I love apps! Apps by far have revolutionized my science classroom! As I have posted in earlier blogs all my classes are divided into small groups and rotate each day. This allows me to to incorporate direct instruction that is individualized to each group. When the students are not on their groups direct instruction day with me they are using the classroom iPads to complete other assignments. If at all possible I try to require that all assignments are completed using the word processing and productivity software because of its benefits for the students (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). I use the iPads to incorporate whole concepts but assign various assignments to complete each week based on the unit. One assignment is always based on research this allows students to discover information related to the standard on their own. The search engine I like to introduce to students is Google so that I can teach students how to utilize the advanced search engine option as noted in chapter seven (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). The second is to use the iPads to complete virtual labs that are based on the standard being taught. Once students have completed their lab for the week they also have to complete their lab journal in which they use Excel to document the results of their findings from the lab assignment. This is a vital tech tool to help students analyze their findings (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). The third incorporation is required reading. Each class I teach has a required book they have to read and complete chapter tests on each. Using computer based testing for these weekly tests are definitely an asset in the fact this type of testing helps lessen the load for frequent testing (Roblyer and Doering, 2013). The books are loaded onto their iPads and students can complete their weekly required reading throughout the week. The final incorporation is video/article responses. Students use the iPads to view either an article or video and respond using using the article or video critique form. Listed below are just a few apps that I incorporate into daily instruction. One app that I like to use and the students complete for me is TeacherKit! It allows you to customize your rosters and easily take attendance and participation records daily! The second app that has become a lifesaver in my chemistry labs is PBS: Hunting the Elements! This app has forever changed the look and feel of the traditional periodic chart! The third app that I like as an intro hook is Science 360! This app has fascinating articles but the pictures are definitely great hooks to get instruction started. As always one of my absolute favorites is the Kahn Academy app! It provides students with immediate remediation to concepts that may not be clear using direct instruction. This video discusses the use of iPads in the science classroom. They are great in facilitating labs and research but the Brain Genie app focuses on individual student achievement! Great resource!