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Purpose
As a cohort we have worked to promote the use of technology in special education classrooms as well as in the instruction. Throughout the past year, we have worked in two different classrooms. Throughout the year we had the opportunity to try out several ideas using various means of technology, while many were successful, we learned just as much about what doesn't work as well as what does. We hope to contribute our newfound knowledge to the teacher education program.
Our cohort was special education specific and we concentrated on program issues here at KU. We created no product but rather modified curriculum and technology integration across three courses.
Resources -- Power Point Project
Social Stories
One of our major projects is to convert generic social stories into personalized tools. For example, Spencer was having a hard time remembering to keep his hands to himself. Normally he would get a little book that had generic pictures and talked about manners.
We used PowerPoint to take these social stories to a new level. We used a digital camera to take pictures of Spencer modeling the appropriate behavior, and then inserted them into a personal story about him. Barry Bernstein, the district music therapist, put these social stories to music. Now, Spencer can go to the computer, click on his folder, click on one of his social stories, and then it automatically starts playing for him. This basic idea has expanded, and now Spener has a multitude of stories and interactive experiences on PowerPoint. See Examples
PowerPoint Tutorial: a Lesson in Reading
Alex is a sixth grade student who has had eyesight problems until recently, so he’s just now starting to read. He refuses to practice if the practice seems juvenile. Amy mentioned that he’s a whiz at computers, so we came up with the idea of creating a PowerPoint Tutorial at his reading level.
First I gathered notes on all the essential features of PowerPoint such as how to create a new slide, or add text to a slide. I broke down the phrases into individual words to make flash cards. Flashcards were also made of the phrases and the pictorial representation (when possible) of the function.
I was introduced to as Alex simply as a person from KU who was there to teach him about PowerPoint. He knew of my coming in advance, so he had already sat down and familiarized himself with PowerPoint. I explained to Alex that it was very important for him to not just memorize where things are located, but to genuinely know all the words because they would be present in many other programs. Flashcards were group so that we would first go through the individual words of about 3 phrases, and then we would move on to the phrase and pictorial representation. Since Amy and I herein’t sure exactly what reading level Alex was at, I had about 5 groups of words and phrases that got progressively harder. I was a little nervous that Alex would think the beginning set was too easy and refuse to participate. I discussed with Alex the need for him to know all the basic before we got into the more challenging commands, and he was very responsive to this. The first two sets of words he got about 80% right on the first try, I felt like we really hit his zone of proximal development.
After we worked through all the basic words, we went to the computer to apply our new knowledge. As we went he had to read to me what he was doing. Since the words were fresh in his mind, he took a lot of pride in this because he could use the appropriate vocabulary in his descriptions.
Overall I felt like our objective were met. Alex got some quality reading practice in and became familiar with a new computer program. Unfortunately, Alex left school the following week, so we couldn’t follow up. But I am confident that had we continued this would have been an excellent example of integrating technology into the classroom.
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Resources -- Computer Programs
E-Reader
E-reader is a program that can read text from several different sources. This program is extremely versatile, it can be used as a word processor that reads what is being typed (word by word, sentence by sentence, or paragraph by paragraph. In addition to serving as a word processor, it can also serve as a web browser that reads the text displayed on the screen.
Shante is a 6th grader at a transitional reading level. She uses Cast E-Reader to write her papers. Shante uses Cast E-Reader to read what she’s typing back to her. This enables her to double-check her work without always asking for help. Shante has also used this tool to assist her in web research. Instead of always having to read the text she can simply highlight the selected text and it will read it to her. Bobby Approved sites are most useful for this use because a screen reader can read all their text.
Writing with Symbols 2000
Writing with Symbols 2000 is a word processor that associates pictures with words. It can be manipulated to meet each student’s individual needs in that selected pictures will bring up words, or typing words can bring up the pictures. One of Claudia’s daily assignments is to dictate a daily journal to her teacher, and then to type it out. This used to be a task to Claudia. Using Words with Symbols 2000 has made the typing her journals a much more gratifying experience. After she finishes typing every word she looks up to see what illustration pops up. Reciting the journal back to her parents is also a more gratifying experience when she has the picture cues.
Intellipics
Alex was using Intellipics. Many students in Amy’s class use IntelliPics at one time or another. Within IntelliPics, Barry Bernstein, the district’s music therapist, has created that has a multitude catchy songs and games to review basic life skills. One to one correspondence (a picture of one apple associated with the number one would be an example) and recognizing bathroom signs are just two examples of the dozens of games on the program
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Other Project
Class Website
One of the first projects of our cohort was to build a web page for Mrs. Kentfield’s classroom. The website had two major functions:
- To provide to-do list catered to the specific needs of individual students.
- To provide model job applications catered to the levels of different students.
For Amy’s class, it turned out that only two different levels of to-do lists and of job applications were needed. The students used the job applications during the first week of school to apply for a community job the class would be working on. Students also use their to-do lists on a regular basis to organize their homework. See Example
HyperStudio
HyperStudio is a common program used in elementary schools. Since BlueValley does use HyperStudio, I though that would be a good program to show Amy. My goal was to create a weekly spelling review with pictures of the spelling words, a recording of each word, and a place to practice typing the word. I made the initial stack, and it looks great, the only problem is that it would have to be re-done every time students get a new spelling list. Amy has students in and out of her classroom all day long, and each has a different spelling list. This activity ended up being much too time consuming to continue.
WebQuest
This is a reusable resource catered to a specific social studies unit. It served to narrow the available resources to students for the purpose of guiding their project. Although this tool is reusable, it proved to be somewhat time consuming (but still worthwhile). See Example
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Cohort Learning Objects
Create "New Stack"
Create Template
Create Presentation
Insert Image
Other Learning Objects
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Cohort Members
Suzzane Robinson
School of Education Faculty |
Laila Richman
Student member |
Jennifer Zink
Student member
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