I don’t know about you, but sometimes the pages that my school blocks drives me crazy!  One page that’s blocked in particular is YouTube.  I know what you’re thinking, there are some terrible things on there, naughty things that children should not have access to, and I agree, but it also has videos like this!

Now, when I’m teaching, I find it Sososososo effective to have a visual of the concept that I’m trying to explain.  Plus, let’s face it, kids love to watch videos!  My budget does not provide for all the money all these different videos might take, so that always would bring me to YouTube.  However, it’s just not allowed in school.  So, what can you do about that?  Well that’s where Zamzar comes in!!

Zamzar is an awesome website that allows you to convert youtube files into wmv files, which you can then open in Windows Media Player (the program that most likely opens up anytime you start a DVD on your computer), but also DivX, Winamp, VLC (VideoLan Client), and Power DVD.  Zamzar lets you convert to a lot of other types of files as well!!  If you’re interested in using this service, use the steps below:

1. Go to www.YouTube.com and find a video you want to share.
2. Click the button below the video that says “Share”, and copy the link it provides.  (You can also copy the address in the address bar, they should be the same, and they both work.)
3. Go to www.zamzar.com
4. Midway down the page, click the tab that says “Download Video.”  You do NOT have to register!
5. Under step one, delete the “http” that is already in the space, and then right click in that box, and paste the YouTube link there.
6. Under step two, select wmv.
7. Under step three, enter your email.
8. The site will then begin working on the conversion.  You can keep track of its progress by scrolling down the page.
9. After the conversion has occurred, it will email a link to the email you entered under step three.  (Make sure you check your junk mail!)
10. Click on the link in your email that says “Alternatively click on the following link to download a copy of your converted file:”
11. Click download now, and then save it to a safe place.
12. Once it’s done downloading, go the the file and double click.  It should then automatically open in your movie player

Was this confusing?  Well then just watch this YouTube video!

Let me know if you have a question!!  I use it all of the time, and insert them into my powerpoint!

WebMath Has a TON of different math problems.  You input the numbers, and it does the work for you, but more importantly, it gives an explanation on how they were able to solve it!!

Homework Helper Students can check their math problems at home!

Online Calculator Calculator options for students who can’t afford good calculators at home?

Math is Fun!  Charts, games, visuals.  Pretty nifty!!

I’m very excited to make podcasts because I want to assign some reading for my students to do at home, but haven’t been able to do so yet as I knew it wasn’t fair to the rest of my students.  A podcast seems like the easiest accommodation.  Plus, I plan on asking my student aid do some of the reading for me.  If that works well, I want to create HSA podcasts to help my students review at home.  I really think this opens up a wealth of possibilites!

My only huh? moment is a future problem.  Eventually I want students to do their own podcasts, and I’m trying to decide how to help students create podcasts that don’t have the technology at home.

1.  Well, this was my favorite class so far!  I totally geeked out on the information and tools we were given this past week.  I seriously had so many ideas flying through my head when I got home from class that I had to unwind!  The first thing that got to me was the video we watched.  Last semester, the English Department was given a Promethean Board to use.   According to our department head, the board is getting dusty in the supply room because none of the teachers are using it.  Watching the video I started feeling some inspiration.  Watching the teacher have students do grammar drills on the board, brought to mind how my students love to even work on my white board, the possibilities with the Promethean Board far outshine that.  It’s almost criminal not to take advantage of that opportunity.

2.  My next plan is to bug my principal about Inspiration.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE that program.  Just yesterday I was teaching my students how to do a textual support paragraph and my two students with IEPs were struggling.  I kept thinking that if only I had that program I could sit them down in front of it, and show them visually how it looked.  I drew it on the board, and then turned it into an outline for them, but I think the program doing that for them, would help them out so much.  Especially as they could put complete sentences in the bubbles so that when it turned it into outline form, it would be like the paragraph was practically done for them.

My Question

Until I can get programs like Inspiration, what low-tech devices can I use to get my students making the thinking to writing connection?  Are graphic organizers really it?

Another resource I thought was interesting was “The KidTools Support System” (I found the link through the SETT framework link.)  Last semester I had a VERY challenging class behaviorally, and I think this could have been an interesting use of technology.  Basically, you can sit down with a kid and using this program create self-monitoring tools that a student can use throughout the day/class/semester.  My kids are in high school now, and a shift needs to take place between my monitoring them, and them being self-advocates and monitoring themselves.

A final tool that I will DEFINITELY use is the e-books.  In fact, looking at what is already online, I’ve been able to find some more websites that have classic stories in electronic form (mostly for secondary education).  Also, how great was the ability to make your own online books?  I can see linking that on my teacher website and having students use it to supplement their reading at home.  All of this just offers exciting possibilities!

My one question, and I think it’s the question of the course is how to motivate all teachers to start integrating this technology into their classroom.  Right now, as a classroom teacher, I only have control over what I do.  However, as I start shifting to helping students across the different classrooms, I worry about the confrontations I may have when I explain that accommodations must be made for large chunks of textbook texts.  I suppose if I come with a problem, but then also introduce a solution that might help?  I hope so!

AHA!!

From class:  The piece of information that I really took with me from class was the “See it Right” clip.  Perhaps it’s because I was in the front of the room, but I was shocked when you paused it because you saw skeptical looks.  To me it made so much sense.  Color blindness, emotions being connected to colors, etc. to think that something as basic as color can’t help someone read confuses me.  In my school, white copy paper is hard to come by, so instead I use a variety of colored paper.  Any time I put work on yellow paper, I have kids complain that it’s too bright or that they don’t want to do their work.  Therefore, I have stopped printing on yellow paper, unless I have no other option. Colors affect us, otherwise we would be walking around in mismatched clothes, sitting in black rooms, with neon green ceilings.  It truly made me want to go out to Office Depot to buy some transparencies to ask some of my students–is this better?  I only wonder if my seniors would be open to it?

From Rose Chapter Two:  I will be the first to admit, that some of that brain information caught me off guard.  Still parts of the bottom up vs. bottom down processing is starting to sink in.  However, the section of the text that truly got my attention was when the author wrote,  “Sometimes a problem in one area can receive so much attention that other issues are missed.” If a student can’t get past one process in thinking (especially if proof of that thinking is only being asked for in one way), it is hard to determine what other issues a student might be having with learning.  I have a student who is completely deaf now.  Her only accommodations are a translator and extended time.  Still, when we are talking, I’m starting to wonder if she is having some other problems accessing information that his being cloaked by the thought that information is just being lost in translation.  It is certainly something to talk to her case-manager about.

From Rose Chapter 3: Text books are the bane of my existence as a literature teacher sometimes, and there are times I have to do battle with my bosses when I try to use digital media.  To see the science behind the choices I made is great relief.  For instance, when I teach about characterization, we not only use text (though I HAVE to use the type of text that will appear on standardized testing, so my students will have the experience),  I also use episodes from TV shows my students love (I have a great episode of King of the Hill that has been spliced apart to show only one story line).  Now, if I can figure out a way to introduce my students to e-text so that they can have more interaction–life would be perfect!  Perhaps I could assign it as homework?

Huh?

From Class:  I think the only huh moment I had from class was the blackboard software.  However, I think this is a pretty common huh? question that will take time.  I wish I had access to this program in my school. 

From Rose Chapter 2:  I’m unclear as to the parts of the learning network and what they do?  Here is what I understand:  The recognition network has to do with organizing information in a way that makes sense based on what a person already knows.  The strategic network is what allows a person to create a plan for how to attain that knowledge.  Finally, the affective network is how a person’s feelings allows them to make meaning from the text.  Do I have this right? Also, can we review bottom-up vs. top-down processing?

From Rose Chapter 3: I don’t have too many huh? moments from this chapter.  I think it makes a lot of sense.  I guess my only huh moment is what to do if I don’t have access to the digital media that would benefit my students?  Also, the amount of decisions that have to be made when selecting the right type of media to present information can be exhausting to do all of the time.  How can a teacher do this, and yet be a person with a life too?

AHA!!!

First of all, as a High School English teacher, I have to say that the list that Dell gives of websites that host e-text is extremely helpful!  In the past, I have always used e-text (whatever I could find using google) to supplement the textbook  (actually, it seems I use the textbook to supplement my e-text).  However, I had never thought of using the e-text as a first step on a route to assistive technology.  As soon as I get back to school, I am going to ask the special educator if we have cool scan/read like programs.  I envision assigning text for my students to read, and then having a few students go down to our resource room (as my room does not have computers) to read the text in a different way.  I’m even thinking that, as I teach classes that are very inclusive, my principal might be persuaded to move a few desktops into my room next year for this purpose!  (OH THE POSSIBILITIES!!!)

I get so excited about this because I do see the struggle many of my students face when I ask them to read a short story that is such a struggle.  We already as a class employ a lot of the low-tech highlighting strategies (though the demonstration of removable highlight tape in class has me dreaming of class supply lists for next semester–if only I made more money and could afford it now!), but I know that sometimes that is not enough.  The line on page 69 of the text really touched me when it said “[not being able to keep up with reading strategies] is not only frustrating and stressful, but it also interferes with their learning of the subject matter.” Not merely to be frustrating a child, but also for my assignments to be keeping them back?  Well, that’s the opposite of what I mean to do!

Start-to-Finish books are also very intriguing.  I looked at the website and the books that were offered.  I was surprised that they were able to condense the story into a lower grade level!  They even had short stories like, “The Gift of the Magi,” pretty impressive!

My last, AHA! moment from my reading came from the Adapted Pencils to Computers document developed by JHU.  I thought some of the assistive technology modifications were helpful.  For instance, for my many students who have problems with organization (IEP or not), creating a folder on the network for them to turn in their work there, thus helping them be more organized–settling the paperwork shuffle that I see every day, well that seems really smart.  I do have access to turnitin.com, but that has been such a hassle, that the network drive almost seems easier!  Plus, I can have a class folder for them to see their grades too!

Huh?!

I have never had a student who has a physical disability; therefore, I think I couldn’t quite comprehend all of the low-tech tools.  Like the cross pen with the bean bag around it on slide 10?  Also, what was the editing tool on slide 11?

My other huh? moment, I suppose it’s just what to do if I don’t have this technology available to me?  Now I really want that scan/read software, but how can I convince my principal to spend the money.  Or the start-to-finish library?  $2,999-2,549 per site!  Yet it would be such a great resource. 

Finally, how do you use this technology and still have an inclusion classroom?  Sometimes I feel as though the technology, while SO useful academically, can have an isolating affect.  It would be interesting to make my class still feel like a community.

In all, using assistive tech to aid in reading is something to look into, especially as a High School English teacher who teaches to the HSA!

To subscribe to the notion that a traditional curriculum as the only way to help a learner access information seems counter-intuitive to me, especially in this day and age.  Cookie cutter kids (and adults) just don’t exist.  Even students who are “typical achievers,” sometimes achieve at a cost.  We all bring our own personalities and our own talents to learning.  UDL allows people to actually use what comes naturally to gain new information and abilities.

This idea that perhaps it is the curriculum that needs to be analyzed can be terrifying to people.  The cons to doing this line up with any con for challenging tradition–the fear of an industry to change.   Teachers have set their ways to teach, by constantly examining and reexamining a curriculum, one will never have a solid set of plans.  Activities, projects, motivators that worked for one group of students may just not work for another-the need for dramatic change can occur even within a year! While this seems selfish on a teacher’s part, I do think it is a serious issue.  Especially if you are in a school that doesn’t support the effort you are required to put in as a UDL teacher. Not to mention, sometimes the techniques that may work for certain students (particularly where technology is concerned) come at a heavy financial price.  Unfortunately, in our society, access to funds can be particularly difficult.

Still, if you can figure out how to make the system work for you and you have the support your require, the idea of changing curriculum (or at least parts of curriculum) is almost a relief.  The basic reason for this is, no matter what you do, you are going to have to teach the children you are given.  Rather than trying to change the talents and nature of a human being, it seems so much more natural to look at the process you are using, and change that.  Let me be clear, I don’t mean adding on some sort of modification to what is already there, but to design something that is adaptable.  That makes a whole lot more sense!