Posted by Denis Soukhanov on Fri, Sep 10, 2010
Now that Labor Day has come and gone, almost all of the schools around the country are open for learning! Enjoy these technology sites and ideas for incorporation into all levels of classrooms this fall.
Blabberize
Blabberize is a free web 2.0 tool where students, or the teacher, can upload a person or animal photo, add audio, and animate the mouth so that the person or animal is speaking the audio you uploaded. Implementing a project using this site would be a great activity for students to complete when learning about the history of famous individuals, or when learning facts about animals. Teachers can also search for already created blabberized photographs to share in class as a fun activity or opening activity for a chapter or lesson.
Thinkfinity
Thinkfinity is a website that provides a wide variety of free online resources that are frequently updated by various organizations including Verizon Foundation. They have lesson plans for grades K-12 for many different subject areas including the core subjects along with economics, literature, geography, and art. They also have an interactive games and tools section where students can go on the computer and develop creative projects including interactive dictionaries, post cards, maps, and graphs. These activities provide great guidelines on how to implement them into your classroom along with the information for appropriate grade levels. Another great feature on this site is the “Today in History” section. This would be great to start off a history lesson in class every day with the fact and a critical question relating to the fact of the day. Teachers of all subjects, grade levels, and ability levels should definitely check this site out.
Exploreatree
Exploreatree is another free web 2.0 resource. On this site, students can create, save, and print, a wide selection of graphic organizers. This site has very simple and very complex graphic organizers appropriate for many different classes and levels including math, science, and language arts for all grade levels. Students, or teachers, can even start with a blank template and create their own graphic organizer for a specific lesson. After creating a graphic organizer, you can even upload it to their database of graphic organizers and share it with other users.
PSB Kids Design Squad - Designit Buildit Fidgit
Design Squad is a science, math, technology, and engineering television show where teens compete in making machines to try to win a college scholarship on PBS Kids. They have a companion website for the television show. Designit Buildit Fidgit is an online logic game that student can play on a computer during technology centers or as an activity for when they complete assignments early. The goal of the game is for the students to solve various puzzles including shapes that can be rotated for flipped to save the ‘fidgits’ by getting them back into their box. Students can play levels that other students have created and once familiar with the game, they can actually create their own level to challenge other students. There are also several other games related to the Design Squad show that can also be accessed via the Fidgit site.
These are great free online resources for creative projects and lessons in your classroom for the beginning of the school year. If you have any ideas of other great free sites, please feel free to leave a comment!
- Article By Laura Ketcham
- Picture By San Jose Library
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Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Thu, Sep 09, 2010
School plays are the norm at pretty much every type of school. Students get the chance to participate and sing and act in some of the most famous plays, like Romeo and Juliet, which The Community College of Aurora in Colorado is currently producing.
Started with personal desires to incorporate the deaf students into the dramatic arts, the school is translating the classic words of Shakespeare into American Sign Language. The words of Shakespeare can be challenging enough on their own, but translating them is even more of a challenge for these students.
In this particular production, the family of Romeo will be hearing while Juliet’s will be deaf. The conflicts between the two families will stem from communication and language differences, which not many productions have dealt with before. This new twist on a classic tale will give both actors and audiences a new perspective.
Casting deaf actors gives more students more opportunities to participate in the arts. This show will feature onstage interpreters, or “shadow” players as well as students reciting the original lines. This gives the different actors the chance to recite lines, sign them and perform on the stage all at the same time.
Plays that combine sign language with speaking lines can really unite the two different forms of communication. It can also give young deaf actors the confidence and practice they need to start acting, which can lead to a new hobby for many of these students. Showing all students that it is possible to do whatever it is they put their minds to can help open up a world of new possibilities for them.
Picture By: LM Inglis Photography
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Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Tue, Sep 07, 2010
Many young girls across the country participate in the Girl Scout tradition, joining troops where they get to learn about leadership and friendship. Much like the unique girls who make up each troop, no two troops are the same.
In Naperville, Illinois, Troop 200 is made up of Girl Scouts who range in age from 7-17 and all have different disabilities. Many of the activities are modified specifically to their special needs. The girls go on many field trips and attend meetings, just as in any other troop.
The troop leader started Troop 200 for her own daughter who has autism. After believing that her old troop was not meeting her needs entirely, she decided that she wanted to start her own, and gear it specifically towards special needs girls.
Members of the troop follow the same rules and guidelines as any other troop, earning patches, attending events and providing community service as a group. Family participation is also a big part of Troop 200 and really helps the girls form friendships and enjoy their time together.
The troop currently has 13 members and is hoping to expand into northern cities in the near future. More troops like this one will help other special needs children participate and enjoy their times as a Girl Scout.
The troop provides a time and a place for the girls to be themselves. They get to learn from one another and form bonds with other children who are just like them.
For more information, please visit the Western DuPage Recreation Association.
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Posted by Denis Soukhanov on Fri, Sep 03, 2010
Today, many schools are already in session before the Labor Day Holiday. Students look forward to Labor Day as their first long weekend of the year, an official ending of summer, or even as the beginning of the football season. This signifies the end of breaks and that school is back in session for a long stretch, without breaks. However, many students don’t know the origin or meaning of Labor Day. This week, it would be great to include a lesson on Labor Day, sharing the history and original meaning of the holiday. There are many craft ideas, projects, and historical lessons explaining and importance of Labor Day.
Adaptations for the activities below for special need students would include providing reading material at the student’s lexile level, providing assistance for project activities like cutting, pasting, drawing, or providing direct instruction or easy to follow instructions. For inclusion classrooms, pairing a helpful student with the student with special needs can help both students to be more successful with the activity.
Reading Passages & Articles about Labor Day
Education World has created an annotated list of educational Labor Day resources. The site also contains a short explanation of the history behind Labor Day. The first link they provide has a short article about unions, teamsters, the government involvement in labor legislation, and the American workers. This article can be printed out and used for a guided reading activity in class. The article is written for children, which makes it easier to understand than some sites written for adults, like Wikipedia. The fourth resource provided on the list is more for high school students. It provides a series of lessons about freedom, political struggles, strikes, legal rights of laborers, unions, and women entering into the workforce. The 6th resource provides information and photographs about child labor. This would be a resource where each child could receive one picture and write a story behind the photo.
Activities & Projects about Labor Day
The Labor Day activities on the Apples 4 the Teacher site include reading and writing lessons, but also fun hands on activities to learn more about Labor Day. This includes coloring sheets, word searches, worksheets, and other printables.
Enchanted Learning has a page full of fun-filled Labor Day activities. Crafts include a labor collage, building a town out of recycled materials including paper towel rolls and tissue boxes, printable activity books, puzzles, vocabulary worksheets, alphabet games, and coloring pages.
Incorporating Technology with Labor Day Activities
Other activities that students could complete about Labor Day while infusing technology into your classroom include:
- Watch a YouTube clip from the History Chanel about Labor Day and having students write a blog post or short response using a word processing program. You could then upload their papers to Wordle and visually see the important facts and main ideas in a visual representation.
- Have the students use Art Pad to create a before and after drawings of what they through Labor Day was before they read the page on Wikipedia on Labor Day and then again after.
- Create short video clips about Labor Day using Flip Cameras, edit them on Movie Maker (comes free with Windows), and then upload their videos to Teacher Tube to share will other classrooms.
- Have the students play one of the popular online games that involve labor related activities, like Diner Dash, Lemonade Stand, Nanny Mania, or Fish Tycoon. After they play, and advance to more difficult levels, you can discuss multi-tasking, taking breaks, and how challenging that job may be in real life – and how all workers deserve a day of rest. Link to Games
Article By: Laura Ketcham
Picture By: Robert Couse-Baker
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Posted by Denis Soukhanov on Thu, Sep 02, 2010
Students with ADD and ADHD have difficulty focusing and concentrating in class. In the inclusion setting, these difficulties can be displayed via various attention seeking behaviors including calling out in class and other disruptive behaviors that affect the learning environment of all students. Typical behavior management techniques like rewards, redirection, and providing explicit instruction do not always resolve the issue, especially for tweens and teens. Creative management techniques may be the answer.
Be Consistent
Students with ADD or ADHD do benefit from a structured environment. In a structured environment, the students should be provided not only explicit directions, but also have the behavior and academic expectations modeled to them on a consistent basis. The teacher needs to be consistent with praise, punishment, and upholding high standards both academically and behaviorally. Both praise and consequences should be given immediately. This way, the student can attach the feedback to the action. When administering consequences, be aware of how the student may feel if they are singled out in the classroom. If the student is sensitive, consequences should be handled in a manner to make the student not retract or feel defensive.
Creative Positive Reinforcement
Creative positive reinforcement techniques must be used with tweens and teens. Typically, behavior charts and prizes are not the reinforcement they are looking for the most. However, I have had a good response with verbal and written praise. I have had many students with ADHD want to have a daily update on “how did I do” or “did I do better today”. I will respond with explicitly what was good or bad. For example, “I liked how you raised your had today every time you had a question” or “tomorrow, I’d like you to spend 5 minutes (with a timer) working on your worksheet in class.” Being specific will help the child to know specifically what to work on and what they did well.
Incorporating Technology
Teens and tweens are highly motivated by the use of technology. Using technology in your behavior management strategy with students with ADD or ADHD can help you to provide consistency and reinforcement. One way to do this would be to have the student create a Google Calendar. This calendar can be shared between the teachers, parent, and student. The student can update the calendar with information about homework, projects, and assessments. They can also create an area that can be updated with a reflection on how the student felt the class or day went. Teachers can then read and also add or post information about the behavior and academic goals for the student. This type of strategy will also help for parent communication and can be integrated to be used through a cell phone or other cell applications.
Teachers and students could also use one of the many online point and reward sites. These sites allow teachers (or parents) to track student behavior. Once students reach a certain goal, they will earn various rewards or incentives that can be setup by the teacher. One free site that is specifically designed for the classroom is KidsPoints. On this site, a teacher can add all of their students into the program. Each student would have a login and password. The teacher then will add or remove points based on a set of criteria. Once the student earns the required amount of points for the reward, they then can redeem it with the teacher.
Every student will need different modifications to help them to be successful both academically and behaviorally. Trying out some of these creative techniques may be the key to a successful year in your classroom and help those students with ADD and ADHD be successful as well.
Online Resources for Teachers
- Online Stopwatch (helps to time activities, quiet time, and attention lengths)
- KidsPoints (online reward tracking system)
- Positive Reinforcement Checklist
Article By: Laura Ketcham
Picture By:telekommunist
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Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Wed, Sep 01, 2010
Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships with volunteers and those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Over the past 21 years that they have been in existent, Best Buddies has grown to more than 1,500 chapters all around the world.
One particular chapter, Best Buddies Australia, is made up of 150 volunteers who pair up with members who are intellectually disabled people and spend time together, playing sports, shopping, video games and other everyday activities that are involved with any friendship.
The organization is so simple because it does not require training or mentoring services. It is based on true simple friendships. Participating in everyday activities allows both participants to form a bond that may be stronger than others they have in school and with the peers they see at school.
In the schools that participate in Best Buddies Australia, there are up to 15,000 students with disabilities and 50,000 students with learning needs. As schools and organizations like Best Buddies integrate special needs students into mainstream schools, they are allowing for these students to have the same experiences as the other students.
Many schools provide special classes or opportunities for student with disabilities, but not many of them let students integrate and really be in an environment where the rest of the students are. Best Buddies is an organization that really lets those students form friendships and bonds that happen everyday. These one-on-one friendships are only the start of helping those with disabilities immerse themselves into the world.
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Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Tue, Aug 31, 2010
Most public schools do a great job of incorporating special needs education into their school curriculum. A Texas school, Green Oaks is a school catered towards students with special needs, mainly Down syndrome.
For many of the Texas families, it was difficult to find a school where their student’s needs were being met. To make sure that their students were receiving all the help and instruction they needed, they decided to start a school with a curriculum that is focused on basic skills, such as reading and writing. Students can get one-on-one lessons that are specific to their abilities.
Special techniques are used to ensure that the students get the most out of their time at school. Since many Down syndrome students have trouble or difficulties with individual letters, teachers emphasize on those letters, using very large print and materials to teach reading.
As the students’ education continues to grow, so has the school itself. More and more students are attending Green Oaks each year. This also allows for more social interaction with students that are alike in many ways. Social interaction is a great way for students to interact with peers and practice real life social skills in a public environment. Students should not only be about learning from books, but learning from others, too.
With students from ages 6 to 24, there is a wide variety of learning in their education and school system. Specialized schools like this one are making learning and education more efficient to all students.
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Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Tue, Aug 31, 2010
For many students, performing in front of a group or a large audience can be something they dread or are not comfortable doing. For others, like the students at Thresholds Theatre in Chicago, it is a way for those with mental disorders and disabilities to share their experiences with others and tell their unique stories.
Sharing personal stories and experiences with others is a common therapeutic for those who have mental illness or disorders. In their 7 month program, people from all over the community come together to share their own personal stories. The groups do exercises and games that allow them to bounce around ideas. After a few months of bonding and sharing, when the students are comfortable, they start to build material that will be used in their show. Participants practice hard for the production, which is held in a live theatre and is put on anywhere from 7 to 12 times.
Threshold, which is Chicago’s largest mental health agency, has many different programs for people with mental disabilities. In the production, personal stories, poems and other works of art are all used. For the first time, they were able to incorporate many deaf participants because of the interpreter on staff that was able to attend all rehearsals.
For those who are participating in the program, it is a great way to share and listen to others who have been through similar situations. Those who attend the performances are able to see not only the stories and experiences from those in the program, but the hard work and dedication each one has put into each performance.
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Posted by Denis Soukhanov on Fri, Aug 27, 2010
Article by Laura Ketcham
UM-NSU CARD is an organization to help children and adults with autism. This specific organization is based out of two South Florida universities including the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern at three different locations. There are also other regional centers around Florida, based at the various Universities, and also other organizations around the United States that have the similar goals. UM-NSU CARD provides family support services, consultations, training programs, and community outreach to individuals with autism, their families, and individuals who work with them.
Individuals who ask for assistance with a child or adult with autism from UM-NSU CARD are served at their home or schools. The staff members travel there and may help them with various concerns including behavioral, communication, or learning difficulties. They will make suggestions for therapies or programs that may help the individual with autism. They cannot help with providing a diagnosis for the individual, but can help families to obtain information to contact physicians or organizations that can help with those needs.
Their website also has many online resources for educators and parents to learn more about various services, facts, therapy options, behavior and social modifications and strategies to support individuals with autism. These resources can help teachers and parents to learn more about autism, therapies and programs that can help the child build socially appropriate behaviors, and teaching strategies for learning new skills.
Being part of this organization allows the parents and teachers to join this “community” in South Florida. It can open doors to meet other families or teachers working with children who have autism. Building this network can lead to finding therapy options, programs, strategies, or other connections for assisting children with autism. UM-NSU CARD holds various fundraising events and support group sessions throughout the year in both Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.
There are many other support groups throughout the nation that provide similar services. Many of these are federally funded and run through local universities. These can be helpful organizations to provide the needed assistance and education for both parents and teachers to help autistic children to lead independent and successful lives.
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Posted by Denis Soukhanov on Wed, Aug 25, 2010
Open teacher-parent communication is a key aspect to a child’s academic and social gains. Parents should be informed of what their children will be learning, assessment dates, homework assignments, projects, along with social and behavioral interactions. Teachers should not only communicate concerns but also successes and progress. Building teacher-parent relationships through consistent communication is especially vital to the success of special needs students. Traditional communication between teachers and parents was done through face-to-face meetings including conferences and open houses. In the 21st century, there are many ways to keep connected with parents using technology. Using a combination of these resources can involve parents in their child’s successful education.
Email
One of the most popular ways for communicating with parents is via email. At the beginning of the school year, it is important to get all parent contact information including addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. Within your email service you can setup email contacts, including mailing lists. This way you can send email out to either specific parents or send out a blast email update for what the students will be learning in school. Two things to keep in mind when emailing parents is to keep your correspondence professional and that email communication between parents and teachers is considered a legal document. Stick to the topic at hand and do not mention other students in the email.
Classroom Websites
Building a classroom website is also another easy and popular way for teacher-parent communication. There are many online resources that can be used for free or low cost that are specifically designed for teachers or provide school-based templates to create a website for students and parents. Classroom websites can be used to update all of the parents and students of the class schedule, assessment dates, classroom happenings, and even to post pictures or classroom activities and field trips or include scanned documents of the students work. This is also a great place to post the classroom policies and procedures.
Google Sites, Scholastic, School Notes, and TeacherWeb are all great options for teachers to use to create classroom sites.
iPod/iPad Communications
If your students are lucky enough to be in a school where students are provided their own iPod or iPad, there are several different ways that teachers can communicate with parents through these devices. One way is by creating voice memos. For a special education teacher, they can record a specific memo for a parent about what the child accomplished for the day and what they should work on at home. The parent can send back a memo about the child’s progress at home and concerns or questions back to the teacher. The calendar feature can also be used or other planner applications can be loaded to the device for the student and teacher to add information about upcoming assignments, due dates, and field trips. This can be reviewed by the parent at home to keep up-to-date.
Twitter
Another way to keep in contact with parents is to build a twitter community. The teacher should create a specific account for communication with the parents. This can be set to a private so only parents who request permission and are granted can see the tweets. Besides being able to tweet updates for quizzes, tests, and projects, the teacher can tweet about relevant articles that parents can read or online resources for the students to use at home. The great thing about Twitter is that the parents would be able to also communicate with each other building a dialog not only between teacher and parent, but also between parent and parent.
All of these methods of teacher-parent communication are to help build the relationship between the teacher and the parent to better serve the child’s education and social growth needs. When there is an open path for communication and all parties are involved in the child’s education, the support created through this can help students to meet and exceed their yearly gain goals.
Article by Laura Ketcham
Photo by RambergMediaImages
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