CSMFall2014

This is an article/website about all the types of assistive technology that can be integrated into the special education classroom. As well as explaining the benefits of having this technology with certain types of disabilities. It also includes a blog like section for teachers to comment on how certain technology does or does not work in their own classrooms.

I'm glad this article talked about assistive technology for students with disabilities and students who need challenged.

Technology is considered a necessary tool for use in higher education and the economy. As future employees of companies, our students will be required to adapt quickly, gain knowledge and apply it in a variety of ways. As a teacher integrating technology, one must design and instruct in the manner to which they are the most comfortable but think always about their student's futures not their own in relation to technology.

I appreciate that the author focused on the underlying learning objectives first. He also mentioned that technology could be a time-saver, but didn't feel the need to use every free website offered to him.

This article looks at how the Richmond school district is implementing technology in an effort to meet the standards for Technological Literacy. They send teachers every year to the College of New Jersey for "Project Update" where they can learn new technology and then come back and share it with the rest of the school.

Although written in 2002, there were some good concepts in the article about having teachers train one another and some simple projects to start kids with projects involving technology.

This article is about how teachers can use technology to teach poetry. The article gives teachers several sources to use, including video sources on youtube, and blabberize.com. Using the resources provided in the article, teachers can create an interactive learning environment in order to give the students hands-on experience with poetry.

Fun article about teaching poetry including some good resources and lesson ideas for different grade levels!

This article makes the point that we as educators need to use technology as the teaching tool it is, and NOT let our students (or ourselves) get into the habit of taking information for granted. We need to work to teach accurate and evolving tech habits and learn together by doing--not by copying and pasting. This article also seeks to bring this collaboration of learning tech in the classroom as a human interaction network where we can promote interaction--not isolation.

Good article on the Net-Generation! I enjoyed reading about the distinct approaches that different people take towards technology depending on their comfort level and the purpose.

This is a great article about how today's PE teachers are working to make physical education interesting and get kids moving. Today's students are very into technology and PE teachers are taking this into account and bringing it to physical education.

Physical Education classes have transformed tremendously with technology. Some of these ideas and uses for iPads are amazing!

New Technology teaching aids are great for the classroom. The problems is that when kids are using these technologies they are not always doing what is expected of them. They may be surfing the internet or texting a friend when they should be researching for a project.

I'm glad they pointed out some of the pitfalls to technology in education. We need to be aware of both positive and negative aspects of technology in order to make it useful to our own programs and students.

This article talks about how Forest Lake Elementary School in South Carolina helped teachers develop technology usage in the classroom. The school and administration takes an active approach to the use of technology in the classroom. This articles talks about the steps the school takes in forcing the teachers to use technology tools and the support the teachers are given.

Great article with very practical tips for how to get teachers on board with technology despite their age or years of teaching!

Although the cost of an education has nearly tripled per student in the last 40 years, test scores have remained unchanged. There is an ed tech revolution happening in politics, teacher evaluations, and test scores. This article examines what this ed tech revolution will look like both in school and at home over the next 15 years.

The writer listed some great resources throughout the article. I'm curious to see if any of his predictions will come true.

Technology such as ipads open new channels for sharing art. Programs allow students to try different methods and see for themselves (at their own speed) step by step instructions. It also allows the art teacher to mix traditional and new methods of instructions.

I wrote down some of these apps to share with the art teacher in my building. This is a great example of a teacher finding ways to use technology and acquire it for her classroom.

This article suggests 19 ways to integrate technology in your daily and weekly classroom routine. Even if you have a slight fear of technology, this gives seemingly painless ways to integrate it into your classroom that is useful and engaging for both the student and teacher.

These are simple ideas with practical purposes. This is a great article for teachers just starting to incorporate technology into the classroom. Baby steps!

This article discusses the dangers of introducing technology to young children. The author looks at schools that are starting the use of technology in kindergarten. I also feel this is too young. There needs to be a personal connection made among students and the teacher. A screen doesn't provide this learning and interaction.

Interesting article! I'd be curious to see the user agreement for kindergarten students with iPads.

The use of cell phones are, often times, banned in the classrooms. This article discusses how smart phones in the classroom may be beneficial to students and their learning. Smart phones allows students to learn in a way that is comfortable to them, gives them access to find answers quickly, utilize audio and video on the devices to enhance the learning process, and allows for social learning. Schools shouldn't be thinking of ways to keep students from using their smart phone devices, but instead, think of how to allow use of smart phones in the classroom. Teachers can be a positive influence in helping students use their smart phones appropriately in the classroom to assist in learning.

This is also an inexpensive source of technology for the schools since most students have a Smartphone and the school doesn't have to provide the device.

Wiki's are a great tool for students to come together to edit and create a document. The website includes popular, FREE wiki platforms for teachers to use, includes resources for further reading and gives examples on how to use Wiki's in the classroom. This website is a great resource in general for including technological resources in a Language Arts classroom, which can be difficult to do, especially when teaching writing and literature. http://tewt.org

This is a worthwhile article for teachers to read if they are starting a wiki page. The article includes a treasure chest of resources.

This site talks about the steps to take to find useful and safe games for game-based learning (GBL) as a way to engage students in the curriculum.

Good advice for selecting games depending on your access to technology and as an option for differentiation.

"Imagine a system that provides teachers with real-time insights to understand how a student is performing. The teacher can then use the data to spot weak areas and adjust the lesson plan accordingly. This type of tailored instruction has the ability to greatly improve student performance." We've been learning about individualized instruction in all of our classes, and now Xerox researchers have been tracking students for the past 7 years in New York and California to invent a system where teachers "could determine what concepts were being taught successfully and which were missing the mark-- and they could do it on a student-by-student, class-by-class basis."

This was an article by Robert Earl from "The Atlantic". It focuses on how American High School students are using their cellphones to listen to music, texting, in the hallways and any opportunity to use it in the classroom with the teacher's permission. According to the University of Michigan, 71% of the students receive or send text messages by their cellphones in class. Many students say they "can focus on their schoolwork better if they are listening to music through their earbuds". There are four advantages that benefits the students and two disadvantages of using cellphones in the classroom. The most important message is that either way students must be taught to love learning -- to embrace the process of finding answers. We as educators to need to embrace using all types of technology in the classroom as well.

This article speaks about all the educational data that is being collected but not used. Virginia has created an app to make that information accessible to parents. This allows them to use the data to choose which school they want to send their children to. I think all states should create an app like this to make sure data is being utilized and also to bring light to the schools who need more help.

Funding | News The federal government is awarding $121 million in grants with the aim of improving academic and career outcomes for those with disabilities, supporting technology, technical assistance, research and other programs with the aim of "promoting inclusion, equity and opportunity for all children and adults with disabilities to help ensure their economic self-sufficiency, independent living and full community participation."

Dear Teacher who is still not on Twitter, Maybe you didn't receive my previous mail. Just in case it didn't convince you, here are a few more examples of the benefits of Twitter... 1. Continuous learning with and from a global community of educators, via countless links to interesting posts and articles, tools and websites, conferences and workshops....