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Have you ever wanted a simple and convenient way to track attendance for your group or classroom? Well, now there's a way. MyAttendanceTracker.com is an online attendance tracker and it will help simplify the tedious task of keeping attendance. Some of the site's key features: *It's free! *Track attendance online from home or work or school *Easy to use interface to enter attendance data *Import Tools allow you to load your entire class list in minutes *Reports you'll love *Export data to Excel or download reports as PDFs

"The Institute on Disability is pursuing the expansion and further development of Assistive Technology (AT) services and training in the state of New Hampshire. Assistive Technology is integral to the daily lives of many New Hampshire residents. Awareness of and the ability to try assistive technology devices are important aspects to making a decision whether a particular technology is "the right fit." The IOD is actively involved in partnerships on campus, throughout the state, and on a national level to promote access to assistive technology services." This site is full of great information about assistive technology. The resources tab is where you want to direct most of your attention as many of the documents and resources that are identified are very practical and geared toward use by special education service providers, students, and parents. Of particular interest to schools is instructions for how to create a low cost case for the iPad for use in schools. Check it out! Application to Transition Practice The information provided on this site will help to support transition practices in the classroom (direct teaching of transition skills), in work-based learning experiences, and living. There are many suggestions for how to physically adapt assistive technology hardware to meet an individual's need in the workplace. Also, in the resources there is a resource list of "reviewed" iPad apps for use to assist individuals with disabilities to become more independent is environments both within and outside the classroom. For example, the dragon app is free and it can be used to dictate and transcribe text. Various apps used for study skills and time management and organization could be very useful for students with LD and ADD in a variety of environments. It would be important to introduce individuals to some of these apps while they are in high school so they can learn about how they might help them in college, daily living, or employment settings.

The Institute on Disability is part of the University Center for Excellence on Disability at the University of New Hampshire. "The Institute on Disability is pursuing the expansion and further development of Assistive Technology (AT) services and training in the state of New Hampshire. " This department at the University of New Hampshire provides information about disability services that are provided for their current students as well as information concerning training programs for professionals. Professionals can register to attend the assistive technology workshops to learn about the newest programs that will help students with disabilities in their education. As a special educator, I would use this website to attend workshops on the most current assistive technology resources. This would keep my knowledge up to date and give me the opportunity to experience new and different programs. Then, when I have new students who may need different assistive technology both in high school and transitioning to college, I will be better equipped to tech them how to use the program.

"Schools districts in Kentucky are focusing efforts to diversify the teaching profession starting in high school through the Young Male Leadership Academy. Teaching professionals are still largely represented by white women and to break that trend Kentucky stakeholders are educating young men of color on the benefits of teaching, and also, attending college."

"As I prepare for another afternoon of district-provided professional development activities, I always make sure that I bring plenty of work to do (papers to grade, lesson planning, etc.). This isn't because I have a bad attitude and hate professional development (PD). A great PD event can really energize me to improve my classroom instruction. However, the sad fact is that the majority of PDs I attend are repetitive, simplistic, or downright boring. I bring other work to do so that I don't get irritated when I feel that my time is being so carelessly wasted."

This website was created by the Center for Independent Futures, a non-profit organization in Illinois. This organization aims to help "adults with disabilities and their families plan, support and sustain new ways of living in their community." The website and organization provides information about having a disability, as well as services and accommodations that they can provide for adults with disabilities. Because the Center for Independent Futures is a non-profit organization, they host a variety of fund raising events each year. These events, as well as other ways to donate to the organization can be found on the website. If I were a special educator working on transition and career development, I would use this website for students who are looking at attending school in Illinois. The site would provide very useful information for the student because it would tell them what kind of supports they can receive in the state and where they can get those supports. Illinois has a variety of colleges and universities, and the Center for Independent Futures would be a very positive support system for new students in the state.

Nice article Amanda! I like that this site provides ample information in short chunks and each chunk has another resource attached to it. I think it is very helpful

I really enjoyed this article. It is very easy to navigate through and will be very helpful in the teaching profession.

This website resource covers ages from 0-22 as a transition into adulthood which I honestly thing everyone could use help with, not just individuals with disabilities. There are 3 different links to help with transition; The basics of Student Involvement, Person-Centered Planning and Materials for Students. As you scroll down the website, each category gives a brief summary and a link for more information/agencies that can be helpful. There is also related information which discusses and IEP, how a disability is defined and the health care transition for youth with special care needs. This website would be important to use with a student. They would be able to research about transition under their own age at the link at the top of the page. After all, there is a quote on the home page saying ,"there's a very simple and common sense reason why IDEA 2004 requires that students with disabilities be invited to attend every IEP meeting where postsecondary transition goals will be considered: It's their lives."

"The National Technical Assistance Center on Transition (NTACT) developed the Transition Gradebook as a school-level tool for recording individual students' transition-related activities, including the required pre-employment transition services (Pre-ETS), and various risk and protective factors associated with dropout, graduation and positive postschool outcomes. The Transition Gradebook is a locally served database application that records transition-related activities from five major areas from NTACT's Predictors of Postschool Success-specifically, Career Awareness, Work Experience, Inclusion, Student Supports, and Collaboration. It also tracks whether a student has received instruction in self-determination, social skills, life skills, and/or transportation skills. Finally, the tool also records some of the risk and protective factors associated with school completion: specifically in the areas of attendance, behavior and course performance, as well as other factors that impact school engagement and postschool outcomes."

"With each Check & Connect training we conduct, we feel (and often hear) the same frustration when it comes to parental involvement in school. What is interesting, is that after we discuss Check & Connect's belief in family engagement versus parental involvement, I hear new and creative ways that school staff are reaching out and engaging families, often without even realizing it."