Day 12 - Final Day and Reflection

Before class this morning, we started talking about "letting our students fail" after I read out part of this article. We talked about overbearing parents that still show up in University Profs offices or at job interviews with their kids. Anyways...it was an interesting conversation...I had my "2 minute rant"...

Back to our course:

Joanne's Deaf/Blind Video: dbGlove...WOW! I can't even think of anything to say/write...just WOW!

Alecia's Down Syndrome Video: I like the spring in the scissors.

Unlocking the lock using an iPad...some of my kids need that. I spend a good hour every week unlocking lockers...

Laurianne's Music Video "Music with eyeGaze": He gets so excited...so cool.

Suzanne's Cerebral Palsy video: "I don't like people talking to me like I am a baby!" - I think I talked about that in an earlier post. I think when people see someone in a wheel chair like that little girl in the video, they automatically make assumptions about her intelligence/ cog. abilities.

Carly's Voice - I think that is going to be my summer read!

Chrome Music Lab - I can't wait to share this one with our music teacher. The sound loop thing is cool...I may just have to get my kids to put something together for our winter carnival performance.

I love iMovie. I have never used it with my students but have now created 4 projects for my master courses using iMovie. I feel confident enough now to introduce it to my students although most of them are probably more skilled at using it than I am...

There hard part of this final iMovie assignment was the limited amount of information we could put in. We wanted to put so many more things into it...I guess this speaks volumes about what we learned in this course.

The trailers were a great way to wrap up the course today.

Ways to use iMovie:

-use instead of Powerpoint as a presentation tool

-get students to create trailers to show off what they have learned

-Create Math "How-to" videos

-Make booktrailers

-create documentaries

-video journals

...

Final Reflection:
It's amazing how much "technology" I have learned over the last 2 weeks. I have never had a course where I felt I can take things back to my classroom and use them right away. In this course, I have used many of the Apps and some accessibility options right away. For example, I used Videoscribe in my afternoon course for a presentation, and I am used Powtoons for my eJournal. It's surprising how much is already build into our devices.
I also learned that it doesn't have to be expensive to have a huge impact e.g. Dollar Store Assignment.
Also, small things can have a huge impact.
I also learned the difference between high and low tech as well as high/low incidence disabilities.

I just mentioned above how we can't "judge a book by its cover": many of our students have something to say but need a way to communicate with us. I was amazed by P2G and the other AAC we researched/found online.

I am looking forward to helping some of my students (and staff) with the accessibility options on their devices next year. I feel a bit guilty that I just found out about them now...there is so much I could have done for some of my kiddos (Tracy, I borrowed this word from you!) these past years if I had only known....

One thing that I will question my administration about this September is the lack of interaction with Assistive Tech. and OT experts in our school or board as a whole. I feel like teachers in our board are the last people to find out about all of the technology stuff when really, we are the ones working directly with the students and should have more input and access. Why are the school boards so inconsistent when it comes to AT?

Digitize everything - This is something else that really stood out to me when looking back at my notes for this course. This is not only good for our students with disabilities, but I can think of many other students that would benefit from digitized work. Note to self: UDL!!!

As mentioned on yesterday's blog, I am really looking forward to start working with Book Creator in my classroom and share this awesome resource with my colleagues. My teaching partner will love it! I feel like I need to go back to my school and put on a PD session.

If I had to summarize the course in one phrase/word, it would be eye-opening!

Have a great summer everyone!

Assistive Technology in Music

I watched or partially watched probably about 10-15 videos, but the one I ended up choosing actually showed a variety of AT in Music. Many of the other videos only showed one device. The video really starts getting good after the first 1:30min. I especially liked the devices where you don't even need to touch the device (motion sensors). It's amazing. I actually got to play with the Makey Makey in the spring, and my teaching partner and I ended up playing the birthday song. The Skoog is pretty cool...looks so soft. I need an Alphasphere for my classroom.

Music Technology for Special Needs Students

Day 11

Book Creator Presentations:

I can’t believe we presented Assignment 3 today.  I wish we had more time to present. We got quite excited about some of our activities and took a little longer to present. I am hoping to create the welcome book for my school – some of the links in our book are specific to my school already, so I can use some of the pages as they are or with little changes. I think if I do a good job on it, my principal will send it out to all parents/students not just students in my homeroom.

John and Laurianne:

I love the animal idea: picture and sounds…so cool! I also like the share what your day is like activity and create a family album. The flashcard idea is also very neat. As a math teacher, I also really liked your math journal idea and the star over the add word and + = very effective!

My teaching partner always creates lifemaps with the kids and then autobiographies. I think I will share your timeline in Book Creator idea with him.

The choosing your ending/path for your story is awesome.

Holly and Alecia: "Our Journey Through Primary"

Your cover page is gorgeous! I think it's an excellent idea to have a journal/portfolio/memoirs for the primary year. I have started taking photos of my kids work or my kids at work and sending it to their parents and for my students to include in their student-led eportfolio. The animal print background is awesome. I think pre-recording the Show-and-Tell will help some kids with anxiety that may feel very uncomfortable presenting in front of others. I love the doing math outside part and taking photos of it for evidence. The perspective taking activity is very cool.

Joanne and Tracy: "Job Interview Skills"

I love your overall theme. We often don't take the time to teach our kids those skills. We do an Interdisciplinary Unit with our grade 8 kids in June every year where the kids create their own business. We should totally create an activity book like that for them. The body language part is crucial for a good interview. Love the do's and don'ts activity. Book of references is awesome. PERSONAL SPACE ....hahahaha....so true...I'm thinking that's a page Joy and I need to include into our Welcome Book.  By the way, the pictures and characters in your book are priceless: "Think before you Stink" - very effective, engaging and entertaining.

Suzanne and Dave: 

My teaching partner was actually looking for a website or App to create a yearbook..I think I found it for him! The social stories activity is great. The visual dictionary is definitely helpful in my math class as well. They often tend to not use the proper vocabulary because they don't know how to pronounce it, e.g. hypotenuse. The Phys. Ed. activity is great. The teacher could put all activities together into one book for future years. 

Chelsea and Christine:

The "How to wash your hands" step by step page looks awesome. The Funny Movie Maker App is fantastic. Can't wait to try it out. Bringing in all those other Apps is a great idea! I have never seen the Sock Puppet App...super entertaining. The punctuation page is something I will share with our ELA teachers. The Artist Time activity will make my "Artist study" a lot more fun for my kids. Thank you for sharing! The culture book is a neat idea as well. 

Rachel and Terry:

A scrapbook in Book Creator is a great idea! Thank you for including the rubric. The Elevator Pitch and 2 Minute Rant is amazing even without using Book Creator. I also get my students to create a stats project, and I am definitely looking into using Book Creator for it this coming school year. I can actually create a template for some kids that may need some extra support. I love the concept of getting older grades to create something to use with the younger students. 

Sheri and Michelle:

Thank you for including the link to the social stories information. The interactive cookbook is a phenomenal idea. I like the concept of creating a little portfolio after the classtrip. Each kid could create their own page with their favourite photos, quotes and a reflection or something...brilliant! I also really like your word wall idea. As mentioned above, sometimes the kids just don't know how to pronounce certain new vocabulary. The family tree activity is wonderful! I have also already made up my mind that my kids will be using Book Creator for their art portfolio this coming year. You idea for "documenting their time away" is great. Thanks for sharing!

Sue and Nick:

The ABC book is a lovely idea. The sports broadcast idea is also very engaging. We always have students that can't participate in some activities, so having them create a broadcast will keep them engaged and practice their speaking/presenting skills as well. The travel book is a neat idea to get students to research a particular place. Your "Whose Line is It Anway?" activity made me think of creating a staff book where we share our best practices...cool activities, games, websites or Apps we created or found that we can share with the rest of the staff in a shared book.

Jill and Chris:

I really like the solar system activity. I had my kids choosing from a bunch of different ways to represent their knowledge of the solar system this past year...now I can include Book Creator as well. I really liked that you included what grade level your particular activity could be used for. I like the Sentence Starter stories as well. Neat Idea!  

There are so many ideas of how to sue Book Creator online already, but I felt everyone came up with many more unique ones. Just re-reading all of the comments I wrote above...I like/love a lot of things *lol*

Book Creator can be used in so many ways in our schools: administration, library, staff, students, etc. I hope my students don't get sick of using Book Creator next year :-)

Day 10 - Almost summer vacation :-)

So another day of working on Book Creator...things went a lot smoother today. We created 20 activities and then some. We found that after creating an activity a lot of times they could be used in multiple ways or do multiple things, so really they ended up being 2-3 activities in one.
I am actually quite excited now to present tomorrow and also hear what others came up with.
I am already starting to think how I can incorporate Book Creator in my Math, Health and Art classes this year. I am actually excited to start planning my units next month...I don't think I have ever said that in July before :-)

I am pretty sure I melted a little bit during class time today.

I think I might start writing little children's books with my niece's and nephew's names in them using Book Creator and giving it to them for Christmas or birthdays etc.
Or I could take pictures each month of them with little stories and give it to their parents...so many options...

Weekend - Accessibility Options Videos

I watched the Chromebook video the other day. Here is what I posted on my blog that day: I wanted to watch the Chromebooks one especially because that’s what our school is mainly using now (I may have to steer everyone back towards iPads?!?). We do have 1 class set of iPads, but most of our funding these past 16 months has gone into purchasing more Chromebooks. 

At first I thought the video  would go through a bunch of Apps, and I was a little disappointed when it didn’t; however, then I realized that some of the setting changes are actually quite helpful for students that have some special needs. For example, they showed how they enlarge the mouse cursor. This could help someone who has a hard time seeing the small one. Even the “spoken feedback” function: I had no idea all of that stuff existed AND IT’S FREE! There is a colourblind accessibility extension…WOW! I do use “Speak It” sometimes.

Android:

I actually just texted my dad and told him how to increase the font size. Did I see a "block offensive words" option? Amazing!

High contrast text is also a nice feature to have.

iPad iOS9:

Holy Moly, I had to keep stopping the videos, so I could keep up finding all those options on my device.

Hearing -  I had to look up what Mono Audio meant.

Physical Access - I like how gestures can be adjusted to fit user. The touch accommodation, especially how long you have to hold it for, are great features to have for kids with abrupt movements. I, personally, like the "shake to undo" option.

Siri - When watching the video, all I could think of was my grade 6 students asking Siri over and over again if she could beatbox for them. Try it...it is pretty funny....just not when you have to listen to it several times in one lesson *lol*   

The speech to text option is definitely very useful. I' m trying to figure out the German option.

Zoom - I have to use  zoom on my devices all the time. I hadn't seen that window zoom option yet.

Mac - very similar options to some of the other devices we have looked at: zoom, colour, captions,  voice over etc.

PC - great options for visual and hearing...had to look up what toggle keys meant

I like how one can get recommendations to make the PC easier to use based on some reasons you selected (or someone for you selected). 

I also really like Screencastify. I will have to try that out.

I think accessibility options are going to become better and better with new devices coming out. I think those companies are all learning from each other. The only downfall is that not many people know all those options are there. I think all teachers should get some training on this.

Day 9 - July 15th

I really like Book Creator. I can totally see how this would re-energize my math class especially when it comes to rule book sheets and boring worksheets. (I have some more ideas but don't want to post them because I don't want anyone to steal my ideas for their final assignment :-) )
I like that it is a teacher tool but also can be used for students to display what they have learned. It is also great that we can incorporate media we (students or teachers) created with other Apps.
I like that hyperlinks can be embedded in photos, but I will have to remind my students (and myself) that we have to make sure to indicate that one can click on some pictures. I wish one could import a YouTube video rather than just adding a link.

I think Joy and I got a little stuck today when we wanted to stick with a "theme". I think we have it sorted out now, but some parts will need some extra explanation when we are presenting. I'm glad other people seemed to be stuck, too. We'll see how we make out over the weekend and Monday...

Day 8 - July 14th

Happy Birthday, Alecia!

What a busy day today...

Movie on Switch Access:

I wasn’t quite sure what low incidence and high incidence disabilities meant, so I looked it up.

Low incidence disabilities are rare such as visual or hearing impairments, autism, traumatic brain injuries etc.. High incidence disabilities are more common such as LD and ADHD.

Helping kids with LI disabilities requires “creativity, planning and teamwork”. The individual’s peers are part of the team, and the teacher should model communication and interaction with the student for the rest of the class.

I thought it was very powerful that during Michael’s part of the video, they mentioned several times that the rest of the class learns to care about student with special needs. The fact that Michael’s peers know he learns differently and have experienced some of his medical issues actually make them more accepting of people with disabilities. Kids tend to be scared of the unknown, so involving them in Michael’s education may ease their fears.

Sadly, interactions between teenagers tend to decrease a bit as pointed out by Todd’s and Justin’s stories in the video. I really liked how little “jobs” were built into the activities, so that even though Todd couldn’t do the math, he still took part in the activity. I also liked that they pointed out the benefits of his peers: by allowing them to read to him, they actually practiced their reading skills. It was also great to see Justin participate in cooking and art activities.

I absolutely loved that Joy interacted with the younger students. To go back to my earlier point, kids fear the unknown, so by interacting with Joy socially, they’ll get to know her and learn to care. (On a side note, a EZ Cracker from the $store may help Joy out in the kitchen J ). I am thinking maybe Joy would benefit from trying out EyeGaze to access AAC?!

I really liked how one of the principals mentioned that “All kids should be in school together!”. It’s all about relationship building and hopefully these skills will transfer outside of school and people will become more accepting and aware of individual with disabilities.

By the way, I have been at the same school now for 4 years, and I have not once seen or heard of an Occupational Therapist visiting our school. There have been at least 2-3 students that could have really benefited from getting some extra support within the school.

Station Work:

Station #1 Powerlink and different Switches: These switches may teach an individual about cause/effect relationships and allow students to turn on/off items such as a night lamp, radio, buzzer/timer, blender, blow dryer, stereo, massage pillow, TV, microscope, ray box, fan, vacuum, mixer, paper shredder.

Skills needed: some gross motor – switches operate with simple movements, some ability to reach

The science teacher in me loved the pneumatic system switch, but it may be hard for some to grab onto it. The different sizes and textures definitely make the switches usable by numerous people with different strengths and challenges.

I was trying to think of some activities using switches that could allow students to participate in class. This document is really good describing “jobs” for several subjects.

I found it really hard to think of items that could be turned on and off only by turning power on and off. Many of our electronics these days have so many settings that unless it has been pre-programmed, many of them are becoming inaccessible via the switches.

Station #2: Scanning Activity on Laptop with Trackball

I would get really frustrated using the hover and scan options. I think patience is the key here. I like how the on-screen-keyboard has word prediction, but one definitely needs to have good vision to navigate between keys for scanning and hovering. The scanning option is definitely helpful for someone that has troubles independently navigating between keys, so staying on the spacebar may be easier. The user must be good visually and cognitively to be able to use these options.

The trackball mouse is definitely great for someone with limited finger movement.

Station #3: Switch Accessible App

Joanne brought up the point that the switch can easily be mounted to a wheel chair. She said that she had a student before that would have thrown the iPad if given the chance, so just having the switch near him is helpful. I think the switch is great for someone who has erratic hand/arm movements. I think the Apps itself are great for encouragement/motivation, develop fine motor skills, teach timing and patience.

Apps:

1. Treasure Island
2. Light Box
3. Big Bang Patterns
4. Jungle Adventure
5. Racing Cars
6. Switch Access Trainer
7. Sensory Room
8. Switch fan
9. Switch Accessible Puzzle ($10.99)
10. HelpKidzLearn
11. Switch Accessibility Math
12. Little Lost penguins

I also found this document with a table of Switch AccessibleApps

These Apps are great for communication, education and FUN!

Station #4: EyeGaze ($2000)

I think this technology is worth the money. It was so easy to navigate and very sensitive to my eye movements. What a great tool to help people with, for example, ALS, Cerebral Palsy, a traumatic brain injury or suffered a stroke to communicate and access the laptop. Individuals with very low mobility can still access the computer using their eyes.

I also really like the game like calibration aspect (pie in the face). This would make it a lot easier to train a child how to use it.

EyeGaze could be used for AAC, typing, scroll and select, make choices, play games, access computer control panel or accessibility settings and so on. Most importantly it gives individuals control and a bit of independence!

I can see though that students using this device may grow tired very quickly. I know when I stare at a screen for too long, I am exhausted and get headaches.

Station #5: Alternate Keyboard etc.

This keyboard is great for someone who may need bigger buttons or the high visual contrast (yellow/black); however, it may be a pain to carry that around everywhere.

I have downloaded Read&Write but have never actually had a student use it. The features are great. I love the vocabulary list maker. This tool would be great for some of our LD kids or kids that have trouble reading. I think even for someone who is editing a paper and can get the software read it back to him/her to make sure it sounds right, this would be great!

I have watched the accessibility Chrome video yesterday morning and commented on it on my blog post yesterday. There are some great options that I could personally use as well.

Station #6: Android

There are so many accessibility options such as voice assistant, talk back, dark screen or colour inverter, magnifier, text-to-speech, google subtitles, left/right sound balance, tap&hold delay, dominant hand pick…this is great! I started looking through all the accessibility options on my iPad after and it has many of the same features.

When going through Google Play we found many Apps that help with accessibility including one App that scans other Apps for accessibility options and then gives suggestions as to how to improve it (“Accessibility Scanner”). We also found Google TalkBack, Easy Touch, Google Braille Back and many more.

Station #7:

We really liked these 3 videos because they showed an evolution of abilities over the years. The little British girl was just starting to use assistive technology and you can see as she gets the hang of it, she smiles more and more. Maddy, on the other hand, is using her knee switch to access her AAC technology, and then finally Christopher uses a combination of technology to access and navigate his laptop and is even taken an IT certificate online. It is clear that not one piece of technology is enough but that a combination of technology allows these kids to be more independent and communicate.

I have to admit that I spent more time writing notes into my notebook to be able to type them up later for my blog post than I did playing with the devices. In hindsight, I wish I had left the note-taking until after and just focused on “playing”, but I was so worried about forgetting stuff.