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Monthly Archives: January 2010
#ATIA2010 – Orlando, Saturday
Saturday was a short day, but I was able to find some good sessions. It seemed to be a day for Twitter as I was able to attend sessions by @briandowd & @assistivetek.
Brian Dowd, @briandowd, shared his experiences as Assistive Technologist for Alton School district (in Southern Illinois), as well as Region I & III in the same area. One difficulty of his position is how large an area he has to service in a given week! His solution, a Wiki, it allows teachers to get resources and ask questions.
Brian Friedlander, AssistiveTek, shared some technology supports for writing. Now, I was unable to stay for the entire session (due to having to get ready for my presentation), but I did hear some very interesting points! He spent some time talking about some of the new features of Inspiration – Drag & Drop editing, mind mapping, presentation mode, and more. He also showed some of the ways that other programs, like Solo Suite 6, could integrate in to provide word prediction and such.
The last presentation I attended, well that would be my own! I was very excited to again present at ATIA. For those of you new to the blog it’s about my idea to help my students with SCD research and present on a topic (for example desert animals). You can see the presentation here – My Crazy Idea….
I’d like to take a moment to thank several folks for coming to the presentation (and not heckling) – Jeanette, Chris, Brian & especially Lisa, along with all the others who stayed around to the very end for my session. It was a blast to present, and I can’t wait to do it again.
Patrick
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Posted in ATIA, Inspiration, My Crazy Idea, Orlando, sessions, wiki
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On Science, Pseudoscience, and the Mega-millions Lottery
The first time I met Dr. Peter Gerhardt, he was giving a presentation in New York City which was focused on the needs of older students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The workshop encompassed everything from teaching students appropriate bathroom “etiquette” to how and when to discuss sex. I was thoroughly impressed! He managed [...] Continue reading
Costco wins again
Here is the latest addition to our home:
A fade-free, stain-free 7×10 ft rug we got for $99 at Costco (where else?). It sure does make our living room and dining area look so much cozier!
Also? This is the fifth item of furniture/home decor we have bought from there! They should really start paying us for all the good press we give them….
Posted in Personal
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Facebook is a promising tool for teacher collaboration
Educators should take advantage of the popular social-networking site Facebook as a free and timely forum for sharing ideas and improving education, writes Nancy Flanagan, a former teacher who is an education writer and consultant. If teachers can over… Continue reading
Posted in National Board Certification, Teachers/ Educators, Technology in Education
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Students in gifted program produce school’s morning news show
Students who are gifted at a Tennessee elementary school produce a video news program shown throughout the school each morning. The fourth- and fifth-graders create the 5- to-7-minute program in the school’s news studio equipped with a green screen, vi… Continue reading
Posted in gifted, Special Education, Technology in Education
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Helping students find their way to success
Some students do not have the work habits that make it easy for them to be successful in school. In class, I talk a lot about the characteristics of successful people and the role that perseverance plays in their success. Unfortunately, perseverance is not the only thing some of my students lack. They lack another important characteristic that successful people share. They lack the emotional support they need to help them be successful. Some students don’t have anyone there for them when the going get tough or even to help them celebrate life’s successes great or small. That’s where I come in. I try to give them the emotional support they need to help them find their way to success at school.
Sometimes students will work on projects and assignments but for any number of reasons don’t submit the assignments for evaluation. They seem to run out of energy, interest or whatever and just give up. I’m always encouraging them to submit things so I can give them the marks they’ve earned. I’m constantly telling them if they don’t hand things in it makes it very difficult for me to find marks to give them. I don’t find it useful to tell them that if they don’t hand work in they’ll fail. They’re used to hearing that. They’re used to failing. I take a different approach. I tell them they have to help me find the marks they need to pass them. Yes, of course it would be nice if my students just wanted to learn for the sake of learning, but that’s not the way it is for some students. I have to start where from where my students are.
I used to get very frustrated when I would see my students working on assignments in class and then not submit them for evaluation. In fact, it used to drive me crazy. I’ve learned to observe and record their progress during the time they work in class so that if for some reason they don’t submit an assignment, I still have some sense of their progress and can evaluate what I have seen. Believe me, there are many reasons why assignments don’t get handed in. Not completing them is only one reason.
It’s important to know that some of my more reluctant/struggling students are not interested in getting high marks. They feel they’ve aced the course when they get 51%. I know because they’ve told me this. Of course I encourage my students to do more than the bare minimum and will often tell them they’ve made a good start. Then, I encourage them to improve their work by suggesting if they just changed this a bit here or expanded on that a bit there I could find more marks to give them. Believe me. It works.
I’ll admit this whole idea of finding marks to give students for assignments they have or have not submitted can seem a bit strange. But, and this is a big but, I teach students who are at-risk academically, and I need to think creatively to find ways to motivate them and give them the support they need so they can find their way to success. That’s what makes teaching so rewarding.
Posted in "At-risk" students, assignments, Behaviour Management, creative ways of finding marks to give students, emotional support for students, Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, Evaluation, giving students emotional support, helping students succeed, lack, marks, motivating students, my , perseverance, perseverance in school, positive climate, Special Education, submit, success, supporting at-risk students, The way I see it, underachieving students, work habits
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Wakefield finding: Pro & con
As most readers probably know, the UK General Medical Council censured Dr. Andrew Wakefield for his research that supposedly shows a link between immunization with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. The Autism corner of the blogosphere has been rife with discussion (more than what I can up with keep). However, Liz Ditz has been [...] Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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I Got An Interview!
Well, it looks like all of my hard work has paid off. I finally got an interview. Believe me when I say that I am going to sell myself. I said that all I needed was an interview & the rest would work itself out. Now’s my chance to prove that. Dear reader, I will [...]
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Posted in teaching
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#ATIA2010 – Orlando, Friday
I had intended to write each evening before going to sleep about the day I had had….as you can see that clearly did not happen! As I got back to my room last evening, I need to get a few things finished with my own presentation – My Crazy Idea…, pack, and get a good night rest. So I never got around to talking about Friday’s presentations. So here’s what I thought.
I attended a great session Friday morning by Penny Reed & Gayl Bowser (both very active QIAT Leadership type people!). They presented a great session about ways to work smarter, not harder by using web tools like – Blogs, Nings, & Wikis (hmmm…seem familiar!). Some of the blogs they mention were Teaching Every Student, No Limits to Learning, & TLWMSN. They also talked about the AT Help Desk they created to help teams diagnose the best way to fix problems – AT Help Desk.
I went to a great session by Libby Rush on how to teach writing! While she had way to much material for a 1 hour session, she was thoroughly engaging and fun to watch! There was a lot discussed and most of it is in my notes (but she talks really fast, and I can’t type that fast!). I’ll do my best to try and put up a post soon about her ideas.
My favorite sessions were by last two. First I saw Marie Duggan, a Mom-NOS (not otherwise specifed), of 6 kids, one with Autism! She had filled her sons life with symbols, schedules, and communication. I’m amazed at all the solutions she came up with. When a problem arose they found a way to to help him. I think what I was most impressed by was that she didn’t just work on the problem, she worked on the WHY! Then she worked on a way to help him understand! An utterly amazing woman. I wish she had had more time because we never got to hear about the new software she is working on.
Last, but certainly not least, was SMART Inclusion in the 21st Century: Integrating SMARTBoards with AT. A long title, but worth every second! A SLP, Alexandra Dunn at a small school board in Ottawa, Canada decided that the best way to integrate their students with SCD in the general ed classrooms was through SMARTBoards! The results were profound and AMAZING! All students increased participation and showed skills they never had before. Each SMARTBoard was used with BM, Classroom Suite, Notebook Software and they used it with all the students (not just the ones with IEP’s!). They had Airliners (think portable mouse), Intellikeys, and switches so that there was a lot of alternative access, just depending on what the student needed. They even let some kids use their Bluetooth enabled devices to interact directly with the SMARTBoard!!!!!! They have some research, and as soon as it is posted I will let you know. This was some exciting stuff!
As you can see, I’m quite excited by my experience at ATIA. It’s always amazing to me how much it helps to go to conferences and meet with other professionals, it’s just an electric atmosphere. I have some information about today’s sessions to post, and it will have to wait (I should be boarding momentarily). Again, if you are interested in reading my notes from the sessions please feel free to check them out here – ATIA Notes.
Patrick
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Believing in Students…Believing in Teachers
My principal showed us this video of Dalton Sherman during our staff meeting last Friday, it was very inspiring for us teachers especially at this time…a good piece to show my students too on Monday. Continue reading
Posted in Teachers/ Educators, video clip
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