Blog Post #3

Peering the Work of Editors

That student did such a fantastic job of laying out some basic guidelines to follow for completing a peer review.First, compliment the writer on what he/she has done well during their work.  Second, make suggestions regarding specific parts of the assigned project.  Then lastly, correct the errors you can see, but allowing the writer to do the correcting.

The ability to positively review the work of individuals is probably an invaluable asset to have since we have all chosen to become educators.  We are very lucky to have access to reviews and instructional videos at our fingertips (with access to internet).  Although peers are not always people that are your age, in What is Peer Editing? the speaker made it clear that keeping a positive attitude when review the peers work is very important.   Addressing each age group differently is a good way to show students that peer reviewing can be a key tool for success for both yourself and your fellow classmates.

Technology in Special Education
Technology is evolving faster than our classrooms can keep up with, but Lace Cook and other educators are closing the gap by using newer technology in their classrooms to enable special needs students to succeed at a greater pace than ever before. In her very inspirational video Technology in Special Education Mrs. Cook displays how she has adapted certain parts of technology to fit individual student's needs. For both Kris and Sharae, Mrs. Cook has taught these students to use a computer to complete their assignments.

Using these "valuable skills to serve the community", as Mrs. Cook graciously worded it, is within their grasps. Teaching the students whether they have special needs or not to utilize programs and applications such as ZoomText for Eric and other students to see and type more efficiently can allow them to succeed. Watching this video was very uplifting and it makes me feel like I waste every second of my time on things that are not important. It stanks.


How the Ipad Works with Academics for Autism

The possibilities are almost endless with a device like this and utilizing it in a classroom setting. I chose the First Words Feeling Application which allows a student to use cognitive skills like vocabulary and spelling words and able to relate them to 38 different emotions. Also, giving the teacher to adjust the level at which the students are proceeding through the application is a major advantage as well. This would be extremely useful with special needs students as it was visible in the video with Braden because what the children would believe was just a regular game would actually be a tool we could be using to advance there motor, speech, and cognitive skills.

Harnessing Our Student's Digital Smarts

In a small, rural town in Georgia a global classroom has made it's emark on the world. Mrs. Vicki Davis is teaching (and learning) along her students in several global collaboratives through online classrooms. Learning to terraform, control avatars, engage in digital citizenship, and map multimedia software Mrs. Davis' class has become a virtual landscape of learning. She focuses on allowing the students to teach themselves, as well as her, the processes and information required to complete the tasks by going online and "finding" the solution.

She uses her blog @coolcatteacher , Flat Classroom Project , DigiTeen wiki, and many other types of technology to access the world for her students. This opens up these rural minded children to view the rest of the world and learn aspects of the digital age that they may have never known throughout their entire lives. I hope that the tools necessary to engage a task like this are available to me when a career in teaching is underway!