Thing #23

I'm kind of sad, partially because coming to the end of this course means summer is almost over, but also because this has been lots of fun.  I am definitely going to follow Learning 2.1.  Thing #70 popped up when I opened it and that means there are so many more things to learn.

I don't really have any recommendations for changing the format of this program other than finding a way to get people to do more commenting on each others' blogs.  I've tried to go through the spreadsheet and find people who might need encouragement because my facilitator has been a wonderful "cheerleader" and those comments kept me going.  I found myself checking several times a day to see if anyone left me a message!  I would love to have known who "adopted" me so I could've made sure I was also following their blog. 

I'd have to say my favorite learning exercises have been the more creative ones involving image generators, spell with flickr, Slide.com, etc.  Creative Commons is going to be VERY useful and I hope I really do use VoiceThread.  I would definitely participate in another discovery program, especially if it was offered in the summer.  I tried this once before during the school year and I just couldn't keep up.  Thanks for teaching me so much this summer!

Thing #22

Okay, remember how I felt about Twitter in Thing #21?  Then I said I went back and looked again and found Classroom 2.0? Yay Twitter!  I had no idea we were about to explore this topic.

I was really excited to find Classroom 2.0 because it looks like a site that I can really use.  One of the links on the bottom left of the main page sent me to an area where Special Education teachers were discussing things that worked, or didn't work, in their classrooms.  This led me to an idea that I think would work very well to help the teacher's in our district, with students like mine, communicate.  I'm not a "regular-meetings-kind-of-gal" but a social network set up for just the LIFE Skills teachers would probably be right up my alley. If it could be controlled in order to protect student confidentiality I think it's a great idea.  We have SO much paperwork and I'm just exhausted when school's out from 7.5 hours of almost constant student contact. Our students have difficulty working independently.  By the time school is out and I've prepared for the next day I just want to go home.  Keeping up with a network in my PJs sounds so much better than regular meetings!

Thing #7b

One of the blogs that I follow in my Google Reader is My Life as an Ungraceful, Unhinged, and Unwilling Draftee into the Autism Army.  The particular post that I've linked here is about this mom's dealings with her young autistic daughter on a trip to Target when she doesn't get her way.  Autistic children have difficulty expressing themselves verbally.  In this case Audrey, the daughter who is trying to express her emotions, comes out with some typical blurtations (a new word I just invented) that can just crack you up...much later when you're retelling a story.  I can't do this woman's post justice by trying to retell it so please do read her version if you have time.  (I'll apologize in advance for some of her language.  This post is pretty calm but some of them are not.)  As a teacher of moderate to severely disabled students, I find it comforting to read her posts as well as the comments she elicits from others.

Thing #21

I believe I have just hit INFORMATION OVERLOAD!!!
I'm a fairly new user of Facebook and I like the fact that I only have a few "friends."  Lots of what I've seen this evening on Twitter seems like it's written in code and just not enough to catch my attention.  I did find a few diamonds out there that I really liked such as slide 33: #32-Blurters in 34 Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom.

I feel like having the Google Reader set up to follow longer versions of CoolCatTeacher and other similar blogs give me more information.  Does that make me set in my ways already? Taking a second look I found Classroom 2.0 which has idea links categorized by tool, subject, and areas such as Special Needs, Gifted, etc. It's just going to take me a bit longer on this one to get comfortable, but I'll try!

Thing #20

One of the staff development sessions that my school had this past year was about Google Docs.  We were separated into groups and asked to explore a certain tool (document, spreadsheet, presentation) and then present to the rest of the class.  My group got the spreadsheet and although we weren't extremely creative, we got the concept. It just amazes me that you can create something and others can work on it at the same time.  What will they think of next?

Idea #1:  I wish I had thought of this tool when my class studied families and traits at the end of the year!  I asked everyone to bring their pictures to me so I could scan them and make a PowerPoint presentation.  We all enjoyed looking at each others' families and resemblances.  It would have been so much better if I had had them collaborate on the project during class!

Idea #2:  We have, in the past, made projects in our classroom that we took orders for and sold to the faculty and staff (non-profit, of course).  I set up one of those Google Spreadsheets and sent it out via e-mail.  It was really cool because my students (with help) could see when new orders were added, what had to be made, and where to deliver the item.

Idea #3:  With help, I think my students would enjoy creating a MadLib or Rebus-type story.  Perhaps they could create portions separately and then combine the story to see how it ends.

Thing #19

One of the tools we use with autistic students is called a Social Story.  It is a non-threatening way for a student to be told about appropriate behavior and is available for repeated use.  I think a VoiceThread could include the voices of the teacher, parents, itinerant staff, and anyone else to whom the student relates.  This VoiceThread jumped out at me since I have an autistic student returning in August who does NOT like to have his hair cut.  This could be a valuable tool, indeed!  (I will have to be honest, the never-ending comments on this VoiceThread try my patience.)

Thing #18

I found YouTube to have more videos than TeacherTube relating to the topics I researched.  My topic was "Teaching Severely Disabled Children."  TEAMability 2009 was a video about a private program in San Antonio, Texas for students similar to some of mine.  I never feel like I'm doing enough for this population of students so it was encouraging to see.  My plan is to share this video with my paraprofessionals so that we can work together to better serve the more disabled students in our classroom.  Another video, How to Recognize the Early Signs of Autism, will be helpful to me regarding my  Child Find responsibilities as an educator.
The "how to" video that I located was How to make your own document camera or ELMO.  I didn't get a document camera and probably won't due to the current budget situation.  I was very excited to find this YouTube video that may make it possible for me to still enjoy this technology!
Last, I decided to embed a nostalgic YouTube video that my sister-in-law created two years ago after my daughter got married.  Her granddaughter (our great niece) was one of the flower girls so she took photos from VIM\\Studio Photography to make the following photo collage.  It puts me in a good mood every time I watch it.