Learning and teaching with Technology! "B posting"

I have just completed a project called “nine squares.” This project was assigned to my classmates and me for my Introduction to Technology in Education class. For this project we had to convert a story of our own into nine parts. We next had to find nine photos to symbolize the sequence of events in our stories. Once we had our nine photos we made them into squares measuring 150 by 150 pixels. We arranged these photos, out of order, on a table in Microsoft Word. We then recorded the written part of the story into nine audio files. We placed an audio file as a hyperlink matching the picture it belongs to. The final outcome and purpose to this project is for a student to click each picture then listen to the recording and lastly determine the order of the pictures to follow the story.
This was a project I completed and can use when I become a teacher as a way to incorporate technology and engage a student’s interest in a story. My story was written for upper elementary aged children, but this project could easily be made for all different age groups. I learned how to resize an image and add audio files to images on Microsoft word. A challenge that I had in my project was resizing images. I had trouble with Microsoft Office picture manager figuring out how to make each photo 150 by 150 pixels. I learned in order to use that software I needed to first crop the photo so the pixels were equal to each other even if it was 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels, then I could click on resize and type in 150 pixels by 150 pixels. Now that I know how to do this I feel it is very easy and convenient, but previously I had a lot of trouble with it. I learned that I like the trial and error approach to learning. I kept trying different ways to make each photo the right measurements and final all the trials worked.

Giving all Students a Voice "A posting"

The article entitled “Finding a voice in the Classroom; Tips for Good Communication with AAC Users in School,” credited by DynaVox Technologies discusses how students with disabilities affecting their communication can become actively involved and increase their experience at school. The article states that about 400,000 students between 5 and 17 years of age cannot use speech to communicate, because of a disability such as cerebral palsy or autism. An AAC device which stands for Augmentative and Assistive Communications tool can help a student communicate in school. This is a speech-generating tool has many capabilities including it contains the students favorite things, such as candies. With this tool the student can explain their summer vacation and even show digital images. The student can cheer on classmates which increases confidence. The device often has speaker phones and can check in on homework assignments or share something that went on over the weekend. The student can record jokes or anchor a newscast and air it over the school’s system. The student can conduct an interview, order lunch, or sing happy birthday to a classmate. Lastly, this tool can help students to talk and listen, they can respond to more then just yes or no ended questions. They will be able to express their feelings.
I choose this article because I am interested in teaching students with disabilities. Last week I observed an autistic classroom and more then half the students were non-verbal students. A device like this would have been very helpful and encouraging if these students had one. I had heard about speech-generating devices but had never read articles on them and I found this article very interesting. I think an AAC device can help a student to get the most out of their education and experience at school. In the beginning of this semester I had asked the question “What are the most commonly used technologies that help students who are mentally handicapped for example autistic students?” Although this article does not discuss how commonly used this device is, it opens doors to explore the opportunities technology has for students with handicaps. This article also does give an example of a technology that autistic children can use.
If anyone who is reading this posting is interested in reading up on this article I summarized you can access it by this link:

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1094650291&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=8631&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Welcome to my 1st blog!

Hi everyone,
Welcome to my blog. This is my first blog and I'm interested to learn about bloggs. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my blog. I look forward to hearing from you all through out the semester. Thanks! -Cathy