Getting More Comfortable

This week was all about getting more comfortable using the technology available in the school building, experiencing a twitter chat, and trying out Story Bird, which was recommended by a colleague. The classroom teachers that I co-teach with are always in charge of the projector, smart board, apple TV, and iPad mini. Unfortunately, support staff in our building does not have any of these cool tools. That results in a feeling of appearing slightly less competent when we teach in the general education room. I will take some of the blame, since I know they are used to these things, I let them do it all. That is why a teacher's absence was a blessing in disguise. I discovered that I am perfectly capable of managing the technology, even in her absence. I still used my personal iPad, since I don't know where she keeps the mini and I'm comfy with mine. Anyway, I managed to show the class a video, using the Apple TV and projector, and model the graphic organizer using the document camera with no problem. I'm growing up!

I participated in a Twitter chat, #nebedchat on Wednesday night. At first, it seemed random. Then I realized that I had to click "all tweets" in order to follow the entire conversation. After that, I enjoyed it. It was fast paced and fun! The moderators (not sure what they are actually called) posed a question (Q1, etc...) The answers are labeled by the participants (A1, etc...) so that everyone knows what they are responding to. I would do this again!

Story Bird will require more tinkering. I added a student to my class, but he has had to work on his book in my account, since we can't get his log-in to work. Once we work out this glitch, I will add other writers. It is awesome, because the illustrations trigger their imaginations, much like a good writing prompt. My student who struggles to write a sentence, has written a paragraph for each picture! THAT is worth a little extra time to figure out.

More Technology on the Way!

We learned yesterday, that our district will be providing 3-5th graders with their own Chromebooks, midyear. Also coming soon is text to speech as an accommodation for students with disabilities. I have used free text to speech applications, but they do not sound very natural. Hopefully this will be an improvement.

It was another exciting week in special education!

Shadow Puppet Edu

Everyone has Something To Say.

The majority of my students with social and cognitive issues initially hate writing. They shut down at the mere mention of a sentence. My primary goal every year, is to motivate them. When they are motivated, wonderful things happen. Three of the best moments in my young teaching career have involved writing.

The first one was a student with a learning disability, living in an unstable home. His positive attitude about writing was rare and refreshing. 

He said, "I love writing, because it helps me get my feelings out."

Another moment involved a student with emotional disturbance, who had rarely been in the classroom due to behavior issues until 5th grade. Although an extensive amount of scaffolding was required, he ended up having such a powerful message to share. He wrote about his brave dad helping the US Army in Iraq. He described feeling safe for the first time, when his family landed in the States. His dad was dying from cancer at the time my student was writing his story. Writing was a way for him to sneak out from under his anger to express himself. 

The final moment was a student with Aspergers, who wrote a story about his 4th grade teacher. It began with his first impression of her being an old hag! By the end of his story, there was no doubt he loved her and she was the best teacher in the world! When he shared with the class, he was a one-man show; extremely entertaining and not a bit self conscious. 

Most of the time, my students are convinced they have nothing to say. Shadow Puppet was a great motivator for them, making it a perfect first writing project of the year. Shadow Puppet is easy for students to use. There is no visual clutter on the site; just simple steps to follow. They loved choosing the background music and recording themselves!

I have shared the students' puppets below. Unfortunately, one of them works in the app, but when I share it via a link or in email, it doesn't play the music. It's a small draw-back.

AC's Puppet

JK's Puppet

A Bit About Me

Getting My Feet Wet with Prezi

Getting my feet wet, is an appropriate phrase for how I've decided to begin integrating more technology into my teaching. Using a new medium for lesson presentation is engaging for the students, and less scary for me, than having students use a new application. Terrific Topic Sentences! is a Prezi I made for a lesson on Tuesday with a fourth grade class. The most interactive parts of the lesson do not take place in the Prezi, but you can get a basic idea of the flow and objectives of the lesson. 

This coming week, I will be introducing Shadow Puppet Edu to my 5th grade writers. I want them to take photographs of their drawings that they have written sentences about. Then read their sentences. I wouldn't be surprised if they wrote about the Salt Dogs baseball game that all of the 5th graders in our district attended last week. 

Below is a pic of some of my friends!

 Of course, we had to take a selfie!

Must add this little bit of information~~~ Since I had so much fun creating the Prezi on my iPad, I expressed to the 4th grade teacher that I co-teach with, that it would be great to project it directly from the iPad as well. THAT'S when she told me that the fourth grade teachers have Apple TVs and iPad mini's! Well, I'll be! I had no idea! So all I have to do now is 
1) Make sure my iPad is on the private network and 
2) Connect to the Apple TV in her classroom.

Sweetness!

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. 

~Neale Donald Walsch

                                                                                                           A bit about me...

                                                                                                                        Mrs. Michalski

Mrs. Michalski's Technology Goals '15-'16

To be honest, technology and I have a love-hate relationship. You know how it goes; I love it when it's effective and easy. I hate it when it's time-consuming and frustrating. 

My attempts at using technology with my students have been few and far between. Sure, we use laptops to access the reading curriculum, take tests and practice math facts and spelling words. Some of my students are able to create Google Docs and share their process pieces. I want to do more!

Years ago, after purchasing my iPad, I was eager to use Dragon with my students who have dysgraphia. My hope was that they could speak their answers or narratives, and copy the resulting text from the iPad to write down their thoughts. Working memory is taxed for students who must labor to accomplish the physical task of writing. Unfortunately, their speech was too poor to make use of Dragon. The iPad stayed at home after that.

Last summer I attended a workshop that was focused on using technology to help deaf or blind and deafblind students access information. The four days blew my mind! I had no idea that my iPad came with so many accessibility options built right in. It has the potential to be a much more powerful tool than I ever realized. 

As a result of that class, I now have a few favorite apps that I would like to use as a way to help my students with disabilities access information, show what they know, and if possible, make my lessons even more engaging!

My Goals on this New Adventure are:

• Be fearless and brave about trying new technology that will benefit my students.
• Ask for support when I need it, so that I can be confident in my application.
• Celebrate and share the successes, while learning from the flops.

A Little About Me