Autistic and Attentive

"Whiteboards Engage Autistic Students"

by Kathleen McClaskey and Randy Welch

So how do you engage students with disabilities? What about autistic students? Autistic students have little interaction with other students and lack social interests. Getting their attention is a challenge. Spaulding Youth Center in New Hampshire has created the project to engage these students in a classroom. This project is known Autism, Communication, and Technology (ACT) where autistic students were served with interactive whiteboards. The whiteboards allowed these students to express themselves visually. Instead of writing out answers, they were able to draw out pictures with Kid Pix. Participation and interaction increased with the use of the whiteboard because students would take turns and make it a daily routine in the classroom. These whiteboards was known as "training the students' attention". The whiteboards can be used with the whole classroom to ease in the autistic students to interact with the other students.

I really enjoyed reading the article. As teachers, we should know the will have to encounter differentiation in a classroom. We have to be aware of instructional strategies to make the classroom inclusive. I want to have whiteboards in my classroom because I believe it reaches the needs of students in order to learn.

Students Without Borders

"Students Without Borders"

by Mali Bickley and Jim Carleton

In this article, the authors display the idea to not only have a resource for students to communicate with other students around the world, but to have a global collaborative learning experience. The International Education organization created various activities to help students learn different perspectives among the students and to resolve problems that both groups encountered. One new perspective that was processed was the "Machinto Project". This literature, based on the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima, Japan, teaches children how war affects others their own age. The students then had to create a picture book on the Machinto website for children who are war-affected as a sign for friendship. Hence the name "classroom without borders", this project allowed virtual chat with others.

I also found in this article that students used "wiki" to work in collaboration to create a mural. This way student ideas from different countries could be incorporated into the mural in a quick and effective way. I found this as a neat idea because one idea leads to another idea. Even connecting different cultures will create more points of views on things which will give the opportunity for the students to learn about each others' backgrounds.

Experience the Journey

"Traveling the Novel"

by Melissa Wert and Scottie Gurgus

When reading a novel, you have that limit of using your imagination. From reading the text straight to what you interpret what you are reading. In this article, it presents students who read a novel, "The Kite Runner", about a man's journey to Afghanistan to Pakistan and then to California. The students used a great deal of Google Earth to envision the political and personal conflicts in the story. Some links on this site had informational videos of certain sites, famous landmarks, and cities. It also provided students to look up actual places that the man visits bringing the journey to life. Google Earth does provide a navigation tool so that students can refer to if they have any questions.

I found this idea of using Google Earth because most novels do provide a location in a the story. Google Earth would be very beneficial in a science lesson or history lesson. I would definitely use this in my classroom instead of always using textbooks. It is a good practice to locate specific areas and also be that extra resource for student learning.

Connecting Cultures

"Spicing Up Spanish Class"

by Cawood Cornelius and Terri Vest

There is always that Spanish class that you will take, but by the end of the semester you just don't get it still. From personal experience I have learned that you will learn a language the most when you practice, practice, practice. In this article, students went digital in their Spanish class. Instead of just reading out of the book, listening to lecture, and doing a report with graphics, these students took a step up. The students had set up protected emails with other students from Spain, and were allowed to ask questions about their culture and country. Students had also accessed to data bases to get the information they needed. As soon as they had enough information, the students had time to go to the lab to put together a Powerpoint presentation which included photos, information in the language, and any other resource they wanted to use. Students then had to present what they collected and soon had their presentations put onto DVDs. Students recalled this project being a beneficial learning experience. They had practiced using Spanish greatly during the whole time and stated that they will use the skills they've learned for other classes.

I really liked the idea of putting the students' presentations onto DVDs. It's a good way to show other students presentations, so other students can create more ideas off of other students' work. I also like that the students were able to create protected emails to interact with other students in a different country. I'm sure if I had a chance to do a project like this, I believe I'd want to continue to learn Spanish and obtain a lot of practice from this idea.

Lets Talk Digital

In the article, "Telling Stories With Video" by Carl Young and Sara Kajder, there are many ways they explain on how you can incorporate digital video in the area of language arts. Most of the time when students walk into a classroom, they will open their books and be stuck in just reading text. In about an hour of just looking at text, the students will no longer be focused and engaged into the reading.

Digital video comes in and plays the part of bringing in motion, design, and interactivity for the students. The students may also want to compose digital books, music videos, or short skits of the books they read. Not only will they just read a book and do just a summary, but they can also express what they thought about the book in real life. The one thing I found interesting is that students would make their own book trailer with digital video. They would use this source to persuade other students in reading their own book.

The use of digital video will also allow students to open discussions and the opportunity to analyze each others' ideas. It is also a great way to give and receive feedback. I would use this strategy in my classroom because it makes the subject more exciting and fun for the students. The only problem I would see if having the materials and resources such as a digital camera or the computers for the students to do the editing tools.

Word Play

When it comes to looking at a page of a story, article, or anything that looks too much to read, sometimes students just won't be interested in even reading it. However in the article, "Words in a Cloud", written by Samantha Morra an idea is displayed to have a little fun with words.

In her article, she describes how she now uses a free-based Web tool called "Wordle" in the school environment. Wordle is a program that transforms any text into an image. In this case it is called a "word cloud. It will enhance colors and emphasize words in the text that are repetitively used. You are also able to edit it yourself and structure it however you like it. This worked well with students when it came to being creative in making images for projects. They were allowed to demonstrate theme and character for their "word clouds". It had also opened up discussions on the way some students would emphasize or categorize different words with each other. Many interpretations opened up and students had to use critical thinking skills to figure out what they got out of looking at each "word cloud". Students and even teachers became familiar with this program making it more appealing when it came to learning.

I really enjoyed this idea of incorporating imaging into texts. I would like to use this in my classroom because it will also allow students to express themselves and work up their imagination. It is also a good resource in practicing with the Web and the use on the computers. One thing I am a little worried about is that students would eventually used this program as an easy way out to do all their projects since the program does the majority of things for you.

A Digital Adventure

"The Adventures of the 109'ers" by Diane Randolph

As of today, I think as generations are coming along they lack the desire to pick up the newspaper and read what is going on on the outside world or anything global. How can we make it a more exciting experience for younger children to be interested learning about another part of the world?

In this article, a group of fifth graders known as the "109'ers" had the opportunity to take multiple cyberadventures with a documentary photojournalists, Doug Clevenger. After a month of studying the Artic and keeping in touch with Doug and his assignments, the students were able to create a classroom blog they posted two times a week. They used a program called "ULead", excel, the Internet, and other software to keep track of all the information they were receiving. They were able to make presentations and get information to record as they continued with this research of the Artic. One neat thing I liked was that the students got to meet other students from the village of Tuktoyaktuk.

I believe that this was a great way to expose students to the global community. It does open a different modes of learning and the use of technology. I would definitely use something like this in my classroom. A "grade-level" blog seems appropriate to have at a school. Students will be more engaged at an experience like this. Being able to chat and asking questions to people from a different part of the world is a great way to collect data, create graphs or presentations on what they have learned. Nothing is ever repetitive, because there is so much more to find out about somewhere else other than your surroundings.