1) My first idea is for a first grade classroom. I would do a unit on weather. For this unit the students would each “research” a part of weather of their choice (rain, snow etc.) They would have to find out where their topic comes from or how it is formed, and then they would have to make a poster on it. They would also have to make an IMovie as a class of each of their topics combined.
2) My second idea is for a third grade classroom. The unit would be on the body. They would each research a part of the body and they would have to create a Kidspiration web relating and exhibiting the research they have done on their topic. The web would contain things like function and abilities.
3) My third idea would be for a unit on rocks in a second grade classroom. For this unit, I would have the students outside studying the rocks around the school. They would find a rock that they want to identify and study. The final project would be making a cartoon on Toondoo about the rock that they chose to study.
4) My fourth idea is for a 7th grade classroom. This unit would be on the environment. They would have to come up with the major environmental problems surrounding their area. Their projects would revolve around solutions to these problems. They would have to e-mail biologists and ecologists to find out possible effects of the problems.
5) My last idea is for a fourth grade classroom on energy. The students, in small groups, would research forms of energy. Their jobs would be to 1) make a presentation that shows that form of energy being used and 2) Make individual comics on ComicLife about the form of energy they chose. This is the idea that I will most likely go with.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Blog C
One of the things that I want to instill in my students is that everyone should be accepted. I hope that I will be able to make students comfortable with each other’s disabilities by introducing everyone in the classroom to different types of assistive technology. I hope that I will make my students feel at ease with different tools by introducing their purposes.
The first thing that we were asked to address was the question of: What is Universal Design? After looking at the website, I realized that it is the principle that not all students learn the same way. Because of learning disabilities, physical disabilities, or simply just the way a person’s brain works, all students take in and give out information differently. Because of this, teachers need to provide different tools and ways for students to take in the information they are given. Also, it is really important for teachers to find out what students know and have learned in a variety of ways. The method of one way and one teaching style is quickly becoming extinct as the diversity of students becomes more and more unrevealed.
Next, we were asked to find out what Section 508 was. I found that the Rehabilitation Act was amended in 1998 to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. (Source) The main point of this act was to make learning and information much more accessible to people with disabilities. Thinking about this act, I imagine that being the parent of a student with disabilities would have been much harder pre-1998.
One of the things that I looked at in the Kalikow center was the Start to Finish books. I thought that this was a great tool for helping students who were maybe struggling with reading. This tool does not seclude students from subjects the rest of the class is learning about just because the text might be too hard. Even though this tool is probably mainly for struggling readers, it can also be used for students with visual impairments and those who feel like listening and not reading. Another tool that I thought could be very helpful was the Boardmaker. This could be utilized in many ways. It could be for me as a teacher, helping students to learn routines. It could be for students so they could make a overview of a story after they read a book. I thought that this was a fairly reasonable tool to keep in my future classroom. A third tool that I looked at was the Lomac tool. This was kind of a dream world tool, because it is probably very expensive. However, it is an absolutely amazing tool for students that would not be able to write with their hands. I also realized that it could be used for just about any student if they did not want to write for that period. A fourth tool that I found online was the page turner (See Here). This enables a student to just push a button to turn the page in the book he/she is reading. This tool could be used for any student that gets hung up on concepts when they have to turn a page. It enables the student to not break their concentration.
Overall, the visit to the Kalikow center was very informative. I don’t think that I had a good idea of all of the different types of technology that were assessable to teachers and even us, as UMF students.
The first thing that we were asked to address was the question of: What is Universal Design? After looking at the website, I realized that it is the principle that not all students learn the same way. Because of learning disabilities, physical disabilities, or simply just the way a person’s brain works, all students take in and give out information differently. Because of this, teachers need to provide different tools and ways for students to take in the information they are given. Also, it is really important for teachers to find out what students know and have learned in a variety of ways. The method of one way and one teaching style is quickly becoming extinct as the diversity of students becomes more and more unrevealed.
Next, we were asked to find out what Section 508 was. I found that the Rehabilitation Act was amended in 1998 to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. (Source) The main point of this act was to make learning and information much more accessible to people with disabilities. Thinking about this act, I imagine that being the parent of a student with disabilities would have been much harder pre-1998.
One of the things that I looked at in the Kalikow center was the Start to Finish books. I thought that this was a great tool for helping students who were maybe struggling with reading. This tool does not seclude students from subjects the rest of the class is learning about just because the text might be too hard. Even though this tool is probably mainly for struggling readers, it can also be used for students with visual impairments and those who feel like listening and not reading. Another tool that I thought could be very helpful was the Boardmaker. This could be utilized in many ways. It could be for me as a teacher, helping students to learn routines. It could be for students so they could make a overview of a story after they read a book. I thought that this was a fairly reasonable tool to keep in my future classroom. A third tool that I looked at was the Lomac tool. This was kind of a dream world tool, because it is probably very expensive. However, it is an absolutely amazing tool for students that would not be able to write with their hands. I also realized that it could be used for just about any student if they did not want to write for that period. A fourth tool that I found online was the page turner (See Here). This enables a student to just push a button to turn the page in the book he/she is reading. This tool could be used for any student that gets hung up on concepts when they have to turn a page. It enables the student to not break their concentration.
Overall, the visit to the Kalikow center was very informative. I don’t think that I had a good idea of all of the different types of technology that were assessable to teachers and even us, as UMF students.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)