The Screenr URL for our presentation on PBL is: http://screenr.com/iqa7.
During the course of the semester, I contributed my thoughts and feelings in the weekly forums. Our group, the Buddha's, tried our best to give input and complete our tasks.
I also contributed to doing the "voice overs" or audio recordings using ScreenR presentations on our PBL project. I did the audio recordings for Authentic Assessment and also for our final presentation on PBL, what it was about, our SLO's, scenarios, and rubric.
Kayelani, Johanna, and I contributed to each task, especially to the SLO element of the PBL project. Jason was our project manager and pulled off our interesting project on students interning at a stock brokerage firm and how they'd do PBL on playing stock market game, and keeping logs on their weekly data.
I tried my best during the semester to give my input as best as I could, and to learn about the Screenr audio recordings so that our final project could be deliverable.
It's been a hard but interesting semester. I learned a lot here in ED 279 with all the Web 2.0 tools, and it's been great to work with Jason, Kayelani, Johanna, and Michelle and Nathan.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Task_3-6 Reflection (Buddha's)
It is important to use teams in Problem Based Learning because it is important to learn and have all the group members share their opinion. Problem Based Learning works well with collaboration, communication, and cooperation. All members of the specific team has to pull their weight to achieve their goals.
Some problems that I notice with PBL and student teams are our specific topic: "The Silent Partner." Group members drop in and out of the forums, emails, and projects, and leaves other group members to pick up the pieces, and pull the extra weight. I have been guilty of this too, waiting until the last minute to look back on forum topics, and our PBL project and have posted things at the last minute or late.
Some of the other problems with PBL and student teams are, when one person has it all together, and is pretty much on task, the other student group members take advantage of that fact, and then post or communicate with the group just enough to get by.
Jason was pretty much on it because he emailed us, posted reminders in forums, and was the project manager, and did a 110% job on our PBL project. He held the group together and encouraged all of us, and even gave reminders of specific things that were due for each one of our group members. He even texted us, too, when he needed to.
Strategies to manage student conflict within student teams are to keep lines of communication open, and to never give up. Also, to be sensitive and to be understanding of other people's situations. People are fighting hard battles everyday. Also, not to judge people and to ask for clarification when not understanding a text, or forum response, or email response. Also, not to jump to conclusions, and to ask for a mediation with your professor/instructor as soon as possible if a situation between team members can't be resolved.
I know Johanna was asking where our Screenr presentation was located. Other than that, I give props to Jason, Kayelani, and Johanna for hanging in there.=)
Some problems that I notice with PBL and student teams are our specific topic: "The Silent Partner." Group members drop in and out of the forums, emails, and projects, and leaves other group members to pick up the pieces, and pull the extra weight. I have been guilty of this too, waiting until the last minute to look back on forum topics, and our PBL project and have posted things at the last minute or late.
Some of the other problems with PBL and student teams are, when one person has it all together, and is pretty much on task, the other student group members take advantage of that fact, and then post or communicate with the group just enough to get by.
Jason was pretty much on it because he emailed us, posted reminders in forums, and was the project manager, and did a 110% job on our PBL project. He held the group together and encouraged all of us, and even gave reminders of specific things that were due for each one of our group members. He even texted us, too, when he needed to.
Strategies to manage student conflict within student teams are to keep lines of communication open, and to never give up. Also, to be sensitive and to be understanding of other people's situations. People are fighting hard battles everyday. Also, not to judge people and to ask for clarification when not understanding a text, or forum response, or email response. Also, not to jump to conclusions, and to ask for a mediation with your professor/instructor as soon as possible if a situation between team members can't be resolved.
I know Johanna was asking where our Screenr presentation was located. Other than that, I give props to Jason, Kayelani, and Johanna for hanging in there.=)
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Task_3-5 (Buddha's)
Our Screenr presentation on Problem Based Learning and Business Academy, can be found at: http://screenr.com/iqa7.
I narrated the screenr presentation for our group. That was my contribution to our group. I know that Jason has been busting his butt to facilitate group discussion, to facilitate group input on SLO's and pretty much keep our group together. Kayelani, Johanna, and I helped out by contributing as much information as we could into weekly forums, to be cheerleaders and inspiration guides for our group.
College is a challenge as many of our group mates have been balancing, life, family, stress, grades, work, homework, and graduation from Leeward all during this spring semester.
Problem based learning is a good model of instruction to have. I think that it will go a long way with our students if we use this model at Honoka'a High and Intermediate. I have learned that with real life scenarios, and allowing students to think outside of the box and to apply what they have learned, they will have more insight and skills to apply in their future careers.
I think that it is great to have students start being able to develop those critical thinking skills, for they can't be taught by methods of reading in a textbook and trying to visualize what the teacher and author want them to learn.
Research has shown, that there are all types of learners. Problem based learning is beneficial because it appeals to all learners, and has students come up with different solutions to real problems. Research has also shown, that employers will be more apt to hiring students with skills such as being a team player, being prompt to work, and being a problem solver. What better to introduce students to the Problem based learning method early in the middle school and high school years to better prepare them to be college and career ready.
I narrated the screenr presentation for our group. That was my contribution to our group. I know that Jason has been busting his butt to facilitate group discussion, to facilitate group input on SLO's and pretty much keep our group together. Kayelani, Johanna, and I helped out by contributing as much information as we could into weekly forums, to be cheerleaders and inspiration guides for our group.
College is a challenge as many of our group mates have been balancing, life, family, stress, grades, work, homework, and graduation from Leeward all during this spring semester.
Problem based learning is a good model of instruction to have. I think that it will go a long way with our students if we use this model at Honoka'a High and Intermediate. I have learned that with real life scenarios, and allowing students to think outside of the box and to apply what they have learned, they will have more insight and skills to apply in their future careers.
I think that it is great to have students start being able to develop those critical thinking skills, for they can't be taught by methods of reading in a textbook and trying to visualize what the teacher and author want them to learn.
Research has shown, that there are all types of learners. Problem based learning is beneficial because it appeals to all learners, and has students come up with different solutions to real problems. Research has also shown, that employers will be more apt to hiring students with skills such as being a team player, being prompt to work, and being a problem solver. What better to introduce students to the Problem based learning method early in the middle school and high school years to better prepare them to be college and career ready.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Task_3-4 Reflection (Authentic Assessment)
I looked up a site on Authentic Assessment and found an article by Daniel Callison. The URL is: http://www.ala.org/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/editorschoiceb/infopower/selctcallison.
The article came under the heading of American Association of School Librarians. I just wanted to read more about Authentic Assessment to find out what it was about so I could contribute to my group. I emailed Jason to contribute my ideas about what I found and this week, for the Screenr presentation, I added my voice to the powerpoint presentation.
I know Jason was up early this morning about 1am because I was up at that time stressing about school, jobs, and life, and I went onto our Laulima site, and he was plugging away on our presentation.
The role I had this week was contributing ideas to our weekly forum, and contributing ideas about Authentic Assessment, and doing our "voice over" for our Authentic Assessment Power Point presentation.
I know that we are all juggling our jobs, life, schoolwork, stresses, and familiy life and I think our group is handling our overall group work okay. I basically try to stay on the positive side when my life goes topsy turvy. I try to contribute as best as I can and try to encourage as much as I can.
As far as our group, we have had our fair share of trials and tribulations, but in the end, we do what we need to do to best complete our assignments to the best of our ability. I think in life, as long as we plug away, ask questions, try to keep on the bright side as much as possible, it all works out in the end.
The article came under the heading of American Association of School Librarians. I just wanted to read more about Authentic Assessment to find out what it was about so I could contribute to my group. I emailed Jason to contribute my ideas about what I found and this week, for the Screenr presentation, I added my voice to the powerpoint presentation.
I know Jason was up early this morning about 1am because I was up at that time stressing about school, jobs, and life, and I went onto our Laulima site, and he was plugging away on our presentation.
The role I had this week was contributing ideas to our weekly forum, and contributing ideas about Authentic Assessment, and doing our "voice over" for our Authentic Assessment Power Point presentation.
I know that we are all juggling our jobs, life, schoolwork, stresses, and familiy life and I think our group is handling our overall group work okay. I basically try to stay on the positive side when my life goes topsy turvy. I try to contribute as best as I can and try to encourage as much as I can.
As far as our group, we have had our fair share of trials and tribulations, but in the end, we do what we need to do to best complete our assignments to the best of our ability. I think in life, as long as we plug away, ask questions, try to keep on the bright side as much as possible, it all works out in the end.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Task_3-3 Reflection Group: Buddha's
I know that this week I did not contribute to the group's progress in our project. I did not contribute any editing, or proofreading, nor did I preview the memo's or orientation letter. I feel that for me, I got busy with life, jobs, and taking care of mom. My Leeward coursework fell by the wayside and I'm ashamed of that and I feel really bad.
Jason has been diligently from start to finish been plugging away at our forums, our assignments and has been hard at work with working on and presenting each piece of our project on time. I know that Kayelani and Johanna and I contributed to parts of the project.
It seems that everyone is busy with life and obligations to family, school, jobs, and other current issues. Online schooling is very hard because it is easy to let it fall to the wayside and then start reading or doing assignments at the last minute. It is also easy to fall behind, and get distracted by other things as well.
I have forgotten that there are people counting on us in our group, and people are trying to get coursework done, pass, and meet graduation requirements. I feel very bad because by me not contributing, that means that I'm not pulling my weight, and not working to my full potential.
In the coming weeks, I hope to be more dedicated because the semester is almost over, and I hope to ignite a fire under my butt, and contribute more, and procrastinate and worry less.
Jason has been diligently from start to finish been plugging away at our forums, our assignments and has been hard at work with working on and presenting each piece of our project on time. I know that Kayelani and Johanna and I contributed to parts of the project.
It seems that everyone is busy with life and obligations to family, school, jobs, and other current issues. Online schooling is very hard because it is easy to let it fall to the wayside and then start reading or doing assignments at the last minute. It is also easy to fall behind, and get distracted by other things as well.
I have forgotten that there are people counting on us in our group, and people are trying to get coursework done, pass, and meet graduation requirements. I feel very bad because by me not contributing, that means that I'm not pulling my weight, and not working to my full potential.
In the coming weeks, I hope to be more dedicated because the semester is almost over, and I hope to ignite a fire under my butt, and contribute more, and procrastinate and worry less.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Task 3-2 Reflection
Jason is the project manager of our presentation. He has gone well above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that our presentation is well done and well on target.
Johanna and Kayelani supply a lot of the information for our project as well. They have supplied useful research and quality pictures to enhance our project tasks each week.
This week, we all had a chance to give our input on our SLO's for our project. Jason and Kayelani were the first to give their input, and I gave my input in on Saturday night.=)
What's great about Jason, Kayelani, and Johanna is, they are not afraid to step in and help out other group members when we need the help. That is what I think is the strong point in our group.
I was on spring break this week from my two jobs, but I have recently picked up a third job tutoring so I was busy with that among other things like visiting my mother at her nursing home, and making sure her doctor appointments and neurology appointments were all set up.
What can I do differently? To not procrastinate, to research the current event topic earlier in the week, and give my input on our forums and projects sooner and on time.
Also, not to lose faith in myself or in the DOE. I have had setbacks within the DOE this spring semester at my job, and it has really made think...do I want to become a teacher? But, I love the special education teacher I work with, despite another teacher being mean to me, and I love the students I get to work with. And that's why I stay on, for the students that make me smile and laugh, and make me realize that they are the reason why I want to become a special education teacher in the future.=)
Johanna and Kayelani supply a lot of the information for our project as well. They have supplied useful research and quality pictures to enhance our project tasks each week.
This week, we all had a chance to give our input on our SLO's for our project. Jason and Kayelani were the first to give their input, and I gave my input in on Saturday night.=)
What's great about Jason, Kayelani, and Johanna is, they are not afraid to step in and help out other group members when we need the help. That is what I think is the strong point in our group.
I was on spring break this week from my two jobs, but I have recently picked up a third job tutoring so I was busy with that among other things like visiting my mother at her nursing home, and making sure her doctor appointments and neurology appointments were all set up.
What can I do differently? To not procrastinate, to research the current event topic earlier in the week, and give my input on our forums and projects sooner and on time.
Also, not to lose faith in myself or in the DOE. I have had setbacks within the DOE this spring semester at my job, and it has really made think...do I want to become a teacher? But, I love the special education teacher I work with, despite another teacher being mean to me, and I love the students I get to work with. And that's why I stay on, for the students that make me smile and laugh, and make me realize that they are the reason why I want to become a special education teacher in the future.=)
Week #11, Group #4, Buddha's-Current_Event
Hi Everyone. This week our current event topic that our group chose was submitted by Jason Nagata. Jason found a blog written by Steven W. Anderson. Steven W Anderson posted it on November 9, 2011, and the title of the article is: Cool Projects with Skype. Url:http:www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx. You can also find the article/blog using the hash tags: skype, web20classroom, and under StevenWAnderson.
Steven W Anderson decided to check out the Skype In the Classroom website to check out projects, and to search out how teachers use Skype in their classrooms. His interest in the subject came across by a tweet that was tweeted by a teacher that was searching for teachers that would partner up and join a bookclub. Steven W Anderson was interested in how teachers collaborated in the USA and around the world using Skype and how they communicated with other classrooms by means of projects and by searching teachers out on the website.
I went on the Skype In the Classroom website: url: https://education.skype.com . The site has three videos on how teachers can create a Skype account, and how to create a Skype in Education account. Once teachers create those accounts they can search the directory for other teachers, they can also specify in their profiles what subjects they teach, where they are located in the world, and what subjects their classes are studying. They can also disclose information on what kind of educational background they have.
After teachers have created their profile, they can then search for partner teachers for projects, and or post projects that they are creating in thier classrooms. They can invite other teachers to Skype in on certain days and times and have their students hold discussions, interact with games, and also invite guest speakers and experts to participate on projects throughout the USA and around the world.
Some of the projects that Steven W Anderson's blog speaks of is a project that a teacher posted on Practice Graphing. This particular teacher was searching for classes to Skype in and play the game Battleship with this particular class. Instructor was willling to provide the template for the Battleship board to those teachers and classes that were interested. This project was to teach students graphing and interacting with other students as well.
Another project that caught my eye was on: What Does Your Sky Look Like? This teacher wanted "students from different parts of the world to show students how the Earth is positioned, thus causing different moon phases around the world."
This site is great because it introduces teachers and students to different cultural exchanges around the world and different ways of collaborating using technology all around the USA and around the world.
Thanks Jason for the article/blog.=)
Steven W Anderson decided to check out the Skype In the Classroom website to check out projects, and to search out how teachers use Skype in their classrooms. His interest in the subject came across by a tweet that was tweeted by a teacher that was searching for teachers that would partner up and join a bookclub. Steven W Anderson was interested in how teachers collaborated in the USA and around the world using Skype and how they communicated with other classrooms by means of projects and by searching teachers out on the website.
I went on the Skype In the Classroom website: url: https://education.skype.com . The site has three videos on how teachers can create a Skype account, and how to create a Skype in Education account. Once teachers create those accounts they can search the directory for other teachers, they can also specify in their profiles what subjects they teach, where they are located in the world, and what subjects their classes are studying. They can also disclose information on what kind of educational background they have.
After teachers have created their profile, they can then search for partner teachers for projects, and or post projects that they are creating in thier classrooms. They can invite other teachers to Skype in on certain days and times and have their students hold discussions, interact with games, and also invite guest speakers and experts to participate on projects throughout the USA and around the world.
Some of the projects that Steven W Anderson's blog speaks of is a project that a teacher posted on Practice Graphing. This particular teacher was searching for classes to Skype in and play the game Battleship with this particular class. Instructor was willling to provide the template for the Battleship board to those teachers and classes that were interested. This project was to teach students graphing and interacting with other students as well.
Another project that caught my eye was on: What Does Your Sky Look Like? This teacher wanted "students from different parts of the world to show students how the Earth is positioned, thus causing different moon phases around the world."
This site is great because it introduces teachers and students to different cultural exchanges around the world and different ways of collaborating using technology all around the USA and around the world.
Thanks Jason for the article/blog.=)
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Task_3-1 Reflection
Jason, Kayelani, and Johanna did a really great job of creating a newsletter/flyer this week explaining Problem Based Learning. Jason created the Google docs flyer, Johanna and Kayelani contributed a lot of the body of the letter, and all three of them contributed creative art and graphics to appeal to the reader.
I did not contribute to this week's Task 3 Milestone. Sad to say, I should have asked for help earlier with the Task to get a better understanding of it. I believe I was overwhelmed by the content and goals of what we had to do as a group.
Jason, Kayelani, and Johanna did a great job of stepping right in and getting the job done. Their perserverance and attention to detail paid off in getting our groups flyer done. They have upheld the Buddha group this past week.
I will ask my teammates for more information on what are task is this week, and try to take my time in reading carefully what is expected of us as a group this week for our task and for our current event. I will also try and search online and focus on getting my online current event done on time and posted since I am facilitator this week for our group.
Also, I will try my best to contribute to our task as much as possible this week and in the week's to come.
I did not contribute to this week's Task 3 Milestone. Sad to say, I should have asked for help earlier with the Task to get a better understanding of it. I believe I was overwhelmed by the content and goals of what we had to do as a group.
Jason, Kayelani, and Johanna did a great job of stepping right in and getting the job done. Their perserverance and attention to detail paid off in getting our groups flyer done. They have upheld the Buddha group this past week.
I will ask my teammates for more information on what are task is this week, and try to take my time in reading carefully what is expected of us as a group this week for our task and for our current event. I will also try and search online and focus on getting my online current event done on time and posted since I am facilitator this week for our group.
Also, I will try my best to contribute to our task as much as possible this week and in the week's to come.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Web 2.0 tool: Argument Mapper/Creator
I chose Argument Mapper for my web 2.0 tool. I would definitely use this tool because we have the Common Core Standards coming up in 2014. As faculty and staff of Honoka'a High and Intermediate here on the Big Island, we are being introduced to how arguments will be developed and how to teach our students to think critically.
All across the boards, from English, Math, Science, AVID, Social Studies, students will be introduced more to writing intensive courses and how to debate and defend their arguments. At my second job, during our tutoring hour, students at our middle school are learning how to formulate arguments by first creating "maps" or different charts and ways that they come up with ideas.
I know that this web 2.0 tool called Argument Mapper, will help with formulating their ideas, and helping students develop critical thinking skills. We are blessed to have mobile carts at the middle school that house at least 20 laptop computers, so with me introducing this program to our afterschool students will be more than helpful during tutoring time. Argument Mapper is great because it has prompts and students can formulate thier writing, publish to the web, and invite thier fellow classmates to view thier argument map, and debate with them.
Before enrolling in ED 279, I just used Gmail because I didn't know how to use any other tools. I am glad that I enrolled in this class because it will help me and my students to navigate through different web tools to learn new content. Tools such as Argument Mapper, Diigo, Twitter, are ways that we can share information, save it, publish it onto the web, and connect with not only colleagues and classmates from our school, but connect with people from everywhere.
I think it is really neat how all of these web 2.0 tools work. I am glad that I am being introduced to them now, and am gaining a little bit of confidence in learning how to navigate and use them to my advantage. I have yet to try the Prezi tool, Storybird, and Planboard tools, to get me organized and set up to plan lessons for my Sunday school class. I know that a lot of the web 2.0 tools can aid my colleagues and I and the teachers I work with, granted that they are willing to let me engage them and the students and are willing to give me a shot in teaching them some of the technology that I have tried and learned about.
You can view my presentation on Argument Mapper/Creator at: http://screenr.com/4Yt7
All across the boards, from English, Math, Science, AVID, Social Studies, students will be introduced more to writing intensive courses and how to debate and defend their arguments. At my second job, during our tutoring hour, students at our middle school are learning how to formulate arguments by first creating "maps" or different charts and ways that they come up with ideas.
I know that this web 2.0 tool called Argument Mapper, will help with formulating their ideas, and helping students develop critical thinking skills. We are blessed to have mobile carts at the middle school that house at least 20 laptop computers, so with me introducing this program to our afterschool students will be more than helpful during tutoring time. Argument Mapper is great because it has prompts and students can formulate thier writing, publish to the web, and invite thier fellow classmates to view thier argument map, and debate with them.
Before enrolling in ED 279, I just used Gmail because I didn't know how to use any other tools. I am glad that I enrolled in this class because it will help me and my students to navigate through different web tools to learn new content. Tools such as Argument Mapper, Diigo, Twitter, are ways that we can share information, save it, publish it onto the web, and connect with not only colleagues and classmates from our school, but connect with people from everywhere.
I think it is really neat how all of these web 2.0 tools work. I am glad that I am being introduced to them now, and am gaining a little bit of confidence in learning how to navigate and use them to my advantage. I have yet to try the Prezi tool, Storybird, and Planboard tools, to get me organized and set up to plan lessons for my Sunday school class. I know that a lot of the web 2.0 tools can aid my colleagues and I and the teachers I work with, granted that they are willing to let me engage them and the students and are willing to give me a shot in teaching them some of the technology that I have tried and learned about.
You can view my presentation on Argument Mapper/Creator at: http://screenr.com/4Yt7
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Task 1 Reflection: Diigo and Twitter
I posted two screenr presentations. One is on my Diigo account which can be found at: http://screenr.com/p8c7. The other presentation I did was on Twitter, and that can be found at: http://screenr.com/w7c7.
My screenname for screenr is: MelanieJ.
I did not use any of the software tools that we have learned about before ED 279. I only use Google mail for my personal email and that's about it. I was curious before to learn more about Google and it's many features, but had no time to figure it out either because of work and or taking care of my mother.
I hope to teach our Educational Assistant Learning Community at school about Diigo, Twitter, Google Reader, and the other tools we learned about. It will be helpful because a lot of our Educational Assistants now are in regular ed. classrooms and since Common Core is coming in 2014, it will help both regular ed. students as well as the special education students to learn how to navigate the web with these tools. Especially since now, students are required to do a lot more research, reading, and writing, because now they have to state arguments and defend them in each of their courses that they will be taking. Bookmarking, and filtering information from the web can and will be very useful tools in this area.
I think that the tools that we learned about will be very useful for a new teacher. It can aid in having students be kept aware of the changing world around them, and can also aid in a better process of delivering instruction. These specific tools has a wealth of knowledge that is shared, and new teachers can collaborate with colleagues from around the state, nationally, and globally.
My screenname for screenr is: MelanieJ.
I did not use any of the software tools that we have learned about before ED 279. I only use Google mail for my personal email and that's about it. I was curious before to learn more about Google and it's many features, but had no time to figure it out either because of work and or taking care of my mother.
I hope to teach our Educational Assistant Learning Community at school about Diigo, Twitter, Google Reader, and the other tools we learned about. It will be helpful because a lot of our Educational Assistants now are in regular ed. classrooms and since Common Core is coming in 2014, it will help both regular ed. students as well as the special education students to learn how to navigate the web with these tools. Especially since now, students are required to do a lot more research, reading, and writing, because now they have to state arguments and defend them in each of their courses that they will be taking. Bookmarking, and filtering information from the web can and will be very useful tools in this area.
I think that the tools that we learned about will be very useful for a new teacher. It can aid in having students be kept aware of the changing world around them, and can also aid in a better process of delivering instruction. These specific tools has a wealth of knowledge that is shared, and new teachers can collaborate with colleagues from around the state, nationally, and globally.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Week 5 Group 4 Current Event
Hello Everyone.=) Our group is called the Buddha's and in this week's current event for our Leeward 279 class, our topic was on identifying an Apple Ipad app and activity for students with special needs.
This week's topic that we chose was submitted by our group member Michelle Mukaida. She had found a Apple Ipad app called Dexteria on youtube. It is a 8:02 video about how Dexteria can be used to develop and assess fine motor skills in children with special needs and also can be used in adults. The video presentation was presented by Gary James under the title: Apps for Children with Special needs. The video can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqvtvBn3hzU.
To quote Michelle: "Dexteria is a set of therapeutic hand exercises that improve fine motor skills and handwriting readiness in children and adults. Dexteria's unique hand and finger exercises take full advantagge of the multitouch interface to help build strength, control and dexterity. For best therapeutic results, the exercises should be done on a regular basis in short exercises."
Dexteria was designed by Occupational Therapists to help students and or adults to develop their fine motor skills.
Dexteria is an interactive app and starts off with the program prompting the person to put their hand on the screen so that it can "calibrate it" to it's specific level. In this specific app, there are three different programs that you can choose to do. Or the person can do all three programs.
The first app that was introduced was called Tap It. There is a voice that starts off prompting the person to put thier hand on the screen to calibrate and set the program to that person's specific hand level. Next, there are dots that appear on the screen and the voice prompter tells the person to keep their thumb on a dot with a specific anchor symbol. The voice prompts the person to keep their thumb positioned on the anchor and not to remove it during the exercise. Then, the other four fingers are tested to see how any dots the person's fingers can touch in a specific timed exercise. There are ten levels to this Tap It program and it gets harder with each level. The challenging part is with each level, the number of dots increase as well as the speed of the dots that appear on the screen. It prompts the person doing the exercise to think fast and to manipulate their fingers to touch as many dots as they can.
The next program in Dexteria, is called Pinch It. There are five levels to pinch it and the levels increase and becomes challenging as the program progresses. Again, it is interactive, and the person has to pinch as many crabs on the screen as possible in a timed exercise. As the levels progress, the number of crabs multiply and increase and the person has to pinch as many crabs as they can.
The third program in Dexteria, is called Write It. This specific program teaches students/ adults how to write. It is also interactive, and at the top of the screen there is the alphabet that person can choose the specific letter to learn how to write. The letter appears on the screen, with dots on them, and the trick is, the person has to remember to keep their finger directly on the dots and letter to practice writing the letter.
At the end of the programs, there is a Dexteria activity log which keeps a detailed log of the specific date, time, and number of exercises in each program that the person practiced in that day. It also keeps a log of how fast each activity the person attempted to do. These logs are great because you can email them to the parents and also to other support staff as well.
And that is our current event for this week: Dexteria: very cool Apple Ipad app.
Thanks Michelle.=)
This week's topic that we chose was submitted by our group member Michelle Mukaida. She had found a Apple Ipad app called Dexteria on youtube. It is a 8:02 video about how Dexteria can be used to develop and assess fine motor skills in children with special needs and also can be used in adults. The video presentation was presented by Gary James under the title: Apps for Children with Special needs. The video can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqvtvBn3hzU.
To quote Michelle: "Dexteria is a set of therapeutic hand exercises that improve fine motor skills and handwriting readiness in children and adults. Dexteria's unique hand and finger exercises take full advantagge of the multitouch interface to help build strength, control and dexterity. For best therapeutic results, the exercises should be done on a regular basis in short exercises."
Dexteria was designed by Occupational Therapists to help students and or adults to develop their fine motor skills.
Dexteria is an interactive app and starts off with the program prompting the person to put their hand on the screen so that it can "calibrate it" to it's specific level. In this specific app, there are three different programs that you can choose to do. Or the person can do all three programs.
The first app that was introduced was called Tap It. There is a voice that starts off prompting the person to put thier hand on the screen to calibrate and set the program to that person's specific hand level. Next, there are dots that appear on the screen and the voice prompter tells the person to keep their thumb on a dot with a specific anchor symbol. The voice prompts the person to keep their thumb positioned on the anchor and not to remove it during the exercise. Then, the other four fingers are tested to see how any dots the person's fingers can touch in a specific timed exercise. There are ten levels to this Tap It program and it gets harder with each level. The challenging part is with each level, the number of dots increase as well as the speed of the dots that appear on the screen. It prompts the person doing the exercise to think fast and to manipulate their fingers to touch as many dots as they can.
The next program in Dexteria, is called Pinch It. There are five levels to pinch it and the levels increase and becomes challenging as the program progresses. Again, it is interactive, and the person has to pinch as many crabs on the screen as possible in a timed exercise. As the levels progress, the number of crabs multiply and increase and the person has to pinch as many crabs as they can.
The third program in Dexteria, is called Write It. This specific program teaches students/ adults how to write. It is also interactive, and at the top of the screen there is the alphabet that person can choose the specific letter to learn how to write. The letter appears on the screen, with dots on them, and the trick is, the person has to remember to keep their finger directly on the dots and letter to practice writing the letter.
At the end of the programs, there is a Dexteria activity log which keeps a detailed log of the specific date, time, and number of exercises in each program that the person practiced in that day. It also keeps a log of how fast each activity the person attempted to do. These logs are great because you can email them to the parents and also to other support staff as well.
And that is our current event for this week: Dexteria: very cool Apple Ipad app.
Thanks Michelle.=)
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Tech Integration Video on Youtube
Sorry, here's the link to the Video: Integrating Technology into Classrooms(YouTube):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cxyH1qgKZQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cxyH1qgKZQ
Self Introduction
Hi Everyone. My name is Melanie Mamhot and I am currently attending Leeward Commnity College online. I am currently juggling two jobs as an Educational Assistant in Special Education at Honoka'a High and Intermediate on the Big Island of Hawai'i. My second job is right after school at the middle school campus as a tutor for our Uplink Program.
I choose to attend Leeward because of its ease with the online Teaching program. I recently put my mom in a nursing home due to her illness advancing and before February of 2012, I was juggling work, school, and caregiving, as well as other extracurricular activities outside of school. I am also a strong advocate for finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease. This past year has certainly had its share of trials and tribulations for our family. It forced me to look inside of myself and to really start to assert myself and to come out of my shell.
The technology I like right now is learning my Iphone. I am so not tech savvy and our students as well as some of my family laugh at me as I am learning. My old Pantech AT&T phone broke a few weeks ago, and I upgraded to a Iphone. Just the basic, I told the salesperson, as he even laughed at me.=) I figure, as long as the phone can dial out and receive calls and texts, then I'm fine with it. I'm not too keen on doing the Apps and learning all that, but I think with our ED 279 class, and with all the technology going on in schools, I figure I can't close myself off of learning new ways to communicate. Especially if Teaching is what I really want to do. I like the Iphone because when you take photos, and video, it is so clear and precise. I also love the ease of receiving texts and how fast its transmitted back and forth.
In a group, I am shy to express my opinion, but I am learning how to be more assertive and to speak my mind. With what I have been through these past months of 2012, I have learned to step up and speak out. I am also a keen observer, a strong reader, and I like to think of things and let it process before it sinks it. I also like to plan, and write things down and out several times in advance before executing the assignment.
Here at Honoka'a High and Intermediate, I have worked with teachers who use Khan academy to engage their students: http://www.khanacademy.org. Also, I found a link about integrating technology on an Edutopia website: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-guide-implementation.
Back when I worked in the middle school section, I worked with a science teacher that had her students work in groups and on a field trip, they tested the pH of the Kalahuipua'a Fish Ponds at Mauna Lani Bay. The testers were inserted into the water, and information transmitted into the computers and laptops that the students brought with them. Also after the field trip, the students used Mac computers to create brochures of the pH results and also of the plants that were found on that particular field trip.
Our students are very lucky. They can create presentations with I-movie maker, create powerpoints, and brochures using computers. In our Special Education program, our District office has grants that purchase Specialized Smartboards where our students can interact with the teacher using text messaging, and other programs that allow teacher student interaction. Pretty highly successful considering that all students learn at different rates and at different methods. Technology has given us those options of teaching our students that there are different ways in which ideas and learning can take place.
I choose to attend Leeward because of its ease with the online Teaching program. I recently put my mom in a nursing home due to her illness advancing and before February of 2012, I was juggling work, school, and caregiving, as well as other extracurricular activities outside of school. I am also a strong advocate for finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease. This past year has certainly had its share of trials and tribulations for our family. It forced me to look inside of myself and to really start to assert myself and to come out of my shell.
The technology I like right now is learning my Iphone. I am so not tech savvy and our students as well as some of my family laugh at me as I am learning. My old Pantech AT&T phone broke a few weeks ago, and I upgraded to a Iphone. Just the basic, I told the salesperson, as he even laughed at me.=) I figure, as long as the phone can dial out and receive calls and texts, then I'm fine with it. I'm not too keen on doing the Apps and learning all that, but I think with our ED 279 class, and with all the technology going on in schools, I figure I can't close myself off of learning new ways to communicate. Especially if Teaching is what I really want to do. I like the Iphone because when you take photos, and video, it is so clear and precise. I also love the ease of receiving texts and how fast its transmitted back and forth.
In a group, I am shy to express my opinion, but I am learning how to be more assertive and to speak my mind. With what I have been through these past months of 2012, I have learned to step up and speak out. I am also a keen observer, a strong reader, and I like to think of things and let it process before it sinks it. I also like to plan, and write things down and out several times in advance before executing the assignment.
Here at Honoka'a High and Intermediate, I have worked with teachers who use Khan academy to engage their students: http://www.khanacademy.org. Also, I found a link about integrating technology on an Edutopia website: http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-guide-implementation.
Back when I worked in the middle school section, I worked with a science teacher that had her students work in groups and on a field trip, they tested the pH of the Kalahuipua'a Fish Ponds at Mauna Lani Bay. The testers were inserted into the water, and information transmitted into the computers and laptops that the students brought with them. Also after the field trip, the students used Mac computers to create brochures of the pH results and also of the plants that were found on that particular field trip.
Our students are very lucky. They can create presentations with I-movie maker, create powerpoints, and brochures using computers. In our Special Education program, our District office has grants that purchase Specialized Smartboards where our students can interact with the teacher using text messaging, and other programs that allow teacher student interaction. Pretty highly successful considering that all students learn at different rates and at different methods. Technology has given us those options of teaching our students that there are different ways in which ideas and learning can take place.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)