Fun with Kidspiration

The use of graphic organizers in the classroom is a wonderful way to both focus and organize students’ learning. Inspiration, Webspiration, and Kidspiration are three programs that are designed to create concept maps for students of all ages as well as adults. Kidspiration primarily focuses on work with younger students; therefore, I have chosen to work with/take a closer look at this program as my students are in the first grade and this program would be the most beneficial to them of the three.
There are tons of Kidspiration examples available for download on the internet. I came across and ELA lesson I really love and it is available directly from the Kidspiration website. The lesson is called, “Opening Hooks” and the site says it is geared for Grades K-5 (it would definitely need to be modified from its original content to be used across all of these grade levels.) The lesson can be found at http://www.inspiration.com/LessonPlan/OpeningHooks. The site organized ideas for lessons into content area categories. As a Literacy Specialist student, I was curious to look mostly at lessons designed to work with students for ELA lessons. In my classroom, we have Reading and Writing Workshop daily, and I wanted to see if these model lessons would give me any ideas of how to incorporate this kind of technology into the workshop model. “Opening Hooks” immediately caught my attention because this is actually one of the 3rd grade teaching points. When the students are in the process of revising the drafts, one of the teaching points is, “Writers revise their drafts to make their stories sound better. One way writers can do this is by re-writing the first sentence to their story and choosing the best one.” Students are not always so excited to have to re-write the first sentence of their draft again, especially if they already like the one that they have! Therefore, I thought this lesson plan and the use of Kidspiration would really make this mini-lesson in Writing Workshop a lot more fun and valuable for my students. Here are two images of what the sample looks like:




I downloaded the 30-day free trial of Kidspiration and had some fun playing around with all of the tools! The first idea I wanted to try out using this program was something to support the Fantasy and Reality PowerPoint I created. I thought this would be useful for students who needed a bit more support and practice with identifying the difference between fantasy and reality. I really liked the idea of doing this on the computer to carry along with the PowerPoint. I could have easily created a worksheet where students cut out pictures and glue them in the appropriate places or even draw lines, but I thought this would be more fun and engaging. I didn’t want the students who need extra support with this concept to feel upset or annoyed that they had to do more work on the same topic and I thought working on Kidspiration would be the perfect way to avoid this from happening. As a result, I created the following activity for my students:



I also wanted to try out the web making feature on the program. My purpose in taking the technology class was to give me tools that I could use as a literacy specialist to adapt reading and writing for my students with special needs. Therefore, I immediately thought about ways that Kidspiration would be useful in Reading and Writing Workshop. One thing that I have noticed lately with all of my students is that they are having a difficult time coming up with ideas for stories. I planned to do a mini-lesson with the students about this issue. The teaching point I came up with was, “Writers get ideas for stories by thinking about people, places, and things that are important to them.” When I presented this mini-lesson, many of my students were really excited for independent writing and they couldn’t wait to write new stories with all of their ideas. However, for some of the students, I don’t think that my teaching point was explicit enough. I thought about ways that I could present this in another way to give my struggling writers a sense of independence. Kidspiration got me thinking about how I could present this in a web format and give students a visual representation of what they could do to help come up with ideas for stories. I created these webs as a model for students and I think they will be very helpful in terms of generating ideas. Likewise, I think it would be beneficial for my students to try this out on Kidspiration for themselves as well!

Working with RSS Feeds

A New Experience…
I have never used an aggregator to collect RSS Feeds until I gave it try for this ELO. I am in love! Here’s why…I get emails from sites like Education Week and The New York Times everyday. I function with getting e-mail to my Blackberry, but it has come to a point that every time I check my phone, I have another e-mail that I just don’t have time to read! I usually click on it (so the light will stop flashing or my phone will stop buzzing) and go on with my day. But later, often times I forget that I ever even got the e-mail and then I don’t read the articles I’m interested in!
With the RSS Feed aggregator, the content is not going to “get lost” in my mailbox or be “old news” by time I remember to read it. Education Week, The New York Times (as well as tons of other newspapers, blogs, etc.,) have feeds that my aggregator will collect for me! The best part? No span! I can choose the sources I want to read from!
My RSS Feed Reader
After searching around and reading some information I found on Google, I decided to use the service from Bloglines.com. I did check out the highly acclaimed aggregator on Google, but I didn’t like how all of my feeds come up on my iGoogle. I’m sure there is a way to remove this function, but I wasn’t quite sure how. I already have tons of things on my iGoogle, and it looked really overwhelming to me. I wanted my RSS Feed Reader to be separate from my Google account. So why did I go with Bloglines? I definitely found many great aggregators out there (including the one on Google—if it’s right for you) but there were many advantages to Bloglines which made it really accessible and easy to use—especially for someone trying the kind of thing out for the first time. Firstly, I can access Bloglines from anywhere that I have an Internet connection (just like Kaboodle) I can easily sign in and all of my RSS Feeds will be waiting for me. Setting up the account was really easy; all I had to do was “Click Here to Sign Up!” fill in some information, and confirm my account via email by clicking a link.
Once I created my account, I started looking for ways that I could subscribe to the feeds. I think this portion of the site works really well; it was very easily for me to figure out as a first time user. There are a few different ways to subscribe to feeds on Bloglines. I can choose to browse or search through popular subscriptions by clicking “What’s Hot” on the top of the page. One hundred of the most popular feeds immediately come up and I can choose to subscribe to any of those. I also liked that I could use the search feature on the side of the page to find feeds that I was looking for as I didn’t find much in terms of education in the “What’s Hot” section.
Subscribing to the feeds is simple; all you have to do is click on the link and confirm. Then, any time I sign onto my Bloglines account, I can click on “My Feeds” and the sites with new information waiting for me are in bold! I really love this format of checking out information on the Internet because I no longer need to go from site to site checking to see what’s new…Now the information comes directly to me!

Here are some of the awesome resources I found, what they are, why their useful, and why I chose them.

Education Week http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html
Education Week is essential an online newspaper which publishes local, state, and national news and issues from preschool through the 12th grade. I can read articles that pertain to my interests using the search/archives system on the site. A majority of the articles ca be accessed for free from the site. Everything is easily accessible as the articles are divided into topics like special education, the arts, curriculum and teaching, etc. I chose this feed simply because I take a look at Education Week regularly as it always contains some sort of article which is of interest to me.
New York Times: Education http://www.nytimes.com/pages/education/index.html?partner=rss
The New York Times contains a section dedicated to Education. Articles are published which cover all kinds of state and national information about school districts, policies. This quintessential paper must be followed by teachers who are interested in keeping up with information about the educational system. This is a good resource for teachers who are interested in learning about education in terms of a system rather than resources and teaching practices; but, teachers should be informed about what is going on in education around the country. I read the New York Times Education section daily, so I thought subscribing to the feed would be a great way to see the new articles without actually going to the site and taking time to sift through myself.

Autistic Society http://www.autisticsociety.org/
Autistic Society is a place on the internet that aims to bring parents, friends, and families of people with Autism to create a supportive community. In this space, people can share their stories and knowledge with one another and talk about ASD in order to build awareness and help each other. As an educator working with students who had Autism, it is essential to learn about these children not just from a teacher’s perspectives. Teachers should constantly work together with families and try to perceive children in other settings aside from educational ones. Immersing myself in a space like this gives me an opportunity to learn more about children who have autism from a different perspective and perhaps even communicate and reach out to other knowledgeable sources. Autistic Society is a source that I have known about for a while and check in on often. It provides me with some really great information that I constantly think about when I work with students who have both Autism and other special needs so I knew this would be a great asset to my RSS feed collection.

PBS Learning.Now http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/
This is a weblog that explains how teachers and children are affected by technology and the Internet. It is constantly updated with information about how to use different kinds of technology like wikis, blogs, vlogs, RSS, podcasts, and social networking sites. This site is really useful for me as an educator who wants to incorporate technology within the classroom because it consistently is updated with new information about different kinds of technology. I find that one of the most difficult components to using technology in the classroom is it is always changing and if I do not keep up with it, then suddenly (and quickly) I am lost and do not know how to use it. This is a great site that clearly and concisely explains how to work with different kinds of technologies in a teacher friendly way. PBS Learning.Now is a site that I came across doing this project. It is a feed that was recommended by other teachers so I thought I would choose this one because it seemed like I could take a lot away and the instructional opportunities/strategies discussed on the site in terms of technology motivate and encourage me to try out some new things.

Dangerously Irrelevant http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/
This blog was created to help keep teachers and school leaders up to date with new kinds of technologies for school settings. The foundation for his site lies upon a very interesting quote, “Our intelligence tends to produce technological and social change at a rate faster than our institutions and emotions can cope with. . . . We therefore find ourselves continually trying to accommodate new realities within inappropriate existing institutions, and trying to think about those new realities in traditional but sometimes dangerously irrelevant terms. (War: The Lethal Custom, p. 441).” The author of the blog is Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., one of the nation’s leading academic experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues. While this site is mostly geared towards those in leadership positions in schools, much of the information McLead provides about technology is equally useful for classroom teachers. The blog proves a nice balance between actual kinds of technologies that could be incorporated into the classroom along with tons of useful information from books and conferences. I particularly like the section where he makes book recommendations for teachers and leaders that regard technology in the classroom. The blog is well organized and easily accessible so you can find information on what you are looking for.

High Techpectations http://elemenous.typepad.com/weblog/
This blog includes many ideas and resources for classroom teachers; many of which are adaptable for special education teachers as well. The author of this blog is Lucy Gray. She is an Apple Distinguished Educator and Google Certified Teacher. The one thing that I thought was really useful about this particular blog and what actually convinced me to add this to my RSS Feed Reader is the section entitled, “Apple of My Eye: Resources Catching My Attention.” Gray keeps up with this section of her blog weekly and she adds a new resource which could be useful within the classroom. This week, she posted the link to “Unmasking Digital Truth” which is a collaborative wiki which discusses the issue of overfiltering and overblocking web 2.0 sites in schools and libraries. They discuss other alternatives that could be used instead. What I really like about this section of the blog is that it’s like a mini RSS Feed within the blog; she can direct me to some new, awesome resources if I keep up with her!

Scholastic’s This Week in Education (Alexander Russo) http://scholasticadministrator.typepad.com/thisweekineducation/
This is a blog powered by Scholastic and it is written by Alexander Russo. The blog mostly focuses on National news in terms of education. Russo adds in his “two cents” about national issues regarding Obama and the Education Reform. I was looking for a blog like this to balance out the other sources I have. When looking at national news, I typically look at the New York Times, Education Week, etc. These reports convey perspectives that are typically unbiased (or are supposed to be) and I usually have an opinion on them! I can’t have dialogue with online newspapers (obviously) so I wanted to find a blog that posts information about national education news and then comments on that news. I like to hear where other people stand in terms of these issues. While most of the information does not regard instructional strategies that can be directly taken into the classroom, I feel that the information I learn and think about is what I will take into the classroom when working with my students in context of what is going on in the world.

Langwitches Blog http://langwitches.org/blog/2009/11/28/
information-literacy-authentic-conversation-globalize-curriculum/
This blog contains a teacher’s thoughts, ideas and projects while she is working on integrating technology into the classroom for both students with and without special needs. I chose this blog because it places an emphasis on literacy and technology. As a Literacy Specialist student, I am constantly thinking about ways that I can incorporate technology into the classroom for students with disabilities in order to promote their literacy skills. This blog provides great ideas for modifications and even lesson plans and units for working with students with and without disabilities in terms of literacy! I think some of the ideas are really innovative and they are things that I would love to try in my classroom. One of the unit plans provided is focused on getting students to create a blog of their own. This is something that I would love to try with my kids; I think they would find it really engaging and exciting. This blog works well for me because it is explicit and in terms of the lesson suggestions, the author is quite good at explaining things so that they make sense for those of us that are not great with new kinds of technology but willing to try!

iLearn Technlogy http://ilearntechnology.com/
The subtitles of this blog reads, “An edublog about integrating technology into the classroom.” Kelly’s blog aims to “help teachers fall in love with technology the way that their students have.” Her blog includes many technological resources that could be used within the classroom setting to meet the needs of all learners with and without disabilities. I realize that I have gathered many blogs that focus on technology; however, I they all bring something a little bit different to the table. They are not just a set of resources to be used in the classroom. That is why I felt it was appropriate to include Kelly’s blog on my RSS Feed Reader. I think that I can use the information on this blog to help reach students in new ways and encourage them to want to learn in a meaningful manner. Kelly says that she never had a student that didn’t love her class, and not because she is good teacher, but because they love technology! I can use the resources on the blog within my classroom, but also, something about Kelly’s passion on this blog is really evident to me and I am hoping that it will infuse an intrinsic desire within myself to try out more technologies and get my students to learn to love it as well!

NCS-TECH http://www.ncs-tech.org/
This blog is written by a teacher at Northfield Community School and contains resources for K-8 educators including lesson plans, commentary, and even some ideas for technology. A quote on the top of the page reads, “You can’t spell TEACH without T-E-C-H!” In terms of using what I learn from this blog in my classroom, I really like the emphasis the creator puts on working together as a classroom and school community. Many of the posts he puts up discuss these notions and it reminds me of things that I should and can be doing with my students and other people who work within my school community. Reading this blog is a reminder to me of these things and I will work to try to transfer and facilitate these ideas within my classroom. I chose this blog because it balances the others that I have collected as those do not place much emphasis on classroom and school community and this is a really important factor in successful teaching and learning.

Trying Out BLOGLINES

As Wikipedia defines, an RSS Feed is:

“…a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works – such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video – in a standardized format.^[2][3] or "channel") includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content quickly and automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place. RSS feeds can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader", or "aggregator", which can be web-based or desktop-based. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.” An RSS document (which is called a "feed", "web feed",

I've subscribed to 10 RSS feeds including Education Week, New York Times: Education, Autistic Society, and PBS Learning Now, and a bunch of awesome blogs which you can access listed on the side of my blog. All of these sites contain information that I are useful for inclusion, CTT classrooms, and even some innovative technology ideas which I'm looking forward to trying out! Here's what my Blogline looks like:

I would definitely recommend trying this out. It makes my internet surfing a whole lot easier. I don't need to bother with bookmarking or remembering the names of the sites that I like to look at daily for education information. Of course, Bloglines can be used to collect RSS feeds about anything, but clearly, technology and education information are my main purpose for collection at this time.

Look At Me Now!

Finally, I've received my new furniture! Take a look at my new workstation... I'm definitely a bit more ergonomically correct now. Bye, bye backache? I guess we'll see! I now have a desk and a chair, my feet sit on the floor, and my elbows are relatively at about 90 degree angles. I'm actually excited to do some work!

Awesome Resources!

I came across some of these sites as suggested in my HBSE class. They are great places to find resources for technology which can help those with and without disabilities.
Here are some of my favs:
1. kornreich.org
2. eschoolnews.com
3. microsoft.com (I especially love their notion of "inclusive innovation")
4. cast.org
5. closingthegap.org
I registered for any newsletters available from these sites so that I can stay in the loop! Check them out, you'll learn a lot and get some great ideas for the classroom as well.

Ergonomically Incorrect

This assignment could not have come at a more convenient time. I recently moved into my new apartment and have been completing hours of work laying in my bed because I have not had the opportunity to set up a workstation yet! Over the weekend, I decided it was time; using my bed as a place to complete work somewhat detracted its representation as a comfortable place for resting and sleeping. Now I have a chance to create my dream workstation supported by the principles of ergonomics which ensures maximum comfort. This might take me a few weeks (and some hard earned money) but once it's complete, I'll get some pictures up!
The main items of importance for comfort located at the workstation include the keyboard, mouse, monitor/screen, chair, document holder, workspace items, and phone. Currently, none of these items are working well for me; there's really no great way to make your bed a proper workstation! I found some great solutions online that I'll hopefully purchasing within the next few weeks including a desk from csnofficefurniture.com which will be the foundation for all of my organization!

A Go With KABOODLE

How could I have not known things like this existed? I am constantly bookmarking sites or adding them to my favorites, and I can NEVER find what I am looking for when I need it! I set up an account with Kaboodle, although there are other bookmarking site options, because I felt that it best fit my needs and I loved the organizational features. Here’s why:
-You can search through all your bookmarks if you’re looking for something using the ‘tags’ feature. When you save a page, you simply use a few tags to describe the website (i.e. fashion, shoes, accessories) and then when you’re looking for “that” site, you can search through all of your saved favorites.
-You have the ability to store your sites in categories and subcategories which is great for people like myself who like everything extremely organized and easily accessible.
-After you save the page, you are taken straight back to the site you were on, so it doesn’t interrupt what you were working on.
-It usually gives you a picture and always provides a description of the site.
-You have the option to change the details Kaboodle provides for you about the site if you want to write something more appropriate to represent that page.
-You can stay permanently logged in to the site.
-I can use it for both management and shopping and the site is geared towards shopping. I usually bookmark all shopping sites so it’s designed with a focus on that.
-You can add your own comments/descriptions about the site.
I couldn’t be more excited to start reorganizing all my favorites on this site…This could be dangerous in terms of my online shopping addiction!

A Trip to Second Life and Whyville

This is a photo of myself and Autumn on our "blind date" in Second Life. It was a bit of an adventure, but we found each other in TC! We couldn't figure out how to take the picture from the front, so this was our best attempt... Fortunately, after playing around for a bit, I've found some ways to rotate the screen, but the graphics seem to be a bit slow on my computer. Thank goodness for the TC computer labs!


So here are some of my thoughts about people who have disabilities using these programs. I guess because I am so uncomfortable using them myself that I find it a little bit difficult to imagine others, with or without disabilities using it as well. However, I totally see that there are some benefits which could make people feel really good. On Second Life especially, you can be whoever you want to be. You can make friends and have social interactions with others which might not be very common. Additionally, this might be a space where you can feel empowered because you are alike, or not like, others. You can fully participate and be a part of any group you want to be and no one can shut you out. In a sense, the idea of Second Life is very much like inclusion. In Whyville, there are some components that I think are really great especially for people with disabilities. For example, there is a place on Whyville called the animal hospital:


Here, you have an opportunity to do just what you would suspect: take care of animals. I think this is a great opportunity for those who maybe can't in their own real lives, maybe because of motor issues, etc.

While I don't foresee myself becoming an ongoing member of either of these communities, I can definitely understand the social justice which these kinds of social networking sites provide people, especially those with disabilities. It gives everyone an opportunity to feel like they belong.

As far as introducing these sites to my students? I think I need a little more convincing...

My Pixie Plate!

My $1 invention... The Pixie Plate. I purchased a large Pixie Stick (every kid's favorite sugary snack) from Party City, a local party supply store, for .49 cents (guess I could have gotten two?)

With the help of a pair of scissors, I snipped away until I transformed my Pixie Stick into a Pixie Plate... A convenient tray that will hold up to three pencils/pens or a few crayons. Why want one? Well, this avoids the annoyance of pens, pencils, etc., rolling off your desk and onto the floor! Check it out, enjoy my creativity!

PS Thanks to my cousin Jason for his photography skills :)

Here We Go Again...

It seems I've lost my blog. How is that possible? I'm not sure. There's technology for you, an unfortunately, me. So, here we go again. I've restarted, but I don't want to loose everything I've done! I'm going to re-upload my old posts and then continue from there. Oh well...Live and learn!