Presentations -Night 2

The last night of class. I have learned so much from Barb this fall. I wish more classroom teachers would take this class. The benefits for our students at NGES are so apparent. Tonight we started off with a presentation on a student who was experiencing difficulties with writing and other expressive language challenges. He had been working with an ipod and enjoying that but had expressed some concerns about what he was doing with it. Grade 5 boys are brutally honest . The second presentation focused on a student with very significant learning challenges. He uses a ipod touch for reading and is able to be in the classroom with his peers which is so important at this Grade level (6). He is also using the ipod for writing using Typo..not familiar with that so will need to check that out. His poem demonstrated how AT gives students written and oral voice in a way that we haven't experienced. I enjoyed hearing how students feel about their assistive technology and how they are able to explain how thye can use it. I have noted that students who are using AT at our school gather students near them who are interested in the technology and want to learn more about what they can do on it. It is amazing what a leveling impact AT has for all students. A presentation on a student with ADD (a former student of mine) demonstrated  a continuum of learning and social challenges. Lack of organization and internal structures cause huge difficulty with his learning. His teachers are working very hard to assist him with organization  but he struggles to demonstrate responsibility for his own learning.Scribing had been a major tool but now is working with Kurzweil, pdf forms and the ipod touch. The ipod touch seems to be the most effective tool for developing independence. Barb would be pleased as she very definite thoughts on the impact of scribing on developing independent skills.Lack of an ipod for use throughout the school would be so beneficial.The following presentation demonstrated the use of Comic Life in an ECM12 class. As writing is a very challenging activity for these students the use of Comic Life provided them with an appropriate opportunity to share their thoughts. I really need to learn how to use this app as one of our Gr. 6 students could really benefit from using this process (although all our students could benefit from it). The ipad cart is coming to our school next month and I think I will do a special project with our Grade 6 class. My homework assignment for the holidays.Our next presentation was a series of good news stories: using an ipod for expressive written language, using cut and paste and emailing in the notepad app, using Clicker 5 for comunication and of course, the ipad. Note to self-check out facilitated communication and the yes/no app.
Our last presentation was a very exciting look at an adult student who is using AT to read the Driver's Ed manual so that he can get his driving license. Kudos to this man who has embraced lifelong learning with a goal in mind. How wonderful to be able to taps into all the technology resources being used with him.