iPads: From Rookie to Productive in Three Days

Here are the resources that we used the past three days.  There are links to apps, files, and websites that you will (hopefully) find valuable as you delve into the world of using the iPad in the classroom.  :)

iPad Boot Camp

Tips and Tricks to Use With the iPad

Here is a link to the Prezi we used in the training.

Tips and Tricks for the iPad
**Great website with tons of tricks that we did not cover in the training!**

Productivity Apps/AppSort
Reminders
Doodle2Go
Notes
Jumbo Stopwatch
SimpleDice
EventBrite
Paper
LiveBinders
Seatcharter
iRandomizer
Evernote
iBooks
Dragon Dictation
DocScanHD
StickyNotes
DocAS Lite
RL Classic
CloudOn
ClassDojo
Contacts
Scan
SlideShark
Wunderlist
Calendar

  

Productivity Scenarios
These are the apps you found to use in these scenarios.

Planning a Conference: 

Wunderlist

Calendar

Seat Charter/Smart Seat

Attending a Conference:

DocAS

Calendar

Evernote

Contacts

StickyNotes

Dragon Dictation

Planning a Grade-Level Field Trip:

I Plan Field Trips (free)

TooNoisy

Sit or Squat

Back to School

Be Seated

Class Dojo

Pinterest

Teach Thought

Notes, Evernote

Science and Math Night Out

Prezi

Educreations

iRandomizer

Timer

Sock Puppet

Evernote

Nearpod

Socrative

Grant to Visit Another Country

Evernote

SeatCharter

Dragon Dictation

Nearpod

FaceTime

DocAS Lite

High Maintenance Student

Edmodo

Calendar

Reminders

Evernote

Thirty Apps in Thirty Minutes!

App Party!!

Here are the screenshots of my folders on my iPad.  Some of the apps are listed above, but there are some news ones for each category as well!

If you find any cool, new apps to share, please comment on this post, or email me at mhutton@scs.k12.al.us so that I can repost on my blog for others to benefit. You know I'm a bit of an electronic hoarder... :)

Web-Based Tools for Teaching and Learning

This module is full of great web-resources and tools!  Check them out!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K5MX9XM

Brainstorm

•SurveyMonkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/

•Response-O-Matic: 

http://www.response-o-matic.com/

•Kwik Surveys: http://kwiksurveys.com/

Flisti: http://flisti.com/

•www.voki.com

•Mixbook: http://www.mixbook.com/

•

•Blabberize: http://blabberize.com/

Answer Garden

§Wordle

§Tagxedo

ABCya!

•Storylineonline

•ReadWriteThink

•Diigo

http://www.diigo.com

•Symbaloo

•http://www.symbaloo.com

http://www.sweetsearch.com

•Delicious: http://delicious.com/

•Google Bookmarks: https://www.google.com/bookmarks

•StumbleUpon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/

•Portaportal: http://portaportal.com/

•ikeepbookmarks.com

•www.jogtheweb.com

•Alabama Virtual Library http://www.avl.lib.al.us/

•Famhoo: http://www.famhoo.com/

•AskKids: http://www.askkids.com/ 

•KidRex: http://www.kidrex.org/

•SchoolWAX TV: http://schoolwaxtv.com/

http://www.toondoo.com

•http://bit.ly/MZHFJ3

•www.glogster.com

•Edublogs: http://edublogs.org/

•Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com/

•WordPress: http://wordpress.com/

•PBworks: http://pbworks.com/pbworks-basic-edition (basic edition is free for educators)

•Blogger: http://blogger.com/

•Edmodo:  http://www.edmodo.com/

TeachersFirst – Wikis: http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki

•Bubbl.us: http://www.bubbl.us

•MindMeister: http://www.mindmeister.com/

•XMind: http://www.xmind.net/

•Mindomo: http://www.creazaeducation.com/mindomo

•Gliffy: http://www.gliffy.com/

•Popplet: http://popplet.com/

•PrimaryWall: http://primarywall.com/

•Padlet: http://www.wallwisher.com/

•PiratePad: http://piratepad.net/

•Educreations:  http://www.educreations.com/

•Web Guru

•Pinterest

•www.freetech4teachers.com

•www.superteachertools.com

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbQBJHNxwjE&feature=player_detailpage

•

•http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/challenges-2/free-tools-challenge/

http://alex.state.al.us/

Microsoft Mania

Microsoft Word Specific Resources

Microsoft Office Tutorials:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/getting-started-with-office-2010-FX101822272.aspx

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/word

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line_word.htm

Tutorial PDF:

http://www.goodwin.edu/computer_resources/pdfs/word_2010_tutorial.pdf

Tutorial App for iPad, iPhone:  

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/mobileapps/word2010tutorialapp

Free Fonts

http://www.1001freefonts.com/

http://www.dafont.com/

Templates:

 http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/

Microsoft PowerPoint Specific Resources

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/powerpoint2010

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line_powerpoint.htm

Tutorial PDF:

http://www.bgsu.edu/downloads/cio/file85354.pdf

Other Resources
https://www.youtube.com/user/Microsoftedu

• http://www.slideshare.net/tonyvincent/education-technology-quotes
• http://thejournal.com/articles/2005/06/01/20-technology-skills-every-educator-should-have.aspx#UhEb876CV7RVb5ft.99

TEACHERS pay TEACHERS

Okay people....I am moving into a new venture...Teachers pay Teachers...da da dum...

Who loves TpT????  Because I DO!!!  

But, let me tell you...it's no joke!  It is tough competition.  There is SOOOOO much great stuff on there.  If you haven't been on there, get on there and play around.  Not only is there great stuff to buy, but there are also tons of things for free that you can download.  

And....while you are there....check out my two products :)

Properties of Addition Review (FREE)

A Wrinkle in Time Packet  

I am in the process of adding more products, so check back frequently!  

Autism Spectrum Disorder Resources

Here is a great podcast from the Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX) website that address the Autism Spectrum. Have a look at it--there is valuable information on it!

http://alex.state.al.us/podcast_view.php?podcast_id=1279

Check out these articles on mainstreaming children with autism into the general education classroom:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr034.shtml
http://www.kelbermancenter.org/assets/documents/IncludedStudentswithAutismAndAccessToGeneralCucciulum.pdf
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ890580.pdf
http://www.tinsnips.org/Media/autism/CMNCHAR.pdf

These are other links to resources on autism that are quite informational:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002494/

http://www.autismspeaks.org/

http://theautismresearchfoundation.org/resources/about-autism/
http://www.educationworld.com/special_ed/iep/inclusion.shtml **This one is awesome!

To Mainstream or Not To Mainstream?

Here is a link to a Prezi I created to share with my faculty members on mainstreaming students with autism into the general education classroom.

http://prezi.com/tab4czlcgpjs/untitled-prezi/


These are some charts on the data I collected on my general education classroom teachers' attitudes toward mainstreaming students with autism into their general education classrooms.

 

In summary, I was NOT surprised with our teachers' attitudes, but it was interesting to see their feelings "in black and white."  Overall, I feel that our teachers are not prepared professionally to meet the needs of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD.)  I do not think that this is their fault, I just feel we have been inadequately educated on the best ways to make accommodations (both academic and behavior) for these students.  How is your faculty educated/trained on issues such as this?  Do you feel prepared as a classroom teacher?

It was also interesting to see that all teachers who took the survey felt that general education students take on a mentoring role toward the child with autism.  While this says a lot about our general education students and their character, I can't help but feel like this is not their place to do this.  I say that as empathetically as possible.  I said in another post that in no way do I feel that students with special needs shouldn't have the opportunity to be in a classroom with their peers.  But, again, my concerns for the purpose of this project are to uncover (if any) negative effects of mainstreaming students with autism into the general education classroom for general education students.  What are your thoughts?  If you presented this same survey to your faculty, how do you think they would respond?  I would be interested to hear from school to school how opinions differ (or if they do differ!)  Let me know!  

Advancing on the Spectrum

Another book that I read while researching mainstreaming autistic students into the general education classroom is called Autism: Advancing on the Spectrum. This was a great book to gain LOTS of information on Autism...and it's a newer book, so there are current practices included--which is great for novice and experienced teachers.

Let me give you a little background on my research project in order for you to more fully understand the dimensions of the project. Initially, I wanted to gauge teachers' views on mainstreaming students with autism into their general education classroom. I knew how I felt about it, but I wanted to see how others teachers felt in regard to their general education students. With classroom sizes becoming bigger each year, it is difficult enough to keep all students engaged, meet each child's needs, and deal with any discipline issues that arise. Mainstream a student with autism into that classroom...WHEW!

Saying that, I want to say this. In no way am I implying that I am not sympathetic to the behaviors that come with autistic spectrum disorders. I am also definitely not saying that I don't believe ALL students should have the chance to be in a classroom with their peers. I am simply speaking as a general education teacher and as an advocate for those "average" students who (let's face it) sometimes get pushed aside to deal with students with special needs. We (and I am guilty as well) get so involved in making accommodations that we often forget about the "sea" of students waiting for our attention as well. THAT breaks my heart for those students. I'm not sure that we are heading in the right direction in regard to EVERY student involved.

We have tons of laws and regulations safeguarding the rights of students with special needs, but when are we going to stand up for all of those other students who want to learn? And who is going to do it? That was the basis for my research.

In my next post, I will share a Prezi presentation on information from this book that will help you understand more about the Autism Spectrum Disorders. I will also present some data that I collected from my faculty about their attitudes' toward mainstreaming students with autism into the general education classroom.

The Birds and the Bees, Bullies and Other Things

This book was one of two I chose to read as a supplement to a project I am researching in graduate school.

This was a pretty good read.

If you haven't read this, and you have ever had a student in your classroom who was autistic, you should at least grab this book, and skim over it.

Here is a quick summary of the book provided by Amazon.com:
Jack Gunthridge is known for his books. What his fans don't know is that he grew up not realizing he had a high functioning form of autism known as Asperger's Syndrome.

This is a collection of his memories of trying to figure out members of the opposite sex while having a condition that made it harder for him to interact in social situations. Sometimes his awkwardness caused him to be the target of bullies.

He offers his opinion and advice on how he dealt with these issues. He's hoping it helps other teenagers going through similar situations. He also talks about how he came to terms with his own autism diagnosis.

While this book talks a lot about the author's experiences as an adult with members of the opposite sex, it does give some insight into how Asperger's has affected his life.  It was interesting to see things from "his eyes."  

I know, as a teacher, it is easy to get frustrated or irritated with students who are autistic because they think differently than an average child does--they have behaviors that we might consider abnormal, and they tend to not "fit in" as well with their peers.  I like this book for that reason...the author describes it as, "In a world where they are getting made fun of for being themselves, it makes it worse for them to have people be afraid of them..."  "They can already be isolated from the majority of their classmates for being different.  They want friends and to be accepted."  Instead of educate bullies like schools are doing, Gunthridge suggests that we "actually need to do something totally crazy and reach out to the people who are different and let them know that we accept them."

This was insightful to hear as a general education teacher.