Cheap Interactive Whiteboard: Adaptive Technology April 23, 2008
Posted by Daniel Dage in Uncategorized.Tags: adaptive technology, head array, smart board, smartboard, Special Education, teaching, white board, wii
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Our media specialist sent us teachers some nifty links, one to a group of presentations/speakers. At first this link didn’t look too interesting or useful, although the talk by Jeff Bezos was entertaining. But I drilled a little deeper and stumbled into this video by Johnny Lee that really took my breath away.
Using a Wii remote game controller, he creates an interactive white board sometimes called a Smartboard. these things typically run around $3000, but the total cost of the Wii setup is less than $75! I would think a lot of schools would be interested in this. you can find video demos on Teachertube here and here. There are probably dozens more on YouTube and any teacher into technology should be getting excited about this. Using open source software and the Wii, every teacher can have this useful technology at their fingertips.
It’s a bit late in the year for me to be diving into another technology project, but if I end up coteaching, I’ll definitely be there.
But the head array that he demonstrates is really something exciting for students that need an alternative way to access the computer and content. He basically mounted a couple of infrared dots on some sunglasses and he had something that typically costs thousands of dollars to parents that use this technology for their kids with severe orthopedic impairments. That is kind of exciting on a lot of levels and means I might be getting a Wiimote no matter where I end up next year. The biggest issue, is of course, time. I have a mountain of paperwork that I’m procrastinating from at the moment with all of my IEPs! In fact, Johnny Lee himself developed this stuff while procrastinating from doing actual projects he was supposed to be working on.
While I know a lot about severe disabilities and a lot about technology, i still have a lot to learn about adaptive technology. I know of a lot that exists, but I have never gotten my hands on a head array or other alternative switching devices besides the standard switches we use. So while I’m up on a lot of things, I still feel behind on adaptive technology. The sad thing is, is that I’m still way ahead of most teachers serving this population. In the span of 8 years I’ve learned a lot, but most teachers don’t last more than 2 years.
Technology can change the way students access material but learning is still a function of a series of antecedent – response – consequence chains. I’m excited about the potential, but it won’t be realized until more of us teachers get it into our hands and have a chance to really fiddle around with it.
D.
Videos on TeacherTube April 15, 2008
Posted by Daniel Dage in IEP, Special Ed., Special Education, Teachers, assistive Technology.Tags: autism, communication, IEPs, lesson plans, orthopedic impairments, positioning, severe disabilities, Special Education, teachertube, teaching, videos
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I have a few videos on TeacherTube with many more to come. My first attempt was demonstrating the Qchord, which is a sort of musical instrument that I sometimes use in the classroom. A more practical video is one I made on the use of switches for students with severe disabilities to use for communication. There’s also an activity attached to that lesson, about 101 uses for using switches in the classroom. Then I did a couple of videos on positioning for students with orthopedic impairments that some might find interesting. And my most recent effort was a screencast about using the Boardmaker software program that special ed teachers frequently use for communication and language instruction. I have some more videos demonstrating that software that I’ll be uploading once I get the narration audio track finished. The problem is that I’m very seldom in a space or environment where it is quiet enough to do narration! There seems to always be noise somewhere around that can be picked up by the mic! Plus we are in full-IEP mode right now so I’m squeezed for time. A ton of folks are hitting my IEP series right now, so I know a lot of people are using that resource.
After talking with one of the new SID teachers in the county, I got a lot of new ideas for resources to add. One of the most common questions I get asked is about my lesson plans. They are not very good or satisfactory enough for my taste and certainly not for addressing state standards. However I do have a data sheet that sort of functions as a lesson plan that I’ll be attaching to a future video on discrete trials. Future features will involve:
-Discrete trial teaching (DTT)
- More Boardmaker overlays
- Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)
- Para training
- Schedule/lessonplanning/curriculum
I’m presently looking to get permission from parents to include actual students in future videos, so that should be pretty exciting. Even if I only get one permission form, I can demonstrate quite a lot of what I actually do. So far, I don’t know of anyone else doing anything like this, but if there is I’d like to know about it!
I use TeacherTube because YouTube is blocked by our school and TeacherTube does allow unlimited uploads. You can also attach lesson plans and activities to the video which can really increase its usefulness to other teachers. The downside is that viewers don’t often leave very many comments or give very much feedback compared to what I see on YouTube. The most discussed video is entitled “Pay Attention” which has over half a million views but only 83 comments and the next most discussed has less than 50 comments. It’s not a very interactive community, which is why I see having a blog to support my efforts as being a useful thing.
That’s my weekly wrap up. We’ve only got about 6 weeks left of school! Where has all the time gone?!?
D.
A Call For Help Podcast April 10, 2008
Posted by Daniel Dage in IEP, IEPs, Regular Ed, Special Ed., Special Education, Teachers.Tags: accomodations, IEP, podcast, regular education, Special Education
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A teacher recently posted a comment about accomodations asking for some help and support, so I created this podcast in order to answer her question.
The Project April 9, 2008
Posted by Daniel Dage in Curriculum, NCLB, Regular Ed, Special Ed., Special Education, Teachers, assistive Technology.comments closed
We are on Spring Break right now, but I am up to my neck in work projects. This blog is part of those projects, hence me having to “come out.” Yeah, the byline might still say Dick Dalton, but Dan Dage is the one doing all the work and has been all along! So it’s time I give myself credit and begin promoting and branding myself accordingly. “Magnolia County” is Newton County, Georgia. And that’s enough info for the moment. I’ve been spending time in my archives, cleaning and editing stuff that might have proven to be more incendiary than I might like being mindful of offending my coworkers who I generally like and get along with. I’d like to keep it that way, if at all possible! So if any of you see something that might be offensive and damaging and tarnish my pristine image (HA!) go ahead and let me know. Snarky comments from readers don’t count. You all are free to offend as much as you like.
My two projects:
Developing resources for new SID/PID teachers: We have several in our county by virtue of some leaving, moving on or getting arrested. Yeah, it is a very ugly business. Burnout is not a matter of if but when, or so it seems. A good special ed. teacher can make a decent run of it in 3 years before getting too frazzled. As hideously short as that is, we’re averaging less than that on the high school level, and that includes me clocking in 8 years. So I’d like to have resources out there for our new recruits, but also for anyone else around the country wondering what the devil to do with students whose development is measured in months instead of years, especially on the high school level where the developmental gap between the students and their peers is so astronomically wide. This blog will serve as a central place to access those resources, or at least that’s the idea.
Welcome to my play space!
Lesson Plans for my SID/PID students: Let’s suppose for a minute that I have some ideas as to what to do with my students. Translating that into a formal lesson plan that somehow connects what I do with grade level content standards is a Herculean task that I’ve yet to see anyone do well. There’s a couple of ladies at the state department who have done what I do (only better) but haven’t done it since we got into standard-based mode. I may require their help. I’m going to go ahead and start on my own, anyway.
Which leads me to presenting the first step/resource in accomplishing these twin goals. That is, accessing and becoming familiar with the state standards. The special education teachers in Newton county have yet to be trained in the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). Ever. We happen to have had our special education county meeting at the exact same time the various subject areas are having their GPS meetings every year there has been a roll-out. We are all in the dark.
But there is help, no matter what you teach in Georgia. The GPS website looks a bit plain at first glance, and I was wondering how this thing was voted best of the web last year. However one must drill down a bit to see what’s there. And you all can drill with me by going to the GA DOE’s Moodle site. You can access the courses by logging in as a guest (it’s a one-button process) and looking at the flash videos. There, you will strike gold. Units, sequences, lesson plans, activities, tasks and resources all nicely laid out by subject, by grade. It’s hard to get any easier than that. That is, if you teach a regular subject. For a SID/PID teacher, this is a more daunting task because we have to translate a high school standard into something a developmentally 11 month old in an 18 year-old body can do. I’m not saying it can’t be done. It can, and I’ve done it a few times with a few tasks. But I need to have enough plans to go a few weeks nonstop on this and that is the challenge. I need to be able to plan for the developmental 11 month old as well as the developmental 3 and 4 year-old with adequate differentiation while providing access for all to 9-12th grade standards. This is no small thing we’re tasked with.
So I just thought I’d share, and I’ll be getting back to googling, moodling and otherwise planning. And now you can get your first look at my nerdly self in action!
Dan
That’s kind of scary… April 8, 2008
Posted by Daniel Dage in Autism/Asperger's, Blogging, Blogroll, Parent Support, Teachers, political activism.Tags: autism, bloggers, kathleen siedel, lawsuits, subpeona
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Wow. The story of Kathleen Seidel being subpoenaed is kind of scary, especially in light of what I’m trying to do here. Liz has been all over the story coverage and it is racing through the blogging community, as it should. It isn’t just about autism, it’s about freedom of expression within the blogging community and the ability of some over zealous person or attorney to reach out try to silence, harass and intimidate an individual simply on the basis of that expression.
I noticed a lot of folks on my blogroll were named.
Every blogger should be standing beside Kathleen, and I’m proud to be one of them. It’s about community, and this is simply unwarranted and vicious. We need to be free to disagree and voice our disagreements in a free and open exchange.
Kathleen is an educator and all educators need to mindful of this attempt to do what all despots do: enshroud the populace in ignorance. As educators, ignorance is our sworn enemy. It is at the root of every other war on the planet, so few wars are as important as the one we fight.
As for me, I will keep fighting in my own small way in my own small space.
dd
Exciting Changes: Help is on the way! April 7, 2008
Posted by Daniel Dage in Blogging, Parent Support, Special Education, Teachers, moving on.comments closed
Dick Dalton will soon be leaving the blogging world. However his blog will live on. There’s some serious changes afoot, and I’m happy to see that WordPress is making it easier for me to transition to Web 2.1. Yeah, we’re moving past web 2.0 to include more multimedia content and you all get to be part of it!
In case you haven’t guessed, Dick Dalton is not my real name. I’ve protected my anonymousness like crazy on this blog, which made me freer to write and express myself. But it has come at a cost, which is mainly being in touch with real people in real life. So I’m pleased (if not apprehensive) about finally coming out of the anonymous closet…eventually.
I have videos on Teachertube and am working on some podcasts that will soon be tied in here. I’m going to tie people in from my home school and my home district and perhaps even from the state department. I may even stay teaching the severe and profound group another year, thanks to this particular change. I’ll explain more later, after my official “outting.”
Some posts will come down and others will be..er…cleaned up a bit. I’m hoping to get it done this week and then give the blog a new look and feel.
I want to thank you all for reading and commenting and following along. I hope you will find the changes to be rewarding as you’ll finally see the “man behind the mask” so to speak. This blog has been a labor of love and I hope to continue that anew and afresh by letting me be me. Being two different people has been fun, but it has gotten harder and harder to be two seperate people. so as I’ve become more of myself, Dick Dalton has gotten crowded out, hence the paucity of posts lately.
I’ve gotten a lot of good questions from parents and teachers asking for help that I just haven’t been able to get to, but I hope to be able to do so through podcasting in the near future. It takes quite a bit longer to write and edit a post than just say what I have to say when I don’t need to be checking grammer and spelling! I’ll still be writing, as that produces the best searchable database but I hope to do more follow-ups than I have.
Hold on to your butts, because this might be a bumpy ride!
dd
