2/9/15 Assignment:

Preparing Students for the 21st Century; Incorporating Technology into the Classroom:
The parallels between typical reading comprehension and internet specific reading comprehension were interesting. The comparisons are obvious when you think about it side by side but it was interesting to read about the necessity of the basic skills: decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension in addition to the higher level skills needed when doing an internet search (making inferences, predicting what a web link might contain, piecing together information from several sites, and evaluating the usefulness of the information.
When working with students that have a Speech Language Impairment in the area of Language, the skills of summarizing, finding important information, and asking important questions are very challenging. It makes me realize that I should be doing more with my 4th and 5th grade students to create a foundation for web searches so they aren't so overwhelmed in middle school when the demands for independence and higher level thinking are exponentially more stringent. 
I also liked the idea of having other students share their strategies of searching for information and deciding which information would be relevant. 

Free Apps that I have tried and use:

Tiny Tap: I have used this app to teach vocabulary. After uploading a picture of the student acting out the vocabulary word, they can add their own definition or sentence describing the term.

Heads Up: This app is great to practice verbal skills, categorization, and social skills. You can use the decks that are provided or add your own deck for .99.

Puppet Edu: My student teacher and I created a video of one of our students working on an IEP objective for vocalization. We added some verbal dictation to give the parents some direction and information about the video.

Beginning Goals

My beginning goal this semester is to find two or three apps or uses of technology to incorporate consistently into my teaching strategies. I have used google images, several speech pathology apps, and imovie in the past with good success. I would really like to find an avenue that allows me to post weekly for parent groups to keep them in the loop with our classroom information, particularly in the area of reading and speech goals. Having specific video of their child learning would be ideal to bring the information to life. The information would have to be secure so each student's identity could remain safe. I would also need a site that is not able to be changed after my initial posting so information remains accurate. It also has to be easily accessible to most people, even those with limited technology background.

I recently accessed Alphabet Organizer Online and learned more about it. I think this could be useful in assisting my students in learning their vocabulary words for our Wonders curriculum each week. My initial thought is to have the students enter their own picture and meaningful sentence. I need to work some more and determine how to have the students share this information with their parents .