Monday, March 30, 2015

ISTE Standards define creativity for students as:
- applying existing knowledge to generate new ideas and products
- creating original works as a means of personal or group expression
- using models or simulations to explore complex systems
- identify trends and forecast possibilities

My role as a speech language pathologist is different than a regular education classroom teacher in several ways: the time with students (typically limited to 25 minutes per session), the demand to know curriculum pre-K-5, typically re-teaching and/or pre-teaching information that is covered in the classroom, and specific information needs to be covered to meet IEP objectives while teaching and adapting the curriculum.
These responsibilities to put some constraints on the flexibility I can have during my short time with students. I do understand that classroom teachers have similar issues due to the speed at which the curriculum progresses, particularly in math. So, in no way, am I implying that this would be easier if I were a classroom teacher. It's just different.
Due to the time limits mentioned, I have not had my students complete a really technical and involved tech project but I will list some activities we have done that may qualify:

5th grade:
To meet IEP goals and enhance my student's learning with the reading curriculum, we use Google images to provide visuals for weekly vocabulary.
We have been working with the 5th grade for about 4 weeks on using Google as a search engine for information, specifically targeting 1) summarizing headings to locate appropriate information, 2) being able to locate an appropriate picture to match the vocabulary word, 3) determining if the word needs to be changed to meet the definition ("diversity" may need to be shortened to "diverse" when searching), 4) using the Google image paired with the app, Skitch, to write the definition in their own words/ creating a visual that can be shared with their parents, and 5) using good digital citizenship rules to ignore inappropriate information that may appear even with filters in place.
This has been enlightening to see which students can complete the aforementioned skills and the level of cuing they require to complete the project.
It has given us insight into the students' skills with grammatical structures, connectivity, reflection, and generalization of information.
Inviting the students' parents into their daily learning has been positive because it creates a dialogue between student/ parent and improves the relationship they have with me because it is one more connection made (rather than 3x a year during parent teacher conferences and IEP meetings).
The ways in which I think it fits the rubric include:
- applying existing knowledge to generate new ideas and products- Students use the Google images they found to represent each vocabulary word. They are required to use their background knowledge to produce meaningful sentences. We also take turns going around the table creating a sentence with each participant adding one word- this promotes flexibility and also opens their minds to new ways to state information.
- creating original works as a means of personal or group expression (picture paired with each child's or partner's original sentence with target vocabulary via Skitch/ Google)
- using models or simulations to explore complex systems- we don't create models but explore complex topics verbally and visually
- identify trends and forecast possibilities (it is interesting to see the trends of photos that come up during a Google search compared to the background knowledge I have). I do have the students make predictions regarding their vocabulary to push their knowledge base.



1 comment:

  1. Rachel, you apply ISTE well to your speech/language students. I like how you creatively integrate Google search, images, Skitch into your structured IEPs. As you become more familiar with ISTE you will continue to think of how these standards can fit along with and further your IEP goals.

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