Tool #7

My Family

I found this very helpful.  It was time consuming downloading the pictures and I had to pull some pictures from Facebook and it make them very fuzzy.  I will need to do more research about about how to pull better pictures.  However, I found that it would be really easy to create a presentation and set the whole thing to a voice over or to set it to music to add depth to the presentation.  I could see this being used in any class.  I would love to use this in History to tell a story of anything from the Civil War to Communities in Houston.  With the Active Board it could make a huge difference in the confidence of a student.  I will definitely use this!!!

Tool #6

It was refreshing to see some examples that had some previous tools incorporated in them.  I think my students could use the Wiki's to collaborate, share, and create resources for them to utilize.  Wikipedia has been used to find information and I see this as an extension of the information, but collected and presented differently.  As for my co-workers, we can do the same thing, share the information.  We can also collaborate to create the Wikis to present to the students so they can see the information possibly easier than just looking up stuff on the Internet.  The Wikis can be manipulated to be presented to a variety of different skill levels.  For example, a fifth grader with a DRA of 16 still needs to learn 5th grade material, but can not read a 5th grade level can be presented the material at their skill level. 

Tool #5

I looked into both Diigo and delicious.  Diigo seemed like it would be better to use for research and I even downloaded the App onto my phone to assist me in the future.  However, I found it difficult to use.  I will have to spend more time using it to become more fluent.
http://www.diigo.com/user/sararobertson

I found that Delicious was easier to add tags and links to go back to and to share.  However, I liked the possibility to manipulate the cites for research using the Diigo, I will also use Delicious more to become more fluent. I did find a few web pages that I had not seen before.  I want to share the resources with other sped teachers and even with parents.
http://delicious.com/sararobertson1979
http://www.theteachersguide.com/Specialeducation.html
http://www.autismspeaks.org/

My classroom uses a lot of repetition, researching the same stuff and sharing the same information.  I could use the tagging to assist the kids in finding appropriate research tools. I will have to do more research into both sites to get a better idea of how I can use it in my classroom.

Tool #4

I created two documents to share.  I am a little confused about using Google Docs right now, but know that once school begins and we will be sharing documents more it will make more sense.  I am excited about the calendar as I am always needing to mash up different people's schedules to find a time for meetings. 

Google Docs:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ah_97OK16IFXdDB4eGJwcWhBeGZFQk1NbzBMVDRRSFE&hl=en&authkey=CJOgiIUO


https://docs.google.com/document/edit?id=1012SrAwp6rp3xpb30Xxz0qwhNIzqpo9t2QHpqv8xnlM&hl=en&authkey=CP2c74MC
 
For Google Reader I liked how it was easy to get my favorite blogs all together to keep close access to.  I also was able to add the AB teacher from a different campus to help me keep connected with teachers with similar classrooms.

Tool #3

My family!!

I have used these mash-ups to express my personal life, but I could use them in the classroom for the same type.  Since a big part of my classroom is Social Skills we could use the playing card to make cards of ourselves or of our family members.  We could also take the collage and take our own pictures and create a collage of our friends or our positive experiences.  We could also create trading cards on famous people in history or scientists, or create characters from book or characters to write about.  There were also a lot of things on the web pages that I looked at that I could use in the classroom or just to get to know the students.

I found this on Word It Out and loved It

Word cloud made with WordItOut

Tool #2

1. I am looking forward to building an online community.  The idea is scary because it is unknown right now.  I look to the future with open eyes and open hands.  I want to learn more to be the best teacher that I can be.  I need to keep broudening my horrizon to keep with the pack.  I embrace the idea!!  I hope I can keep up!!

2. I enjoyed looking over some great ideas of how to post on the blog.  I think the blog weould be an awesome way for people to communicate and share ideas.

3. This is the first time that I have left comments, I need some work... Laura Beth Parker, Pam Brennan, Kathy Keenan, Meredith Le Blanc, and Kala T. McKnight