Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Blog Post #3

     In the Peer Editing video, a peer is someone who is your own age, while editing is making changes, suggestions, or comments to writing. The video states that there are three important steps to peer editing. Step number one is compliments. There are certain rules to follow and one should also remember to stay positive. You don't want to make others feel uncomfortable about their work. Step number two is suggestions. Suggestions could be made about word choice, details, sentences, topic and organization. Third step is corrections. This could be checking for punctuation, grammar, and sentences. There are also certain editing marks to let the writer know that they need to edit their work. I find this video very helpful because it reminds me of what I need to look for while I am reading and completing comments for classmates.
     Peer Edit With Perfection tutorial explains how working with your classmates can be fun and helpful. Most peer editing are done by people who may be in the same age or in the same class. Staying positive is very important. You wanna think about you would feel if someone critiqued your own work. You have to keep in mind no one is here to harm you but to help and give you assistance. Giving compliments encourages the writer to work harder. If I had to use a compliment, I would say, "Great job!" to the writer for putting forth the effort. I think that everyone needs suggestions and that is very crucial when using peer editing.
     Top 10 Mistakes of Peer Editing is a video that involves the participation of students in the 4th and 5th grade. The video was adorable. I think that there should be more videos with younger students expressing topics that they have learned in the classroom. Picky Patty reveals how one should not peer edit. She is not being positive. Whatever William, makes it hard for someone to help him when he doesn't care about the work. You have to be open to changes. Social Sammy loves to talk. He should be more focused on the assignment and be a better partner in his group. Jean the generalizer has to be specific about what changes need to made on the paper. This could done by using editing marks so that the writer would be able to know where the mistake was made. Mean Margaret is rude to her partner and she should always remain nice. Loud Larry is so loud that he disturbs the whole class. This could be solved by keeping an inside voice to where only the person he's talking to is able to hear and understand what he is saying. This video illustrates what not to do and makes the viewer think about better methods to use when they are peer editing. I have taken note of these issues and will try to apply them to my work everyday.


Technology in Special Education
     Technology in Special Education is a video that shows the importance of the use of technology in a special education class. The video illustrates how technology promotes participation. Technology is useful for students who have non-verbal, and have physical and cognitive limitations. Students are able to work with teachers and their classmates without having to leave the room like Corbin who once had to read in the hallway with assistance during silent reading. Now he is able to read a book offered on the IPod Touch. Without technology, it makes speaking harder for someone like Kris who uses a computer to express what he is saying. Without technology, it makes learning harder for teachers and students
     Before watching this movie, I didn't think that students in special education used technology for many reasons. One reason is that I never knew anyone in special education, or what methods teachers had to offer their students. Now I know that technology is made for everyone, and it should be. After watching this video, I was pleased to know that as a teacher, I too can help any kind of student in my classroom. I am longer limited to just one way of teaching. This is useful because everyone learns differently. They take in information differently and with technology, I am able to understand them. This also keeps special needs students from feeling inferior to other students, but feel and know they are equally educated. I could use technology to help my students read, listen, and learn while captivating their attention.

iPad for Autism
     This video is very inspirational not only to teach children with autism on an iPad or tablet, but this can teach and entertain all children. I was moved to see how patient and encouraging this two parents were towards their son who has autism. As an aunt to seven, six, and one year old, I too can teach them how to learn certain skills on my tablet instead of just letting them play only video games which is something they love.
     With the use of an iPad I would download the app How Rocket Learned to Read. It offers my students 40 pages of interactive learning. I will begin with the first option of learning to read by letting my students follow the highlighted words that are being read aloud. Once my students are comfortable, I would make the work a little harder by letting them read at their own pace and help them sound the words out. As they follow along with the story, I will also make it known that they can tap and swipe certain pages for sounds. This will keep them engaged in what they are learning. I will also encourage and give them praise.

Harness your digital smarts
     This video is about a teacher by the name of Vickie Davis who teaches at a school in southern Georgia. She teaches her students how to become students who are able to work independently while also learning with them. They make blogs, use virtual worlds, and research all online. Students have the ability to learn without the use of a pen and paper. This makes it where more students are able to succeed instead of just one type of student who is comfortable with traditional learning.
     Vicki Davis's learning and teaching strategy is a lot like EDM-310. Sometimes you have to see things from another point of view to understand why EDM-310 is setup the way it is, and this video helps me to understand the purpose of this class. She encourages her students to be creative with their work like Dr. Strange does with his class. Sometimes, the assignments that are given to us are meant for us to do further research on our own and learn instead of being told what to do every step of the way. Not only can our teachers keep us updated on different apps and blogs, but the students are allowed to do the same. I feel like we are working with each other together instead of using the burp back method.

6 comments:

  1. Hey Shaniqua,

    Thank you for sharing some great thoughts on this post about special education. I'm so glad that Dr. Strange has included special education in his blog post assignments. I see that you have some pretty good ideas on how you could use the iPad in your classroom with special education students!

    Don't forget to include clickable links to the materials of your blog post.

    Stephen Akins

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  2. You also didn't include the peer review portion of this post, so your assignment is incomplete.

    Make sure you go back and do this. Let us know when you have completed the assignment. You can email me at stephen.akins1@gmail.com if you have any questions.

    Stephen Akins

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Thanks Stephen! I will have everything fixed by Wednesday evening.

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  5. Hi Shaniqua, I think your views on the use of technology in special needs classrooms is great. I have a friend that is majoring in special education and it surprised me to find out how much they use technology as a tool in reaching the children. I never realized it myself, but technology really does allow the students to be more hands-on with their assignments whether they are learning to read or researching topics.

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  6. Ok Shaniqua, I have seen that you have added to your post and I will make a note of it in your evaluations. Thanks!

    Stephen Akins

    ReplyDelete