July 11th Webinar 1 & 2

What a neat experience with the webinar. Perfect for my learning style of wanting to hear people explain, while also benefitting from the visual aspect of seeing the apps in use while they are being explained. What more can one ask for? 

I appreciated the discussion about executive functioning, specifically the included examples of what the struggles might look like and how one can support those students.

What I appreciated most about the presentation, as aforementioned- were the awesome app explanations.

To just list a top three took some time- but I want to focus on:

Ibook store- these books are mega enhanced, digitized and engaging. Everything is accessible at your fingertips. Multiple intelligences were taken into consideration as one can read to themselves, can watch video, can have it read to them, text can be enlarged, highlighted, pulled out- awesome. It’s also about converging technologies with the text, layered in with the video. It’s definitely disruptive tech too as the student doesn’t need to open the dictionary to look up the word, or scan the text to have it read to them. Not to mention the environmental footprint getting a little bit smaller (I just packed up 50 worn tired and outdated social studies 9 textbooks to pass on to the next teacher).

Task initiation-  flexible checklist- also very cool. I found this useful because what I’ve noticed this year, is if I get students started on their work, they’re more likely to continue with ease- it’s the starting that takes some time. Which makes sense according to the executive functioning explanation at the start of the webinar. This app would replace my post-it note, as I would usually segment and chunk tasks for students as required by writing it on a post it note and sticking it to their desk- this would be an easy visual way to remind students what’s expected as sometimes, my explanations/directions can be long winded- go figure.

Tools4studnets- Also super neat, and basically eliminates my need for at least 3 binders my school board has purchased and distributed over the years. 25 graphic organizers on ipad ready to go- audio app typing option is great, very useful and inclusive.  My students would have benefited from this.

Overall, what all these apps seem to have in common is the consideration for universal design for learning. Make everything accessible to everyone and presume competence. It’s all about voice and choice, and multiple ways to represent ones knowledge.

Webinar 2

More knowledge for me!

I am especially excited by iRead iris which changes hard files to electronic. Mainly because I taught a Korean student who had a hard time learning English when she first arrived. I would need to find the worksheet on my computer, put it into google, translate it using an inaccurate google website, save it in word, print it off, iread iris or prizmo gets rid of all those steps, and would even read it to her, how wonderful.

I also like Razz-kids and it’s great to know about Puffin to access it. Another really engaging way for kids to read books digitally.

Word prediction seems super helpful for students as well, we often assume that typing on a computer is helpful enought, but word prediction would be a huge (yet still subtle) help for all students. It’s not like it’s “cheating”, instead, it’s a universal define aspect tied into the gradual release of responsibility.

Book creator- Yay! Nice to see a familiar app (and by familiar, I mean I used it for the past few days).

Again, this webinar is exactly what I needed to see some very useful apps, what they can do, and how to apply them to real life. Really takes the intimidation out of the ipad....but might break the bank once I start loading up my ipad J