Toondoo

One of the neat things about the internet is how you can easily create new content and publish it.  Toondoo is a website that is fairly straight forward and allows you to create a comic strip.

Ideally what I would use this for, is to have my students create a comic strip of something they learned, and that would be the Authentic assessment that I would grade them on.  This would be an easy project to implement because it is fairly low cost, as in free, and it allows students who are not able to draw an opportunity to  be creative.

There are a few drawbacks though, this type of an assignment requires lots of planning.  I personally would have a rubric ready to go at the start of this assignment.  I would also, make sure to teach my students the basics of how the website works.  Another drawback is, that since this is in the cloud, you are at the mercy of the internet.

Pintrest!

So, I had the brilliant idea as a New Father, with a new job, that I had enough time on my hands for a masters degree.  So, I am not only doing all that, but I am finishing up an EDTech class, that started before Christmas.

One of the things I am working with is Pintrest.  Now if you are not familiar with Pintrest, let me bring you up to speed.  It is a way to pin ideas to a digital bulletin board.  You can look at other peoples boards and copy pins, you can add your own pins, and you can even have secret boards.

In both my Masters and my EdTech cohort, I have had to to do work with Pintrest.   The process is very simple to get started.

First navigate to http://pintrest.com
Sign up for an account, and then tell Pintrest what your interests are.

As a Sped Teacher, I spend a great deal of time looking for ideas to help my students, and I create boards to save those ideas.  Here is a look at some of my boards.

One of the homework assignments was to create a board for Autism.   I was to also look for different Pins to help me address my students with early intervention.

Here is a look at that board.
  http://pin.it/yUuKgh6

One of the really nice things about Pintrest, besides it is free, is that it is very visual.  In fact, a lot of the time, just by seeing the photos, I get ideas on how I want to attempt a project.

Let's be honest for a second, this site is not just for women.  It is great for men too.  In fact, I have found a bunch of things that intrest me, on this site, that isn't work related.  Lots of projects, DIY, and shooting sports ideas.  So take a look at it.

Audio books & reading....

Garrett Jackson

     If you have been following me on Twitter, you will surely know that I have been swamped with work, and my new born son.  In fact, having my first child has taken a great deal of time away from personal projects such as this blog.  It will continue to do so.  So while I may not post as often as I would like, I will continue to work on this project and I hope, to add a great deal of information to the education community.

    With this being said, I want to tell you about a couple of books that I am reading. Both books are extremely interesting to me and I wanted to share with you  how I  plan to adapt the lessons to the classroom.

     Any book you read, be it nonfiction or fiction, offer you an opportunity to help you in your classroom.  It could be you learn about vocabulary, you learn about people, or you simply are able to relax and enjoy something not related to work.  It all comes down to your personal growth.  I don't mean the endless "sit and get" professional development that we all hate.  Take for instance the book The Lincoln Lawyer.  Here is a work of fiction, that has nothing to do with being a Special Education teacher.  The premise if you haven't read the book or seen the movie is about a Lawyer who is hired to defend a client on a murder charge.  In the course of the investigation he gets information that is not accurate.  He moves forward to defend his client, but is ambushed with the actual facts of the case. (If you are a SPED teacher, you may be starting to see the parallels.) Moving on and not to ruin the book, but the case reminds him of one of his first cases where he did not do his best work as he was new to the profession.  As a SPED teacher, I found myself relating to the main character in his professional life.  Here the similarities revolve around the fact that both SPED teachers and Lawyers are advocates for people.


     While I am reading the paperback of The Lincoln Lawyer, I am listening to the Audio book to Spy the Lie. Many people do not think that listening to an audio book is the same as reading, and that may be true, but I found that I am able to have a great more access to good information when I can multitask.
   If you exercise you most likely listen to music while you work out.  Before moving to the Northern Mariana Islands, I delivered Pizza's for Pizza Hut.  I was able to listen to a number of books on my drives to deliver food to the many people in need. (Shameless plug here, but if you order food for delivery, you need to be tipping at least $3 for the trip, even if there is a delivery charge.  The people who are delivering your food, barley make enough to cover gas and vehicle repairs.)
     I found my Audible account to be a worth wild investment, and I also found that many of the topics I was listening to were in preparations for my classes that I taught. So as a SPED teacher, who taught students with low reading skills, I would play excerpts of the audio books to help my students.  It had an amazing impact on what knowledge the were able to retain.  It also helped students expand their vocabulary, and learn how to pronounce words that they did not use on a regular basis.
      So that brings me to Spy the Lie.  I have to say, I like it.  It is one of the most interesting books that I have listened to in a long while. While I am learning about how people can be deceptive, the book is making me reflect about some of the body language  my students use in the classroom and what it is telling me.  It is teaching me how to read body language.  Something that we as SPED teachers sometimes need to pay more attention to those nonverbal cues than we do.    While the book does not specifically talk about people with special needs, I am doing a lot of reflecting about how my students use body language to communicate with me and their peers.  I am also trying to frame the lessons of the book in the context of IEP meetings so that I am better able to understand what people are trying to tell me.
    Anytime you can listen to a book, read an article, or sit down with someone new, you have an opportunity for self-enrichment. Think about how much time you spend in the car driving, or working around the house.  Can you break up your routine and add a audio book?  Try it!  Audible.com offers a free audio book to try out the service.  As to reading a paperback, I love to do that too.  Reading stimulates my brain in a different way than listening does, but I find both to be great ways to improve myself.