Peer Editing
When it comes to peer editing I sometimes find it difficult in catching spelling and grammatical errors because I am bilingual. For my C4C assignment I was assigned Jennifer Whitley’s blog. I honestly could not find any obvious mistakes in that aspect. However if I did find spelling errors or grammatical errors I would have contacted her personally. The reason I would contact her personally with this is I can be a little sensitive about my grammar.
I would suggest that she type up her blog in word then copy and paste it into her blog, then change the pasted contents to HTML. If Ms. Whitley’s blog was to be off topic I would suggest that she write down what her response would be in bullet format then expand on each comment, ensuring that her responses actually correspond to what is being asked. I would publicly post for misalignment of a topic and response to help others that were to possible read this blog post to understand there was some kind of miscommunication somewhere and it could be corrected with positive suggestions.
Assistive Technologies
WOW!! I would have to say I have never seen or heard of a device such as the Mountbatten brail writer this tool is really impressive. As a future educator I would have to place the brail writer near the computers that I would have in my group work center. This would allow classmates’ assigned group projects to work in class without any student feeling left out. This would also help my other students in class to learn to work with fellow classmates with impaired abilities. This would help build character in my class as a whole.
The three million touch pad is a very unique piece of equipment. I would have to say, I would probably make a small modification to the design of the scanner. I would have make the scanner flat like a mouse pad with a supermarket scanner versus the hand held scanner simply to make it a single motion when it comes to scanning and placing the tile on the board.
The iPad Usage for the blind is also something I would use in my class. I am in awe at the advancements in technology to accommodate our extraordinary student. This is truly taking a step in the technological direction when it comes to making the class environment more conducive for students with impairments. These devices really lend themselves to the no child left behind policy. Now all that’s left is to better equip and sync all devices once the students enter the classroom.
All of these devices are wonderful but an issue that comes to mind is the sounds being a distraction. If a student is in class taking notes while the teacher is talking or instructing the class there will be an audible distraction to the students around the class and this can also cause for missed information. I would either adjust the volume on the device if possible or provide head phones. If these proposed augmentations of the devices could not be utilized I would then incorporate breaks in the instructional periods to allow my student to take notes or have them record and play back the information on headsets.
Harness your students’ digital smarts
I love this approach! The students are able to work together, figure things out and teach themselves their classmates and their teacher. This approach to utilizing technology in the classroom really allows the students to be more hands on and more interactive. I really like the idea that the teacher can really get around the room and supervise what’s going on and is able to see who would need more direction and or assistance. My main concern with this approach is how to keep the students on task and on the right sites for the class lesson.
I too feel that correcting my classmates’ grammar should take place in an email, as opposed to in a comment on his or her blog. This will allow my classmate to review the errors and correct them, without attention being drawn to them in the blog comments.
ReplyDeleteI was also wowed by the assistive technology available to students who are blind. The Mountbatten would be an awesome machine to have while including a student who is blind in classroom activities. What I love most about the machine is that it would offer the student independence, which in turn would also boost confidence.
As you addressed in your post, I too am concerned with keeping my students on task and on learning sites. When using a device in the classroom, the temptation of checking the latest feed from a social media site is hard to ignore. On the other hand, as a student myself, there have been times when I could have used a device to look up a particular word I was unfamiliar with or even to check my spelling.
Nice post.
Head phones!
ReplyDeleteYou need to identify the teacher and what you watched. We have no idea from what you have written!
Interesting.
My main concern is also keeping students on the correct websites for class and not sites that have nothing to do with the class. Great blog post. I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteHello Yollette, I agree that cooments should be in the email only if you are correcting them. I personnally don't mind the corrections on my blog because everybody already saw the mistakes. I also think the Brail writer is awesome for people like me.
ReplyDelete