Assistive Technology Integration

The student I chose to accommodate for in my classroom was Ben. Ben has low vision and as a result has difficulty reading printed text. He needs documents to be magnified greatly in order for him to be able to read them, or he can have the documents read to him. In my first artifact proposal, I was having the class watch a "Bill Nye the Science Guy" video with chemical reactions in it. I would also perform one chemical reaction in front of the class and have the students identify which type of chemical reaction was performed and answer questions about the reactions on a separate worksheet.

In Ben's case, I would like to see that he gets a worksheet that has bigger font especially for him, but still looks similar to the worksheet handed out to the rest of the class. If I had access to a video projector with a screen in my classroom, I would use it to have a bigger projection of the video rather than just a television screen. If that was not available, I would try to have a personal computer set up for Ben to sit near to watch the video. If all else failed, and I still only have access to a television set, I would be sure that Ben could be near the front of the classroom. I would also like to see if I could gain access to a combination of the video projector/screen and a small camera to use for when I performed the chemical reaction. This would allow all of the students to see the chemical reaction from their seats, as well as helping accommodate for Ben without embarrassing him. I know that high school students can be mean about students with disabilities, so I would like to make sure that he was not embarrassed in front of the entire class.

    

Templates for Student Use

In today's workout we explored Templates for Students and I chose three templates that I thought would be useful for my students in my future classroom and in other classrooms as well. All of these tools can aid them in productivity.

1. Presentation for Science Project- This template allows students to make a Powerpoint presentation for a science project, and it already has the scientific method in the template. I would want to use this one because it gives the students a good structure to follow for their presentations in science courses.
2. Student Grade Tracker and GPA Calculator- This template allows students to put their own grades into an Excel template to figure out their GPA. I would want to give this to my students because I know everyone wants to figure out what their GPA is before report cards come out.
3. Homework Planner- This template is a computer-based homework planner that can be used by students. I would choose this because I know I forgot assignments a lot in high school and I think it would be beneficial for my students.

SNOWY Assignment

Here is the link for my SNOWY assignment. (GoogleDocs would not let me add collaborators.)

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgctpdd9_6g8hwd5fh&hl=en

Critique of Danielle's Blog

Danielle's blog described an activity in which the students would do projects on surrounding events of the piece of literature that they are reading, such as Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." After they do the projects, then they would act out scenes in order to understand the play more easily, and they would be immersed in the subject. She did a great job of incorporating the technologies of research on the computer, PowerPoint presentations, videos, and maybe distributing a video to each of the students. All of these make teaching more effective because the students have a hands-on approach to a difficult subject. It also makes teaching a little more efficient because the students are helping teach the other students in their class with their presentations. Lastly, the students acting out the play enhances their learning experience through emphasizing the points Shakespeare makes in the play. They must have an understanding of the characters, which will in turn give them a better understanding of the play.

Standards Workout for Lab 3

For this workout, I used the Indiana STATE standards in Chemistry I, which is a high school course.
I looked at standard indicator C.1.7, which is to “use appropriate nomenclature when naming compounds.” The objective of this particular lesson plan was to get students to “predict and write formulas of stable ionic compounds. Students will then name the compounds using appropriate nomenclature” through an activity that lets them create their own balanced chemical equations and then name the products of those equations.
The way the activity works is that kids can use their knowledge of how chemicals react with each other to come up with a compound that they can name based on the things they have learned in class. I found that a way to integrate technology and interaction into this activity was to make it into a game, like Wheel of Fortune. There is a PowerPoint presentation that is a simple but effective way to incorporate technology and a game into the classroom. (http://tre.ngfl.gov.uk/server.php?request=cmVzb3VyY2UuZnVsbHZpZXc%3D&resourceId=15069)The classroom would need to be divided into 8 teams, and then I would “spin the wheel” to see who starts off with a balanced chemical equation on the board. Then, as each team comes up with their equation and the name of the products of the equation, they would get points for correct answers. This would be a great tool to encourage teamwork among the students and also be a good review for using nomenclature when naming the chemical compounds.
Although there was very little technology integrated into this activity, using a PowerPoint presentation made the class more effective in that the kids are having fun with the game by making their own equations rather than just filling out a worksheet. It also makes it more efficient by saving paper and using less time than making copies of a worksheet. Lastly, this lesson is enhanced because of the simplicity of the activity to teachers who may still be new to up and coming technologies.