Technology is such a common possession in modern days. One can take a walk on campus and look around. He or she will see many students on their cell phones or typing a paper on their laptops. Technology is not only used for leisure, but also for help in the classroom. Assistive technology is technology used by those with disabilities, so that they can better perform their every day needs. They can range from walkers and wheelchairs to mobile devices. The articles I chose were “Why Wordle?” by Steven W. Anderson and “5 Back to School Must-Haves for Innovative Educators” by Dana Lawit. Anderson explains why “Wordle” can be a helpful tool in the classroom and Lawit describes five helpful items to enhance learning in the classroom. Both articles engage the students in different ways than a plain lecture would.
In “Why Wordle,” Steven W. Anderson explains many different ways which “Wordle” can engage the students in the classroom. Straight from wordle.net, “Wordle is a toy for generating ‘word clouds’ from text that you provide.” One teacher said “I hate the question, ‘What are we doing today.’ I give word clues about what we are doing in class.” With “Wordle” the teacher can ask the students what they will be working on today. The teacher can insert key words and terms for discussion that day, and put more emphasis on the more important words. The students can then use the “Wordle” document as a study guide when test time comes around.
“Wordle” can also be used as an art project. The students could each type a poem or some kind of creative writing into the text box. They click “submit,” select the colors and what directions they want their letters to go, and it is a piece of art. Integrating the different subjects, such as art and math, or art and social studies, is also an important aspect to assistive learning. A student may understand one subject, but not another. Putting the two together can get a child who automatically shuts down to a certain subject, more awake and willing to participate. Also, some children are turned off by the plain white paper and spelling lists and homework assignments. “Wordle” can be used as a fun way to type out spelling words. Making the learning environment more fun for the students, will make it more fun for the teacher as well.
“5 Back to School Must-Haves for Innovative Educators” by Dana Lawit combines the five items she believes are most important for a classroom to have. Her top five “must-haves” are: a digital voice recorder, Google voice, Google Templates (through GoogleDocs), Libervox and Odiogo, and flip video cameras. Sometimes students have a hard time remembering their thoughts for a paper to write or a test to study for. With voice recorders they can make themselves a reminder and make it easier to write papers and study for tests. Google voice is similar in that students can also record their voices to remember important information. It is also a way for parents and teachers to keep in contact throughout the year. It works as a cell phone and allows one to leave messages for and talk to one another. One suggestion was to “give them [the students] a reflection question for homework along with you Google Voice number. All their answers will be saved as audio recordings that are easy to share online.”
Google Templates helps teachers give the students all the information they need to be successful in working on a project. A teacher can write up a template for a paper or project and the students can use the template and just fill in their information. It is an easy way for the teacher to give feedback to his or her students immediately, rather than waiting to take the papers home and grade them for the next day. “Libervox is a site that provides audio recordings of texts in the public domain.” This is especially helpful to those who are lower reading level than the book itself. Odiogo converts online text to speech, which is helpful for a teacher because he or she would save much more time printing articles, and helpful for the students because they can listen to the text rather than read it themselves. Lastly, the flip video camera is helpful for video presentations and also interviews. It is small and fits into the USB drive of a computer.
Many of these devices and websites are important in the classroom because they help the students become more engaged and excited to learn. Many of Dana Lawit’s “must-haves” cost some money, but funding and grants are available for teachers who wish to engage their students in this way. “Wordle” is a free website, so if the funding is not available, engaging the students in this way is not impossible. Some of these items are not thought of by teachers to use in the classroom, and it makes me excited to start teaching!
No comments:
Post a Comment