Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology makes it easier for teachers to teach students with disabilities. These tools give teachers the neccessary tools for giving the kids what they need to succeed while keeping up with the rest of the class. Such tools may include a timer on the computer to keep students with ADHD on task. The timer would go off every ten minutes and would help remind them of what they are suppose to be doing.

Station 2: Measurement

We measured the height, wingspan, and foot length of each of our group members. We realized that there is a very close relationship to wingspan and height. If our measurements were more accurate, they probably would be the same numbers. The graphs show a close realtionship between wingspan and height, the points area really close together when it comes to these two. There isn't really much of a relationship between height and foot length. The heights were much bigger than the foot length, which was to be expected. Most of our heights were in the 60's and our feet were no bigger than 10 in. The graphs show that these plot points are very much spread out and they don't seem related.

Meebo in the Classroom

Meebo is a quick and easy way to stay in touch with classmates and teachers. It is available on facebook, myspace, yahoo messenger. This tool could helps students get the extra help they need with assignments without even leaving their home. Teachers can keep in contact with thier students as well and update them on assignments and offer help when neccessary. Students could work on group projects together without having the hassle of trying to meet up somewhere, and they could even do projects globally. So if they had an assignment with a student in Europe, they could use this tool to gather information and chat. This tool is a great way to innovate technology into the classroom.

Elementary Tool:The Leap Pad

I looked at the leappad for my future students. I believe this will be especially useful in the students' language development. This innovative tool will allow students to listen to stories while following along and learning how to read and visualize the words. With the touch sensitive pen, kids can toucha word and listen to the eord being spoken aloud. The visual and verbal accounts will make learning easier and more stimualting for the children.
Here is a link to further demonstrate how interactive this tool can be. In this video, a child used the Leap Pad to learn to read and conprehend sentences and words while playing along with the interactive sound effects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS_Bq1PTQ1w&feature=related.
The following website give a tutorial on how to properly use the leap pad, which I found very useful on all the applications for this tool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rWzjGBJn5A&feature=related. I beleive this tutorial is best because it shows all the features with a leap pad instead of trying to explain them all. It is easy to follow along with and very comprehensible.
I would most definitely use this tool in my future classroom

Elementary Tool:The Leappad

Teaching Resource

http://free.ed.gov/

This website is very useful with enhancement. It gives teachers and students the oppportunity to view all kinds of videos and tutorials and even see some field trip like expereinces all on this site.

Rubrics, Graphic Organizers, and Story Mapping

http://www.geocities.com/teachingwithheart/rubrics.html

This website is useful in efficiency because it gives teachers an easy access to tools they may be able to use in their classroom. They can access different rubrics, graphic organizers, and story mappings that can be useful for their calssroom.