I got to start today off with another presentation - Help with Those Classrooms. I had the opportunity to present with the ladies from Aimee Solutions, and special education professionals from several local districts. We had to chance to share how we are using the Take and Teach Language kits in our classrooms. I think some of the best parts of what we shared were how other professionals like SLP's and Social Workers use the kits on a regular basis. Please take a moment and check all the offerings from Aimee Solutions.
9:20 - Sorting Through Portable Reading System - Kelly Fonner, Scott Marfilius, Donna McNear - This session focused on looking at all the options available on the many commercial and educational portable text readers. It was extremely thorough and looked at options for both those with and without visual impairments.
During the vendor time today I came across the best product of ATIA - Conceptua Math - Developed by Arjan Kalsa, who also created Intellitools Classroom Suite. It's a set of activities designed to teach about fractions, and so much more. The first question I asked Arjan was "why fractions?" and the answer was surprising. Basically, the understanding of fractions includes all the basic math skills that students need. I was very impressed with the activities, software, data collection, and concept. I'll be blogging more about this product soon. It deserves more than a paragraph. Until then, please check out the website - Conceptua Math.
During the afternoon I attended a great session by Lisa Lajoe-Smith - Math Strategies and Beyond. A very engaging presenter, who informed us that in Kansas you cannot call them dice, they are random number generators (wouldn't want to promote gambling!). She share very practical and easy ways to encourage and engage students in math lessons. Lots of great ideas! Make sure to check out my notes for some of the ideas.
Probably the best session so far was a very impromptu one, and AT Smackdown! Karen Janowski of EdTech Solutions put together this very informal session. It was an open mic, and anyone who had an idea or tool could get up and talk about it for 2 min. There were a ton of great resources shared, too many to count. We have audio from the session and I'll be posting it as soon as I get it transcribed. Look forward to a post with lots of ideas!!!
Still a few more sessions tomorrow, so look for one more post. Don't forget if you are interested in seeing notes from the sessions I've attended you can find them here - ATIA notes.
Patrick
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