FREE Professional Development Opportunity!

As the end of the year draws near, I realize how much there is to do! I feel I've neglected this blog, but my first responsibility is always to my students. I continue to find new and interesting information and will share. I've written about the A.T.Tipscast from time to time, but I think Chris has really outdone himself this time.

Chris has put together booklets to use in conjunction with his podcasts. Basically his idea is that all teachers/specialists/parents have time while they commute to listen to CD's. By creating CD's of the podcasts they can listen while they drive and then answer the questions in the booklets, to show that they have listened. It's a great idea, and simple (like most good ideas). You can check out the booklets here. After you download the podcasts, you can burn them to CD straight from iTunes. The booklets are designed to fit right into a jewel case. If you are looking for easy, simple, and affordable (free) professional development this is a great option.

Patrick

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Interview with Sam Sennott

Sam Sennott of All Together We can, recently released a new communication system. With David Niemeijer he helped develop Proloquo2Go. Proloquo2Go is a complete communication system for the iPod Touch or iPhone. Before the release of Proloquo2Go, I asked Sam if he would answer a few questions, and he agreed. So this is my interview with Sam:

Let's start off with some background - who you are, where you work (if you want to say), education, etc...

Currently, I am a PhD student in Special Education at The Pennsylvania State University and am focusing on augmentative communication, literacy, and universal design for learning. It is a fantastic environment as their are so many resources here, from experts in effective instruction, to AAC, to Autism Spectrum Disorders, to Transitions, to Measurement and Statistics. I feel thankful and blessed for the opportunity. It is really a dream come true for me, as I have come quite a long way. I originally became interested in working with people with disabilities at age 19 when I volunteered at the Michael Carter Lisnow Respite Center in Hopkinton, MA. It was like a second family for me in no time. I was holding babies with cerebral palsy, leading crafts and outings with adults with developmental disabilites, and starting to learn about teaching and job coaching. It inspired me to get a dual certification degree in special education and elementary education from Gordon College in Massachusetts, a fantastic small school by the ocean on the North Shore of Boston.
From, there I got my first job leading an inclusion program for individuals with more significant needs. It was amazing what we created and it inspires my work as it takes so much to make a program like that work, not just technology or good teaching, but team work on many levels.

What got you interested in Assistive Technology?

My students helped me develop an interest in using technology to help them. It all came together about the same time, as I got my first mac and started teaching. Seeing how I could leverage good teaching with technology to completely change outcomes for my students made me hungry for knowledge.

What helped you decide to start writing your blog? - Alltogetherwecan.com

I love to share, but also I saw it as a way to process all that was coming in. AT, and teaching in general is an endless job and writing is a great way to keep that ongoing learning going in a very tangible way. Also, I knew I had aspirations for a research degree and thought that it would be a terrific way to practice writing before I made that step.

Did you have any inspiration - a specific student, colleague, situation, etc...?

Well, for me there is this growing body of students and their families that I have taught or served. I think of them often and they are the source of my inspiration.

Where did the inspiration for Proloquo2go come from?

It was a bit of a stroke of inspiration actually. The whole concept to "do it", came all at once, but the rest of it was mainly developed during a sabbatical time I recently took where David Niemeijer and I created the system. It was a very fun time of pulling linguistics texts from the Dartmouth Library and thinking deep thoughts in the Vermont woods.

Why did you decide on the iPhone/iPod Touch as a platform?

When we saw exactly how powerful it is and how it has so many things of value to the people we serve: low cost, cool factors, and amazing touch capabilities, and more.

What can you tell us about it's upcoming release?

We have successfully released and are approaching one month. We have had an amazing outpouring from parents and practitioners. The reviews on the iTunes store would make you cry and the emails that we have been getting are simply moving.

As Sam Stated Proloquo2Go is available at the iTunes Store for $149. I've recently received a copy and will be giving a short review in the near future. Check out Sam's blog - All Together We Can.

Patrick

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This I Believe...

I'm a self-described NPR Junkie. I listen on the way to school and back home, on Saturdays I listen to Car Talk; Wait, Wait, don't tell me...; and This American Life. So it won't surprise you that I was intrigued by a series they did called This I Believe... The original series was done by Edward R Murrow in the 1950s, and it was resurrected by NPR. I heard many essays, and decided to try one myself.

This I Believe...

I believe that all children can learn, actually I believe all children do learn. They learn how to get what they want, they learn how to communicate, they learn lots of things we don't want them to learn. Now how they communicate, get what they want may not be words, but actions or the dreaded "behavior"! But sufficed to say, they communicate.

I believe that technology is a bridge to help all students. Technology is not the answer, but a piece of the puzzle. There are many tools to teach children, I personally use low-tech, mid-tech, and high-tech on a daily basis.

I believe independence is key. All students need to learn how to be as independent as possible to have any chance of success in our world today. Independence is a skill that all children should be working on from the moment they enter our school systems!

Patrick Black

You can read many more essays from the original Edward R. Murrow series or the NPR series here at This I Believe.


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iPrompts

I've been introduced to a very interesting program for the iPod Touch and iPhone called iPrompts. Let me start off this post by saying, I have received a free copy of this app. They did not contact me, they did not ask me to write this post. I saw a request for testers and decided to try it out. So here's what I think.


iPrompts is a simple, easy to use, and customizable app. At it's simplest, it has a library of images, and you can show them to a student. It also has a countdown timer, schedule creator, and choice board. The symbols are line drawings, but you can add photos from the iPhone camera to your library. At this time the ability to add your own photos using the iPod Touch is not working, it will be fixed in the next update.

It also allows you to create simple linear schedules and you can highlight the item you are doing at the moment. There do seem to be a few glitches with this part of the app, as I have to leave the schedule and go back to it to add more pictures. With the countdown timer you can set it to as long as you want, as well as put a picture of what the student should be doing during the countdown, or what will happen after the timer goes off.

So far I am impressed with the program, there are a few bugs to work out, but it's still being worked on. One of the first things I did with the iPod Touch I got from my school was to add photos from Boardmaker to make it more useful as a teaching tool. iPrompts allows me to do this in a simple, efficient form.

You can purchase iPrompts from the iTunes Store for $74.99. This is a great program!

Patrick

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Tips to involve parents!

Have a classroom blog? Looking for a way to increase parent involvement? This post by Sue Waters of TheEdublogger is a great way to help with that!

Ways to increase Parent Involvement

It's really a great way to help get your parents involved!

Patrick


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Great Mail Race

In my short absence here, I've found a new site that looks very promising.  The site is called Teachers Connecting.  After setting up an account you can browse projects that other teachers have created.   The projects are opportunities for classrooms to connect for collaboration both short and long term.  One such project is called the Great Mail Race.  Denmark Elementary in Denmark, WI posted this wiki to find out about other schools, it's usually a "snail mail" race but the teacher decided to expand to the web this year.  Take a look at this site, and see how you can "connect" with other teachers!




-Patrick


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