Wednesdays with Sam (@SFecich) #spedtech #assistivetech #spedchat

Hello! I am Samantha Fecich, I am currently a Ph.D. student in the Instructional Systems program at Penn State University. This is such a great opportunity to learn, share, research, and collaborate with others in the field.
I was a former special education teacher for four years. I taught at a school for students diagnosed with disabilities. During my first two years of teaching, I taught students diagnosed with Multiple Disabilities. I really enjoyed this class, I learned a lot from my students about assistive technology, augmentative and alternative communication, and accessibility. My last two years I taught technology integration, I would go into each classroom and “push in” technology. With the help of my colleagues, we created a technology rich school, which utilized: several interactive whiteboards, laptop cart, Ipod cart, flip video cameras, and more!
I believe that it is very important to have a repository of resources and links to use in the classroom. Some tried and true sites that you can link to during a class presentation. It is also important to give parents and caregivers access to sites and tools to use in the home to reinforce concepts which are being taught in the classroom.

Wednesdays with Sam does just that. Wednesdays with Sam is a resource for teachers, students, speech therapists, parents and other professionals in the educational field. This site is full of interactive tools, resources, sites, and games to reinforce many different topics. The website  has a countless number of resources separated by subject area on the left hand side. Wednesdays with Sam covers the following subject areas:

• Alphabet concepts
• Animals
• Art
• Assistive Technology (vendors)
• Calendar
• Colors
• Community helpers
• Consumer science
• Health
• Matching
• Math
• Literacy
• Music
• Numbers
• Safety
• Science
• Seasonal sites
• Speech resources

… and so much more!

The site is updated weekly as I obtain new information and resources. I find great resources from Twitter, RSS feeds, Diigo, and some of my own digging around on the net. I try to make sure I cite the original finder of a tool or site and provide a link within my Google site.  This site was as a tribute to one of my late students, Michael. He loved working on the computer at school and at home. He used a single switch to access the computer so he could play educational games, read books, listen to music, and watch videos. I want Michael’s legacy to live on within this site. To learn more about Michael click here.  It is important to have a resources of links and tools to use in the classroom. It is also critical that parents and caregivers have access to these sites to use at home to reinforce concepts. Wednesdays with Sam does just this. I hope that you enjoy the site, utilize it within your classroom, and share with others.
Special thanks goes out to Jeremy and Patrick for letting me contribute a guest post to your awesome blog!

Please feel free to contact me anytime with any questions or comments:

Email: SFecich@gmail.com
Twitter: @SFecich
Google + ID: Samantha Fecich
Blog: Sam's Cool Tools for the Classroom  - I created this blog as a resource for educators, parents, and other professionals in the field of education. The blog will review apps for the IPod Touch, tools for IWB, laptops, and more. Join it and follow it on you RSS!

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