Class # 5

Tonight we finished off the last 2 presentations on apps, that again were amazing! The first presentation talked about apps that could be used for Social Skills and students with autism. A few of the apps mentioned that I thought would be useful in my school was Conversation Builder, Strip Design and Shredder. The reason I really liked Conversation Builder app was because you are able to personalize conversations and make them more real life for the students when they do have those conversations. I really liked Strip Design because you are able to make your own comic strip with actual personal photos and it can be customize easily. Plus, it is only 2.99!! It has been my experience that students like creating comics and I can think of one student in particular who would go crazy over this app. This student always takes out their sketch book when they have any free time in class and sometimes tries to sneak in drawings when I am not looking! I try and incorporate drawing into alot of their tasks and could easily adapt those to include this app! I also took a liking to the shredder app because it is one way students can concretely get rid of their negative feelings, which for some is a huge task to shake negative feelings. Another app I liked was the social express because it has lots of lessons and scenarios for different levels and has a print off feature which I really like. However, I did find this a bit pricey so will research it further before purchasing. The next group who did their presentation on new apps for students with learning disabilities started out their presentation talking about the highs and lows for LD. One point here that really hit home was how these students often look to be fine and are often labeled as those that just do not put enough effort into their work because the disability often does not have physical signs. Often their disability lies in one area and are typically not global, so maybe seen as just not good at or not interested in a certain area. It is very important, that we as teachers, do not make these general assumptions that can really hurt these children! We need to be constantly trying to reach all students in different ways to be better equipped to pick up on any signs of students with LD. As well, I feel their needs to be more professional development offered to teachers in this area if we are to serve our students better! I was very surprised at this groups survey results as only 10% of teachers felt adequately trained in AT. Why is this? Are they not fully aware of the broad spectrum of AT devices, and maybe think software and hardware are the only forms of AT? Even so, again, I feel very strongly that there needs to be more professional development in this area for all teachers, not just Resource or YSF teachers. The classroom teachers need just as much PD as they are the ones that work with these students on a regular basis. I find our student services department does a great job in meeting with teachers and going over the various AT our school has to offer and helps to train teachers on specific AT that they may need to use with particular students. It is great to have this in house support as it cuts down on travel time to in-services, if you have a question you can quickly get it answered and we do not lose precious contact time with our students! It is important to effectively implementing and utilizing AT such as mobile devices and apps with our students. Some of the apps I really liked in this presentation included Math terms, Comic Life and iMovie. Having taught math I really liked Math terms as it seemed to give a great explanation of the various terms being explained and also included visuals!!! Comic Life software for the PC is something I use often with my students that our board now subscribes to. I had a hand in introducing this piece of software to our technology consultant and having licenses purchased. My students love this but with the app it is much more portable and cheaper! iMovie also sounds like a really great app that is really easy to use and I think my students would love. One classmate mentioned that a teacher would not need a lot of time to teach students how to use it, which is a great feature! Both of these apps are only $4.99 which I fell is a great deal! Once again, I was blown away by the number of apps out there and how useful they can be to students in helping all students find success. Now all we need to do is convince people higher up that mobile devices and apps should not be considered a luxury but a necessity in schools!