Educational Challenge Outline

An outline of our project so far....

Educational Challenge:The Lifecycle of a Silkworm
A universally designed lesson plan…
By: Sara Kass, Pantea Makabi, Jessica Suarez & Kara Hodes

The Class
1st and 2nd graders with varying ability levels and needs
Lead Teacher Patti Arturi and Teaching Assistant Lynn
11 students total (2 with visual impairments, 2 using wheelchairs, 5 with fine motor difficulties)
Cognitive abilities ranging from sensory to grade level

The Challenge
“Any grade & curriculum appropriate science or social studies lesson/unit that uses differentiated instruction strategies to maximize student learning and understanding would be appreciated.”
– Patti Arturi

The Unit
The Lifecycle of a Silkworm
Addresses concepts related to 1st and 2nd grade Science curriculum, extending into Social Studies and Art
In Science, students will observe and document the lifecycle stages of the silkworm
In Social Studies, students will learn about the history of silk production and trade in China
In Art, students will create visual representations of the various lifecycle stages of the silkworm

The Lesson Plan
This lesson plan reflects the unit’s final lesson and culminating activity
Concept: Lifecycle of the Silkworm
Advanced Organizer: PowerPoint, Review of previous lessons and observations

The PowerPoint Presentation
The PowerPoint presentation reviews the lifecycle stages of the silkworm and provides an interactive way for students to check their understanding of the lesson. Students receive instant feedback after responding to questions about the silkworm lifecycle and are offered clues to help guide them toward the correct answers.

Materials: Silkworms, Silkworm food (Mulberry leaves), Tupperware (for silkworm habitat), Workbooks, Various art materials (i.e. clay, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, cotton balls, paper, paint, paint brushes, pencils, markers, crayons, etc.)

Anticipated Outcomes: Students will create visual representations of one lifecycle stage (egg, larvae, pupa, moth) using various art materials and complete a workbook on the lifecycle of a silkworm.

Instructional Procedures
The class will be split into four groups (group members should be of varying ability levels to encourage peer tutoring). Each group will be assigned one of the four lifecycle stages. Students will chose from available art materials and work together to create a visual representation of their assigned lifecycle stage. After completion of the art project, students will work individually to complete workbooks on the lifecycle stages. Teachers will review answers with each student and make corrections where necessary. Students will display art projects and booklets on a community bulletin board to display their learning

Method of Evaluation
Students’ understanding of the lesson/unit will be evaluated based on: Their final art projects, their completed workbooks

Universal Design Concepts
Students will observe the silkworms using multiple modes of exploration; students can observe and describe the silkworms in visual and/or tactile terms (Size, shape, color, texture, etc.) Students will have access to a universally designed PowerPoint slideshow (interactive, information presented using words, pictures, & audio) presented on the Smartboard. Students can complete their silkworm observations using various methods of expression (computer, through drawings, writing, cutting & pasting, etc.) Students have their choice of materials/ mode of presentation to use in creating their final art project. Students can complete their final workbooks using various methods of expression (computer, drawing, writing, cutting & pasting, etc.)

My job for the week is to begin working on a PowerPoint describing our "Educational Challenge" project to share with the class...we have outlined our unit (on the lifecycle of the silkworm) and specific lesson plan and placed our order for the materials. Now we are just working on consolidating all of our ideas into a cohesive final project...we are each going to work on a specific aspect this week and then meet next week to review and revise.

UDL Unit/Lesson

Our group met today and put together an outline for our UDL unit/ lesson. We are doing a unit on the life cycle of the silk worm. We plan on outlining our general ideas for the unit and then detailing one lesson plan that is intended to be the unit's culminating activity. We will be providing the teachers with silkworm eggs and a supply of food for them. We will also make suggestions for additional materials that could be used depending on what supplies the teacher has in the classroom. We have incorporated several UDL principles into the lesson, such as multiple modes of expression in how the students participate in and produce their final project. We want to create a lesson that will be lots of fun but still ensure that every student meets our stated goals and objectives.

Kurzweil

I have been working on the alternate formats activity- I think Kurzweil is a very cool program however I have encountered several problems with it. First of all, I was not able to find a tool that would allow me to circle pictures on worksheets as opposed to circling text (all I found were the Circle Red and Circle Blue tools). Also, I found that the program was not able to recognize a lot of the scanned text and I had to go back and correct a significant portion of the underlying text. I also had trouble knowing which reading unit to select (word, sentence, phrase, line, etc.).

Kindle

Recently watched an episode of Oprah where she talked about this new product available on Amazon.com called the Kindle. The Kindle allows you to download all kinds of books and newspapers so that all you have to carry around is this little device that is about the size of a clipboard instead of heavy books. I was thinking this could be a really good product for a student with a physical disability that makes it difficult for them to carry around a lot of books. The Kindle has tools that let you highlight and take notes and you can download the books for less money because you are not paying for paper (green too!). For more info. check it out on Amazon.com....http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FI73MA/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=2520235735&ref=pd_sl_20wgx685w_b

CAST eBooks

Just finished checking out the universally designed CAST ebooks...very cool! The first “UDL feature” I noticed as I began to explore the CAST book selection was the “Select a Level” box that pops up on the right side of your screen as soon as you select a book. The choices range from Maximum Support (‘Stop and Think’ prompts are given in multiple choice format, critical features are highlighted, models and hints are available, immediate feedback is given for responses) to Minimal Support (‘Stop and Think’ prompts in given in open response format, students are guided to highlight key elements in the text themselves). This page also offers a brief description of the book you have chosen and then offers readers the option of accessing further information (in multimedia formats) on various topics (such as more about the author) through embedded links that can be followed by clicking the buttons to the right of the description that look like plus signs.
Once you have clicked on the “Start Reading” button at the bottom of the page, the first section of text appears. At the top right of the screen is a toolbar that allows you to highlight text, translate words into Spanish, or highlight sections of the text and then perform a Google search on them. You can also have the text read aloud by clicking on the text-to-speech option. At the top of the page the user can click on buttons offering Strategy Support (i.e. predicting, summarizing), a button called Author’s Craft which helps explain the use of literary devices, a Glossary button, a Resource button, and a general Help button that offers help navigating the CAST website and using its features.
Within the actual text, certain words are underlined and allow the reader to click on them to view a definition of the word. There is also a symbol of pencil and paper that follows certain sentences that contain literary devices; the reader can click on this symbol to see an explanation of the literary device. To the right of the text, there are symbols that look like thought bubbles and symbols that look like plus signs. The thought bubble icons are the ‘Stop and Think’ questions. The reader can click on them and attempt to answer the question which is presented in different formats depending on the level of support you have selected. The questions are designed to help the reader stop and check for their understanding of what they have read. The user can click on the “Show” button at the bottom of the question to reveal what sections of the text will lead them to the correct answer (sections become highlighted in orange). Clicking on the plus sign icons again provides links to further information on certain topics. If the page contains an image, the reader can also click on what looks like a blue lower-case “d” to read a description or explanation of the image. At the end of the selected book, the user is presented with several enrichment activity options that require the reader to think about what they have read in different ways; this page can be printed out and could be used as a worksheet or homework assignment.
Overall I think the CAST books seem like a great example of UDL. They are easy to use and offer flexible options in terms of level of support and mode of presentation (i.e. the text-to-speech option). They provide an alternative means of completing schoolwork and participating in classroom activities and can be used to explore individual interests and practice using the internet to access information. They also provide opportunities to practice basic academic skills (such as reading fluency) in addition to critical thinking and problem solving through the ‘Stop and Think’ questions and enrichment activities.

Classroom Suite

Just finished exploring Classroom Suite...seems like a great program. It easily meets one of the primary goals of computer use in the classroom which is to provide students with an alternative means of completing schoolwork, participating in classroom activities, or demonstrating knowledge. For students who do not respond well to traditional teaching methods and/or classroom materials such as completing pencil and paper worksheets, Classroom Suite offers an alternative way of presenting information and of allowing students to interact with the material and express themselves through multiple pathways. Classroom Suite can be used to teach basic concepts and academic skills, to allow students to practice these skills, and to assess students for mastery of a skill or concept using a three-step process: 1) Show Me, 2) Practice, and 3) Challenge. In the Show Me stage for example, teachers can create video sequences of themselves modeling the activity or skill which students can watch as many times as necessary. In the Practice stage, teachers can use a tool called Unit Builder to create a sequence of activities for students to complete in working their way toward mastery. In the Challenge stage, teachers can lock certain features in order to assess the students’ performance on certain activities and determine mastery of the skill or concept. The program can also be used to track individual students’ progress.
Classroom Suite can be used to support students in almost every curriculum area including reading, writing, and math. In each area, Classroom Suite offers ready-made templates that can be used as they are or modified to meet the needs of individual students using the program’s three main components: IntelliTalk, IntelliMathics, and IntelliPics. In addition to making every lesson customizable, Classroom Suite offers a variety of tools to provide access to individuals with a wide range of abilities. For example, students who have difficulty using a keyboard or mouse can use scanning features to navigate the program using a switch interface. For students with visual impairment, emergent readers, or for students who have difficulty reading, Classroom Suite offers features that can provide students with audio feedback using various speech, talking, and read aloud options. Other features such as visual displays, sounds and music, level of difficulty, and content are all customizable and modifiable. We were able to see many of Classroom Suite’s accessibility features being put to good use by the team who worked with Sapphire. For students whose needs still are not able to be met using the program’s built-in features, there is an Additional Access Kit that can be purchased as a supplement to the regular program to provide even more options for access.
In addition to being easy to use and extremely adaptable, Classroom Suite makes it easy for teachers to share the materials they create using the program. Teachers can visit the IntelliTools’s Classroom Activity Exchange (http://www.intellitools.com/) to view activities that other teachers have created. Teachers can then modify these activities to suit the needs of the students their own classrooms.

How to post a PowerPoint?

After viewing everyone's PowerPoint assignments in class today, I wanted to try to make mine available on my blog but I can't figure out how...any suggestions out there? The only options I see are to upload a picture or a video, neither of which will work for a PPT...

Photostory Poem

My Photostory poem:

Clipmarks

After listening to Susan Fridie's lecture I explored a couple of the different bookmarking tools she reccommended on my own. I agree with Holly's comment on the Blackboard Discussion that Clipmarks seems to fit my needs best in terms of organiziation. I like that Clipmarks allows me to highlight information that I know will remind me of why I bookmarked the site in the first place- it seems to serve as a combination of Kaboodle and iLighter features all in one.

I created a topic on my Clipmarks page (http://clipmarks.com/clipper/Karamel625/) entitled, "Election '08." I have recently been researching Obama and McCain's education policies for another assignment and so I decided to use Clipmarks to organize some of the sites and information I have been finding. I think this could be a useful tool for future research projects because I often find myself overwhelmed by all the information out there and struggling to remember which sites I liked best and where I read which information, etc. Maybe Clipmarks is my answer...

Ergonomic Workspace Products

After completing the self-assessment on the Cornell website, I came up with a list of products I would need to buy in order to make my computer workspace more "ergonomicallly correct." If I were to make all of their recommended changes, my shopping list would include: a) a new chair that adjusts for height; b) an external mouse and keyboard for my laptop; and c) a headset for my cell phone. Although I did check out a couple of the websites posted on blackboard, I found it easier to simply search the web for each product by typing in keywords like “ergonomically designed desk chair” into a search engine. Using this method I found several reasonably priced chair options from a website called Sitcorrect.com. This website allows you to select a chair based on amount of use, type of use, style, and price range.
For an external keyboard and mouse, I was able to find many choices just by going to the Toshiba website (since my laptop is a Toshiba), however when I expanded my search a little more I found some really interesting products that were specifically designed with ergonomics in mind. One company I found is called Ergoguys.com; their website offers many different ergonomically designed keyboards. Another site called EnableMart.com offers many different mouse options. For a cell phone headset, I searched the Verizon website since I have a Verizon phone. Their website had a variety of different models, any of which would do the job in eliminating the risk of neck strain as a result of cradling.

Second Life Snapshot

Me, Holl, and Elina in the chapel...

$1 Invention

My less than $1 invention was using a paper towel as a coffee filter. My roomates and I have actually been doing this for weeks because we keep forgetting to buy coffee filters. It's very handy because most people always have a good supply of paper towels on hand because they can be bought in bulk for very cheap.

Class Expectations

I expect that learning to use Assistive Technology in the Classroom, specifically in teaching students with disabilities, will be invaluable as a new teacher in our current technologically driven society. My previous experience in working with students with autism both in one-on-one and classrooms settings has familiarized me somewhat with a few software programs (such as BoardMaker and various educational computer games) and their potential uses in facilitating communication and engaging students in learning by providing a stimulating and interactive alternative to print materials. New and innovative forms of technology can serve as useful tools for teachers, but additionally, enabling students with disabilties to feel comfortable using these tools themselves also allows them to participate in an important part of today's culture. I look forward to becoming more familiar with the many programs now available to teachers and to gaining a better understanding of the Universal Design for Learning philosphy described in this week's reading.