Helping All Students Through Teacher Websites

Chris Alper-Leroux’s Best Practice piece, Using Instructional Websites to Differentiate, provides suggestions for teacher sites that go beyond the usual “class syllabi”. As a Grade 8 Earth Science teacher, she and her co-teacher have found that using multiple methods for students to access content through their website is engaging for students and results in fewer behavior problems. They use online texts and texts on CD and post “textbook audio clips to the site....”  Their site also features chapter introduction videos; text chapter sections complete with audio, images and vocabulary videos; mid-chapter reviews, and practice tests.  According to Alper-Leroux, [T]he anywhere, anytime availability of a learning-goal based instructional Website, organized to match the sequence of a chapter or unit, allows in-depth, structured remediation for a student working with adults in resource rooms, study skills classes, support periods or outside of the school environment.”

PBS Teacher Innovation Awards

If you are an innovative teacher, you’ll want to apply for a PBS Innovation Award. Twelve teachers from different subject areas and grade levels will be selected to attend a week-long “Innovation Immersion Experience” at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan from July 31 to August 5, 2011. Each winner will also receive a wireless SMART Slate™ and a free PBS professional development course. Thirty-six other teachers will also receive prizes from PBS, and all 48 selected will be invited to partner with PBS and local PBS stations as leaders in classroom innovation. To enter, you’ll need to join PBS Teachers (It’s free.), share your innovative ideas through a video, and complete the application before March 31, 2011. Make sure to read the instructions about uploading of video larger than 3M.

Innovations to Shape the Future of Teaching

the Journal article 2020 Vision: Talkin’ about a Revolution offers suggestions about changes we may see in teaching over the next decade. The ideas come from what are called “a trio of current and former federal Ed Tech honchos” and ed tech leaders. Some of their individual predictions are: students will lead changes and the relationship between teachers and students will change; there will be more collaborative learning; physical space will become less important, but there will need to be places for face-to-face collaboration; print books will still be used, but use of ebooks and online materials will surge; school environments will be less formal; lessons will be more cross curricular; software and networks  will move off-site to the cloud; students will learn no matter where they are; all students will have their own digital devices and won’t have to wait for instruction; and there will be just-in-time access to provide students with the learning, extra help, or enrichment they need. But, with the predictions come warnings. Teacher Eric Marcos, Santa Monica, CA says that because change is so slow in schools, he doesn’t see much difference ahead for schools. Many of the ed tech leaders agree and suggest that we need to do the following: commit more resources to improving and researching tech in education; help communities embrace use of technologies; be able to “package” and “deliver” teaching by, for example, an exceptional fifth grade math teacher instead of having “fifth-grade math being taught by 10,000 teachers across the country every single day”;  create a “new generation of assessments”; invest more in broadband; and make sure teachers connect with each other.

Pearson’s Middle School Interactive Science Curriculum

MyScienceOnline.com is designed to motivate students to learn science so that they will be better prepared for the future and interested in careers in science. The program “enables middle school students to read, write, draw, graph and self-assess…”  Real-world content is in place online, as are videos, virtual labs, games, and interactive activities. There are visual cues and online tools to help students master the content. All students including English language learners (ELL) will find MyScienceOnline an effective learning tool. When using the program, students begin with a Planet Diary, a place to explore and blog about issues related to science. You can try some of the exercises and actually, well virtually, write in your answers in pencil.  To learn more about MyScienceOnline, watch the video that describes the program and check the FAQs. You can joint Pearson’s Interactive Science Mailing List as well.

Skills Inventory for Middle & High School Special Ed

BRIGANCE Transition Skills Inventory (TSI) offers special education teachers and administrators a program to help “support middle and high school students who are preparing to transition out of secondary education.” Offering over 100 assessments, BRIGANCE covers skill areas including academic opportunities, independent living, and community participation. These assessments will be valuable in determining the abilities of special education students as they move into the work force, go on to post-secondary education, and take part in real world situations. The inventory provides age-appropriates and criterion-referenced assessments that are designed to be used in the classroom.  No special training is required for teachers to use the inventory to evaluate student strengths and needs.

Just What Is RTI?

RTI or Response to Intervention is a way of using information in a database to respond to student needs. Although generally associated with students with special needs, RTI is becoming more popular in regular classrooms, for it “is helping educators take a more active role in monitoring student progress.” eSchool News’  Senior Editor Laura Devaney in RTI: Not Just for Special Education discusses the pros and cons of RTI. Some say the system is an excellent way to meet the needs of all students while others find the method difficult to implement because of the “burden” on teachers and lack of funding resources. A number of companies have developed packages to help schools put the advantages of RTI to use. If you are interested in learning more about RTI, you’ll want to visit the RTI Action Network site.

Special Needs Students & Design Programs

Elementary age special needs students in Calcasieu Parish Public Schools in Louisiana are putting Serif Design Suites’ media tools to work.  Using the tools has given the students “growing independence” and “self sufficiency” accorded to Mary Beth Sonnier, School Board Technology Facilitator. Some parts of the Suite are being used to help students with organization, to help non-verbal students keep on track, and to work with developmentally-delayed students.  The success of the programs may be not only because of the types of tools offered by Serif (photo editing, drawing, animating, desktop publishing, Web designing) but also because students quickly master how to use the tools.  As of November 2009, information about this case study was not posted online, but other case studies are on the Serif site.

Follett’s eBooks & AV Resources

Follett, known for its excellent selection of books and materials for libraries, also offers audio-visual and eBook resources.  DVDs, Read-Alongs and audiobooks are included in over 100,000 titles from companies like Houghton-Mifflin, Disney Educational, DK Vision, Encyclopedia Britannica, Harper Audio, Sunburst, and WGBH. The site provides MP3-CDs (over 1000 titles) that eliminate lengthy downloading. For its eBooks, Follett provides an online reader through which students can see two-pages at once. With the reader, students can highlight, bookmark, take notes, and search while reading. Why not test-drive by downloading Call of the Wild from Follett?

Benefits of Recorded Books

You can download the pdf version of Recorded Books Work! From the Follett TitleWave site. The pamphlet contains research information mostly from a study involving 8^th and 9^th grade students and other studies involving research on this topic. The 8^th/9^th Grade study suggested that students listening to recorded books tended to write more in their journals about the books read than did a similar group of students not given the recorded versions. Researchers found that ‘modeled reading’ (parents’ reading, teachers’ reading, recorded books) is an important ingredient in helping students with fluency, readiness, and many of the other skills needed for reading proficiency. Activities involving recorded books and students’ reading to each other increased comprehension, reading rates, listening, understanding of new vocabulary, confidence, and reading pleasure. Recorded reading and ‘modeled reading’ strategies helped students acquire skills to read better silently on their own.

Peter Rabbit on the Internet

Welcome to the World of Peter Rabbit is one of the treasures of the Internet. With its beautiful illustrations, music, animation, and fun; the site treats young and old to visual delights and creative experiences. You and your children can color with Hunca Munca, make a pom pom mouse, collect digital radishes, watch film clips, and meet all the wonderful characters. Activities can be downloaded in pdf format. There’s a section on the site for parents and teachers and a place to order Peter Rabbit products. Another great site targeting Peter Rabbit and the Beatrix Potter books is wiredforbooks Kids’ Corner. There you’ll find ebooks (text and pictures) in English and Japanese and RealAudio stories in English, French, German, and Japanese. There is a Flash Multimedia slide show of Peter Rabbit in English.