Blog Post #3

Peer Editing

Paige Ellis's blog post on Peer Editing was very informative and useful for me. For our first C4C assignment, I had a similar case to Paige's situation, but was unsure on how to approach it. My first instinct was to help the student out through constructive criticism. I held myself back only because I remembered Dr. Strange mentioning that we would begin peer editing this week. After reading Paige's blog post, I have determined that I will be emailing the student I was assigned to last week in order to assist them in their future endeavors. I am emailing this student, because I want to be helpful so that she will avoid making the same mistakes in future blog post. Having correct grammar is a key to establishing credibility among others that read your blog, who may have little to no prior knowledge or you. Paige Ellis's post on peer editing was very useful for me as several of my question were answered.

The video, What Is Peer Editing?, and similar PowerPoint, Peer Edit with Perfection! Tutorial, were helpful as well. What I found to be most helpful is the way in which to go about peer editing and criticizing another's blog post. They both outlines the three steps to peer editing as: 1. compliment the author, 2. give the author suggestions, and 3. correct the authors blog post. These are important to remember in order to avoid sounding mean or hateful when peer editing one's work. They also have several things to remember: be specific and stay positive. Being positive is important because many people will tune a peer out if they are negative or mean, but peer editing in a positive manner means a more receptive author. The video and PowerPoint gave me several suggestions to remember when peer editing a post made by a fellow classmate.

Assistive Technologies

The video, Assistive Technologies for Vision and Hearing Impaired Children, was inspiring. The video demonstrated students using the assistive technology equipment in the classroom. The video was also a call to action for teachers all across the world. The last scene in the video was the saying: "It is time to take the plunge, step up, and be surprised. Don't give up on the kids you can help, support, and enlighten." This video pointed out that the sky is the limit for these children and it is their future as well. As future teachers, why shouldn't we be willing to learn these adaptive technologies that will allow even more students to have a brighter future.

The Mountbatten Braille Writer was a very neat piece of technology. Before watching this video, I was unaware that such a piece of technology was available to blind students. This piece of technology allows students to type Braille including a space and return key on the machine. The machine will also connect to a PC in order to save documents. You can send files to the PC and files from the PC to the machine. The machine also incorporates an audio feature that allows the blind student to hear the text as well. This piece of assistive technology would be especially useful to allow a blind student to attend class int he regular classroom. It is pieces like this machine that encourage inclusion for all students. I would use this machine to allow the student to do his or her assignments; as well as, have the ability to use worksheets or handouts the remainder of the class receives due to the text to audio feature. This machine opens up many doors for blind students.

Art Karshmer video on his system to teach blind students Math is wonderful because it opens the door for many blind students to succeed and experience math and science courses. Without Art Karshmer invention for revolutionary system to teach math to blind students there is little to no way for them to learn math in the classroom setting. Without math, these students are also unable to learn science due to its basis and usage in mathematics. I believe that through continuing to advance his project, Art Karshmer will be able to create a system that blinds will have the ability to learn through algebra and even beyond in the future. Each school with a substantial special needs or blind student population should consider investing in just technology. This system would open many doors for these students that haven't previously been available to them.

I really enjoyed the fact that the first video on iPad technology for the blind was demonstrated by a visually impaired person. It is very interesting to see a basically unedited video of a visually impaired individual demonstrate use of the iPad and technology available to group of individuals. One of my favorite features of the video is that iBooks will read a book to the individual. Just as the visually impaired individual indicated this is invigorating for them to be able to read books and even imagine the pictures as the iPad describes the images on the page. The mom using the iPad to learn how her little boy uses the iPad as someone who is visually impaired is something that us as teachers should all be doing. As future teachers, I believe that we should all experience and experiment with assistive technology in order to have a better understanding of what our students experience. This will allow us to also teach and design lessons for them in a more effective way. Assistive technology has opened up a word of opportunities for visually impaired individuals.

Vicki Davis: Harnessing Your Students' Digital Smarts

The video, Harnessing Your Students' Digital Smarts, was very intriguing for me. Two of the first things that I noticed were that the classroom was made entirely of computers and an interactive whiteboard and that the students were probably seventh or eighth graders doing these projects. Fairly early on I also noticed that she made a point to say that as a teacher, we do not have to know everything before we teach the material. She was allowing her students to teach her what terrogramming is. She knew nothing about it before entering the classroom, but allowed her students to teach her all about it. I thought it was neat that she would not tell the students every definition or step to what she was asking. She expected them to look it up and learn themselves. Vicki Davis was creating students that would be lifelong learners.

Vicki Davis did not underestimate her students ability to complete the projects and assignments she gave them, but she was not giving them assignments to fulfill a course standard or requirement. Her projects served a dual purpose to gain a new understanding and perspective. Her students were able to interact with students from all over the world on blog and Wikis. Vicki Davis has shown me to not limit myself of what my students will have the ability to do. She has also taught me that learning from the students is just as important as teaching them. We should not be afraid to learn from our students because of roles that are assigned or because of age. We can all learn from each other as long as we are open to the idea.