Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Pencil Labs

The latest edition of Technology & Learning includes an article called, Teaching Tech Literacy to the MySpace Generation. In it, Chris Lehman, principal of Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy (a new high school) says:

We need to get away from the notion that computers are something we go use in a lab once a week. When was the last time we sent kids to a pencil lab?

Just because a kid knows how to use a computer and knows their way around the Internet doesn't mean they understand how it will transform them as students and learners. Every school should have kids asking, how does this technology change the way I'm a student, a learner, a citizen?

The point is that even though our kids are digital natives, that doesn't mean that they know how to effectively use technology as a tool to facilitate their learning.

Technology really does change everything. But, my concern is that we are assuming that our students know more about the technology than they really do. Are there features that promote learning (use of color, use of voice, writing tools built into Word, etc) that they need to have explicitly taught? I think so. And this blog will continue to address some of those features while promoting my conviction that technology tools help our struggling learners have access to the curriculum and demonstrate what they know. Inflexible media paper texts and paper/pencil tasks create too many obstacles for too many kids.

The technology is available. Let's use it but let's always remember that it also needs to be explicitly taught.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Celebrating our Strengths

This short video, "Raising Small Souls," came from an assistive technology listserve to which I belong and it is important enough to share with parents and educators everywhere.

It speaks to the power that we have, as educators, to encourage (or thwart) our students' unique abilities and strengths. There are many truths in it that we just accept as reality. My approach is always to identify and build on student's strengths. Use what motivates and engages them!

There are so many possibilities....

Thursday, November 16, 2006

MassCUE - Keynote Address by Dave Warlick

Dave Warlick and Will Richardson both presented at MassCUE here in Sturbridge, MA. What excitement they generated with their enthusiasm and sharing of new technologies!

I'm blogging Dave's keynote - Some of his points as he creates the workplace of the future:

We want our communication technologies to be portable, to be carried with us.
We are generating about 5 exabytes of new information and only .01% of that information is printed. Teachers, we are spending too much time teaching with old technologies.

We know almost nothing about a future that we can't clearly describe. Things are changing too fast. The dialogue we need to have as educators is what do students need to learn today to prepare them for their future.

Stop integrating technology and integrate literacy! Our students have access to information at a rate and volume never before possible.
Wikipedia includes warnings that this information may not be true or may be inaccurate or may not be neutral. Do our current media sources include warnings that this information may not be accurate?

We need to expand our notions of what it means to be a reader in the 21st century. Literacy meant being able to read text from textbooks. This defintion has changed and includes digital literacy.

If he was still a fifth grade teacher, he would have his students use Wikipedia as a resource. He would ask his students to access the information from Wikipedia BUT also ask them to prove that the information was accurate.

Reading now means: Find the information, decode it, critically evaluate it and organize it into a personal digital library.

He then dazzled us with how the world of numbers has changed. It was so fascinating, I was mesmerized. He grabbed data from his website and imported it into Excel and showed how numbers tell their story - in this case the earthquake history for December, 2004 - a precursor to the Tsunami.

Technology can be used so that numbers can tell a story. Math is processing information in order to add value to that information.

We must teach our students to be responsible consumers and now, producers of material.

How do we get our message through that storm of information that our students live in?

Writing expands into expressing ideas compellingly!

He showed a video produced by a high school student to convey the message of the global economy. The power of audio and video!!

Our schools have become factories if we remove art and music. We have got to teach our children how to employ information, expose truth and express ideas. The fourth subject, beyond reading, writing and arithmetic, is Ethics. We must teach our students Ethics.

He has adapted a code of ethics for our students:
  • Seek and express the truth
  • do no harm
  • be accountable
  • respect and protect the information and its infrastructure.

Conclusion - Redefine literacy. Think less about the machine and teach from the new information landscape.

Where are we investing in the next century? Standing still is the same thing as going backwards.
Today the world is the curriclulm and there are new technologies to teach our students.
Education reform is when teachers realize that teaching is retooled every single day. Modernizing our curriculum.....daily!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Free Text-to-Speech Tool for Word

Kathy mentioned a product that I was unaware of that highlights text as it reads it in Word and that is FREE!

Check out WordTalk which is mentioned at the Open Source Assistive Technology Software website (OATS).

This product has features that I have been looking for in a free product. It works within Word and within OutLook, offers voice flexibility, HIGHLIGHTS words as they are read, and customizes the highlighted color. It also offers a TALKING spell checker and a TALKING thesaurus, two necessities for some of our students. One of the shortcomings of the text-to-speech built into Word is that it doesn't highlight as it reads. This is tremendous that the option IS available in a free product.

Add it to your tool bar and it is always available. Very cool! Thank you, Kathy, for suggesting this.

I will be presenting at MassCUE tomorrow and will definitely mention this free add-in!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Failure is NOT an Option

I've been quiet in the past week because of other professional development commitments. In the course of spreading the gospel of technology for ALL learners including our students who struggle due to cognitive issues, learning issues, developmental issues, etc., I keep hearing how little technology is being integrated into the classrooms to promote learning and independence.

Why is this?
Is status quo working?


Is dictating to an adult preferable to independently creating written expression using technology which may incorporate embedded prompts, verbal cuing, text-to-speech, a preferred font, the ability to customize the appearance, so many factors that can make written expression engaging!

Is having an adult read the text to a struggling reader who may be reading several grades below her class preferable to having the student independently access the text using reading software that is customized at a rate that works best? Will students say, "Excuse me, I didn't get that - can you read that back to me?" Or, will they independently highlight and reread the text on their own when provided the opportunity for independence?

We know the answer! So, why aren't our struggling students able to access these tools? It's time for advocacy!

Dependence is not an option.
Failure is not an option.

There are other options and many of them are already available in the classrooms. It's just that staff are not trained in the integration of these tools. A great place to start to learn more is through reading "Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age," by Rose and Meyer.

Another great place to start is to explore all those features built into Microsoft Word including text-to-speech (although it does not highlight as the words are read). There are resources and tools that are readily available and easy to use.

There are other excellent products such as Clicker 5, IntelliTools Classroom Suite, Kurzweil 3000, Read and Write Gold, WordQ/SpeakQ, and SOLO by Don Johnston

Let's work together to truly promote student learning and independence.
Failure, on our part, is not an option.