Google R&W Assignment and Article Reflection

Google Read&Write Assignment 

Today's class was spent very productively creating our website for Assignment #2.

Our group (Wendy, Amanda, Allison and myself) decided to create a website in Google. This was my first experience doing this type of website so I was glad that Amanda had done one previously. It is always nice to collaborate with others and utilize everyone's talents on an assignment like this. I am looking forward to it all coming together. 

Article Takeaway

Because our class today was dedicated to the assignment, I thought I would take the time to read and provide my main takeaways from one of the articles that was suggested for us to consider the research aspect of Assistive Tech.

Edyburn, L. Dave. Ph.D.(2003). "Learning from Text" from Special Education Technology Practice.

The idea that students are pushed along through the education system based on an ideal "normal" or "typical" learner profile and that many are not able to reach their full potential simply because they haven't learned how to read or interpret the material in the same way sounds irrational. Unfortunately, this happens all the time. We push students through, concept after concept, even when mastery hasn't occurred and expect them to continue to compensate and play catch up throughout their schooling careers. 

Performance variables:

"What should be done when a student fails to learn necessary information because he can’t read the instructional materials? Given the value placed on curriculum coverage, common educational practice has been simply to assign a failing grade and move on to the next topic." (Edyburn, 2003)

If you only have a certain amount of time to cover one subject and you have students all at varying levels of comprehension and reading skill, then they will all learn and get through material at different times. Teachers are bound to have students that will simply just "fail" but will have to move on. General Ed. classes have a "one stop fits all" approach with modifications and adaptations being implemented by the classroom teacher and supporting teachers but clearly the model needs tweaking. We have to be able to incorporate specialist teachers into the classroom environment more so a team approach can be taken to help those students access the material appropriately. There seems to be a lack of resources and time for this to occur in a manner that will serve students appropriately. 

"What happens when a student fails to learn to read? Historically, educators search for different instructional methods or materials. Seldom do they raise the question: Are there other ways of performing the task? Routine failure to attain appropriate levels of academic performance should trigger assistive technology consideration. That is, compensatory strategies that use 

technology to enhance performance." 

(Edyburn, 2003)

I feel like this quote links in with the UDL approach of designing lessons and curriculum that all students can access. Students would be able to utilize tools needed to take in information, process it and then produce whatever assessment task is being asked of them. If we approached activities in this way, our "struggling learners" or students needing more time to engage with material or students needing to approach learning in their own way would be given opportunity to show us what they know, instead of being set up to fail in the current system that still heavily relies on paper and pencil tasks, and read and response type activities. 

"The paradox of assistive technology...is that while members of an IEP team are mandated to consider assistive technology possibilities, limited knowledge about assistive technology often deprives the team of opportunities to actually consider the full array of technology possibilities for enhancing performance. Further, since the question of remediation vs. compensation is implicit rather than explicit, decision-making about the use of technology to enhance performance is often suspect." (Edyburn, 2003)

This 'paradox' is how I feel currently with the state of knowledge and comfortability of teachers working with students needing assistive tech to access their materials. 

For many teachers, they are still working from the paper and pencil type tasks and many are rigid in the preparation of course work for their students. Adapting and changing their "ways" to accommodate students needing assistive technology is going to take a shift in thinking and embracing the fact that these students are going to be successful, it's just going to look different than it has in the past. 

Reading & Writing Process- Class #2

Class #2- Reading & Writing Processes

Another great class today. I always leave feeling invigorated and armed with new ideas for my students!

I really enjoyed starting the class off with the videos that we watched so we could get a glimpse of research and the process of reading and writing and how it relates to the brain. 

The first video was "Secret Life of the Brain" a video series that depicts brain processes from birth to senior age. The video we watched was about how language is acquired and how we process syllables into sounds.

My main take away was that reading just doesn't "happen". So many brain processes are being used to be able to read text on a page. It was also eye opening to consider how someone who has dyslexia, whose brain is simply wired differently, would have such struggles to learn how to read and write in the traditional way in which we have taught such skills.

Someone who is dyslexic may not ever understand that words are multiple sounds blended together. The ability to do this is a fundamental skill to be able to read. So naturally, we must develop strategies to help these learners. It was interesting to see the research being conducted about how people can adapt and begin to use different parts of their brains to be able to read with more accuracy, dyslexia and all. 

The second video featured Maryanne Wolf and it was entitled "Embracing Dyslexia." This really added to the previous video and went into more detail about the brain processes in people with dyslexia and how their brain works differently while they are reading. 

I really liked her passionate delivery of her message "A dyslexic brain is a very fine brain with different organization." 

"It's not the child's fault they aren't learning, it's ours. Our job is to find ways in which to teach each child how they are going to learn best."

My main takeaway was when she was talking about how there is the assumption that if a child doesn't learn how to read (like a typical student), then that person is "stupid". One's ability to learn to read (in the traditional way) does is not linked to intelligence. This is such a huge piece to the puzzle that many students who are struggling to learn how to read like their peers, feel on a daily basis. I really enjoyed seeing the program being delivered to the whole class and to start from the earliest ages in Arkansas. It was eye opening to learn that people can have life long problems if they can't read by third grade. 

I hope that in Nova Scotia, we will be able to have more professional development and support in our classrooms so that we can meet the needs of all learners, particularly at a young age and if there are struggling readers. 

Three main takeaways from today's class:

t

1. Proprioception (the 8th sense!) 

After the discussion today, the idea of Proprioception came up and I've been reading about this as apart of my own professional development this year as a new learning centre teacher. It really does play a huge role in student success. When considering AT matches for users, it is imperative that we consider all the ways in which the user will interact with the technology, and whether or not certain technologies will be the best for all. I currently feel like the "go to" default is to hook a student up with Google Read&Write and then see how they adapt. I am realizing that there is so much more to the whole process! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2iOliN3fAE

2. The act of writing itself:

"Take the Pencil out of the Process" Leslie Broun, Educational Consultant, ASD

I thought this article was very interesting and pertinent to today's discussion about the writing process. Some students benefit from having the mechanical process of writing taken out of the equation for them to be able to produce a  meaningful piece of writing. Two quotes from the article I thought were pertinent:

"Keyboarding, in this day and age, is a critical life skill. There are several engaging and entertaining keyboarding programs available, both commercially** and in schools. This is a critical life skill which should be begun as early as possible." 

"The important thing is to recognize when a student’s struggles with the pencil are interfering with her/his intellectual output and to provide the alternative of the keyboard. Instead of practicing printing “longer, harder and louder,” provide a sensible and do-able alternative. Instead of printing practice, allow keyboarding practice. It is also a skill that, in most situations, can be practiced at home."

I currently have a student on my caseload who immediately came to mind when I read through this article I've been thinking about different ways in which we could support him. He has had a recent ASD diagnosis and is in grade 1 and struggles with writing production (the physicality) but has many great ideas. These are being lost and he is now "behind". My fear is that as he moves on, without the proper intervention, he could be placed on an IPP unnecessarily. 

3. Read&Write and mainly "speech to text" option is not the end all and be all of assistive writing apps. I feel like sometimes this is the only thing the student is shown or knows how to do but when we were talking about keyboarding skills being practiced or having the student use voice memos first as way to introduce the speech to text feature, this made so much more sense! If a student is able to record their voice to get what they want to say out there, especially where many of them struggle with speech to text at first, they would be able to hear themselves, slow their rate of speech and are able to better plan their thoughts. They need explicit training and practice, they will not just magically be able to produce what it is we think they should. 

Task analysis for Writing Process:

(I now understand that there are many many more steps to this from doing the reading analysis last week, brain synapses that have to occur, activation of many brain processes for me to able to physically write something with pencil on paper) Such a complicated and difficult thing to do that we take for granted if we have had no issues with this type of learning. Here are the steps I came up with:

• Get idea to write, think about audience, think about the why?
• Brain is sending signals to hand and fingers to grip pencil
• Start at top left hand side of the page
• Form squiggles that resemble letters from our alphabet and create words that communicate my idea, access to vocabulary
• Space words accordingly so they are legible to audience
• Use appropriate grammar and syntax and spelling conventions so audience can read what I wrote

Remediation and Compensatory Apps/Extensions to help support and engage reluctant readers. 

In technical terms: 

t

Remediation-the act of remedying something, reversing or stopping something in the form of teaching or therapy.

Compensatory Strategies- environmental modifications or strategies that are used to improve impairments in attention, executive function, and various cognitive skills.

These are the ten apps Amanda and I looked at:

Endless Reader:

This app is a great way to engage early readers. Children can learn sight words and begin to understand context through different puzzles and animated letters that come alive when the child interacts with them. This app can be used in conjunction with Endless ALPHABET which focuses solely on letter sounds and identification. This is a remediation app.

Dragon Dictation: 

This app is a speech to text app designed to help those with fine motor difficulties. This would benefit learners who are able to communicate their understanding and ideas but cannot generally produce written products to show their thinking. This app is compensatory. 

Squiggle Park: 

This app is subscription based but available on all platforms, desktop, chromebooks and ipads/tablets. It is designed for lower elementary or early readers. The game leads students through monster "worlds" and allows students to be fully engaged in unlocking levels and earning squiggle points and rewards. It tracks student progress and provides resources and mini-lessons to focus on for individual students based on their performance in the app. It focuses on building phonological awareness strategies. It is a remediation app.

Dreamscape:

This app is linked to Squiggle Park and is designed to service grades 3-8. It focuses on comprehension skills and strategies so it does involve higher level thinking and does require that the students have a base knowledge of reading. It can be used on multiple devices and platforms. It is a remediation app. 

EPIC:

This app is all about books! It is accessible through the web or on tablet devices and is for students mainly 12 and under. It is subscription based and has many different formats of books, such as read to me features, videos, read alongs. It can be used as an engagement tool for reluctant readers. This a compensatory app. 

Hearbuilder:

This app is a paid online subscription. It is focused on developing a student's phonological awareness. It can track progress and allow teachers or parents to see how the student is doing in the program. It is a remediation app. 

Homer:

This app is an online subscription based app. It works to develop phonological awareness and tracks a students progress. It is a remediation app. 

This app is a paid online app (monthly) but can be set up for children (generally 3-8 years). It focuses on teaching phonetics through stories, songs and different activities. It allows you to choose their interest and choose their level of learning as well. It is a remediation app. This would be good for home practice. 

Pocket Phonics:

This app is a free phonological based program. It is geared towards younger students and users are able to practice matching sounds to letters. It is a remediation app. 

Spelling Wizard:

This app is a free app available on multiple devices. It is good for students learning cvc words and is good for practicing identification of letters and words. It uses pictures and letters to make words so it follows the dual coding theory. It is a remediation app. 

Blio:

This is a free app that is an e-reader and highlights text. Readers can highlight, change font size and the view. It would be good for people with visual impairments and reading disabilities to use. It can help students with attention span issues, poor working memory, who struggle with writing notes while reading. It can improve auditory attention and visualization as well as builds vocabulary. This app is compensatory.

Looking forward to next class...stay tuned!