Presentation

On the last day of this project, I thought that I would do a little reflection on what the Julia Cook presentation meant to me.

First, I would like to give a helpful link to one of her pages that I found, which is where you and I both can purchase books that she has writte. The site Julia Cook Online Books is based on her materials that she has done on her own, or has had a little help with. I think that this is a good site to have in my inventory becuase of some of the things that she has written about. One of the books that she read to us durring her presentation was about a therapy horse who helped young adolescents with their emotional or physical issues. The book Straight from the Horses' Mouth by Juilia Cook had nearly made me cry. The book just seemed very emotional, and it supported children as well as adults who needed help the most.  I think that this story alone would be a good book to have in my classroom so that children would be able to have the book read to them, or even read it themselves so that they could see that maybe they are not the only person who has such an issue, or mainly that they can seek help to talk about their issues even if it's not with another human being. Animals such as Therapy Horses do help certain persons with emotional and physical issues, and I think that this book was very insperational for the topic that it was about.


Another thing that I wanted to mention related back to what Mrs. Cook spoke about at her presentation. She gave a lot of help for supporting children who have emotional and behavorial issues. She mentioned children with disabilities and how we can support them in our learning environment. She gave a five step model that gave some good aspects of what  may affect student's desicions within school as well as outside. She gave supporting information about schools, students, parents, peers and other external aspects that effect a child's moral development.

Overall, I enjoyed her lecture and a lot of her materials that related back to issues children may face. Her books can help in many ways, from disorders and anger issues, to proper eticate while being around people, such as not picking your nose in public. I enjoyed her lectures and I think that her books will be making their way into my life soon.

Something new

While looking online today, I was trying to find something about Technology, and how it inhances the lives of children who have disabilities. However, I was scrolling through pages on google and found a store site instead. The site Flag House offers many different items that children, young adults and even the elderly can use in and out of their homes and school.

These scissors are adapted so that they can cut paper with less energy being used, and with children who may have a gross motor disability, this product would be great to have in the classroom.



This area could be used for two persons, so if there may be a child with a behavioral issue in the classroom, and all of the students have 'buddies' you may want to consider sitting the child closer to one of the kids that he enjoys!


And of course they have other items that the children can use inside and outside. Now, kids can even go to the beach in adaptive wheelchairs.

The All Terrain Vehicles category is very helpful, but there are plenty of other areas on this website that can also help change and improve upon the functioning of daily activities for special needs students. They have from scissors and hand writting materials all the way up to swimming pools, at home trainers and even helpful rugs and portable bins. I think that when I become a teacher, I may suggest this site to parents, but also use it for a materials listing for my own classroom.

50 Must-See blogs!

I was looking for some nice blog sites today when I stumbled across a site that holds about fifty different blog connects, all dedicated to Special Education strategies, lessons, experiences and more. The site 50 Must See blogs displays a bunch of fun information and links that you can take in order to browse through nearly any idea of special education that you want to.

I looked over the site and found a link, I believe it's number one on the list, Reality 101, by a few different special educators add their input about some very real facts, such as religion in the classroom, or even the unfortunate passing away of students. This particular blog page supports many different aspects of the student's life, and brings to the table some truths, good and bad.

Assistive Technology is another blog that I found relatively nice to look over quickly. I think that this blog's focus was mainly about different ways that technology could influence lives of students, as well as their teachers. The person on this page gives different levels and improvements on technology within the classroom, from the Ipad/Laptop to the simplicity of a desk top that can house multiple objects inside of it. What interested me the most was his work on the Epson PowerLite915W. He goes onto mention that the projector, makes a lot of his presentation and speeches at a nearby library a lot less troublesome, and that the connection of his laptop or device to the projection allows for a lot less complication.

These blogs are something that can be refrenced in the future, and I think that they will be a nice addition of information to my already growing archives.

A 'maybe' site...

I was looking around on the internet today for a new article, but came across a resource instead. After spending a few minutes looking over the page, I found that it could be 'not-so' useful to myself or others in the future.

The website, ISER.com provides multiple links to other websites. I was looking under some of the areas and found that a lot of the site is based off of advertising for areas around the US that service a mulitude of dissabilites throughout different stages of life.

One of the sites that I was searching for was under the category of Special services for daycare and early learning. The site it took me to was sensitive sitters one and it offered a short list of criteria that the organization tried to offere all of it's costomers. However, the site did not have  a lot of background information, was not highly decorated, and only gave contact information.

I think that this would be closer to an example of a website that I would look over at a quick glance and take a critical eye to. I think that some of the sites and services that this web page has to offer may be just a quick link search, however, I think that maybe if each area were further looked into, it may provide helpful supports.

Resource

While roaming the web, I found a website that hosts many different helps and supports for children with disabilities. One the KenCrest site, there are many different links that you may feel free to look over.

The site hosts three main categories, a section for young children, youth and adults. I focused more on the children's link, since I found it to be a lot more interesting than what I had originally thought about it.
Under the section that's dedicated to 'Early Intervention: Birth to age 3,' I found that this site offers many helpful materials to parents or families who work with children with special needs. The KenCrest application allows for aids and early childhood educators to go to a persons house in order to work along with the student in order to keep them 'moving along' with proper care and basic understandings. They work within the house hold environment until the child is to the age of three, and from there will help with intervention placement methods.

The site offers many different resources, such as:  social work, speech and launguage therapy, special instruction and many others such as OT, PT, and nutritional values as well as behavioral supports. The KenCrest teams are developed to work with individuals who have behavioral, learning, developmental as well as other difficulties.

I think that this site would be something that I would be able to have a parent look over as a resource, should they need to find a supportive placement for their child. The KenCrest site also has areas that surpass the early intervention stage, so it is not as if this site would only be useful to paretns or gaurdians who have a child under three years old. The site is devoted to help other age groups throughout their developmental ages.

Website with songs and activities.

The website that I found today is Dream English, and it goes along with some sing along songs that can be used within the education classroom. The artists' name it Matt R., and his page begins with an introduction to the site and how special education teachers have actually thanked him for his music. The MP3s that he has available to download for multiple uses within a classroom can be found right here and has a specific song called Days of the Week.

I like this song because of it's even pace and the imagery that it gives to the audiance. I think that it's a great sing along that special needs, as well as general ed. kids can follow along and even enjoy listening to.

However, the site also hosts other enjoyable materials. When I went to the main part of the website, which can be located here, it took me to a page that displayed different grade levels. I was very interested in the different criteria or 'problems' that they were hosting, and decided to test out the first grade section. It then prompted me to check out the 155 different skills and took a look into the area. Looking over the problems listed as A.6- Counting by 10s to 100, I was brought to this page, which in turn, gave me different practice problems that I could then preform in order to count to different groups of 10's, 40's, 90's and the likes. The images were given in groups of 10's and it was nice to have the images all clumped together so that if I needed to, I would be able to still place my finger on each group in order to better count them. Also, I think that with the images and the grouping, it would allow for any student to see the different images, as well as having them participate in an online game, which may help them to be more enthused about it.

Learning Menues from Differentiated instruction

Today I was looking over different Differentiated instruction videos. I found on the Teaching Channel website a short video about different strategies to use within the literacy activities in a classroom. The instructor for the lesson on modified graphic organizers is named Mary Vagenas and she teaches seventh grade social studies.

 The idea that the classroom teacher came up dealt with 'Learning Menues.' The learning menue comes from the restaurant menues of getting an appetizer and Entrees. The teacher uses each section of the rubric to show the main outlines of a story such as sequencing. The 'appetizer' of the story would include the first outline of the paragraph. These details may include, who is the main character, or which region is being focused on. The next area would then move onto 'Entrees' and so on. In each area, there will then be a break down of classifications of what was read within the text.

With completion of each area of the Learning Menue, there is clarification of what needs improving. Content understanding is developed in each section, which is assessed through quizes and understanding. Since each section cannot be completed until it is checked by the teacher, this allows for more details of what the task needs to have in it. Another good aspect to this method, which is mentioned by the kids, is that it can be done at their own pace, which allows the students time to process and understand the information that they are recieving from their research.

I thought that this video wasn't exactly something that reflected special needs, but could just as well be used as an adaptation in order to help clarify information for any group of students. This could also be broken down into a task analysis at some point, and made even easier within a classroom.

Sonoma County

Today I was looking online for a website that would give me a better database for more policies on Special Needs programs. Although I was looking for areas around Erie, or even PA, I did manage to 'expand' my searching further.

What I found was a programing system that encircled an entire county. The county of Sonoma has an Office of Education that strives to devote all levels and fields of education for all special needs students. The SCOE programs website is listed right here, and gives a great amount of not only detailed plans for all of their students, but also school information and qualification for staff, as well as students. The different programs on the site can link to other parts of criteria that explain options such as Elementary, Transitional, Job Services, and other types of schooling that students will need throughout their life span.

I was amazed of the information that was given on some of the pages, and I think that this was a very interesting website for me to have found. I was looking to stay within Erie, but I know that I may also need to expand my job searching for other areas as well. I'm not too afraid to travel to another part of the state in order to seek a job I know I'll be happy in, and I'm happy to have found another area that has such high standards as well as high policies and care for their students. This would be something that I may just have to look into for my future.

Classroom Materials

Today I found a good cite that hosts many different classroom materials for students who have ADHD and other special needs. The site: Childswork/ChildsPlay is actually a webpage that teachers or even parents would be able to buy materials from.

This is one of the material items that the page hosts. You would be able to buy this book, and use the different articles, resources, puzzles and games within it to study different topics that the children may face. Some of the topics that the book gives include friendship, recreation, family and school succcess.


Other books such as this one would be a good use to other students with impulse issues, focus problems or thought organization. There are other examples given in the summary of the book, but the main focus of this activity book would help to stimulate the child into doing their school work or calming down. This book also gives some helpful strategy hints as to how to help maintain the child's focus as well as calm them down should they need to.

The site also gives many other resource materials, such as posters and an array of activity books along with reading materials. This is a great site to have on hand should extra activity books or simple methods be needed or supplied within the classroom. I think that this is an excellent source to have at my disposal.

Pancake Manor...

Pancake Manor has already been posted on my blogger pages. They are a small kid's band that make and post kid's songs with different aspects. One of the songs that I picked today deals with the examples of BIG and small items.



The Big and small song by the Pancake Manor group shows different examples of the same items, but only at different sizes. They use a photo graphed picturen of the two puppets sitting in a chair in order to show 'small' refrences, and then the image of the two photo graphed in a rather large chair, where the two puppets only appear to be a few inches high. Another example they give of big and small would be with the compairison of a moose, with it's actual height in real life. They follow it up with a picture of the blue puppet holding a toy moose in his hand, which is a representation of something small.

This can be used to show kids the different variations in one group of objects. I enjoy the videos by Pancake Manor because they offer a good chance at comparing, giving examples and easy to sing a long to songs!

A good Website for songs!

While searching the web today, I found a great site that hosts many different songs that teachers from all disciplines can use within their classrooms.

This site has many different lists (which are all sorted by categories) to help teachers or even parents to find different songs to incorporate within the class. The song: My Hands are for Helping by Linda Conrad is really short much like the others and is about how hands should be used for helping others, even when hearing a happy song.

The different songs are to the point, and this site even gives examples of the songs, and written up lyrics. I was able to download any of the songs or embed them to this site, so I assumed that they were protected by specific copy rights. However, I would like to do more research on the song becuase I think that this site would be a good resource to use in my future room. It's informative, easy listening, and could possibly be used to help with calming children down.

Musical Therapy

While looking online today, I found a short article relating back to the use of Musical Therapy for Autistic students. This site is just a one page summary of how music can affect the mind of young to older persons.

The main focus is how it can help children who have autism. It will help them to find better outlets, such as using fine and gross motor movement in order to sing or dance along with a melody that they enjoy. It helps to socialize them with verbal words and sing alongs. Playing a song that they can easilly get motivation from to get physical can also help students to relieve stress along with helping them to learn or focus on an activity.

Music can help to stimulate their senses, and children who have autism may find it easier to sing or dance or even listen to a song rather than try and listen to a lecture.