Technology for Dyslexic Students

I chose to explore some content specific technologies over the information literacy option because it will help me with my current students, and it will help me support other teachers to meet the needs of students with dyslexia.  Our district is providing ipads for the teachers and we are encouraged to find useful apps to utilize these ipads in our classes.  I know that by providing ideas for teachers they will be much more willing to use the ipads they have been given. 

I am currently an instructional facilitator working with students with dyslexia.  It is nice that I am working with small groups, however my curriculum is VERY structured and I do not have a lot of time or flexibility in what I teach.  Therefore it is extremely important that I use the technology that I have wisely to make the most of my time with my kids. 

I explored a variety of apps and websites to use with my dyslexic students.  Many of them were drill and practice, which is a huge need for a student with dyslexia.  Repetition is key when helping them develop strategies to cope with struggling with reading, spelling and writing.  Some of my favorites are Lakeshore’s Phonics Tic Tac Toe (great practice with phonemic awareness skills…better for younger elementary students), ABC Ninja (great for letter recognition and the kids LOVE it), Spelling City (fun for spelling review…you have to enter the words and then students can choose games to help them practice those words), Cursive Writing and Cursive Words (good for practicing cursive handwriting), the video camera on the iPad is great for helping students hear themselves read and then determine what goals they want to set for improvement.  I also really like Explain Everything for practice with coding.  I also want to use online jeopardy board templates for review for our concept review cards.  Any e-book reader is great too for dyslexic students to listen to stories.  For the most part these are easy to use tools that can be pulled out quickly and the kids love the practice.  My one hang up I have is with spelling city.  Several times I have tried to input lists and the lists seem to have disappeared.  I’m sure I did something wrong, but if the kids don’t have the words that defeats the purpose of this tool. 

This is challenging to discuss TPACK with these tools because I am not using a specific pedagogy.  I am using the Multisensory Teaching Approach in my classroom with dyslexic kids which involves auditory, kinesthetic and verbal practices to help students build skills that will help them be successful in reading, writing and spelling.  My curriculum is very repetitive and we review every single day.  The content includes everything from alphabet practice, to reading/coding techniques, new learning, spelling, handwriting, verbal expression, review, and listening.  We follow the same schedule every day and each section takes between 3-10 minutes.  I would incorporate these apps to improve some of these specific parts of the days learning.  For example, in alphabet we do upper and lower case letter recognition.  Instead of using our flashcards I would let my students play ABC Ninja.  In reading, we do fluency/comprehension pages on occasion and I would record my students reading aloud and allow them to watch themselves and set a goal for their next read aloud.  In handwriting I would let students practice using their finger and the Cursive Writing app on the ipad to build big muscle memory.  They would then go write with a marker on the white board to show what they practiced on the ipad.  All of the apps I mentioned could be incorporated into my lessons (not all in one day or even in one week, but as needed and as a nice change).  When I allow one or two students to use my ipad, I am working with another student individually on a specific skill.  We then switch and I will work with a different student.  We are constantly working through rotations in my class (one student works with the ipad, one or more at the white board, and one at the table with me).  This way, I am able to individually instruct my students while keeping the others engaged and on task.  For this, I am very thankful for the technology that has been provided.

I realize that this looks very different than using technology in a regular classroom.  It has been a challenge to figure out how to best meet the needs of my students with such a scripted curriculum, however I believe that the students are definitely benefitting from the technology they use in class.  Many bring their phones or tablets and I help them download different apps and e-books to enjoy at home.  We also share a calendar to help keep up with when we have class and when we don’t due to field trips, assemblies and other school events.  I enjoy working with small groups because it is much easier to individualize instruction for smaller numbers of students, however I miss the classroom and the projects and fun ways I would like to use technology.  One day soon I will be in the library and I will face even more challenges with incorporating technology that will benefit the entire school.  I am thankful for classes like these that give me so many wonderful ideas and challenge me to never stop learning!

Creativity Tools

I really enjoyed exploring creativity tools.  I love assessing my students based on work that they have created.  I chose to explore several apps, Sock Puppets, iMovie, Explain Everything and Glogster.  I found pros and cons with each app.

App	Pros	Cons
Sock Puppets	Very easy to use.  You only have to record your voice so it doesn’t take much prep work.  Great for reading responses, explaining steps for a math problem or science investigation, etc.	You only record your voice.  Visuals are already created for you and you can not include your own.
iMovie	My favorite!!  So easy to incorporate pictures and videos, edit timing, add voice over and music.  Students can easily record themselves, take pictures and plug all of their media into iMovie using only an iPad.	Students need to have access to iPads.
Explain Everything	I also love this app!  It’s like power point but more interactive.  You can include pictures, you can write on each slide by typing text or using your finger as a stylus.  You can make a voice recording on each slide.  You can use pointers to highlight information in pictures or text that you have included.	Students need access to iPads.
Glogster	Students can make interactive posters that are very informative and contain lots of great information.  You can include videos, websites, text that you type and pictures.  Each piece of information you include is linked by a graphic that you choose.	I have had quite a few technical difficulties using Glogster.  Sometimes it runs very slowly and doesn’t load work that has been previously started and saved.

Explain Everything is the creativity tool that I would like to continue discussing in this post.  I like this tool because you can have students show their thinking in just about any academic setting.  They could upload a math problem and then walk through the steps of how to solve that problem by both writing on the screen and using their voice to explain the steps they took to solve the equation.  They could do research and make a short presentation of their findings for the class.  They could read a story and do a character analysis including pictures, voice and text to prove their point.  Explain everything takes what students have the capability of doing on paper and adding graphics and voice recording to enhance their work.  I like the idea of having students upload their writing to explain everything and then having other students come and edit and explain their editing so the students have quality feedback.  These types of exercises take a constructivist approach to having students expand on their knowledge or the knowledge of others.  I also like that it is a very user friendly app and you can quickly make a presentation.

In my current teaching assignment I teach a very structured reading class for dyslexic students.   I do not have the opportunity to stray from the curriculum or change the mode in which I teach.  This makes using these creativity tools challenging in my actual class.  One of the skills I work on with my students every day is coding words for reading.  I could see myself making tutorials about different coding rules to help the kids struggling consistently with the same coding rules.  This would be great because the kids could watch my quick presentations as often as needed for refreshers on coding.  I would love to have the students making presentations more, but that is not really my job assignment at this time.

I think creativity tools add so much to the educational experience.  Students truly learn so much when they are able to teach others.  I think creating something for others helps build higher level thinking skills and creativity that will set students apart in the competitive job market.  I am still a fan of using tests and games, etc. for assessment.  Students need to be able to retain information and answer specific questions.  However, when a student can take a concept and apply it and show someone else how to do the same, you know they have really mastered that objective.  Because I realize that all students have different strengths and they do not all process things the same way I do, I am ok with letting my students explore creativity tools that they might enjoy.  One tool that I have never fully embraced is Prezi.  I think that using Prezi for a presentation can be great, however it has always seemed so complicated to me when I believe other apps can make just as engaging presentations for much less of the headache.  However, I would not be opposed to my students using Prezi for their personal projects if they had shown mastery of that specific tool.  When I assign something to my students, I will always give an example and explain how to use the tools I have shown them.  I only offer support though if students are using tools that I have previously taught or explained in class.  This way, they can enjoy freedom to use what they prefer, but they are responsible for making sure the product works and meets criteria.

E-portfolios

In this day and age, a portfolio is by far the way to go.  This opportunity to showcase your work and continue your learning is one that is not to be missed.  With globalization at the forefront of every employer’s mind, I believe that a fluid portfolio will truly aid in helping to set apart someone not only skilled in a certain degree, but someone who has the ability to perform higher order thinking and employability skills that will keep them a step ahead of the rest.  I believe that quizzes and tests, and these paper/pencil type assessments are beginning to be outdated.  Yes, they can be a quick indicator of something that is learned or not, however, what happens when that grade is turned in and the course is over.  Often, the material that has been learned is forgotten and the student has moved on to the next subject or task.  However, if the learning is shown in a manner where the student actually has to give relevant examples and create meaningful assignments that can be saved and used to compare and learn in future situations, the student isn’t closing one door and opening another in terms of learning.  The student is growing and expanding on their schema and constructive learning will be taking place.

As a graduate student, I definitely think that articulating what I know and have learned about educational technology from my academic, professional and other experiences along with providing evidence of that learning with a collection of artifacts that I have created is going to be the most beneficial route.  That being said, this can be extremely intimidating and nerve-racking for a student.  It is much EASIER to be able to answer a question right or wrong.  It is much more challenging AND it makes much more of an impact to show what you know with a collection of your personal statements/beliefs and works that you have completed.  I believe that along with many forms of assessment in education, that a variety of these assessments would be what I prefer.  I believe that learners do have different strengths/or intelligences and that one form of assessment does not allow the learner to truly showcase their full potential.  In the case of a portfolio, a learner could choose a variety of tools to showcase their potential and grow in areas that will most benefit them.

When considering which type of portfolio to use, I believe that in most cases an e-portfolio is going to be your best bet.  The exception would be an artist showcasing their art and wanting to impress with the details and not merely an image.  E-portfolios are so useful because they can be accessed anywhere there is an Internet connection.  The ability to allow multiple people in multiple locations access to valuable information that you want to share seems to be the forerunning reason for using an e-portfolio.  As far as looking at different avenues for e-portfolios, I believe that I am going to initially go with a Google site.  I know that there are options that might be more flashy (such as Weebly and other web site builders), however for me personally, one of the skills I would like to showcase to my district is my ability to use Google and all of the many technology tools they offer.  Our district is currently doing a big push to find people comfortable with Google drive who are willing to help other teachers begin incorporating more of these easy technologies into their classes.  There were several website builders that looked great (web.com; godaddy.com; webs.com) and I would probably look into one of these in the future.  The aesthetics of these websites just seems to be superior to Wikipedia or even Google sites.  I chose to do a website instead of a wiki because I think that I would like to incorporate lots of pictures and videos along with actual writings.

If I was having my students create e-portfolios, I would have them all use the same tool for the first round.  This way it is easier to have a set rubric with standards that are easy to monitor.  It also would help me to be able to assist them with something I am familiar with, rather than having to learn lots of new sites to meet lots of different needs.  I would want them to have the option to use what they prefer, but for a first go around, I would stick with something simple.  (I also teach elementary students who have many more questions than older students.)  I would also consider the technology that I had available before choosing a site for my students to use.  I believe that this would be a huge indicator in making that decision.  Thinking about using this in class is hard right now because I am not currently a classroom teacher.  However, thinking back to my classroom days, I think I would love to start e-portfolios with my higher reading groups.  I would have them write book reflections on book studies that we were doing and include information like a character analysis, figurative language tracking, summary, and point of view pieces.  If I had them continue this for several books they could then participate in text to text comparison more easily and continue learning from books that they had read even earlier in the year.  I’m not sure that this would be considered an e-portfolio, rather than a blog.  I would love to have group blogs where they could comment and post on each other’s thoughts.  I am interested to see how others in this class would use e-portfolios with students.

Here is the link to:

my FUTURE e-portfolio