Voice Recorder

One of the things that I do to make my life easier and to help the students is to read tests out loud to them. I have always used Audacity to do this, but the problem is that I have not always had a computer to do this on. The other problem is that I occasionally have paraprofessionals read it for me which means that I then have to train them on how to use Audacity. Hopefully I have found a solution with the new Sony Digital Recorder that I found. Now instead of having to search for a computer, I can just hit the record button and read the test. It is pretty sweet. I will make sue to keep blogging about how it is working.

Entry 43: CPS/Clickers Presentation

Tomorrow I am going to be presenting to a group of teachers on how to use the clickers in their classroom. I know I have talked about this in previous posts, but s you can see below I now have a powerpoint that goes with it. Again this is a quick and easy way to see if students are meeting their IEP goals.

Cps Clickers

View more presentations from Lance Huebner.

Entry 42: Quia

Today I am giving a presentation on one of my favorite programs ever: Quia. It is a great program that lets you give tests online and breaks the data down for you. What a fantastic program and even better after the updates.

No More Grading Tests

View more OpenOffice presentations from Lance Huebner.

Entry 41: Metaphor Poems

Today my students wrote and posted some metaphor poems comparing their family to either a zoo, circus, or items in a refrigerator. They really seemed to enjoy it and some have even started their own blogs. I am quite excited about the results so far. If you want to see the poems click below.

Metaphor Poems

Entry 40: Photostory

Next Friday I am going to be giving an inservice on using Photostory. If you haven't used this software before, you are missing out. It is a program that allows you to use pictures and make a movie. I use this in my classroom quite often for my students to show some science processes. I will put in 4-5 different pictures and have them place them in the order they occur. Great way to study for tests. You can see my presentation below.

Photo Story For Beginners

View more presentations from Lance Huebner.

Entry 39: Assistive Technology Podcast

I recently found this podcast posted on my facebook group page and found it to be quite good. It is done by a guy who just talks about the latest assistive technology that is out there. Check it out.

Assistive Technology Podcast

Entry 38: Classroom Blog

It has been about 5 years since I last taught a communication arts class, but this year I finally have the chance. So what my big plan is right now is to have the students help update a classroom blog. The blog might be anything from what we are doing in class, sharing some writing that they might have done, or even what book they might be reading at the moment. The plan right now is to have one student update the blog every Friday. I think this might be another great way for them to get excited about writing. If you would like to follow or even leave comments the link is below.

Room 118 Blog

Entry 37: Zoom It

I found a great new free download from Microsoft called zoom it. What this program does is that wherever your mouse is it will magnify that part of the screen. It does this just by hitting ctrl and 1. What an awesome screen magnification tool and again it is free where some products cost hundreds of dollars and do the same thing. The link to download it is below.

Zoom It

Entry 36: TechNet Conference

Today I am attending and presenting at the TechNet conference. It is a great conference and I am really learning a lot. One thing that I found today that I am going to use is a free program from Microsoft called Zoom It. This program with the click of a mouse will zoom in to any part of the screen you like. I will download it later and give m thoughts on it.

Entry 35: TechNet Presentation

On Thursday I am presenting a session at TechNet titled Technology and Special Education. You can see the whole powerpoint below.

Entry 34: Using The Clickers

Today I worked with one of the science teachers and administered a pre-test using the clickers. She had a total of 112 students who took the test with the clickers. We made this easy and just did a fast lesson which means that instead of putting in the question, we just put in the answer. The students then had a paper copy of the test sitting in front of them and they just keyed in the answers on the clicker. We even had each student showing up on the computer, so we could see which questions they got right and wrong. We did this in case anyone didn't understand how to use the clicker, we could see and go over and help. It worked well and it is a whole lot easier than grading 112 tests. I will blog about the results when we look at them.

Entry 33: CPS/Clickers

On Tuesday I had the chance to sit in an all day district tech meeting. During this meeting I had the chance to play with the clickers. What a great way to get students to interact with the lesson and also get immediate feedback on how well students are learning the information. For those that have never seen or heard about clickers they are basically handheld devices that allow you to answer a multiple choice question that is on the screen by submitting your answer on the clicker. You can make the test any way you want and afterwards it gives feedback on how each student has done. I am looking forward to trying this next week with my resource communication arts class.

Entry 32: Assistive Technology Video

Below is a great video that was recently in Edutopia that shows how assistive technology can be used in the classroom. Click the link below to view it.

Assistive Technology Video

Entry 31: Another Political Game

One of my good friends showed me this game that really helps show students how the electoral process works. Great game where the students actually compete to become President of the United States. A great tie in with your social studies lesson. Check the game out below.

Elections Game

Entry 30: A Poltical Game

A friend of mine emailed me this link that I thought was great. The link gives you statements that each presidential candidate has made and asks for you to click on the one you agree the most with. At the end of the survey it lets you know which candidate you have the most in common with. It is a great game that I know I will be using in my classroom. Check out the link below.

Presidential Candidate Link

Entry 29: The Blog Question

Now I have many people that do blogs and even incorporate it into their classroom. I even did a wedding blog so all of our distant relatives could keep track of what was going on. Whenever I do a presentation though, the one question that I keep getting asked is whether or not kids actually do blogs. My response to them is asking them whether or not the students in their class have a Facebook or MySpace account. If they do have one of these than yes they are blogging because each of those accounts has a blogging feature to use.

Now many of the students we work with have a tough time expressing their feelings. In my mind a blog is the perfect way for them to do this. It basically gives them a chance to write out what they are thinking and at the same time they can come back at a later time and reflect. What a great idea for ED kids huh. Do you have any other ways you are using or can see using blogs in your class. Let me know.

Entry 28: One Note

How many of you have used one note before? How many of you have papers just laying all over your desk and you can't find anything when you need it? Well this year I have begun using one note and it is making my life much easier. One note is a program put out by Microsoft that allows you to make separate folders for each student and allows you to take notes over them. The best example I can give is that each student on my caseload has a separate folder for them. In each folder I have a copy of their schedules, a copy of their classroom accommodations, a copy of their testing accommodations, a copy of the parent contact sheet, a copy of their IEP, and a copy of parent/student concerns. Now instead of going back to a folder to get the information, I can just get on my computer and pull up everything and jot my notes down on it. Great program that I will be talking more about.

Entry 27: The Team Blog

I am extremely lucky to teach in a district that embraces technology as much as mine does. Everyone in our building has a blackboard website and they are expected to maintain it. Our teachers are very good at this and actually go above expectations. The only problem we ran into is that you could never access the sites from just one place and also the websites were just so long to remember. This year I decided to change all that by starting a blog that will keep parents informed of what is going on with our team. Just another way to communicate with parents. You can see the link below.

Team Blog

Entry 26: My New Project

The last 4 years have been very hectic for me when it comes to my job. I am all about the teaming concept, but I was never fully on a team. I always worked with 8th and 9th graders, but this year is different because I am just working with 8th graders. This is nice because I am finally able to keep better track of the student's on my caseload and also apply some of the technology things that I have always wanted to do.

The one thing I have always wanted to do is take my blackboard website to a new level. This year only being on one team I am able to do this. My blackboard link is below and if you go to it you will see a few things.
- An assignments link. This link is updated everyday with what assignments or projects students have coming up in all of my teams core classes (math, science, social studies, and language arts). Believe it or not this only takes 5 minutes a day to do and it is so beneficial for the parents of my students.
- A review games link. I use this link for study games that students can play at home to get ready for upcoming tests. This should be a great way for students to get more prepared for tests coming up. Right now I have a link for students to go to a game to help them study for their states quiz.
- I will also have a tests link. This link will be the audio version of any tests that the students will be taking. So instead of myself or a para reading the test out loud, it can be done on my blackboard site.

I know I will be using this even more over the year, so keep checking back to it. The link is below.

My Blackboard Site

Entry 25: Google Teacher Academy

Have you ever wanted to be a Google certified teacher and learn how to use their products more effectively? Well now is your chance because on September 24th Google will be holding a conference in Chicago for 50 educators to become Google certified and learn how to use their product more effectively in the classrooms. The application deadline is August 25th and to apply or learn more click on the link below.

Google Teacher Academy Information