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.