The "NW GLRS Enhancing Instructional Contexts for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (EIC-ASD) / Autism Academy" was designed to assist teachers learn to identify critical elements in establishing environments conducive to teaching and learning for students with ASD. Teachers will demonstrate mastery and improvement using research-based instructional practices which ultimately lead to improved student achievement in students with ASD using the EIC-ASD as an instrument to guide instruction along with on-going coaching and support provided by NW GLRS and their LSS special education administration.
Only Blog Postings from NW GLRS EIC-ASD / Autism Academy Participants Should Be Posted Here!
"Characteristics of Students with ASD, Historical Perspectives, Etiology, Collaborating to Develop Effective Programs, & Environmental Elements"
Chapters 1 -5
Hello Fellow NW GLRS EIC-ASD / Autism Academy Members! I hope all is well with you and your school year is off to a great start. Hopefully, the whirlwind of starting a new year has settled and you’re finally able to teach. Heather Hightower and I want to commend you on all the great instruction we saw when we visited your classrooms over the past few weeks. Most of you were actively engaged in the teaching and learning process with your students with ASD, while a few others of you seemed a bit overwhelmed. Therefore, I’d like you all to take a deep breath and breathe in and out and relax. The information you’ll learn in the NW GLRS EIC-ASD / Autism Academy over the course of this school year will help you perfect your knowledge and skills as a teacher of students with ASD and you can and will make a difference with helping your students increase their academic and behavioral performance so they’ll be successful in school.
Our major focus this year will be to read the text and utilize the “Enhancing Instructional Contexts for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders” Interactive module to examine, evaluate and implement instructional best practices for students with ASD using traditional and 21st Century research-based instructional tools to effectively plan, teach, differentiate instruction, and to overall enhance the teaching and learning experience of students with ASD.
By now, each of you should have:
· Signed up for a Gmail account and emailed your Gmail address to your instructors and to Charlise Johnston at: cjohnston@nwgaresa.com
· Joined the NW GLRS Wikispace at: http://nwglrs.wikispaces.com/ and checked it frequently for updates
· Joined the NW GLRS Blog as a Follower and followed the blog at: http://nwglrs.blogspot.com/
· Complete chapter summaries in Google Docs and share editing rights with the instructors: cholifield@nwgaresa.com and hhightower@nwgaresa.com
- Form a collaborate team of no more than 3 to 4 teachers of students with ASD and exchange contact information. Teams can work collaboratively to complete and submit chapter summaries and develop one “Autism Spectrum Disorders Instructional Wikispace”. However, ALL participants will be required to access and participate in the NW GLRS Wikispace and Blog. Participants DO NOT have to be a part of a collaborative team if they do not want to. They can complete all assignments individually.
- Read your EIC-ASD Book Study Chapter Assignment and Due Date list – Read the detailed version and submit all assignments on time! The first assignments are due Thursday, October 7, 2010. Please refer to your assignment sheet for all other assignment due dates, Webinars, and face to face sessions.
· Don’t forget to login and participate in the upcoming EIC-ASD webinar on 10/28/10 from 3:00 to 4:30 PM. Login information will be emailed to you.
Now, that we've finished our housekeeping this month, let's get to Blogging!
Introduce yourself to your instructors and the rest of the EIC-ASD/Autism Academy Professional Learning Community. Then briefly discuss at least one “enduring understanding” you acquired after reading the following: 1) Chapter 3: Collaborating to Develop Effective Programs; 2) Chapter 4: Creating Contexts for Instruction; and Chapter 5: Accommodating Sensory Issues and how you plan to use this information to Improve instructional programming for your students with ASD.
Then, read and respond to at least two other participants blog postings on the NW GLRS Blogspot at: http://nwglrs.blogspot.com/ on the page designated for the EIC-ASD/Autism Academy.
Then, provide the link to at least one relevant Web 2.0 Teaching Tools to the NW GLRS Blog at: http://nwglrs.blogspot.com/ and to your ASD Instructional Wikispace that you plan to use as a means of differentiating instruction for your students with ASD (as appropriate) in the area of R/ELA, Math, and/or Behavior. Briefly discuss the tool and how you plan to use it. Feel free to discuss other “appropriate” questions, concerns, or successes with your colleagues. The purpose of the blog is for us to collaborate and support each other in meeting the instructional needs of our students with ASD and learn from each other. Let’s have some fun too!
Hello my name is Amanda Oxford and I work for GNETS in Catoosa County. Okay here is my first link with 21st century type tools. I found a great site called edorigami.wikispaces.com The site has a digital blooms taxonomy that lists the levels of learning and you guessed it! Computery activities for each level of learning. I thought it was great and hope you will check it out.
ReplyDeleteSalutations! I am Nikki Sloan. I am a seventh and eighth inclusion teacher at Rossville Middle School.I feel a bit apprehensive since this is the first time I have ever blogged. Please bare with me! :)
ReplyDeleteEnduring Understanding for Chapter 3: Collaborating to Develop Effective Programs
The essential skills for collaboration are: active listening, soliciting everyone’s ideas, understanding and respecting others’ perspectives, communicating clearly, and emphasizing the common goal.
This is especially beneficial for IEP meetings. Often times parents may feel defensive because they feel like they are not being heard. These five skills are especially important to remember.
Enduring Understanding Chapter 4: Creating Contexts for Instruction
An effective way to engage students with ASD is to use visuals and sensory accomodations.
This is my first year having students with an ASD, so this is something I have to remind myself about. I have used visuals,but I can always use more as well as more sensory accomodations.
Enduring Understanding Chapter 5: Accommodating Sensory Issues
A students "self-stimming" provides us with feedback about that student's experiences in that environment. This should be noted as a benefit for modulating arousal.
This is important for me to know because it will help me learn which environment is better for students with ASD both now, and in the future.
Web 2.0 Teaching Tools: Cobocards
http://www.cobocards.com/
This is a great resource. You make online flashcards and quizzes as well. Students can practice what they have learned, study, or you can use it as a reteaching tool. These can be used for all subjects!
@ Amanda Oxford: I checked out your link and it is awesome! I saw they have all kinds of tools - including graphic organizers! It also has things to help you teach a variety of learners. I will definatley use this site. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHello. I am Shan Lanham. I teach in Polk County. I teach 6th, 7th & 8th grade in a self-contained classroom for Significant Cognitive Delay students.
ReplyDeleteEnduring understandings:
Chapter 3: Collaborating to Develop Effective Programs
There are different approaches to intervention based on the perspective of the core defect and desired goals: Relationship based, skills based, physiologically based, and combination approaches.
I think an understanding of different approaches is important in planning an effective program for an ASD student. Choosing the right approach to match the desired outcome/goal.
Chapter 4: Creating Contexts for Instruction
Within the classroom the physical environment can make a significant impact on student achievement and behavior.
I have found this to be incredibly important to remember in my own self contained classroom over the years. The layout for instruction and different activities is important in order to have smooth transitions from one activity to the next.
Chapter 5: Accommodating Sensory Issues
Individuals with ASD may exhibit stereotypes or repetitious motor or posturing behaviors, which have no obvious benefit.
I have found this important to remember with my ASD students in relation to behavior in group activities in our class.
I found this site while googling.
Web 2.0 Teaching Tools: Classtools.net
http://classtools.net/
It lets you create educational games, quizzes and activities. I have not used it, but I am curious to play around it with and see if I can create some computer activities for the functional words I teach in my class.
http://mrlanhamclass.wikispaces.com/
Hello, I'm Shelia Poole and I teach the GNETS K-5 Program at Summerville Elementary School in Chattooga County. I have used computers in my classroom for years, yet never as a 21st century tool. It's very exciting and intimidating too!
ReplyDeleteChapter 3
Interventions for working with students with ASD are relationship based, skills-based, and physiologically based. Based on individual student needs the team should work toward
collaboration with all IEP team members to plan the most effective program for the student.
This will help me in conducting IEP meeting with parents of ASD children. It is important to be an active listener, gather ideas of all members, respect others' views, communicate, and remember the common goal is what is best for the student.
Chapter 4
Students with ASD require highly structured learning environments. This involves physical arrangement, use of visual cues, establishing routines, length of activities, making transitions, and accommodating sensory needs.
Even though I do not currently have a student with ASD in my class I find all my students perform much better academically and behaviorally with these supports in place.
Chapter 5
Understanding sensory systems is crucial in working with students with ASD who have self-stemming behaviors. This knowledge allows teachers to evaluate and implement strategies to increase learner involvement.
We all exhibit some type of sensory related behaviors especially in dealing with stress. I think understanding sensory issues and shaping a socially inappropriate behavior to help a student be accepted is powerful. I witnessed this in practice with a 1st grader last year who has blossomed as a 2nd grader in the regular setting.
Web 2.0 Teaching Tool: numbernut.com
http//:numbernut.com
This site has various levels of math games for students which gives immediate feedback for most skills. Easy for younger children to navigate.
One website used daily in my math class is www.ixl.com. This is an awesome math site based on Georgia standards. Even if you cannot purchase a membership you may use it for a lesson daily. Also, have any of you used gloster? I've been to the site and am curious to know if my younger students would be able to create the virtual posters and reports. It looks amazing for older students. Any thoughts on this?
ReplyDeleteHello all, I am Jennifer Foley and I am currently teaching in Gordon County at Ashworth Middle School. 3 of my 5 students have been identifies with ASD and have a variety of abilities.
ReplyDeleteChapter 3: Collaborating to Develop Effective Programs reminds us that no one of us is "an island" and that so often with our students we need to take a team approach intervention. Chapter 4: Creating Contexts for Instruction physical enviornment and scheduling are crutial with students with ASD, providing these will reduce stress and may improve transitions, while reducing anxiety. We use timers to transition and transition independantly. Just this week I mounted a flie folder box, at eye-level for students to place completed assignments in.
Chapter 5: Accommodating Sensory Issues There are 7 sensory systems. Try to avoid overstimulation, and see how sensory activities can be incorporated (postiviely) into your classroom when possible. Try to "shape" undesired behaviors into desirable ones. My students have items they can hold or touch without interfearing with their peers.
@ Sheila: I agree with you that the structure, routines, visual cues, etc are important. It not only helps students with ASD that we have in the inclusion classes, but also our other students as well. Getting one class I work with in particular to be more structured took a bit of persuading with the teacher, but the benefits have been amazing!
ReplyDeleteOne website I use often for Social Studies and Science concepts is http://www.discoveryeducation.com/
ReplyDeleteThere is no charge to use this site, and there are videos for all grade levels and varying lengths of time. You can even download the material.
Nikki, Shan and Shelia thank you for your website ideas! I went to each one. I am brainstorming how I can encorporate them with my lessons.
ReplyDeleteSheila,
ReplyDeletewww.ixl.com is an intriguing site. I hope to be able to find some things there to use for bath math skills for my class.
Jennifer thanks for posting the Discovery website. I had used an earlier version to the site several years back and had forgotten about it. The puzzlemaker there can be useful for creating vocabulary activity sheets.
ReplyDelete@Nikki: Nikki sounds as if you have a good working relationship with the regular teacher since she incorporated your ideas!
ReplyDeleteHello! My name is Megan Cornelius. I am an inclusion teacher at Lakeview Middle School in Catoosa County. This year I teach 6th grade science and love it! Here are a few links that might be helpful:
ReplyDeletewww.do2learn.com
This site has resources such as online schedule maker, symbols, and blank calendars to make daily, weekly, monthly calendars.
www.trainland.tripod.com/pecs.htm
This site addresses augmentattive communication and visual systems. It has resources for pictures and standard size pecs pictures. This site was created by a mother.
Hello Everyone! My name is Melinda Newby. I am a 6th grade Resource/Inclusion Math teacher at Rossville Middle School. This is my third year teaching at RMS. Every year, I have had one student that is autistic and I am sure this number will increase in the future. I hope to learn lots of strategies this year that can be applied to my teaching.
ReplyDeleteChapter 3: Collaborating to Develop Effective Programs
“The most effective programs for students with ASD are those that are structured, educational, and individually tailored.”
I feel that interventions for students should be individually tailored. I often receive IEP’s from previous years with identical intervention strategies for students with behaviors that are not similar. The committee working with these students should collect data to identify and target behaviors before any interventions take place.
Chapter 4: Creating Contexts for Instruction
The physical structure of a classroom is crucial for learning. This set up can also have a tremendous impact on a student’s behavior.
This is true for ALL students. In my resource classroom, I move desks often. However, I always keep the desks directed toward the learning. I try to keep the isles clear of clutter and we also have specific areas for other learning (computer corner and manipulative table).
Chapter 5: Accommodating Sensory Issues
Students can be taught the appropriate time and place to engage in stereotypic behaviors.
We had a student transfer to our school two years ago. He paced in the classroom and hallways and often did not complete his assignments. It was not because he was not capable, this student was highly intelligent. Overall, he has shown much progress in the past two years. He is now in a resource classroom and has his own pacing line for when it is needed. He also completes the assignments given and is rewarded with computer time.
Brainflips is a free website to create flashcards for teachers and/or students. There is also a link to study flashcards. All students can use these flash cards to learn new information, study, or quiz themselves.
http://www.brainflips.com/
Nikki, your enduring understanding for chapter 3 is a plus!! I have been to IEP meetings where the parents says "you're the teacher, whatever you say is fine with me". An IEP has to have support from both sides of the child's education.
ReplyDeleteThank You Shelia!!! The IXL Math site is amazing. I saved it in my favorites. I can't wait to start using it in the resource classroom. This is an awesome site that is aligned with our standards.
ReplyDelete@Melinda
ReplyDeleteWhen my little fellows get free time they ask to use the IXL site! I'm keeping my fingers crossed my principal gets $'s to purchase a license for the entire school. All the bells and whistles that come with the license would be helpful.
@Shan
ReplyDeleteShan do you use the starfall website? Great site for reading, phonics activities...There are also worksheets which can be printed that correlate to the online stories. This would be a good site for your students. Both my high and low functioning kids love this site. Fun activities, all words can be read to them, and very interactive.
Does anyone know the website that shows pictures of faces we can connect to emotions? A parent and I are working on this with one of my students. Thanks.
ReplyDelete@ all ASD participants...
ReplyDeleteIn addition to coffee CNN is a part of my morning rituals and routines! Imagine my surprise when they did a segment on bullying which related to autistic children. David Beckman, an 11 year old, in Bowling Green, Kentucky is speaking out against bullying of austic kids and wants to raise $30,000 for an austic program in Kentucky. How inspiring! Here's the link if you are interested:
http://amfix.blog.cnn.com/2010/10/15/11-year-old-speaks-out-against-bullying/
Hi All--
ReplyDeleteI'm very impressed with your summaries and enduring understandings from the first 5 chapters that we read that came out of our text. I'm glad to see that you're learning some practical instructional strategies for increasing teaching and learning in your classroom for your students with ASD. I'm also thoroughly impressed with the 21st Century Tools that you've found, are using, and are sharing with others members of our NW GLRS Blogspot for Autism. Also, please don't forget, another resource for you is the EIC-ASD Online Interactive Module that provides you with examples of best practices divided into six sections which are further subdivided into additional elements with supporting video clips, rubric, and pictures. This is a great module to refer to when any of your students with ASD are having specific academic and/or behavioral issues and your not sure what to do. This gives you a great point of reference to consider, which also happens to be based on research. You can locate this resource at: http://hollywood.gsu.edu/spe/speljh/EIC-ASD/Application.html. Another great 21st Century Tool that I thought you might be interested in is called Acapela.TV. Acapela.TV is a free online tool that produces text to speech which you can send via email to use for instructional purposes; creating text with topic structure, dictation using vocabulary and topic structures, etc. I can see using this tool to increase social participation, interaction, communication/speech, R/ELA, etc. Maybe one of your students with ASD would benefit from knowing about this tool tool. Keep up all the good work! Thank you!
Cassandra
A mom shared this site:
ReplyDeletewww.do2learn.com
It had visual schedules, picture cards and lots of activities.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!
Another great site: readwritethink.org
ReplyDeleteClick on classroom resources, on left side there is a search column select a grade and then click student interactives. There are bunches of interactvie thingys to generate book reports, essays, character analysis, compare contrast etc. All the kids have to do is type and print. My favs so far are the bio cube and the character trading cards.
Hello everyone! I am a bit behind on this blog due to technology problems, but now that I am finally able to get in, I'll tell you a little about myself! My name is Allison Dykes and I am an ESS teacher in 1st and 2nd grade at Tolbert Elementary in Gordon County. This is my second year teaching. I teach in two inclusion classrooms and in a resource setting.
ReplyDeleteEnduring understandings:
Chapter 3:
Teacher’s of children with ASD will understand that there is no proven right way to teach them. Only suggestions of things that have been successful with other ASD individuals.
As teachers, we need to understand that students labled "Autistic" are all unique and there is no cookie-cutter way to work with these students. We need to get to know "the student" and plan instrution and behavior management accordingly.
Chapter 4:
The physical structure of a classroom communicates expectations and supports appropriate behavior.
I never knew how much a difference that the setting of your classroom can have on your students' behavior. Moving them from the carpet to their desks and back multiple times may be necessary to keep the attention of your students. Learning these tips can really help you keep your sanity! haha Obviously it doesn't always magically change behavior, but it helps significantly at times.
Chapter 5:
Sensory systems bring information into the central nervous system for conscious as well as unconscious processing and subsequent modulation of behavior.
Students with ASD are sometimes, but not always aware that they are displaying certain behaviors. As teachers, we need to know that what we perceive as being entirely disruptive and defiant, the student might not even realize that he/she is doing these things.
Web 2.0 Teaching tool:
http://classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine/
I have been using this website in my reading classroom to go over spelling words, vocabulary words, and to call on students randomly to answer questions. They love it!
Shelia, I have also noticed that Austic supports help students who are not on the spectrum. I have only one student with Autism, but I have begun to use the supports with all my students. For example, I use boardmaker picture cues) to manage behavior.I have found them to be very appropriate in many situations.
ReplyDeleteAdvice needed:
ReplyDeleteMy student with Autism almost always laughs at other students' or his own inappropriate behaviors, which leads to further disruption. Then, many of the other students think they are supposed to laugh too. I sometimes find it hard to get them back on task. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I'm glad to see that some of you are using this as a resource. Just wondering if you are enjoying it and if it helps.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon!!! I hope all is well. One strategy you could use, is when your student with Autism is showing the inappropriate behavior, ignore his behavior and praise (positively) another student who is showing appropriate behavior. This strategy does not work all of the time; however, you would be amazed at how often it does. I have personally tried it and witnessed the student displaying inappropriate behavior change to earn his points or tokens. The use of various strategies also depends on the severity of the student. This is just one example to try. If this does not work, we will come up with another strategy.
ReplyDeleteto Allison, Heather's idea is great, also have you tried "teaching" the specific social skill you are wanting to see? I find teaching it, practicing it, then prompting it and praise really helps.
ReplyDeleteLadies, I try to promote appropriate behaviors through positive reinforcement (such as praise and "Tribe Tickets," a school wide incentive, each day. It works very well with some of my students, but with my student with ASD, it is rarely successful. Due to this, I try to teach the specific skill I am looking for, but this particular student usually then turns it into a joke and does the opposite of what I am teaching, which gets the other student's attention. I usually ignore the inappropriate behaviors when possible or send him to time out due to the fact that he is seeking attention. However,when I sent him to time out today, he bumped the bevahiors up to another level and started climbing on the bookshelf! This is not always the repsonse, but on days without medicine, the reponse is similar.
ReplyDeletehttp://classtools.net/education-games-php/turningPage/
ReplyDeleteIf you have students that are overwhelmed by too many words or too much visual stimuli, try this website. It is in the shape of a book and allows you to type in as few words as you'd like on a page.
*** If you only want a few words, you have to press enter until it gets to the end of the page. Then it will allow you to click on a new page and add text. I had to play around with it to figure it out!
This countdown timer is a great visual incentive to keep students working and productive. If you do not have a visual timer available, this is a possible alternative.
ReplyDeletehttp://classtools.net/education-games-php/timer/
The ZacBrowser is a browser developmend for children on the ASD spectrum. It has games and videos that promote learning for these students.
http://www.zacbrowser.com/
Looking at the assignments due we are to list 3 more teaching tools. This is great! There will be so many by the end to aid us in our classes!
ReplyDeleteThe following website is wonderful for those students who may not be able to get started writing. It allows students to use pictures and word banks to make sentences or even paragraphs. I plan to use this in both my language arts and social studies blocks when we do projects and essays.
http://piclits.com/
Another great site is http://classtools.net/
We have active boards in our classrooms and can make venn diagrams,games, quizzes, and a variety of other activities to use as whole class instruction. This can also be used on a personal computer for students who need one on one assistance, or small group instruction to pre-teach and re-teach.
Many of you may already be aware of this site, but some may not. It is http://www.brainpop.com/
I absolutely love this site. It has got information on almost every subject one could imagine. We already use it in the classroom for pre-teaching units, and also to see how well students are understanding specific concepts. It has a short film, then the students can do an activity, and there is a quiz as well. I have also used this to reteach information, and to study with my students in small groups before a big test or project.
@ Shelia: Thank you so much for the link on the young man wanting to raise money to help stop bullying. It is wonderful to see youngsters who really care.
ReplyDelete@ GNETSoxford: I think I will incorporate the readwritethink site into the language arts class I co-teach in. The students have to do 2 - 3 reading projects every nine weeks. This seems like it will be a great tool to use for their projects!
ReplyDelete@ Allison - I have also noticed that supports I have put in place for my student with ASD work well for the other students as well. One example is: I have a desk set up with a fuzzy blanket next to our cabinet in one class. It says "Need a Moment?" I originally set it up for my ASD student to have a place to go if she needed it. I have MANY students who use it now, whether because of a grade, the usual middle school "drama" lol, or whatever is making them upset.
ReplyDeleteA few resources I found while googling:
ReplyDeleteGame-O-Matic http://clear.msu.edu/dennie/matic/ is a site that has games such as concentration, timed matching, sentence Mix and vocabulary drill. I would utilize this site with functional word groups that I teach in my class.
Smart Kiddies http://www.smartkiddies.com.au/ is a site you have to join. It is free. It offers printable worksheets, posters, whiteboard presentations, and assessments. I plan to explore the site for some math ideas for my class.
Math Playground http://www.mathplayground.com/ is a very entertaining math site with games. Please check out the multiplayer learning games on this page. They have a multiplication tug of war and a division drag race that is very cool. I would use this to help my students with basic division and multiplication memorization.
@Nikki, I love the idea about the fuzzy blanket and "Need a Moment?" sign. That's a lot more creative than my "cool down sign" with an ice cube. I might be copying you. :) I've tried different sensory items, but fuzzy blankets make me feel relaxed, so I bet it could help my kids too. That's the first thing I go to when I get home.
ReplyDeleteNovember Web 2.0 Teaching Tools
ReplyDeletehttp://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx
In the Resource classroom, my students struggle with making their graphs neat and readable. This site can be used to create the graph online and print it so the students can have it.
www.visualthesaurus.com
The Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus that allows you to discover the connections between words in a visual.
www.prometheanplanet.com
If you have an activboard, this is a site for you. You can downlad flipcharts for millions of topics. You can also edit these.
I am excited to get online and explore many of the web resources listed here. I can't wait to share them with my teachers. Thanks all! While it isn't completely related to Autism the NAMI Child and Adolescent Action Center Website has a great list of books for parents, teachers, and children. The list addresses a wide variety of mental illnesses and what it is like to parent a child with mental illness, grow up with a mental illness, and to teach children with mental illness more about their conditions. Topics include: ADHD, anxiety disorders, Autism and ASD, Early onset Bi-polar disorder, depression, drug abuse, eating disorders, OCD, Sensory Processing disorder, and Suicide.
ReplyDelete@ Melinda: I really like the idea of the visual thesaurus. That will be very useful in both my ELA and SS classes!
ReplyDelete@ Shan: Game-o-matic sounds really cool. I have made bingo games and Jeopardy for whole group reviews and notice that the students seem to pay more attention with games. This will be great for me to use with students who have vocabulary deficits on a one-to-one basis. Thanks for the site!
ReplyDeleteEdiscio
ReplyDeleteThis site allows you to make flashcards. These cards can be accessed by students and they can practice at home, as well as work in study groups! You can also print the cards out for students to study if they do not have internet access at home. These are also easy to revise.I will use these to study for tests and reteach with my students.
Gurulib
As an inclusion teacher in Language Arts it can be difficult to get books that are on student's reading levels and they enjoy. This site allows you to organize your books a variety of ways. Also, as an added bonus students can utilize their language arts skills by writing reviews about the books and posting to your site. I have spoken with the ELA teacher that I coteach with and we are going to reorganize our books in the classroom using this system.
Kubbu
This is a great tool for teachers and it's FREE! You can make a variety of games, quizzes, and crosswords to help your students out. You can make them available for students to use online. Also, you can view and analyze the results! I have already used this a few times in class and love it! It is useful for all students!
@Nikki, I look forward to trying out your flashcard maker and quiz makers. It will be very useful for spelling practice in my resource room. We play games with real note cards all the time, but switching it up a little keeps their attention longer!
ReplyDelete@Melinda, I can't wait to try out the virtual thesaurus! This sounds neat. :)
One website that served as a great behavior "motivator" for my student with Autism was Poptropica. For a student that we had never gotten to write anything down other than his name, he was the first student to complete the work (in the entire class) when allowed to get on Poptropica after! They were all correct! We had the site unblocked for the entire school system so we could use it for behavior incentives.
Another site that I found interesting was http://www.readwritethink.org/. You can create Comic Strips to teach social skills.
The Read Write Think Printing Press http://interactives.mped.org/view_interactive.aspx?id=110&title= allows you to create brochures, newspapers, etc. to use with your students. I haven't used it, but it looks like it could be a very useful site.
You guys are doing a fantastic job blogging ideas back and forth. Isn't this a great tool????!!! Don't forget that Chapters 10 and 11 are due on February 11, 2011. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at hhightower@nwgaresa.com
ReplyDeleteI found that Discovery Education not only has the United Streaming videos that I've used for a long time, but they also have quiz generators, writing prompt generators, and assignment builders. The have classroom resources available as well. Puzzle makers and clip art libraries are also found here.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.do2learn.com/activities/SocialSkills/EmotionAndScenarioCards/EmotionAndScenarioCards.html
Do to learn is a website that allows you to create emotion & scenario cards. It has a wide variety of other resources available.
This is just a test to see if this will post correctly.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Charlsie Johnston
NW GLRS
I tried logging in to post last night, but it would not allow me to. I am trying again today. Fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteYeah! It worked! Here are my 3 websites that will be valuable for teaching tools.
ReplyDeletefreerice.com - My son (who is 8) actually told me about this website. The students can lay a vocabulary game, and they'll learn while donating food to people in need.
classtools.net - With this site you can create FREE educational games, activities, and diagrams.
notecentric.com - You can share and store your class notes with this online note taking application. This is a great way to be able to give students additional notes if they lose them - or if they are absent.
@ Allison: I have also used United Streaming videosl,but I had no idea about the quiz generators, writing prompt generators, and assignment builders. Thank you so much for sharing this!
ReplyDelete@ GNETSOXFORD: Thank you so much for sharing the NAMI Child and Adolescent Action Center Website. This will be a great resource for me to share with others!
ReplyDelete@ Melinda: Thank you so much for sharing http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx
ReplyDeleteI think it is a great idea that some of our math teachers in 7th grade could use.
I have just finished reading a book about a boy with autism(Asperger's) who has a fascination with forensic analysis and becomes a suspect in the death of his social skills tutor. It has great descriptions of children with autism. I highly recommend House Rules by Jodi Picoult.
ReplyDelete@Janice: I have found it very interesting how students with Autism are fascinated with certain topics. The student I work with is not interested in many of the topics we discuss in school, so he appears bored and starts finding ways to entertain himself (which is very distrating to other students). However, if I find a way to bring what he finds interesting into a lesson, most of the time he will suddenly join in with the group.
ReplyDelete@Nikki...the free rice website sounds good for my students. Expanding students' vocabularies helps them in so many other areas in school and in life.
3 More Valuable Sites to share with you all!!
ReplyDeletehttp://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/
I found this wikispace. It is awesome!! It is a list of Web 2.0 Teaching Tools compiled into one Wikispace.
www.chartgizmo.com
A great site for creating charts and graph.
www.classtools.net
Create free educational games, quizzes, activities and diagrams in seconds! Host them on your own blog, website or intranet! No signup, no passwords, no charge!