I have been struggling with this since my students have limited computer skills and don't read. I have decided to do some research on the Council for Exceptional Children's website to pick up ideas about what other Special Ed. teachers are doing.
Don't give up on me, CARTEL members! Like the Grinch, I have been "puzzling until my puzzler is sore" about how to incorporate social networking for my students, not just for me, and I have decided to invite the grandmother of one of my students to read to us via Skype (we have a SMARTboard so that could be engaging) and to use some of the cartoon software I learned about "on the mountain" to create and share a cartoon about some of our activities. We could get the social networking piece out of the cartoon by sharing it with the homerooms of my students. Anyway, I am working on it... Happy 2011!
To involve my students in social networking, I decided to have a friend read to my students (seven children with moderate to severe disabilities) via Skype. Of course, we have Deep Freeze firmly in place so I could not download the software. I requested service from our IT folks and waited for over a week. My friend was available on January 31 so I needed to get things moving so I followed up. As a back up plan, I borrowed the school laptop which has Skype loaded and a built in web cam. On Friday, January 28, I hooked up the laptop and my friend and I tested our connection and all was fine. On Monday, January 31, 8:00 a.m., the IT guy showed up, ready to load Skype. Although I already had the laptop in place, I had him go ahead and he loaded Skype and installed the portable web cam I had been issued when school started, thinking it would be easier to move the portable web cam to let each child greet our “visitor.” I switched everything to my desktop and called my friend. The webcam cut in and out, not a good start. I quickly switched back to the laptop and now she could neither see nor hear us but we could both see and hear her. I called on the trusty old telephone to tell her to go ahead. My kids met her dog and sat spellbound as she read to them. About halfway through the story, the projector on the SMARTboard overheated and it shut down. The kids just switched their attention to the laptop. I then called her back on the telephone so they could talk to her and thank her. Despite all the technical difficulties, it was fun for all concerned and we are already planning for her to read again on President’s Day, when she has a day off work while we are at school. We plan to use Grandma and the Pirates so Angel, the dog, can wear her pirate costume.
I have been struggling with this since my students have limited computer skills and don't read. I have decided to do some research on the Council for Exceptional Children's website to pick up ideas about what other Special Ed. teachers are doing.
ReplyDeleteDon't give up on me, CARTEL members! Like the Grinch, I have been "puzzling until my puzzler is sore" about how to incorporate social networking for my students, not just for me, and I have decided to invite the grandmother of one of my students to read to us via Skype (we have a SMARTboard so that could be engaging) and to use some of the cartoon software I learned about "on the mountain" to create and share a cartoon about some of our activities. We could get the social networking piece out of the cartoon by sharing it with the homerooms of my students. Anyway, I am working on it... Happy 2011!
ReplyDeleteIf You Give a Pig a Party via Skype
ReplyDeleteTo involve my students in social networking, I decided to have a friend read to my students (seven children with moderate to severe disabilities) via Skype. Of course, we have Deep Freeze firmly in place so I could not download the software. I requested service from our IT folks and waited for over a week. My friend was available on January 31 so I needed to get things moving so I followed up. As a back up plan, I borrowed the school laptop which has Skype loaded and a built in web cam. On Friday, January 28, I hooked up the laptop and my friend and I tested our connection and all was fine. On Monday, January 31, 8:00 a.m., the IT guy showed up, ready to load Skype. Although I already had the laptop in place, I had him go ahead and he loaded Skype and installed the portable web cam I had been issued when school started, thinking it would be easier to move the portable web cam to let each child greet our “visitor.” I switched everything to my desktop and called my friend. The webcam cut in and out, not a good start. I quickly switched back to the laptop and now she could neither see nor hear us but we could both see and hear her. I called on the trusty old telephone to tell her to go ahead. My kids met her dog and sat spellbound as she read to them. About halfway through the story, the projector on the SMARTboard overheated and it shut down. The kids just switched their attention to the laptop. I then called her back on the telephone so they could talk to her and thank her. Despite all the technical difficulties, it was fun for all concerned and we are already planning for her to read again on President’s Day, when she has a day off work while we are at school. We plan to use Grandma and the Pirates so Angel, the dog, can wear her pirate costume.