We are finishing up our practicum work for the semester at FCMA. This term we have focused on teaching students to use Read:Outloud with the Bookshare service to access fantasy texts in a book club setting. We will miss you, students!
I’m at Four Corners Montessori today participating in an Apple computer training alongside two teachers and twenty middle schoolers. We explored Garage Band and made our own loops, all in about half an hour. Listen to my experimental loop and enjoy!
I subscribed to the New York Times blog and they have great lesson plans and activities for kids that incorporate the Times. Great one on expository text structures using both print and electronic resources – check it out!
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/compare-contrast-cause-effect-problem-solution-common-text-types-in-the-times/
In Assistive Technology class tonight students read The Necklace, Gift of the Magi, and The Dangerous Game and created digital tableaux using Comic Life. This is a great option to support comprehension of text, an alternative way to have students demonstrate what they understand, and make difficult literature interesting and motivating. Great job SED 573!
Monday I introduced a new tool to my Big Bad Bloggers enrichment class at Four Corners Montessori, and they really loved it! I’ve had trouble engaging them to do more than play mp3s the entire 45 minute session, so it was nice to see them actually DOING something. The enrichment course is tough for me because I run it in a totally open workshop format – which means some kids rarely do anything I consider productive.
Storybird uses high quality images to prompt student storytelling. The graphics are great and the site is free and easy to use…check it out at www.storybird.com. A sample story can be seen below:
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I attended a workshop today about how participatory action research can help to engage the community around issues such as education. What a great opportunity to talk with researchers from other areas of the country facing similar issues as Detroit.
Hanging out at Marygrove’s Graduate Open House. Come find out more about our programs!
This is the first entry for the new blog, Marygrove Special Education. In this blog I hope to share my experiences teaching at Marygrove College, along with helpful resources for teachers.
In looking for an older photograph to post, I found this image from the fall of 2008 of candidates from SED 650, Teaching Math to Students With Disabilities. Included in this class was a practicum setting in which Marygrove students interacted with children from the Metro Detroit area who struggled with mathematics. This picture showcases some of our program’s strengths: the chance to work with children in the college classroom, integration of technology into instruction, and the experiences our candidates have working with other teachers from a variety of urban and suburban districts. Just part of what makes teaching and learning at Marygrove unique.
