Student Feedback via Livescribe Pencast

I wanted to capture some of the student feedback I have been getting about the work we are doing with the touch technology. Here is a pencast of one of my student's thoughts regarding our work with the iPads/iPod Touch apps:

05.25.2012 1020a

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I am happy that this student is enjoying her time with the touch technology devices. I am really happy that she sees the Toontastic app being used during our 'writing' time and that she thinks it can be used to assist students who experience difficulty with writing. This interview was unprompted and there were a few students who wanted to offer feedback but were not able to get away from their work at the time.

Next Steps for me as I move forward:

- become better at interviewing my students/ ask better/more effective questions

- try and use the smartpen more often to collect information about our TLLP project

- continue to connect with students like the one I interviewed as possible peer mentors/teachers to introduce the technology to our Autistic learners in the next phase of our project

I am open to your suggestions about 1) how I could better utilize the smartpen technology (written and audio) capture my students thoughts/ideas, my thoughts and ideas, and anything else that you believe would be relevant.

Toontastic: Engaging Writing App with Potential for our Autistic Learners (TLLP Phase 1)

My students and I discovered and explored a great app the other day! At its most basic form, Toontastic is an app that allows users to create a cartoon. This app works on the iPad and it is FREE. Here is a video that I got from the Toontastic site:

Toontastic is more than just an app that creates cartoons, it inspires students to be artists and writers! It teaches key storytelling principles that support the students about the parts of a fictional story - the characters, the setting, the problem, the solution, and their favourite part - all of which, for example, are taught to my students and then practiced when they do a retell for me during guided reading and/or self-selected reading conferences. It also supports the artistic side of students by allowing them to create (e.g. scenes, characters) and change/adjust (e.g. colours) visual features. 

( Taken from http://launchpadtoys.com/toontastic/ )

It is also a powerful app that can assist students in writing. The level of engagement that my students demonstrated (and all we were doing was checking the app out) was amazing! For the students in my class that love writing, they can use this to augment/support their writing of a fictional story. For my students who don't like to write and struggle with it (due to their lack of fine motor development and other issues) they are 'hooked in' by the music, graphics, and content - which has engaged them in a process that they would normally back away from and avoid.

We took our first look at this app on Wednesday. It took some time to work through the app and get to know the basics of it. Today we spent some more time looking it over and then I handed the iPads over to the students to experiment. They will get some more time tomorrow and if we can figure out how to "share" one of our cartoons we will.

Although we have invested a lot of time on this app (relatively speaking) I can see that it has my students attention and can be beneficial to ALL the students in my class.

In phase 1 of out TLLP project, we are acquiring knowledge about the devices and the way the students react to them and the apps I introduce to them. Ultimately, the team needs to decide what apps will be used for our Autistic learners - which will be decided on a 'needs' basis. Nevertheless, I can see this app being used by a higher level functioning Autistic students for several purposes. I can see this app being used to 1) assist them with their social skills (having them work on a Toontastic project with 1 or 2 other students) and 2) to support them with their communication skills (engaging them in a novel way to have them work through the creation of a fictional story).

I would love it if you could help me out in two regards:

1) Please stay tuned to see if I can get a Toontastic creation up on my blog, and
2) Let me know if you have any other ideas how this app can be used with my students, and with Autistic students.

Thanks again for reading - looking forward to your comments/suggestions.

iPads in Action: Acquiring Knowledge

A short while ago my students learned about two spelling/word study apps and how to use them on the iPad and iPod Touch. As I was circulating the room observing and speaking with my students, one pair got my attention.

It wasn't their use of the technology that I gravitated towards - it was the support that one student was offering the other. As I was listening to them interact I managed to get the digital camera with the hope that I would catch some of what was happening on video. This is what I captured:

The one student reads the directions to the other, she tells him it's "ok", she reads him the options, she supports him, she also lets him use the iPad without simply doing it for him. The supportive and accommodating student bridges a gap for the other. If he were on his own he would have given up quite quickly and would have most likely challenged/disrupted this experience for the others in the room. What's worse is that he would have possibly connected the technology to his bad experience - leaving a bad taste in his mouth making him less likely to be excited to use the devices again. Obviously, that is not what I want - I want the touch technology integration to be a positive experience for all my students, particularly my students who often struggle. It was good for me to see a supportive student and a struggling student in order to acquire knowledge to inform my practice and our TLLP project.

My students and I are learning about the touch devices in action. They are learning how to use them to improve their achievement and I am learning how to integrate them into our school. We want to become "experts" in using these 'tools' so that we can improve our achievement and prepare to model the use of the devices with our autistic students who will start their journey using these devices in my classroom environment, with my awesome students.

Feel free to jump in and assist me in this process by providing me with your questions/comments!