Sixth Class

This class we had presentations.

First up was Donna who showed us some great supports in app format that she found for her Granddaughter.  It was really lovely to see Sophie show us what she had learned, and see how happy she was doing her work.  This presentation showed again how important the iPad and apps are to conquering hurtles and getting down to the work.

The second presentation was Helen.  She focused on two boys in grade 2 who had difficulties with writing.  The first boy had very limited  work when writing a journal, some days only three letters.  His writing progress does not match the reading progress.

The second boy had ADHD and learning challenges.  He is a kind boy who is interested in fish and other animals.  He has great pictures describing what his experiences were but his writing lacks the same depth. The class is a very complex class where there are many needs from other students.

Helen introduced the co writer app, Book creator, cricker sentences app.  These apps allowed them to get their thoughts down and she was surprised that the boys were able to pick out words that she thought they may not be able to read.

The after samples were impressive in that they consisted of three sentences and the date.  It was reported that they were motivated and willing to write when using the iPad.

Because it is difficult to get to all students during the time allotted the apps allowed for immediate feedback which helps to correct mistakes.

The third presentation was by Sandy.  She teaches a class where 6 out of 24 kids are at grade level.  We met four children who had many different learning difficulties and family and community challenges.

The children have fine motor skills, executing functioning problems, phonic awareness and many more. Sandy focused on the co-writer app with Taylor.  Taylor's output was extremely minimal.  After using the cowriter app she asked to share her work, which was amazing for her.  She wrote almost half a page and was proud of what she wrote.

The difference in their before and after work was astounding. The details and the level of language were so amazingly different!

The fourth presentation was by Selena who chose two students.  They both have their own iPads purchased by their parents.  One student has headphones, and uses text to speech on his iPad. He showed how his work has been converted to a PDF and and he has it read to him in iBooks.

The second student has his own iPad as well.  All of his work is on the iPad so he only has to remember that, which makes him much more organized.  He uses text to speech and many other apps to assist him with his challenges. They have folders set up in pages for each class which helps them to organize their work.

Selena started iTunesU course where these two students are able to still be apart of the class and finish their work using the technology that they need.

The fifth presentation was by Lee.  The school was given 15 iPads and Lee's goal was to train the students to use iPads to their benefit.  Lee arranged a training session for all 37 students and showed them how to use their iPads and which apps they would benefit from.  The students were amazed at all the accessibility features. 

iPads are amazing, but they are paper weights if you do not have training,
buy-in, and imagination.  Training is key.

The sixth presentation was by Elaine.  She focused on a grade 8 student who has an LD in reading and writing. He's a hard working student and has responsibilities at home on his farm.  He is very good at math and reasoning. Before using the iPad his writing was arduous.  Now he can produce written output using cowriter, book creator, pages, read iris, google drive, graphic organizers, notes HD, claro pdf, and others.

His frustration level has decreased because he can complete his work in a much more efficient way.  He also is able to show what he knows in a different way.

The Seventh presentation was by Angela.  Apps can create success and make students feel successful.  They have immediate feedback they aren't looking at a page stuck on a word they can't figure out.  With the app the student can just click on the word and be told what the word is and they can move on.  The iPad mini is user friendly and a nice size for primary hands. 

The students needed writing support.  The kids were frustrated with how their writing looked and how long it took them to write.  Using book creator helped them get their thoughts down. The students were so proud of their work.

The eighth presentation was mine where I used low tech and mid tech tools to help someone over come their challenges and increase their independence.

The ninth presentation was Theresa's who looked at a grade four boy who has challenges with writing and spelling.  They have used an iPad and the co-writer app.  On the computer he uses google crome, talk typer.  His output has increased immensely and he is now teaching other students how to use it.  This app is changing his confidence level and how he is learning in class.   The drawback is that he does not have one at home and he has to revert to pencil and paper.

The tenth presentation was by Amy who did her case study on Ben a grade 4 student.  He has a lot of support from school but no resource support because it got cut back this year.  Used co-writer because he doesn't have the beginning sounds.  She then used the dragon dictate app and it helped more than co-writer.  His speech impediment makes dragon dictate difficult.

This student needs to start using voice recording and get away from text.

The eleventh presentation was by McKenzie who focused on Thomas who has a grade p/1 reading level.  He is good at information retention.  He has speech issues and its hard to understand him. She started to use Socrative. because it can read to you and it is an online tool.  He was able to use it independently and show evidence of his learning.  She will try to teach more iPad skills so that he can have even greater success.

The twelfth presentation was by Shawna who did her presentation on Jack.  He is a very responsible little guys and loves to play with trucks and outdoor stuff. He needed some help on sight word.  She has Jack do sight word activities on the iPad.  She introduced little speller sight words and Kids Learn sight words.  He was able to practice his sight words and she found that he improved.