From the website I found the two programs can help teachers make their classrooms more efficient, and its also a good way for teachers to stay organized and connected with the students writing thnrough technology. One thing that interest me was how you can create visuals from outlines or outlines from visuals that you make using the program. The teacher could print the outline and that could be something the student could have in hand and the visuals are something for them to see and easier for them to commit it to memory. As an all level Special Education teacher this would help me keep the students assignments organized because they all will not be working on the same level. I could make a visual to show the students what we will be working on that day and it will help my students and myself stay on track with our daily goals. Webspiration looks to me like a great tool to have in the classroom to teach students effective writing. It will keep their thought and paper organized and result in a better constructed paper.
For special education every student is at a different level, but one activity I could incorporate would be to have every student write down their daily routine and how much time they spend at each activity, then use the information and show them how to make it a graph or pie chart for them to look at. This activity could help them stay organized through the day and help them remember everything they need to get done. One effective way of students helping each other is to allow them to proof read each others papers and give suggestions to the writer of the paper. If the assignment was to be posted to a blog then each student could go online and comment their thoughts on the paper. This would allow the student to have several fresh pairs of eyes look the paper over before turning in the final draft. My first time teaching new material I knew the material but after teaching it I had a better understand because the students asked several questions and answering each one helped me be more confident in knowing the material.
Technology is always changing and our students are becoming more and more involved with it, it is important that teachers are trying to use it in their classrooms because that how students are learning. These two programs will help teacher stay in the loop with their students and also give them a creative way to think, learn, and organize their writing skills.
Jonassen, David H., and David H. Jonassen. Meaningful Learning with Technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
http://www.inspiration.com/videos/Inspiration
http://www.inspiration.com/webspirationclassroom
The two programs would help teachers keep everything organized. I also thought that how everything you create automatically turns into an outline. How convenient is it, if you have to do a demonstration for a class and you don't even have to type up an outline because it makes one for you instantly. Having the ability to have more than one pair of eyes to review your paper, would help out tremendously. I think your so right when you said that technology is constantly changing, and that teachers need to incorporate these programs to connect with their students.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea that you have for the special education students. I think they would love to know how to put their schedules into graphs and feel some sort of independence. I like the idea of each student proof reading each others work, helps with peer feedback. Your idea can help me get my PE students to write out daily work-out routines and learn to put them in charts. Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteAngelica
i think that it would be a great asset in school districts that can implement it but for those that cant they should to see what they can do to get simular programs to help out
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