Blog Post #3

Peer Editing
In the Peer Editing video, I liked that it started off saying that we should start with compliments. No one I know would like to have a comment from someone start off with a negative. Another point that I agree with is to be specific. Although, when I am being corrected, I may not like it. I like to know exactly where I made the mistake. So in the future, I will be able to learn from that and not make it again.
In Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial, I enjoyed the examples the author gave throughout the slideshow. The word choice the author gave was clear on the suggestions for her audience. When she was speaking of suggestions, the author gave many of common comments that editors will give. The author would then write instead of writing this write something more precise about what you are suggesting. She also gave suggestions on what one should make suggestions about which I like. I find sometimes I do not know where to begin to look if there are any errors and having this slide as a tool will be helpful.
I delighted in the Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes video. The top ten mistakes I can see all of us doing in many of my classes now and in the past. Such as Mean Margret or Picky Patty, I believe when some are editing we forget to give the positives on a person’s paper. Another is Speedy Sandy. Many want to be the first person to be finished that he or she is not worried about the advice he or she is giving.

Technology in Special Education
In this video, seeing the accommodations with technology made for children with special needs was very interesting to me. For someone like Kris, without technology he would not be able to talk. Before technology, Kris may have been written off. People may not have given him a chance to learn because he is nonverbal, but with the technology one can see all his wonders. I like seeing that a young man like Corbin who needs to have an audiobook during silent reading is able to sit with his classmates. I believe that if we continually take students with special needs out of the classroom, rather than accommodating them inside the classroom, it hurt them later in life. An example can be something as simple as thinking he cannot do something without special help because he has received it all his life.
The video pointed out that the students re more interested and involved in their schoolwork. I love this because like in A Day Made of Glass 2 where the students were so excited to learn while using the technology, the student who have special needs are no different. I am also glad that the teacher in video is not only has her students using technology, but she teaches them how to use that technology in the future.

How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism
The app I would choose to use in my classroom with students who have special needs would be the story builder app. This app helps the student story development. I would use this app to help my students with their paragraph expansion. Through this app the student does not realize he or she is forming an app until the end. The app does more than just helping the student improve paragraph development. I believe over time this app will help the students with answering a question better. When given a picture the students are given a question like, “Why is the boy crying?” The students then receive the first couple of words to the answer to get them started. Such as, “The boy is crying because…” The work when completed can be emailed as well. This link gives you a sense about story builder and two other apps that are created for students with autism.

Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts
I like that in Harness You Student’s Digital Smarts, the teacher is talking in the terms of technology. She is making the students learn these terms. This will be a valuable tool for the future. I also like that she is saying word to her students that they may not know or may not understand. She has them look it up on the computer rather than giving them the definition.

Vicki Davis makes a great comment which I need to remember as I begin teaching. She said that we do not need to know everything to teach. She continued saying that the students get empowered when they figure out the answer on their own. I believed that when I became a teacher I had to know every answer to every question. Now especially with my EDM 310 class, I am learning that teachers can ask questions too.