The first part of our day consisted of groups presenting their findings on MyStudyBar, Kurzweil, WYNN, Natural Reader and TextHelp. The presentations were really informative. It was exciting to see what supports are available out there. All the programs had similarities in some areas, mainly the text-to-speech component. The biggest difference in them could possibly be the price tag. The prices range from free to $1500. Who doesn’t love free? And yet, like many things, you get what you pay for. When examining the features of the most expensive program, Kurzweil, I can’t help but be blown away with the possibilities it creates for all students. It’s important to identify the right tool that fits each student. It has endless elements that would support struggling students (for instance, students who are having difficulties in reading or writing, students with visual impairments). But, this program could be used by all students. I could see my strong, self-motivated students thriving with this program as well. I would love to have this program at my school (who wouldn’t??) The software is super easy (even for people like me) and there are loads of ways to use it effectively in the classroom. It’s a shame when price is the only negative.
So, I’ve been looking forward to this class right from the start. As I say time and time again, technology is not my strongest suit. But, I couldn’t wait to get a chance to play and explore the capabilities and possibilities the iPod Touch has for my struggling learners. I have heard so many great things about it. I was really curious about all the excitement. So, today was the day and well, it didn’t take me long to see that the iPod Touch doesn’t disappoint.
Pictello is a really neat app and super easy to use. It creates talking photo albums and talking books. I could really see this program being used with all students. It could be used with all ages and all skill levels. Students could use Pictello to organize Science experiments. They could take pictures of each step and accompany it with a simple sentence. A non-verbal student could use Pictello to log their interests and news. A student who may be going away on a family vacation could create a journal/diary of events to share when they have returned. Pictello may be used with students who have Autism. It could be used for schedules or task instructions. Students could use Pictello for research projects. I get my students to do a little research project on endangered species. They could easily use it to organize their pictures and facts then present it to the class. You could use Pictello on a field trip. You could take loads of pictures. Once returned back to school, students could go through pictures and compose captions for the photos. You could use Pictello in Math too. I was thinking that students that may be struggling with a concept like subtracting larger numbers, you could make a little story around the concept, breaking it down into smaller steps. They could take pictures of each step with a short explanation to go with it. Then they could refer to the “story” when experiencing difficulties.
So, I noticed that Scholastic has an iPad in the Teacher’s store section. Guess who’s saving her book order money? Hey, no harm in dreaming…
PS We had a spectacular view of the harbour today.
