New Plan!

My original game plan for podcasts and Voicethread has definitely been scrapped for a new plan revolving around assistive technology. Specifically, voice recognition software. I have identified another student already enrolled in my class that would benefit from this technology. When I look at his writing and apply the AIMS (Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards) rubrics to score his work, he always does well in Ideas and Organization. Even Voice and Word Choice, when he chooses the right topic, is strong. His weakest traits are Sentence Fluency and Conventions. Especially Conventions! I have been reading student writing for sixteen years and I still have trouble deciphering his writing. Telling his story orally would enhance Sentence Fluency and definitely Conventions. I have spoken to his aide about this technology and she is supportive. Now, we just have to get it into his IEP. Our Special Education Department may not take to this, since spelling sight words correctly is one of his goals. I prefer that his creativity not be stifled by his spelling issues. After all, as he grows as a writer, his AIMS scores will improve enough that his Conventions shouldn’t hold him back. His voice recognition will begin as soon as the current project is finished. His aide will help me. We will use the software built into MS Operating systems since it will be available on every computer. Then, we will be able to determine if students have to train one computer or if, once trained, the program is applicable to whatever computer they log into since our system is networked…

Progress for next semester’s student remains slow. Rather than try the voice recognition program that is already on our computers, the Special Education department is looking at commercial software. I don’t understand why, but they do work with the student more than I do. Maybe there are issues with the text being too difficult on MS Operating systems… Maybe the commercial software allows reading levels to be set to student levels… The software they are looking at can be found on this website: http://www.wordq.com/. I can see advantages to wordq for many of my students, but if the Special Education department purchases it, I won’t be able to use it for every student. Right now, I am waiting to see what Special Education does for this student in particular. I am going to speak to the district administrator of Special Education tomorrow morning on our drive to work and offer my viewpoint about these technologies and why the district should begin exploring assistive technology as a way to support student learning. We’re moving forward again, just not at the pace I would like to see it done. Isn’t that typical for most teachers? We can’t get what we want fast enough!