Ashley Cross: Twitter for Educators

Unknowingly, Christiana and I both participated in Ashley Cross' #globaled2013 presentation on how to use Twitter. I had always viewed it as a social networking for pre-teens to stay up to date on the latest celebrity gossip - after all, it's how I initially used it. Cross was quick to correct my thinking and shared that Twitter is NOT a social networking site for your vacation photos, an email or news platform. Instead, Twitter is a platform to communicate information in a concise manner and that for educators should be viewed as a collaboration network.

To collaborate appropriately, one first needs to become comfortable with hashtags. Those weird abbreviated words with the pound sign in front are vital resources for tracking down knowledge and making connections with other like-minded individuals. Twitter allows users to follow each other but unfortunately is not enabled to follow specific hastags, which is where sites like TweetDeck come into play. This app allows the user to follow any hashtag, like #elmchat or #edtech.

Cross also positively warns that Twitter should be used every day for at least 10-15 minutes because connections happen quickly. We should be encouraged to take advantage of the global network it provides and utilize its many resources.

Check out Cross' audio recording of the presentation here.

For other #globaled2013 see the links below.
The Global Classroom Project Blog
Global Ed Con News Site

I also found this enlightening infographic from Edudemic. Cross' should probably add this to her next presentation!

Global Conference: Twitter for Educators: An Introduction to the Global Collaboration Network

Ashley Cross did a wonderful presentation about how to use Twitter for networking with other educators.

This is the session bio on her:

"Ashley Cross is a Google Certified Teacher and a 2012 STAR Discovery Educator. She is currently working on her doctorate in Learning Technologies at Pepperdine University. Ashley has experience teaching both 1st grade and 3rd grade."

She has a great internet presence her blog here and you can follow her at on Twitter @ashly2499. 

Her session was mostly about how to create a Twitter, what it will be able to help you do, how to use hashtags etc. I thought it was fascinating to see how Lucie and her ideas about Twitter are truly cutting edge; this woman was reiterating all the points Lucie had taken us through earlier in the semester.

 I thought it was especially helpful how she stressed the need for most people to use Hootsuite and Tweetdeck to filter their tweets and display important information.

Since going to this session I feel like I will try to use Twitter to better my understanding of Social Studies tech resources that are available in our ever shrinking world!

Global Conference Session: Globalizing the High School U.S. History Survey Course: Free, Collaborative, and Self-Paced Professional Development

This particular session was led by Craig Perrier and can be summarized as follows:
 "Globalizing the U.S.History Survey Course is an essential aspect of change in contemporary education addressed in these 5 free, online professional development modules for history teachers which prepares them to empower their students for a global, interconnected world."

 Essentially, this presenter, Craig Perrier (his blog here) is a teacher who was given a grant by Longview Foundation and IREX to create a website for teachers to educate themselves on how to re-think their curriculum by implementing global theories across every part of Social Studies. He is still in the creation process and is looking for people to edit his work before he publishes it. He also was hoping to spread the word about his work. It was unclear how to spread the word since he does not have a published website yet for this work.

His presentation was mostly him showing us the way the website will be eventually designed. It is a really awesome initiative and it is very important in our globalizing world. I thought it was provoking how he demonstrated that the U.S. was certainly not "isolated" during the 1920s-1940s but instead was involved all over the world in various countries and this myth has been allowed to perpetuate in many textbooks still today.

His blog is also extremely provoking. One submission I read was "the 4-11 on 9-11" regarding our American view of 9/11 and how there is a major misconception being perpetuated by Social Studies teachers. Here is a direct quote:

"I lay it out there, Khalid Sheik Muhammad is the master mind of 9-11. Osama Bin Laden is not the mastermind behind 9-11. Therefore, any educational material, standards, test, curriculum, etc, that professes Bin Laden is, needs to explain its stance against the sources below." 

He then names five sources one of which being the 9/11 Commission Report. 

This is an extremely interesting man and I am glad I attended his session. I look forward to this website being published!

Accessing Learning with Chris CichoskyKelly

I've always been interested in assisted technologies. Life is hard enough as it is, we might as well use effective tools to get by.

As a speech and language aide I've had the pleasure of working with a variety of Alternative and Augmented Communication (AAC) devices and have found some to be cumbersome, others lacking appropriate communication strategies, and some to be either completely wrong or just right for the student. I have become well-versed through my professional endeavors in an Apple program called Proloquo2Go; a full communication system for individuals with speech and language and/or motor disabilities.

Today's conference, Accessing Learning with Chris CichoskyKelly shed light on more AT devices for both iPad and Nexus 7.



Most notably, I learned of a braille reading device called Braille Note Apex. This technology has been around since 2000 and allows the user to read anything that could be found online through a system of constantly refreshing 6-dotted letter readers. This could be a break-through for some of the students that I work with and I am looking forward to sharing this with the team.

The iPad is also set up with a text-to-speech function that allows the user to highlight a portion of text and have Siri read it aloud. The user can also control the rate of speech by adjusting it in the settings folders.

Other note-worthy programs to try are Verbally - a free word prediction application that recognizes words based on the letters typed in, a great tool for helping students identify the phonemes in common vocabulary - and Read2Go - a free resource for schools, this program follows copyright laws and is usable by all students. Students who may be reading below grade level but still want to read the same books as their peers, can utilize this by basically having a book on tape yet can still see the printed word. What I like best is that the user does not have to use the voiced reading option unless they choose to highlight a section. This enables the individual to read independently until they come to a difficult word or phrase.

I also left the conference with a renewed interest in AAC. Not all of my students can access Proloquo2Go easily, some need more basic devices, and not every student needs as basic a device such as PECs. Sonoflex, LAMP and TouchChat are all new programs to me, specifically Sonoflex which has a free lite version that I will be exploring. I will also be checking out GoTalk's new iPad app called GoTalkNow3 which has both a free lite version and a paid full version. This is so much easier than the original GoTalk which required the user to physically switch out sheets for various conversation topics. Now, with simply a swipe, the user is ready to communicate. This could be a great alternative for students who began with the hand-held GoTalk to transfer over to the iPad with a very similar program.

To check out some of Chris' knowledge, follow the links below:
Apps and Accessibility for ‘Increasing Access to the Curriculum and Independence Using Mobile Devices’
AAC Vermont Fest Presentation

#Hashtag

Louis CK's Rant on Smart Phones and Children

I believe that kids should be educated on proper use of smart phones, this includes limiting their time spent using technology. Louis CK agrees in a hilarious way.

Best Video Ever/ Celebrity Crush