Misunderstood Minds

Last week Barb introduced us to a series of PBS videos that she posted on a blog, Misunderstood Minds LD.  The blog can be found at: http://misunderstoodmindsld.blogspot.com/.  The eleven videos posted showcase the struggles and triumphs of students with learning differences and disabilities.  It was a great experience for us to gain perspective from students, parents, and doctors on this issue.  In class, we are better able to support our learning disabled students once we understand the strengths and challenges of their individual learning.

An Update on MyStudyBar - USB

I've had some frustration with MyStudyBar on the USB.  So, I went through each application, and gave a quick review.  I was pleased to find that more was working than I previously thought!

Planning

Xmind - Mind Mapping

*Good tool.  Can export and print.  Works well.

Sunbird - Portable Calendar

* Add events.  Can save, organize through colours.  Works well.

Hott Notes - Sticky Notes

* Post reminders, change colours, print.  Works well.

Reading

T-Bar - Screen Masking

* Rectangular overlay.  Okay.

Rapid Set - Change Colours

*Changes background and font colour of document.  Works.

Vu-Bar - Screen Ruler

* Overlay strip.  Okay.

SS Overlay - Screen Tint

* Colour tints whole screen.  Okay.

Orato - Text Reader 

* Different voices available on different machines.  Will work with MS Anna (good) and MS Michael (a slow, mechanical voice that ran together) if available.

Writing

Let Me Type - Word Prediction

* You have to create your own dictionary (good for specific topics).  Does not correct spelling.

Lingoes - Talking Dictionary

* Needs update.  Update failed.  

Balbolka - Writing Support - MP3

* Reads any text you type or paste in the box.  Again, limited voices.  (MS Michael, MS Michelle, MS Sam)  (Changing the pitch and rate options make it much better!) 

Tiny Spell - Spell Checking

* Little box w/ options for spelling stays active in any program.  Very good!

Rapid Typing - Touch Type Tutor

* Typing practice.  Okay.

Vision

Magnifier - Screen Magnifier

* Rectangular magnifier on screen.  Works well.

Sonar - Curser Ring

* A big, red outlined circle.  Okay.

Thunder - Screen Reader

* Literally reads everything you click on.  Again, limited voices, customization available.  Good!

Voice

* not supported

Depending on the computer, some things work, some things don't.  It really just seems to be trial and error!  With everything working on the netbooks though, that would be a good opportunity for students to familiarize themselves with MyStudyBar, then they could be introduced to the USB drive version.  This sequence would allow students to experience some success with the program first and eliminate minimize their frustration when introduced to the program on the USB drive.

My Study Bar

Our group has been working on developing a tutorial blog for 'My Study Bar.'  'My Study Bar' is a toolbar of support for learners with literacy-related challenges.

The free download provides comprehensive learning support from a PC's desktop, and is portable via a USB stick.

There are six categories of tools assembled into one convenient package. Categories include:

1) Planning,

2) Reading,

3) Writing,

4) Vision,

5) Voice, and

6) Help.

You can visit the tutorial blog at http://mystudybar.blogspot.com/.

Great AT Online

If you’ve got students with obstacles to learning, then you need to visit the Free Technology Toolkit for UDL in all Classrooms @ http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/.  This site has links to Graphic Organizers, Literacy Tools, Study Skills Tools, Research Tools, Audio Books, Math Tools, Writing Tools, Multimedia & Digital Storytelling Tools, Text-to-Speech/Speech-to-Text, Collaborative Tools, Useful Links, and Additional Strategies and Free Tools!

With thousands of great links, it was hard to narrow them down to a few I wanted to share with you!

Literacy Tools

60 Second Recap

- This site provides video recaps of classic literature read in middle and high schools.  You can even request recaps!

Writing Tools

ToonDoo

- An online comic strip/book creator w/ thousands of images in multiple categories.

Graphic Organizers

Scholastic Character Scrapbook

- Analyze characters with this organizer from Scholastic

Free Audio Books!

 I’ve been on a hunt lately for a list of audio books available for free to our students.  After some searching, I came across what appears to be a pretty comprehensive list at http://education-portal.com/articles/Free_Books_-_50_Places_to_Find_Free_Books_Online.html

Free Audio Books

      Books Should Be Free - This site is a great place to find free fiction and nonfiction. Users can download plain text files and MP3 audio books files.

      Free Classic Audio Books - A wonderful collection of free classics. All audio books are available in MP3 and in M4b formats for iTunes and iPods.

      Gutenberg Audio - The Gutenberg Audio Book Project has a wonderful collection of audio books read by both humans and computer generated voices.

      Internet Archive Audio - In addition to millions of free electronic texts, the Internet Archive offers over 6,000 audio books and poetry recordings for download.

      Kiddie Records Weekly - Hundreds of free recordings of classic children's albums. Kiddie Records features golden age characters like Bugs Bunny, Howdy Doody and Walt Disney's Robin Hood.

      Kids Audio Books - 200+ free audio books for kids in MP3 format. Most books are from the 40s and 50s.

      Learn Out Loud - Learn Out Load is the Internet's largest directory of free audio learning resources. The site also offers educational videos and podcasts.

      Librivox - There are nearly 2,000 free audio books available on this site. Librivox is attempting to make an audio recording of all of the books in the public domain, so new books are constantly being added.

      Lit 2 Go - A nice collection of free stories and poems from the Florida Educational Technology Clearinghouse. Users can download MP3 files or play MP3 files on their computer and read along as they listen.

      Literal Systems - A modest selection of free classics in audio format.

      Naropa Poetics Audio Archives - The Naropa University Archive Project features more than 5,000 hours of poetry recordings.

      Podio Books - Free serialized audio books that can be delivered to you on a schedule that you set up. More than 200 modern titles are currently available.

      Poet Scoop - Poet Scoop offers hundreds of free MP3 recordings from spoken word artists. The site also includes videos of poets reading their work.

      Simply Audio Books - This site offers free classic audio books. A new download is available every month.

Spoken Alexandria Project - This Creative Commons library provides free AAC, Ogg Vorbis and MP3 audio books. Classics and modern works are both available.

Apps in Action Webinar

I recently had the opportunity to check out two Webinars from the Assistive Technology Centre Society.  Both webinars were hosted by Barb Welsford and related to available apps on the iPod Touch, iPad, and iPhone.  The first webinar was ‘Apps in Action for Reluctant Writers’ and the second was ‘Apps in Action for Reluctant Readers.’

Apps highlighted in the ‘Apps in Action for Reluctant Writers’ webinar could be used for initiating, planning, organizing, writing, revising, and/or publishing as part of the writing process.  Apps mentioned included:

iThoughts, Instant Poerty, Pow!, Writing Toolkit, Storyteller, Story Cubes, iLanguage, Flat Stanley, Story Builder, ABC Letter, WritePad, Speak it!, VoiceMemo, DocToGo, TikiNotes, Dragon Dictation, Pictello, ReelDirector.

My favourite app in the writing webinar is the Writing Toolkit ($3.99).  This app is an all-in-one application for guiding a student through the process of writing a fictional story.  The Writing Toolkit includes the following icons that take you to different sections of the app:

Questions, Punctuation, WritingDef, Plots, People, Places, Things, Scenarios, Notes, Dialogue, Prepositions, iPod Control, Help, and Video Tutorial.  This app would be great for writers struggling with knowing where to start with their ideas. 

Apps highlighted in the ‘Apps in Action for Reluctant Readers’ webinar offer students opportunities to become more engaged in their reading.  Apps noted include:

Shmoop, CliffsNotes, vBookz, Stanza, Image to Text, Voice to Text Reader, Moving Tales books, Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries, Story Builder, Question Builder, ABC Pocket Phonics, Montessori Crossword, Itsy Bitsy Spider Interactive Book, Food Fight Interactive Book, and Pictello.

 

My favourite app in this webinar was vBookz!  vBookz, for just $2.99, is a voice reader that provides free access to over 30,000 books!  The books are stacked on your wooden bookshelf and you can even create your own book to add to the shelf.