Spring into Summer

I have just realized that there haven't been any posts since our February blizzard! And there was definitely technology going on to share... We blogged about different independent living topics, although many of my students treated it like torture. They didn't like blogging any better than they like writing with a pen, and several students chose not to do it at all.
We used The Sims 2 to "practice" independent living skills we were learning about... although we had some interesting issues with the Sim characters. The overriding desire for the Sims to be social led to some unique situations, and I think setting up each computer to host 4-5 Sims may have overtaxed the random event generator. We had lots of fighting going on between the Sims, and in one case, a team burned their house down.
A separate issue was convincing those watching this that the students were not just playing a video game, but instead actually learning... I'd like to do more things like this, but we continue to be hampered by a lack of available Internet connections on the grant-funded laptops.
I haven't been able to get any additional technology via a grant, though I tried to get some iTouches with hopes of using them as mini-word processors and book readers for the students. I'll have to look at that again later, perhaps. A lot of grants for individual teachers are being vetted on Facebook now, and your friends have to "vote" for your grant... And this only works if you have parents with Internet connections, Facebook, etc.

Snow, Snow, Go Away!

There isn't very much to report on the technology in the classroom front because, well, we haven't BEEN in the classroom! We had 3 feet of snow fall between February 5 & February 10. All of the snow put us out of the classroom from February 5 through February 15, with an additional snow day on February 3. We were back last week, but we had an hour delay each day due to the conditions of the roads and sidewalks.

I reorganized groups in all of the classes to accommodate new students added to the rosters. We have restarted having the students work on their amusement parks, but this time I am requiring them to follow just my rubric, and to work in the Sandbox mode of the software. This gives them unlimited money while eliminating most of the complaints from the peeps.

Another apparent issue is not remembering how to make the various roller coasters, and getting frustrated when the rules of physics kick in during the game (yes, Rollercoaster Tycoon follows the rules of physics for their rides!). I'm trying to fix this by making short tutorial videos on the different coasters which the students can then watch as often as necessary. I'm using CamStudio, which is an open source screen recording package. It is the same as Camtasia, but free.

We are all hoping that there will not be any more snow for the rest of this school year.

Disappointment

I have to say that I'm very disappointed in the quality of projects that my students turned in for the last quarter. With the exception of a few, there was very little effort or thought put into the final versions of the games. One group actually attempted to turn in a hand-drawn board that was done in pencil 10 minutes before the final version was due. Another group traced their board, but didn't bother to use a ruler. In all, I only received 5 games total, and none of them included the required typed directions.
I'm not sure what went wrong... I've tried dissecting the problem, and have decided that at least there was some confusion since they were doing both an amusement park in the RCT3 software, and a game board of their own design based on an amusement park they chose. Clearly, the RCT3 activity was more popular than the game board. I was also out of the classroom more than is typical for me between jury duty, some family issues, and LOTS of meetings. But, the students still had 9 weeks with lots and lots of notice about projects, lots of checkpoints where they were told what still needed to be accomplished.
I have decided to let them finish their RCT3 parks for the first part of this quarter, because none of them have anything to present. And, I'm trying to decide how (and if!) I want to let them do anything with The Sims. I'd love to have enough computers to let them each do their own project.

Donor's Choose

Right around the time of semester exams, I was notified that my Donor's Choose grant was fully funded! For those who aren't familiar, Donor's Choose is a website that allows teachers to post ideas for projects they would like to do in their classroom, but for which they do not have funding. It was started by a New York City Public School teacher and initially was only open to teachers from that district. In the years since, it has grown, and been recognized as a great resource for teachers. It is really designed for the teachers in moderate or high poverty schools to try and get materials they need that can't be provided by their school or school district for whatever reason.
In September, when I started my new position teaching students with autism spectrum disorders (those who are in the academic program), I realized that my classroom probably wasn't as friendly as we would like. It was VERY bright due to the fluorescent lighting with the white cinder block walls, and a white linoleum floor. It also had no windows, which meant the room was very dark if we turned off the lights so the students could see our interactive whiteboard. The size of the room meant there really wasn't anywhere for the students to go to cool down if they needed. I decided to ask for some lamps, lightbulbs and a carpet. With the help of some friends, and some people that I've never met, and probably never will meet, we now have ALL of these items... plus the district found funding for an exercise ball, some weighted aromatherapy animals, a weighted lap pad, several different kinds of stress balls, and some curriculum materials.
We're still kind of hoping to find a loveseat or small couch to put back there, and I'll likely have to buy more of the aromatherapy animals because even my students with "just a learning disability" want to use them!