3 weeks ago
Showing posts with label grants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grants. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Fakebook Profiles
In the past, I have used a simple PowerPoint template to make a quasi-Facebook profile for a project with the Explorer Unit in my World History class. Its a decent project, but doesn't really require a lot from the students. This year, one of my students found a website that creates a Facebook Profile. The tool, called Fakebook, is part of the ClassTools.Net suite of online tools that are available for teachers. The website is ad supported, but does offer premium subscriptions (a bit pricey unless you truly think you'll use everything on-line... I cannot because we don't have that much computer access available). An additional drawback is that most of the tools on ClassTools are Flash, and so will not work on most mobile devices (even those that say they support flash often don't support much more than games or movies!).
This year, not only did we complete profiles for Explorers, but my social skills class also created profiles for "paper bag people". Our paper bag people came from Trader Joe's grocery store bags, because the drawings on the bag are very unique and creative. The students can be very creative with these, and for my students with autism using a fake person was easier than having to research a historical character.
Here are a few of the social skills projects, just click on "View Full Screen" to get the full page. We're having a bit of a motivational problem in getting things done in the World History class.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
4G iTouches
In December, we received 2 4G iTouches from another Donor's Choose grant. I'm so grateful for the people that continue to provide funding to allow my students access to technology! This time, most of the donors were local people or non-profits, which is a huge leap forward in my mind; as much as I love my friends who donate money to my classroom, seeing that there are community foundations donating to us is just fantastic. Our thanks to the Piedmont Community Foundation, and the other donors (most of whom choose to remain anonymous, which fine!) for the new technology we have to use.
We had also achieved open-access filtered wifi in our classroom provided by the school district for awhile... About 6 weeks. And then the district shut it down because people were using it to stream video which caused the system to crash. The administrative offices decided to limit access to the open filtered wifi system to outside of school hours. Of course, I don't know all of the decision making that went into the decision making, but it seems that if the issue were students & teachers streaming video, you could block it. You could have principals tell staff that this is not an appropriate use of the system.
It just seems counterproductive given budget issues not allowing for purchases of technology, and district policies that do not allow grant-purchased items (items that belong to the school only, and not to the district) to be on the network which prevents Internet access. In this day and age, with so many things depending on the cloud (some of which are FREE), it'd be nice to be able to use these tools with my students. Despite the income level, most of my students have a cell phone that can use apps, and are either Droid or iOS (more iTouches than iPhones), which have options to make reading & writing easier for my students.
We had also achieved open-access filtered wifi in our classroom provided by the school district for awhile... About 6 weeks. And then the district shut it down because people were using it to stream video which caused the system to crash. The administrative offices decided to limit access to the open filtered wifi system to outside of school hours. Of course, I don't know all of the decision making that went into the decision making, but it seems that if the issue were students & teachers streaming video, you could block it. You could have principals tell staff that this is not an appropriate use of the system.
It just seems counterproductive given budget issues not allowing for purchases of technology, and district policies that do not allow grant-purchased items (items that belong to the school only, and not to the district) to be on the network which prevents Internet access. In this day and age, with so many things depending on the cloud (some of which are FREE), it'd be nice to be able to use these tools with my students. Despite the income level, most of my students have a cell phone that can use apps, and are either Droid or iOS (more iTouches than iPhones), which have options to make reading & writing easier for my students.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Donor's Choose
Donor's Choose is a website that lets teachers post needs for their classroom and request funding. Its kind of like a mini-grant application and social networking all rolled into one. The website was started in 2000 by a teacher from New York City; at first, only schools in NYC were eligible to participate. I've kept it on my radar, but really didn't have anything that would fit the bill until last year. I've always done pretty well with grants for technology, and purchased or created most of my own instructional materials. And that would be why I'm paying for a storage locker because of all the functional materials... I really should try to sell some of them, but then what if I need them? Ah, the mantra of a teacher. I think most teachers are closet hoarders. Anyway...
Last year I went looking to see if I could do anything about transportation for the service club I co-sponsor, but discovered that you can't do a field trip request as your first action on Donor's Choose. I reluctantly shelved the idea, because I didn't really need things for my classroom at that time. One of the nice things about doing a lot of functional teaching is that I have not had to buy things for awhile.
But, this is a new year with a new classroom (more about that in another post). I'll be teaching kids with autism. My room is rather bright and echo-y: cinder block, linoleum, and fluorescent lights. Not exactly the ideal setting for kids with autism spectrum disabilities. And I remembered Donor's Choose!
In a very few minutes, I was able to find a decent sized rug, some floor lamps and light bulbs. I wrote up my request, and we were on the way! The project went live yesterday, and a dear friend has already contributed toward the request. No, this is not an advertisement for my project (but I won't object if you'd like to help fund it!), but Donor's Choose is a great idea. Check it out!
Last year I went looking to see if I could do anything about transportation for the service club I co-sponsor, but discovered that you can't do a field trip request as your first action on Donor's Choose. I reluctantly shelved the idea, because I didn't really need things for my classroom at that time. One of the nice things about doing a lot of functional teaching is that I have not had to buy things for awhile.
But, this is a new year with a new classroom (more about that in another post). I'll be teaching kids with autism. My room is rather bright and echo-y: cinder block, linoleum, and fluorescent lights. Not exactly the ideal setting for kids with autism spectrum disabilities. And I remembered Donor's Choose!
In a very few minutes, I was able to find a decent sized rug, some floor lamps and light bulbs. I wrote up my request, and we were on the way! The project went live yesterday, and a dear friend has already contributed toward the request. No, this is not an advertisement for my project (but I won't object if you'd like to help fund it!), but Donor's Choose is a great idea. Check it out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
