Seedlings #92 2010-09-23

For our #92nd show, we are joined by Karen Janowski, Assistive Technology consultant, Mom, School Committee member, blogger, presenter and a few I have already forgotten! Alice and Cheryl start off the conversation with Karen and Bob breezes in from his favorite school night, Open House! Our show ends up spilling over the one hour mark, but you will love our links, Geeks, and conversations.

The Geeks: Delicious

The Chat:

 19:19:43  Seedlings~cheryloakes  getting set up BRB
 19:24:33  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Hello, just getting ready
 19:24:49  loonyhiker  i wanted to be an early bird so i wouldn't forget about it :)
 19:25:10  sr  ditto
 19:25:13  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Glad you are here!
 19:25:18  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Hello sr
 19:25:28  sr  what is the topic this evening
 19:25:57  sr  or where can I find the blurb
 19:25:57  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Karen Janowski is our guest, UDL is the topic with special ed
 19:26:11  sr  thank you
 19:27:03  Seedlings~cheryloakes  going for the sound
 19:27:38  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  Hi everyone!
 19:28:55  Seedlings~cheryloakes  still trying for sound!
 19:29:46  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  We'll be there in a minute
 19:30:05  KarenJan  Hi Pat - how are you?
 19:30:24  loonyhiker  I'm doing great! i was so excited that you would be here karen!
 19:30:37  KarenJan  great to see but we have audio issues right now
 19:30:59  loonyhiker  i hope i didn't jinx y'all :)
 19:31:14  Seedlings~cheryloakes  should hear sound in a minute
 19:31:26  Seedlings~cheryloakes  well actually 2 minutes
 19:32:20  Seedlings~cheryloakes  do you have sound yet in the chat room on ETTA?
 19:32:52  loonyhiker  yes
 19:33:47  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  Yea!!
 19:33:47  Seedlings~cheryloakes  sound check is great.
 19:34:34  loonyhiker  i've missed y'all!
 19:34:57  KarenJan  it' sgreat to see you
 19:35:07  loonyhiker  My hubby thinks I'm watching Valkyrie with him lol
 19:35:14  KarenJan  lol
 19:35:22  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  :)
 19:36:40  Seedlings~cheryloakes  welcome to Karen Janowski
 19:36:50  loonyhiker  hooray to Karen!
 19:37:10  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Loonyhiker, keep him guessing.
 19:37:17  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  Karen does so many things!
 19:37:22  Seedlings~cheryloakes  keep him guessing about Valkyrie I mean
 19:37:24  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  It's great!
 19:38:34  KarenJan  Hey Durff!
 19:38:35  loonyhiker  @cheryl he doesn't have a clue so ignorance is bliss :)
 19:38:58  Seedlings~cheryloakes  great!
 19:39:04  mrsdurff  hey all
 19:39:31  loonyhiker  @durff hi!
 19:39:31  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  Hi Durff!
 19:40:09  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  Welcome thanporter
 19:41:22  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Hello Anita
 19:41:34  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Durff, Howdy,
 19:41:46  Anita  Hi, I'm joining for the first time
 19:42:00  mrsdurff  you're welcome here Anita
 19:42:18  loonyhiker  we should b meeting individual needs of all children
 19:42:22  bobsprankle  hi all
 19:42:22  mrsdurff  Do you have sound Anita?
 19:42:36  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Anita, we have a chat here. There is sound at ETTA click on the speaker
 19:42:42  Anita  I can't hear anything
 19:42:49  mrsdurff  top right of this page
 19:43:00  mrsdurff  the blue icon works best for me
 19:43:08  loonyhiker  i had many tchrs that checked that question automatically and never really address it! aargh
 19:43:15  mrsdurff  click that blue icon
 19:43:28  mrsdurff  it will open RealPlayer and you will hear
 19:43:44  loonyhiker  i check windows media and it works for me
 19:44:46  Seedlings~cheryloakes  yes loonyhiker, that is true, there hasn't been much training
 19:44:51  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  Bob's Here!
 19:45:13  bobsprankle  :)
 19:45:50  loonyhiker  @cheryl our district really didn't want it addressed - i got dirty looks when i brought it up
 19:46:10  mrsdurff  technology is assistive - it's my accomodation
 19:46:21  mrsdurff  hi celiac
 19:47:03  loonyhiker  always told that it cost too much money which should never have been an issue. new tchrs told if they bring it up, they would have to pay for it (which is not legal of course)
 19:48:08  mrsdurff  I paid for all my own technology the first two years
 19:48:32  Seedlings~cheryloakes  yes durff, sometime it is easier and faster to do this
 19:48:34  mrsdurff  I'm in private school and they do what they like
 19:48:42  loonyhiker  so glad that more and more of "us" are feeling empowered to speak up now
 19:48:48  mrsdurff  but this year.....
 19:49:02  mrsdurff  everyone in K-5 wants a blog
 19:49:15  mrsdurff  everyone wants tech integrated
 19:49:26  mrsdurff  AND they want me to do training
 19:49:32  mrsdurff  things change
 19:49:53  mrsdurff  oh and we have a COW!
 19:49:59  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  You go Durff!
 19:50:03  loonyhiker  i've been talking to more and more gen ed tchrs who are thrilled to know how assistive tech can help all of their students
 19:50:12  Seedlings~cheryloakes  cast.org/policy  common core standards initiative Jan. 2010
 19:50:36  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/
 19:50:39  mrsdurff  hi leanne
 19:50:43  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Hello Leanne from Hong Kong
 19:51:06  mrsdurff  helping ALL kids
 19:51:14  leeanneHK  Good morning from Hong Kong
 19:51:18  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  Hey Leeanne!
 19:51:24  loonyhiker  hi leeanne!
 19:51:32  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Leeanne, glad you are here.
 19:51:56  leeanneHK  Thanks - will need to duck out and put youngest on her school bus soon.
 19:52:09  Seedlings~cheryloakes  don't let her miss the bus
 19:54:20  leeanneHK  Kids love novels on their ipods...
 19:54:35  loonyhiker  i love novels on ipod too :)
 19:54:49  Anita  I'm in Australia, beginning of the work day, have to head off to an appointment. I am a teacher consultant and work for an inclusive technolgies company - Spectronics. spectronicsinoz.com. Thanks for the discussion so far.
 19:54:50  Seedlings~cheryloakes  I love listening to books first!
 19:55:02  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  Hi Anita
 19:55:16  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Anita, glad you have joined from Australia! So you are not on break, but in school
 19:55:50  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Anita, we have this as a podcast too, edtechtalk.com   and bobsprankle.com
 19:56:07  leeanneHK  Giving kids the option to listen is good - I've won the battle with my english faculty that how students access the literature doesn't matter as long as they can access it! listening is good for ESL and special needs kids
 19:56:27  mrsdurff  love tumblebooks --> http://www.tumblebooks.com/
 19:56:38  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Oh, yes, tumblebooks are great
 19:57:01  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Leeanne, how did you win your faculty over? Any hints
 19:57:06  Anita  Thanks, I'll check out the podcast. bye
 19:57:13  Seedlings~cheryloakes  bye anita
 19:57:19  mrsdurff  I need the parents to donate iPods and we can have audio books to loan out on them
 19:57:34  Seedlings~cheryloakes  good idea Durff
 19:57:52  loonyhiker  @leeanne I agree. we need to look at what our purpose is
 19:58:09  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  @Durff what about Digital Wish?
 19:58:19  mrsdurff  what is it?
 19:58:21  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Yes, loonyhiker, we need define the purpose and promote mutilple ways of access
 19:58:41  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  @Durff you can put in request for tech and people donate
 19:59:01  mrsdurff  cool! I'll look into that...
 19:59:15  leeanneHK  They made english literature compulsory at senior level 2 years ago when we moved to IB. We needed to move literature analysis down the year levels. I started with 1 person and let it breed from their. I did the work in getting parents to read our novels (not usually available online in audio) and have put in a place where staff can give to students.
 19:59:35  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/home
 20:00:08  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Leeanne, I was able to get our english dept. to use literary companion from Academic Merit! It is online and very nice.
 20:01:55  mrsdurff  talk about malpractice->Title 1 will pay for me to train but will not pay for me to put it online, accessible to all tchrs
 20:02:11  mrsdurff  nor will it pay for hardware or software
 20:02:23  Seedlings~cheryloakes  oh, that is where the restrictions really hamper what we try to do with students
 20:02:38  mrsdurff  I could use SIRs
 20:02:50  mrsdurff  but Title 1 won't pay
 20:04:03  Seedlings~cheryloakes  common core standards initiative Jan. 2010 includes Universal design and UDL, great article!
 20:05:08  Seedlings~cheryloakes  evening susan!
 20:05:41  sroseman  Hi Cheryl
 20:05:59  loonyhiker  really helps when i can show examples of successes with using AT - other teachers are more willing to give it a try when they can see it with their own eyes
 20:06:05  sroseman  sorry I am late...had a tappedin.org session
 20:06:28  mrsdurff  hi sue
 20:06:36  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Yes, it is great to share examples and real people.
 20:06:43  sroseman  hi durff
 20:06:48  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Sue, what was on your agenda in tappedin.org
 20:07:43  KarenJan  http://bit.ly/cXn3oc Be Careful what you wish for
 20:07:50  sroseman  I participated in a Rushton Hurley session, Cheryl
 20:08:07  Seedlings~cheryloakes  great, Rushton Hurley,
 20:09:24  loonyhiker  using word processor, mp3 players for hearing as well as recording their own reading
 20:09:46  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Thanks Loonyhiker for sharing good examples
 20:09:54  leeanneHK  @cheryloakes -- problem with many US sites is that they don't have much outside of the 'classics' when it comes to non-american authors. Some of our novels are Asia based or translated from Chinese into English... very hard to source in non-text formats
 20:10:23  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Of course Leeanne, but this company is just a startup and they welcome new books to add
 20:10:51  leeanneHK  Great news - this is why I love this group...
 20:12:26  mrsdurff  I have had kids who I was told could not do anything in my class - they got 'A's' without any accomodations
 20:13:21  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Durff you believe in them!
 20:13:34  mrsdurff  two years ago our tchrs would not accept Skyping into class
 20:13:36  KarenJan  Durff, what do you think was the difference?
 20:13:43  mrsdurff  now they are begging for it
 20:13:55  mrsdurff  @Karen - computers
 20:14:04  Seedlings~cheryloakes  mistake tolerant and mistake intolerant
 20:14:06  mrsdurff  I teach content using computers
 20:15:02  Seedlings~cheryloakes  check out Karen's blog teachingeverystudent.blogspot.com
 20:15:21  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Are the tools in our classroom mistake tolerant or mistake intolerant?
 20:16:27  mrsdurff  the tcgrs/admin/parents are mistake intolerant
 20:16:28  leeanneHK  we programme kids to be afriad of making mistakes at school because they are penalised for it so often.
 20:16:47  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Durff and Leeanne, good points!
 20:17:02  loonyhiker  i learned "an error is not a terror" but can't remember where
 20:17:04  mrsdurff  don't give them ideas!
 20:17:15  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Oh, that is good too Loonyhiker.
 20:17:20  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  @loonyhiker :)
 20:18:00  leeanneHK  our learner profile has "risk taker" as one of the key points... 2 years later kids still having trouble associating this with school work... they think its about physical challenges not mental challenges
 20:18:35  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Leeanne, hm....taking a risk in school??
 20:19:24  loonyhiker  my kids felt they were failures or would fail, so why bother trying
 20:19:53  leeanneHK  maths investigations stump kids -- they think there is only 1 way to a solution and that they're wrong if they don't get the 'right' way
 20:19:54  Seedlings~cheryloakes  really, somekids are so afraid to try something!anything in front of people
 20:20:17  Seedlings~cheryloakes  http://teachingeverystudent.blogspot.com/
 20:20:21  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Karen's blog
 20:21:53  loonyhiker  our kids r taught not to question, they need to be taught how to ask questions, investigate, take risks
 20:23:38  Seedlings~cheryloakes  yes, loony, it is harder to create a question  than to answer a question
 20:23:38  leeanneHK  I do 5 minute challenge for times table for my junior class. They get house points for personal improvement. If they get 100% in 5 minutes then I start handicapping them - they only get 4:30. It's all about improving their skills not getting 100%
 20:23:44  bobsprankle  arcademics.com
 20:24:04  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Leeanne, this is a good compromise
 20:24:19  leeanneHK  it's about creating a culture where we expect kids to get their PB
 20:24:31  Seedlings~cheryloakes  PB, = personal best :-)
 20:24:37  mrsdurff  http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/
 20:24:42  Seedlings~cheryloakes  lol
 20:25:02  Seedlings~cheryloakes  thanks durff
 20:25:31  KarenJan  http://youtu.be/lNs88Ki1WSo
 20:25:32  mrsdurff  I have a kid who likes the drag races
 20:26:54  loonyhiker  i can't wait to seethat
 20:27:29  mrsdurff  except drinking coffee
 20:27:55  loonyhiker  no! this time went by waaaay too fast!
 20:28:12  leeanneHK  The dogs are late tonight
 20:28:51  loonyhiker  we love karen!!! it is so great to have these conversations :)
 20:29:02  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  They are late... Woof!
 20:30:01  loonyhiker  when we can show that udl can make the biggest impact on the most amt of students, more and more administrators will encourage it
 20:30:05  KarenJan  http://cast.org -best source for UDL
 20:30:31  mrsdurff  8:30 - gtg - ciao!
 20:30:39  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  Bye Durff!
 20:31:20  Seedlings~cheryloakes  http://quizlet.com/group/66966/    Assistive Technology is the great equalizer.
 20:31:26  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  http://storybird.com/
 20:32:41  leeanneHK  zero to hero via quizlet!
 20:33:06  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  :D
 20:33:25  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  http://www.google.com/educators/digitalliteracy.html
 20:33:47  leeanneHK  words from the future
 20:33:52  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Stay safe online with alice's geek.
 20:34:10  AliceBarr (SEEDlings)  Love that Leeanne
 20:35:52  bobsprankle  http://www.diigo.com/list/bobsprankle/TEDxRedmond
 20:38:23  leeanneHK  3rd grade!! wow
 20:39:42  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Thanks for being with us tonight! You make our show! Good night from Seedlings and KarenJan
 20:39:50  sroseman  very exciting!
 20:39:52  loonyhiker  thanks so much for this awesome conversation! y'all rock!
 20:40:00  bobsprankle  goodnight!
 20:40:00  leeanneHK  thanks everyone. See you next week
 20:40:03  KarenJan  good night all
 20:40:31  loonyhiker  nite all!
 20:40:32  sroseman  Goodnite all ..Thanks
 20:40:41  Seedlings~cheryloakes  Bye all, see you next week.
 20:40:59  KarenJan  thanks for everything cheryl, alice and bob!