Reflective Blog#2

Shifrer, D., Callahan, R. (2010) Technology and Communications Coursework: Facilitating the Progression of Students with Learning Disabilities Through High School Science and Math Coursework. Journal of Special Education Technology, 25(3), 65-67.

Authors Dara Shrifrer and Rebecca Callahan wrote the article to compare students with learning disabilities and students with learning disabilities and their differences when dealing with STEM-oriented class work. The avenue looked into by the authors was using technology and communications coursework to help students with learning disabilities in non-core classes which would then in turn help them to perform better in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). 'Incorporating technology into the lesson is a widely advocated pedagogical strategy for this generation of students, and is thought particularly to facilitate the academic development of students with LD'. 'Finally placement in non-core courses may provide students with LD a fresh context for learning.' Using a weighted descriptive statistics chart, found in the article, teachers can find out what level students should perform at for each subject according to their social background, grade and LD versus non-LD.

Reflective Blog #5

Math-Videos-Online.com
http://www.math-videos-online.com/free-math-videos-online-blog.html

This blog was very different from the other blogs I had viewed. This blog didn't contain any articles, but its main purpose was that so students could find examples of how to solve certain math problems. The blog's menu was setup real nice so you could find the kind of problem you were having trouble with and there was a tab that would bring you to a page of links to help you solve the problem. There wasn't much color and it was quite plain, but it was fitting because of how little there was on the home page. I liked that the blog could be helpful to students and teachers, but a drawback would be for teachers who were looking for help in other subjects. I would recommend this blog to other math teachers; however it is only helpful to math teachers.

Reflective Blog #4

A Dance with the Butterflies
http://butterflydanceproject.blogspot.com/


When first looking at this blog, I thought it was a light change from the other three I looked at. This blog was created for project participants to collaborate and share ideas. The blog was very colorful but very dark at the same time. From what I could tell this blog didn't have any gadgets and the blog author's purpose was only posting information on butterflies. The author also provided updates for her followers on her butterflies and any other relevant information. I liked that this blog was different than others I looked at because the topic was interesting to me. I would suggest another teacher use this blog if they were doing an insect unit, but otherwise the blog wouldn't be very useful in a classroom.

Reflective Blog #3

Successful Teaching
http://successfulteaching.blogspot.com/

Some things on this blog that I found very helpful for teachers were articles on children with disorders, which is a good thing for teachers to know. Understanding how to accommodate and help students with disabilities is something all teachers will probably face. I love the setup of the blog because I found it very colorful, fun and eye catching. The blog allowed its followers to contact the blog author by providing her email and a way to follow her on Twitter. Once again I liked the usefulness of this blog and how it could help teachers in the classroom with students with disorders. I would recommend this blog to other teachers.

Reflective Blog #2

Free Technology for Teachers
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

Most of the topics found on this blog contain things teachers can use in the classroom or fun things you can use on your own. The blog has articles for people to read with some suggestions of what internet devices you might like if you were interested in the article. The colors are quite plain. However I didn't like that it was crowded with links and ads which made it very overwhelming. This blog was difficult to navigate. I would recommend this blog to other teachers because it has some good information but I would warn them that there is a lot to look at and it can be overwhelming.

Reflective Blog #1

2¢ Worth 

Steve Jobs: A Great Idea 

In the blog, were a number of things Steve Jobs had created or done to make life easier for people and for entertainment. He also had a number of articles about how some of his products have been used in the classroom to assist in the lesson. I found that some of his gadgets were nice for users, which included Twitter, which allowed people to follow him. I found the blog to be interesting, simple and quite easy to navigate. The colors weren't at all distracting and were simple. I thought it was easy for people who were interested in learning more about Steve Jobs and could be used in a classroom setting to learn more about him.

Yay

Wow! I can't believe it. My first post.