So, interestingly, I thought I was done blogging. While looking at my dashboard, I found the final number, and it said 12. So I was thinking I was completely done, then I look at my blog and realize, I only have 8. So, back to blogging. Sorry for these all being in one day, but it was an EMERGENCY!!!
I thought that the final was really effective at getting us to use the technology that we've learned about, and I can totally see even getting preschoolers to tell me what they've learned about something in a Podcast and using it as an assessment piece. Also, I think it would be a good way to combine the best answers (to try and get them to be concise and do the best that they can) and put them in a video with some pictures taken over the course of a unit. Also, it was interesting to see how quickly we could do it, given our time frame. Amanda and I had so much fun putting together the podcast, and it was such a natural way to incorporate it!
I thought that the biggest lesson of all was just that when a new technology comes out, don't be shy. Try to find a way to use it to your benefit in the classroom! When cell phones first came out, I doubt that anyone thought that they could use this in their classroom, but I've had classes where we texted answers in and got to see a live feed of them on a website. I don't think that a lot of people would have thought that blogs had much of an educational value, but we've been using them for the last two weeks. I don't think that a lot of people who have thought that iPods could be useful, but we've used them to record a digital story, in some cases, browse the internet, and we used them as part of an assessment today.
I never would have thought to use Comic Life as part of a lesson, but now I have come up with tons of ways that it could be used. I think that KidPix is really fun, and we've used it in lots of beneficial ways throughout this class.
I also thought that it was fun to see how fast everything came together. I honestly don't remember much about 201, and I certainly didn't remember how to burn a DVD or use KidPix, but I figured it out really quickly. It was really fun to learn how to do all of this again. And, the torture that I recall in doing the digital story in 201 was replaced with a pleasurable and fun experience now. I thought that the process of the digital story was so much fun, and I had a lot of good experiences with gathering the pictures and doing the script. It was an interesting experience altogether.
I'm so excited to use all of this technology in a new way in the classroom, from what seems really high tech, like an iPad or a smartboard, to doing things that we've always done (but just doing it in a new way), like digital cameras and PowerPoint. I was also introduced to a lot of new things, like wikis (how easy is that?!) and Ning (which I'm excited to figure out more about) to TitanPad (so much better than a Word Document) and TodaysMeet (which I think would be so useful during an inservice day or something like that, to see what everyone else is thinking about all of this stuff, and the administrators would get a good idea of what concerns were and maybe some more honest feedback).
Altogether, I'm so glad that I took this class. I think it will prove to be useful in my future career and I think that I'll get a lot more understanding out of it later on. I think that when new technologies are out, I'll be trying to find ways to use it in the classroom, and I hope that my experiences in this class will make me a valuable resource for coworkers and the school system that I end up working in.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Reflection on In-Class Assignments
There were so many classroom assignments that I thought were really useful.
The Wandering Willy one was really good at getting us to problem-solve and retain information that we might not have known how to use at the beginning. I also think that it was useful in providing us with a way to use a software that most of us were familiar with in a new and interesting way. I never knew that you could do those types of things with PowerPoint, and when I got home, I sat down and played with it forever to try and figure it out. So, it was motivating in class and out of class. It was also really cool to see how you could use the same idea to create an ABC book for the entire class. I thought that it was really fun to see the ABC book, and I really enjoyed thinking about how to use it in my own classroom. I also liked how she used KidPix again after it to make sure that we all got the right answers. It was a really creative way to do it, and I had a lot of fun making the picture and trying to find ways to incorporate all of the other stuff with it.
The postcards were also really neat. I know that we didn't get to do them, but all I was thinking about was how students could really do this. I thought it would be fun to have them each do a postcard for your classroom, and design it. Then it could be a contest to see whose postcard you would use and use the postcard that was the winner to send to each of the families at the end of a unit. Or you could have them design the postcards about a unit.
The position words book was also really fun and entertaining. I thought that Rosie's Walk was such a great way to introduce this lesson, and it's a story that most of the students probably haven't heard before. I also thought that doing the pictures and having the students responsible for that was so neat. They would love to get to take pictures of each other, and it would be fun to see what they came up with and how they used it. Also, I think that this could be a really effective assessment piece to a unit that had something to do with position words, like Dr. Seuss.
Doing things with It Looked Like Spilt Milk was also fun. Right after we did that in class, I was at a preschool room, and they had done it with white paint and blue construction paper, and all I could think was, we saved paper and paint and did the same thing! Also, I think that using the computers was a lot more motivating to do this.
Overall, I thought that the assignments that we did in class were useful to what we were learning about, they were motivating, and we all enjoyed doing them. I also thought that they did a great job of motivating us to try and find new ways to do this in our own classrooms.
The Wandering Willy one was really good at getting us to problem-solve and retain information that we might not have known how to use at the beginning. I also think that it was useful in providing us with a way to use a software that most of us were familiar with in a new and interesting way. I never knew that you could do those types of things with PowerPoint, and when I got home, I sat down and played with it forever to try and figure it out. So, it was motivating in class and out of class. It was also really cool to see how you could use the same idea to create an ABC book for the entire class. I thought that it was really fun to see the ABC book, and I really enjoyed thinking about how to use it in my own classroom. I also liked how she used KidPix again after it to make sure that we all got the right answers. It was a really creative way to do it, and I had a lot of fun making the picture and trying to find ways to incorporate all of the other stuff with it.
The postcards were also really neat. I know that we didn't get to do them, but all I was thinking about was how students could really do this. I thought it would be fun to have them each do a postcard for your classroom, and design it. Then it could be a contest to see whose postcard you would use and use the postcard that was the winner to send to each of the families at the end of a unit. Or you could have them design the postcards about a unit.
The position words book was also really fun and entertaining. I thought that Rosie's Walk was such a great way to introduce this lesson, and it's a story that most of the students probably haven't heard before. I also thought that doing the pictures and having the students responsible for that was so neat. They would love to get to take pictures of each other, and it would be fun to see what they came up with and how they used it. Also, I think that this could be a really effective assessment piece to a unit that had something to do with position words, like Dr. Seuss.
Doing things with It Looked Like Spilt Milk was also fun. Right after we did that in class, I was at a preschool room, and they had done it with white paint and blue construction paper, and all I could think was, we saved paper and paint and did the same thing! Also, I think that using the computers was a lot more motivating to do this.
Overall, I thought that the assignments that we did in class were useful to what we were learning about, they were motivating, and we all enjoyed doing them. I also thought that they did a great job of motivating us to try and find new ways to do this in our own classrooms.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
TPACK
I think that it's really interesting to try to navigate away from integrating technology and into innovatively using it to our benefit in the classroom. Sometimes, teachers think that they're using technology really effectively, even though there are lots of things that they could be doing instead. It was interesting today to look through the lesson plans that were already created on the smartboard sites to see what they were doing.
I think that some of them were reinventing the wheel. Some of them were "Which items will sink or float?" I was curious why people would spend so much time working on this lesson, when everything is just as easily demonstrated, and perhaps even better, with a bucket of water and letting kids choose things in the classroom and make predictions about whether the objects will sink or float.
I just thought that some of these things were more difficult to use than they were worth. I understand that it's more fun, but I don't think that using technology in every lesson is either appropriate or necessary. There are lots of ways that these things can be illustrated without using technology, and while using these things sometimes, I think that some things, such as science, is best left as a hands-on activity where kids are actually touching the things that you're talking about. This bars, of course, those things that you can't always do in the classroom, like dissect a dinosaur or something.
I think that we need to use technology and use it innovatively, but I also think that we still need to be mindful of giving them these hands-on experiences that they may not always be getting at home. That being said, how cool were some of those? I saw an autism classroom during student teaching, and one of the ways they used smart boards was simply circling things and pointing things out, but it was so interesting to see how much more involved these kids were, and these were children that weren't communicating with their teachers on a regular basis.
I think that it was really interesting to note how much we integrate technology, and sometimes, it's forcing a square peg in a round hole, you just can't make it fit. So why do we do that? Why are we always trying to just make it fit, instead of creating an instance where it does? Why do we refuse to do things in our classrooms that has been proven in research to work and be effective? Are we just that lazy?
I'm really excited to see how much all of this changes in the next few years, because I think it will be something that we are doing so much more without even thinking about it. I think that there will be so many more opportunities for us to do things like this, and I think that a lot of school will be creating ways for teachers to be able to do it more easily, and probably even adding curriculum standards related to education.
I think that some of them were reinventing the wheel. Some of them were "Which items will sink or float?" I was curious why people would spend so much time working on this lesson, when everything is just as easily demonstrated, and perhaps even better, with a bucket of water and letting kids choose things in the classroom and make predictions about whether the objects will sink or float.
I just thought that some of these things were more difficult to use than they were worth. I understand that it's more fun, but I don't think that using technology in every lesson is either appropriate or necessary. There are lots of ways that these things can be illustrated without using technology, and while using these things sometimes, I think that some things, such as science, is best left as a hands-on activity where kids are actually touching the things that you're talking about. This bars, of course, those things that you can't always do in the classroom, like dissect a dinosaur or something.
I think that we need to use technology and use it innovatively, but I also think that we still need to be mindful of giving them these hands-on experiences that they may not always be getting at home. That being said, how cool were some of those? I saw an autism classroom during student teaching, and one of the ways they used smart boards was simply circling things and pointing things out, but it was so interesting to see how much more involved these kids were, and these were children that weren't communicating with their teachers on a regular basis.
I think that it was really interesting to note how much we integrate technology, and sometimes, it's forcing a square peg in a round hole, you just can't make it fit. So why do we do that? Why are we always trying to just make it fit, instead of creating an instance where it does? Why do we refuse to do things in our classrooms that has been proven in research to work and be effective? Are we just that lazy?
I'm really excited to see how much all of this changes in the next few years, because I think it will be something that we are doing so much more without even thinking about it. I think that there will be so many more opportunities for us to do things like this, and I think that a lot of school will be creating ways for teachers to be able to do it more easily, and probably even adding curriculum standards related to education.
Social Networking in Education
I'm really curious about how social networking works or doesn't in a classroom. Obviously, a lot of students find it useful, and I think that the quality of writing is obviously better. I have concerns about the safety issues and all of that, obviously, but I think that the benefits far outweigh the risks. Sometimes, we have to step out of our comfort zones to get kids into theirs. Eventually, I want the kids to be able to translate the passion and the quality of the writing they do on the social networking to other forms of writing as well. However, wherever we have to start is okay with me.
I think that this would be a great opportunity for homework (understanding that not all students have access to the internet or a computer at home and they would need to be given time at school). I think that I would have been pretty motivated to do my homework when I was younger, and even now, if it would have involved getting onto a social networking site.
I love the idea of building a stronger classroom community through these sites. I also think that we're teaching them how to act appropriately by doing this, and I think that kids will have better relationships with teachers by getting this experience and seeing their teachers in this way. Further, we can educate them about online security and give them these experiences in a safe and highly controlled area.
I know that a lot of people were concerned about how much time this would take the teacher, but I think that after a certain amount of time, the teacher would leave a lot of this up to the students, and then it would just be checking it to make sure that everyone is appropriate and doing what they're supposed to be doing. For example, the status update decoding. I think that this is something that the teacher wouldn't have to do a lot with, but the kids are getting a lot out of it and learning something without the teacher planning something new everyday. Also, if the students are only checking these sites once or twice a week, there wouldn't be that much planning anyway, it's planning an extra lesson twice a week. Also, a lot of the things that you would be doing on the social networking sites are things that you would probably be doing anyway, writing prompts, writing stories, commenting on others' stories and writing prompts, etc. So they're doing the same things that they would be doing in the classroom, but just in a different context.
I'm fascinated by this, and I think it would be so motivating and fun for students to do these things. I really want to be able to learn more about this!
I think that this would be a great opportunity for homework (understanding that not all students have access to the internet or a computer at home and they would need to be given time at school). I think that I would have been pretty motivated to do my homework when I was younger, and even now, if it would have involved getting onto a social networking site.
I love the idea of building a stronger classroom community through these sites. I also think that we're teaching them how to act appropriately by doing this, and I think that kids will have better relationships with teachers by getting this experience and seeing their teachers in this way. Further, we can educate them about online security and give them these experiences in a safe and highly controlled area.
I know that a lot of people were concerned about how much time this would take the teacher, but I think that after a certain amount of time, the teacher would leave a lot of this up to the students, and then it would just be checking it to make sure that everyone is appropriate and doing what they're supposed to be doing. For example, the status update decoding. I think that this is something that the teacher wouldn't have to do a lot with, but the kids are getting a lot out of it and learning something without the teacher planning something new everyday. Also, if the students are only checking these sites once or twice a week, there wouldn't be that much planning anyway, it's planning an extra lesson twice a week. Also, a lot of the things that you would be doing on the social networking sites are things that you would probably be doing anyway, writing prompts, writing stories, commenting on others' stories and writing prompts, etc. So they're doing the same things that they would be doing in the classroom, but just in a different context.
I'm fascinated by this, and I think it would be so motivating and fun for students to do these things. I really want to be able to learn more about this!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Keyboarding
I thought that the discussion on keyboarding was really interesting. Is it worth taking out cursive so that we can teach it earlier? Is it beneficial for students to excel at writing or at typing? Will keyboarding take away their handwriting skills? Will parents be upset about keyboarding being taught earlier than usual?
I thought that this was a good discussion to introduce us to, because it is a discussion and a decision that we will actually be involved in later. I think that for the most part, keyboarding is a valuable skill, and I think that it's not only beneficial, it's necessary to expose younger kids to it. It is a skill that they will most likely be using for a long time. However, it's not a perfect scenario.
I think that students need to know how to write and know how to write well before we can start to introduce them to the subject of keyboarding. I think that they need to be able to write out their ideas on paper and be able to process the spelling procedure before we can start to make them do all of this on the computer.
Overall, I think that keyboarding can teach valuable skills: hand-eye coordination, improve letter recognition, matching of upper- and lower-case letters, fine motor development, computer skills, and many others. However, I think it's also important to note that these skills can be taught in other ways without a computer. I think that in the early childhood classroom, computer time should be limited in the interest of gaining social and emotional skills, being able to ask for help from the teacher, and having time spent away from technology and with other people. In my preschool classroom, a lot of my students would spend so much time at night either playing games on the computer or gaming system, watching TV, going to see movies, etc. At the end of the day when I would drop them off with their parents, I would notice them pick up a Nintendo DS or other small gaming system or turn on the TV for a five minute ride home. And this happened daily with 6 out of my 23 students. I had a lot of discussions with my teacher about this, and she agreed that with these 6 kids, it was an issue. And when we had computer time as a center, these 6 kids would go to the computer and keep it away from the other kids, leading us to close the computer center a lot of the time. (Sorry about the digression from keyboarding!) I think that with some kids, these things happen a lot, and we need to make sure that we are providing them with different experiences at school, especially with experiences that they aren't getting at home.
While I think that computer time is important, and I think that technology is very important, I think that we need to be careful in the early childhood and early elementary classrooms that these things are not pulling away from other classroom instruction that might be even more important. In preschool, my teacher had a digital camera out for students to use during centers, and I was amazed at how social this experience was for the kids. They were in groups and would take pictures and talked about what to take pictures of. I think that we need to be careful to be innovative in the technology, because it seems like those are the lessons where we are providing students with more opportunities to be with other kids and it integrates so many more options for them as far as curriculum areas.
I thought that this was a good discussion to introduce us to, because it is a discussion and a decision that we will actually be involved in later. I think that for the most part, keyboarding is a valuable skill, and I think that it's not only beneficial, it's necessary to expose younger kids to it. It is a skill that they will most likely be using for a long time. However, it's not a perfect scenario.
I think that students need to know how to write and know how to write well before we can start to introduce them to the subject of keyboarding. I think that they need to be able to write out their ideas on paper and be able to process the spelling procedure before we can start to make them do all of this on the computer.
Overall, I think that keyboarding can teach valuable skills: hand-eye coordination, improve letter recognition, matching of upper- and lower-case letters, fine motor development, computer skills, and many others. However, I think it's also important to note that these skills can be taught in other ways without a computer. I think that in the early childhood classroom, computer time should be limited in the interest of gaining social and emotional skills, being able to ask for help from the teacher, and having time spent away from technology and with other people. In my preschool classroom, a lot of my students would spend so much time at night either playing games on the computer or gaming system, watching TV, going to see movies, etc. At the end of the day when I would drop them off with their parents, I would notice them pick up a Nintendo DS or other small gaming system or turn on the TV for a five minute ride home. And this happened daily with 6 out of my 23 students. I had a lot of discussions with my teacher about this, and she agreed that with these 6 kids, it was an issue. And when we had computer time as a center, these 6 kids would go to the computer and keep it away from the other kids, leading us to close the computer center a lot of the time. (Sorry about the digression from keyboarding!) I think that with some kids, these things happen a lot, and we need to make sure that we are providing them with different experiences at school, especially with experiences that they aren't getting at home.
While I think that computer time is important, and I think that technology is very important, I think that we need to be careful in the early childhood and early elementary classrooms that these things are not pulling away from other classroom instruction that might be even more important. In preschool, my teacher had a digital camera out for students to use during centers, and I was amazed at how social this experience was for the kids. They were in groups and would take pictures and talked about what to take pictures of. I think that we need to be careful to be innovative in the technology, because it seems like those are the lessons where we are providing students with more opportunities to be with other kids and it integrates so many more options for them as far as curriculum areas.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Blogging about . . . Blogging!
I think that blogging could prove to be very useful in a classroom. I think that you could use it for something as simple as pictures and information, but it would also be a nice place to share things like work samples of things that the students are working on and books that they've read. It would also be nice to put up things like school supply lists and school and classroom newsletters. I also think that blogs could be used to send out homework and could serve as a question/answer board for administrators, parents, and even students.
I think that within the classroom, blogs could be highly motivating for students and it would probably get them to write more often, whether it's journaling or stories. I also think that it would be easy and fun for Writer's Workshop, though a little less personal. I think that students could comment on each other's work and it would be easy for teachers to comment as well. Also, students could then just edit their post to edit their work, which would be a lot easier, though you might lose track of all of their revisions. It can also serve as a reminder to students of their homework assignments and handouts. Also, though, I think it is a powerful tool for collaboration between students and between students and the teacher. I think that students can tell each other what they think and it's a good environment for teachers to model appropriate web behavior and it's a controlled setting where the teacher can teach about cyber bullying and other types of harassment. I also think that over time, blogging would be beneficial because it would show growth. I think that this would serve as a student portfolio of sorts that would be easy to go back to and look at and see how student's have grown. I think that it's also nice that a parent could see their student's work over the year and not just at conference time, and since blogs are easy for parents to access at home, they can be more involved and help more with assignments.
I think that in the early childhood classroom, however, blogs are best left in the hands of the teacher. I think that it would be a fun and easy way for parents to stay up to date and for teachers to be able to remind parents about things that are coming up in the classroom, but I don't think that it's necessarily developmentally appropriate for the students to be doing much blogging early on. I think that it would be fun to share student's quotes or funny things that happen in the day-to-day routines of the classroom (without names attached), which I think makes parents feel more involved and active in their child's classroom.
Overall, I think that blogging would be very beneficial for classroom management and for reminders about things, but I think that teachers need to be very careful about how they use them. Obviously, privacy is an issue and confidentiality as well as each district having their own standards about how you can use technology in the classroom, but I think that these things can easily be surpassed and it could be a very valuable tool for teachers.
I think that within the classroom, blogs could be highly motivating for students and it would probably get them to write more often, whether it's journaling or stories. I also think that it would be easy and fun for Writer's Workshop, though a little less personal. I think that students could comment on each other's work and it would be easy for teachers to comment as well. Also, students could then just edit their post to edit their work, which would be a lot easier, though you might lose track of all of their revisions. It can also serve as a reminder to students of their homework assignments and handouts. Also, though, I think it is a powerful tool for collaboration between students and between students and the teacher. I think that students can tell each other what they think and it's a good environment for teachers to model appropriate web behavior and it's a controlled setting where the teacher can teach about cyber bullying and other types of harassment. I also think that over time, blogging would be beneficial because it would show growth. I think that this would serve as a student portfolio of sorts that would be easy to go back to and look at and see how student's have grown. I think that it's also nice that a parent could see their student's work over the year and not just at conference time, and since blogs are easy for parents to access at home, they can be more involved and help more with assignments.
I think that in the early childhood classroom, however, blogs are best left in the hands of the teacher. I think that it would be a fun and easy way for parents to stay up to date and for teachers to be able to remind parents about things that are coming up in the classroom, but I don't think that it's necessarily developmentally appropriate for the students to be doing much blogging early on. I think that it would be fun to share student's quotes or funny things that happen in the day-to-day routines of the classroom (without names attached), which I think makes parents feel more involved and active in their child's classroom.
Overall, I think that blogging would be very beneficial for classroom management and for reminders about things, but I think that teachers need to be very careful about how they use them. Obviously, privacy is an issue and confidentiality as well as each district having their own standards about how you can use technology in the classroom, but I think that these things can easily be surpassed and it could be a very valuable tool for teachers.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Google is TAKING OVER!!!
First, I guess I should say that for all of my Apple products, I kind of cheer for Google. I recently switched over to a Droid for work purposes, which is convenient, and I have my iGoogle page. Personally, I love that Google helps me organize my life, I have the calendar, I have countdowns, I have email, I have the Reader, the weather, CNN updates, it notifies me of free iTunes downloads (usually kids' songs, check it out!), and I think Google Docs are nothing short of genius . . . In short, I would find my life a LOT more difficult without Google organizing a lot of things for me.
So, I found this article and I was utterly fascinated. Yesterday, Google had their I/O, an annual conference where they announce their new services. Now, you can transfer your music and movies from iTunes onto iGoogle (20,000 songs for free, though it was hinted that they might start to charge after a test period) and stream your music from your computer or Android. You could use this as a way to back up your songs, I guess, but you could also be able to access your music from anywhere, not just from your own personal computer.
And, finally, they also have movie rental streaming, similar, I'm guessing, to Neflix. Youtube also launched this yesterday (Google owns Youtube as well). You can syncronize your computer and phone and such so you can access movies from each place. And you can watch the movie for 24 hours once you start streaming it. The movies were anywhere from $1.99 to $3.99. So, not as cheap as Redbox, but for the convenience on long flights and such, I think it might be worth it.
They're also looking at controlling your home! You could control your lights, stereos, TVs, etc. from your Android phone. Seriously, you could just quit living and let Google do it for you. Overall, though, I was thinking about how convenient this would be for assisstive technology. One kid that I work with (I have permission to share this) is 16-years-old and is a quadriplegic. He is unable to walk or talk effectively enough for people to understand him. He uses a Dynavox (talking device) both at home and at school. He has a device at home that has more academic words programmed into it, and one at home with more personal words. The frustrating part of this, for him, is that he has music and movies on his home Dynavox that he can't access at school (I'm not sure why he needs to get to his music and movies at school, but that's beside the point). However, he has the capabilities to control the lights in his house and many other things as well, including the TV. However, if he could control a wheelchair lift, or the garage door, and all of these other things that would be helpful to him for being more independent and doing more things without having to have other people around.
Really, I was thinking about how amazing this would be at school, but also really frustrating. If kids can access so much both at home and at school, then really, there are so many more possibilities. You could post a yearly schedule in Google Docs and would be able to add field trips and such to Google Calendars. You could use the Calendar and Countdown features to count down to the end of the year or whatever and show the passing of time that way. However, it could just be as simple as having all of your music on iGoogle so you could access all of it at home and at school and use your music throughout the day without having to have an iPod around or a huge book of CDs.
Overall, if Google is doing all of these incredible things, I'm looking forward to see what next year's I/O brings, and how else you could use technology that really isn't made for the classroom in a really interesting way.
So, I found this article and I was utterly fascinated. Yesterday, Google had their I/O, an annual conference where they announce their new services. Now, you can transfer your music and movies from iTunes onto iGoogle (20,000 songs for free, though it was hinted that they might start to charge after a test period) and stream your music from your computer or Android. You could use this as a way to back up your songs, I guess, but you could also be able to access your music from anywhere, not just from your own personal computer.
And, finally, they also have movie rental streaming, similar, I'm guessing, to Neflix. Youtube also launched this yesterday (Google owns Youtube as well). You can syncronize your computer and phone and such so you can access movies from each place. And you can watch the movie for 24 hours once you start streaming it. The movies were anywhere from $1.99 to $3.99. So, not as cheap as Redbox, but for the convenience on long flights and such, I think it might be worth it.
They're also looking at controlling your home! You could control your lights, stereos, TVs, etc. from your Android phone. Seriously, you could just quit living and let Google do it for you. Overall, though, I was thinking about how convenient this would be for assisstive technology. One kid that I work with (I have permission to share this) is 16-years-old and is a quadriplegic. He is unable to walk or talk effectively enough for people to understand him. He uses a Dynavox (talking device) both at home and at school. He has a device at home that has more academic words programmed into it, and one at home with more personal words. The frustrating part of this, for him, is that he has music and movies on his home Dynavox that he can't access at school (I'm not sure why he needs to get to his music and movies at school, but that's beside the point). However, he has the capabilities to control the lights in his house and many other things as well, including the TV. However, if he could control a wheelchair lift, or the garage door, and all of these other things that would be helpful to him for being more independent and doing more things without having to have other people around.
Really, I was thinking about how amazing this would be at school, but also really frustrating. If kids can access so much both at home and at school, then really, there are so many more possibilities. You could post a yearly schedule in Google Docs and would be able to add field trips and such to Google Calendars. You could use the Calendar and Countdown features to count down to the end of the year or whatever and show the passing of time that way. However, it could just be as simple as having all of your music on iGoogle so you could access all of it at home and at school and use your music throughout the day without having to have an iPod around or a huge book of CDs.
Overall, if Google is doing all of these incredible things, I'm looking forward to see what next year's I/O brings, and how else you could use technology that really isn't made for the classroom in a really interesting way.
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