3.6 Selecting and Evaluating Digital Tools & Resources
Candidates collaborate with teachers and administrators to select and evaluate digital tools and resources for accuracy, suitability, and compatibility with the school technology infrastructure. (PSC 3.6/ISTE 3f)
Artifact: Emerging Technologies
Reflection:
In ITEC 7445 our class researched new and emerging technologies in education. I teach kindergarten and I wanted something I could use in my classroom. The Common Core writing standards have been difficult for many kindergartners so I was interested in speech recognition technology. This type of technology helps free students from the rudimentary task of spelling and allows them to spend more time with the teacher on the writing process.
This Emerging Technologies artifact demonstrates the mastery of standard 3.6. In weekly team meetings, many of us discussed the new standards in writing and how many students struggled to meet the requirements. We discussed the possibility of using speech to text technology. As many of our students had a great deal to say and yet they struggled with writing for various reasons such as; fine motor control, recognizing letters or letter sounds or processing issues, we saw speech to text as tool to help differentiate instruction.
This PowerPoint gives information on the demographics of our school, the funding sources and the additional equipment needed to use the software. I included how I could use this software to differentiate instruction and show how the technology meets each student where they are developmentally. Window Speech Recognition software is already included on teacher’s computer stations, therefore I chose to begin with what was available. In the fall I began using speech recognition with a small group of four students who scored in the at-risk category of the DIBELS language assessment. Several of these students had no prior school experience and were having a great deal of difficulty with kindergarten writing projects. I wanted these students to understand first that what we say can be written. This is accomplished many times with teachers taking dictation; however, I thought it was a powerful message for them to see the words printed as they were saying them. Finally, the students practiced reading aloud their projects to one another.
I am very excited about using speech to text software and since creating this PowerPoint I have discovered many of the computers at school already have it. Therefore, I just need to acquire a few headsets with microphones. I believe this technology may be the tool that helps students who are struggling with writing because English is a second language, whose fine motor skills are not yet developed, or whose oral language is better than their decoding skills.
In the future I will use this speech to text technology earlier in the year for those struggling students. I believe as they see, “what I say can be written” they will be more encouraged in experimenting with writing. I have asked to be on the agenda for one of our Better Seeking Team Meetings and demonstrate for other teachers a technology they already have at their fingertips. The impact of this technology can easily be assessed through student’s writing samples.
In ITEC 7445 our class researched new and emerging technologies in education. I teach kindergarten and I wanted something I could use in my classroom. The Common Core writing standards have been difficult for many kindergartners so I was interested in speech recognition technology. This type of technology helps free students from the rudimentary task of spelling and allows them to spend more time with the teacher on the writing process.
This Emerging Technologies artifact demonstrates the mastery of standard 3.6. In weekly team meetings, many of us discussed the new standards in writing and how many students struggled to meet the requirements. We discussed the possibility of using speech to text technology. As many of our students had a great deal to say and yet they struggled with writing for various reasons such as; fine motor control, recognizing letters or letter sounds or processing issues, we saw speech to text as tool to help differentiate instruction.
This PowerPoint gives information on the demographics of our school, the funding sources and the additional equipment needed to use the software. I included how I could use this software to differentiate instruction and show how the technology meets each student where they are developmentally. Window Speech Recognition software is already included on teacher’s computer stations, therefore I chose to begin with what was available. In the fall I began using speech recognition with a small group of four students who scored in the at-risk category of the DIBELS language assessment. Several of these students had no prior school experience and were having a great deal of difficulty with kindergarten writing projects. I wanted these students to understand first that what we say can be written. This is accomplished many times with teachers taking dictation; however, I thought it was a powerful message for them to see the words printed as they were saying them. Finally, the students practiced reading aloud their projects to one another.
I am very excited about using speech to text software and since creating this PowerPoint I have discovered many of the computers at school already have it. Therefore, I just need to acquire a few headsets with microphones. I believe this technology may be the tool that helps students who are struggling with writing because English is a second language, whose fine motor skills are not yet developed, or whose oral language is better than their decoding skills.
In the future I will use this speech to text technology earlier in the year for those struggling students. I believe as they see, “what I say can be written” they will be more encouraged in experimenting with writing. I have asked to be on the agenda for one of our Better Seeking Team Meetings and demonstrate for other teachers a technology they already have at their fingertips. The impact of this technology can easily be assessed through student’s writing samples.