Tech Talk Elementary Student's Book Free Download
Caterina Haggins
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If you have children, this review of MyCatholicFaithDelivered may be right up your alley! MCFD is a great way to get your child a sound religious education if they attend public school or are homeschooled.
We have been homeschooling for several years now and while I love to use books as much as humanly possible, I also need to be a bit less hands-on. I like the content of the Faith & Life series, but it seemed both too simple on its own yet too much work to do the extras from the teacher's manual.
MyCatholicFaithDelivered offers several online courses about the Catholic faith in an online format including the Faith & Life series for elementary and the Didache series for high school. MCFD is great because the extras are there but YOU don't have to do it. The lessons are set up just like the physical books with 4 chapters followed by a unit test and each chapter has a dozen short activities/sections. Every single one comes directly from the student text.
If you have an auditory learner or even just a struggling reader, MCFD is a fabulous program. Every single piece is read aloud to the student automatically--the Bible verses, text, catechism, test questions, all of it! If your student would rather not listen you can turn it off, pause it, or even replay it. If you have a workbook loving child, you can easily add the student activity book to further reinforce the lessons. They also have a family guide to the Faith & Life series (link goes to my review).
At the end of the year, MyCatholicFaithDelivered includes a certificate and transcript you can print. You do need to change the name in the account settings if you choose to use the same login info for more than one child. My only wish is that there was an option to have results emailed to you. I hate having to go in to find out how they are doing :).
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Assistive technology is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of students with disabilities when other modifications or accommodations do not sufficiently allow the student to perform to their true ability and/or equally access the curriculum.
The term Assistive Technology encompasses a large range of devices from low tech to high tech learning tools. AT ranges from simple adaptive tools (like highlighters and organizers) to high-tech tools (like text-to-speech software).
Parents, and the student, if appropriate, should be invited to participate in all aspects of the process. They can provide valuable information regarding fitting, customizing, and adapting the technology to their child. Consideration discussions at IEP Meetings are guided by the SETT Process developed by Joy Zabala.
Student: Student's strengths, weaknesses, interests
Environment: How the student functions in different environments at school
Task: What the student needs to be able to do
Tools: How best to meet the student's needs, considered in the Student, Environment and Task sections.
PACER's Simon Technology Center
The PACER Center is a Minneapolis-based parent training and information center for families of children with disabilities. The Simon Technology Center is just one of PACER's programs and it provides a variety of services for children, their families and professionals. These include services such as technology consultations, a lending library, individualized training sessions, and inservices and workshops.
Bookshare
Bookshare is an accessible online library for individuals with qualifying print disabilities. If your student has a visual impairment, a physical disability, or a severe learning disability that significantly impacts their use of printed materials, they may qualify for membership. Qualifying members have access to over 400,000 titles (including textbooks) and these digital books can be read to students on computers, tablets and smartphones.
National Center on Accessible Educational Materials
The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) provides resources and technical assistance to anyone interested in the implementation of Accessible Educational Materials. These are print and technology-based educational materials that are designed or converted in a way that makes them usable for the widest range of students possible.
IPAD BUILT-IN ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES
The iPads provided as student devices in grades K-8 have many accessibility options built right into their operating system. These options help many students with disabilities gain access to the curriculum and perform tasks with greater independence. Please use the link to explore these tools in greater detail.
Speak Selection
One tool frequently used is Speak Selection. Speak Selection is often recommended for students with disabilities in the area of reading. When this feature is enabled, the student can select text that is presented above their reading level and it will be read aloud, reducing or eliminating that barrier to the curriculum. If your child's special education team recommended text-to-speech when considering assistive technology and use an iPad for instruction, Speak Selection can be used.
How to enable Speak Selection:
1. Select> Settings
2. Select> General
3. Select> Accessibility
4. Touch the Speak Selection slide control to green
5. When your student touches and selects text, they will now have a "Speak" option
This technology does not work with text presented in image-based PDF formats. Additional applications and technology is needed to make this print accessible.
Dictation
Another frequently used iPad tool is Voice Dictation. This can be a powerful built-in tool for students who struggle with writing. This is often considered and encouraged for students who struggle with writing and also have clear speech.
How to use Voice Dictation:
1. Tap the microphone icon on the iPad's onscreen keyboard. This tells the iPad you want to start dictating.
2. Talk. The iPad will listen to your voice and turn it into text as you talk.
3. Tap the "Done" button that appears onscreen to stop dictating. It may take a few seconds to turn the last words into text on the screen. Be sure to read it over. Voice dictation isn't perfect, so you may need to make a few adjustments using the keyboard.
APPS USED AS ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
Using the Assistive Technology evaluation and consideration process, your student's special education team may have determined specialized apps are needed in order for them to successfully access the curriculum and meet their IEP goals.
Our 9-12 grade students have access to laptops through the district BYOD policy. Using the Assistive Technology evaluation and consideration process, your student's special education team may have determined specialized software or cloud-based applications are needed in order for them to successfully access the curriculum and meet their IEP goals. These are some of the more commonly used tools and information on how they are used.
Mac Computer Built-in Accessibility Features
Mac computers have built-in speech recognition capabilities for students who significantly struggle with handwriting, but have clear speech and organized ideas. They also have built-in text to speech for students who significantly struggle with reading.
Click here to get started with Macbook accessibility features grouped into the 5 categories of vision, hearing, motor, speech, and general.
Windows Computer Built in Accessibility Features
Cloud-Based Apps and Extensions for All Computers
Snap and Read Universal - Reading Technology (and more)
Snap and Read Universal is considered for students who are reading significantly below grade level and this is a barrier to class content. The following video demonstrates how students can use the Snap and Read Universal extension to read accessible and inaccessible text (such as image-based PDFs).
The Tech Talk Assistive Technology Newsletters are publications written by the Region 11 MN Regional Low Incidence Projects-Assistive Technology Community of Practice. Funding for these publications are made possible through a grant from the MN Dept. of Education.
Berrien RESA Superintendent Eric Hoppstock said Tuesday that LMC donated the building to RESA last September and it has now been renamed as the Bertrand Innovation Center. He said they will continue to partner with LMC to offer Early Middle College and dual credit courses.
Hoppstock said an announcement will be made this Friday about a collaborative effort with area companies to address business talent supply shortages by providing them with an untapped resource: high school juniors and seniors.
Ponka-Lokey credited the new curriculum for helping students improve their academic achievement levels and pointed to the student test scores as proof. She said a higher percentage of students met expected growth levels in the period from last fall to now.
Ponka-Lokey said the new Amplify curriculum offers support materials for teachers such as professional development and digital and in person training. Teachers can get help in a variety of areas such as student engagement, lesson planning, teaching with different types of materials, reaching all learners and interventions.
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