Emerging Technology

Technology has advanced at an incredible speed within the last ten years or so. Every school year it seems that something new is being used, and every year, the technology gets more and more impressive. One piece of technology that I have researched, and benefited from recently is the SMART board. We have them in our classrooms at NNU, and I have seen them throughout the elementary schools I've visited this year.

The smart board is a white board that allows the teacher to have their computer screen up on the white board, and be able to access whatever is on the screen by a simple touch. Your fingers act as the mouse of the computer, and by pressing on a link, it goes directly to the page that the link leads to. It also allows teachers to use white board markers to circle things, write things or underline important information. This piece of technolgy helps in making everything faster, and more effective when it is in use in the classroom.

Click here to go to the SMART website!

Assistive Technology- Students with Autism

There are many disabilities known to educators, and one that is often diagnosed is autism. Autism is a growing phenomenon, and has no single known cause. Autism can range from mild to severe, and children with severe autism often times are nonverbal. In the classroom, this can be stressful for teachers because they cannot communicate well with their students. Thankfully, within the last ten years or so, assistive technology has been developed for students like this that has made it possible for them to communicate with others. This technology can be referred to as a communication board.

A communication board is a computer like piece of technology that allows one to record his or her voice, and put it to pictures or words. For children with autism, visual images are incredibly important because they think visually. In most cases for students with autism, a page of pictures will be put into this device, and when they press on the picture, a prerecorded voice will say a word or short phrase that goes with the picture. For instance, if a child is hungry, there might be a picture of food that they can press that will say "I'm hungry" or "food please." These communication devices have been lifesavers in many special education and general education classes. Students learn to use them, and can then communicate with their peers, parents and teachers. Below is an example of a simple communication device.

Website where picture was found

Video Playlist About Space

This video playlist I created using Youtube was made to inform the students about space, and various aspects of it. I have included a video of a rocket and shuttle lifting off into space. I also included a video of images that were taken by the hubble space telescope to show the students a small portion of our little subdivision of the endless outerspace. The other video is a video that shows images and random facts about space that are interesting and unbelievable. I hope you enjoy this video playlist. I would like you to answer the following questions about the video playlist:
1. What are three facts that you found interesting and why?
2. Draw a picture of an image that you thought was fascinating.
3. What would you like to know more about as we start this unit?

Educational Resources- Websites

This is a list of websites that I have put together to help current teachers and future teachers find useful resources online. These websites include things such as worksheets that you can create and print out, coloring sheets, puzzles you can create, online exhibits that can be useful while covering a unit on history or animals, student safe search engines, and numerous other useful resources! These are just few of the many online resources for teachers. Whether you need to read a textbook online, or get a quick lesson plan, websites are there for teachers to use whenever they need to! Enjoy!

Websites list

Miss Jones' Reading List

The following list of articles is full of helpful information for both parents and teachers. There is an article about how students in the elementary classroom are getting involoved in real world issues, such as the effort to help the people in Japan after their earthquake and tsunami. It is a hopeful and refreshing article that can inspire teachers to get their class involved in current global issues. I have two articles on the brain and how the brain works with senses and also anxiety, two different ideas, but both very interesting and full of useful information. The other post is an article about a program that can help a teacher track students' progress in an easy and effective way. It is a program based mostly on learning English, whether your student is an English Language Learner (ELL), or a student struggling with reading and writing, the program is beneficial to anyone that needs help learning English. All of these articles are helpful, and full of great information. Enjoy!

http://www.google.com/reader/shared/17699212421914452734?hl=en

About Me

Welcome to my blog! My name is Karen Jones and I am a student at Northwest Nazarene University. I am a Special Education major. Let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas until I was about twelve years old. I then moved with my family to Spokane, Washington, where I finished up my K-12 education. I am the youngest of three children, and the only girl. I have two older brothers named Josh and Jacob. Joshua is a Senior at Northwest Nazarene University and is graduating this spring with his degree in Elementary Education. My oldest brother Jacob, passed away when I was a freshman in high school. My parents are everything to me and have loved and supported me tremendously throughout my life.

Some of my hobbies and interests include church activities, sports, music and spending time with my friends and family. I am a very active member of my church and I am very involved in various ministries. I love to sing. I played fastpitch softball in high school and loved every minute of it! I love watching basketball and football (both college and professional.)