Blog Post 3

Peer Editing

What is Peer Editing?

Peer Edit with Perfection Tutorial 

Writing Peer Review Top Ten Mistakes 

I have always been back and forth on how I feel about peer editing.  I like getting the critiques so I know what I need to change.  On the other hand, I don’t want to come across like I think I am smarter than my peers and I don’t want to feel like my peers think they are smarter than me.  After reading Paige Ellis’s blog, watching the videos, and reading the assigned PowerPoint, I can now feel more comfortable about peer editing.  There are a few simple rules that will keep negativity out of peer review and make it even more beneficial. 

All of these sources have made it very clear that you must stay positive.  You don’t want to come across mean or put anyone down.  Also, you should always start your peer review with a compliment.  Secondly, make suggestions.  Finally, make corrections.  I believe that these will be very effective to the peer editing process. 

I’m excited to use what I have learned.  I think that now peer editing will be completely beneficial and won’t cause hurt feelings or make anyone feel inferior. 

Technology in Special Education    

This video was really awesome.  It showed even more ways how technology is changing education for the better, including special education.  Many of the students in this class had major difficulties communicating to the teacher.  Now, they can easily type what they are trying to say on their laptops.  Also, iPods were used to read aloud to students who needed assistance reading.  They can now wear ear phones and still be in the classroom with the rest of their class.  There was even one student who had trouble seeing small print.  His computer was able to enlarge the print so he was able to see.  This was a great video and really had great ideas with how to incorporate technology into special education classrooms.  

When I’m teaching, whether I have special education students or not, I will always try my hardest to incorporate technology into my classroom.  If I do have special education students, I will take any approach I need to better our communication and their learning.  I think this video had great use of technology and I would certainly use some of these ideas. 

How the iPad works for Academics with Autism 

After watching this video, I was amazed.  There are so many different apps for the iPad that can be used for children with Autism or other disabilities.  Braden was able to use his iPad to count, spell, and write.  The cool part was that the iPad made it fun for him to learn.  He was more motivated. 

I went to the Apple in Education website and saw that there were many different apps to help students and special education students.  One app that I found quite interesting was Proloquo2go.  It is an argumentative and alternative communication solution for those with difficulty speaking.  It is recommended for children and adults with autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, and other disabilities.  I would find this very useful in a classroom.  Not being able to communicate can be very miserable.  To have a solution to this would be absolutely amazing.  Enhancing communication greatly improves learning. 

Harness Your Students’ Digital Smarts  

In this video the students were doing projects that I have never done before.  They were able to figure things out on their own and actually teach their teacher and class how to do it.  They were to figure things out on their own instead of relying on their teacher to feed them information.  It was really neat to see fourteen year olds blogging.  I’m twenty-two years old and this is my first blog I have ever done. 

I think that it is crucial for students to be able to work many different kinds of technologies.  Our world is centered around technology, so everyone must be comfortable with computers, iPads, etc. just to keep up.  We had a computer class in grade school and high school, both pretty much just focused on typing.  I wish I had learned how to do more on computers at a younger age.  I’ve taught myself how to do a lot with technology, but it would have been much easier if I had been exposed to technology at a much younger age.