Summer!

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer.  I look forward to writing new Blog posts in the Fall.

World Read Aloud Day

World Read Aloud Day is a day dedicated to the art of reading aloud. It is celebrated on the first Wednesday in February.  Multiple vendors and book companies provide a variety of activities to celebrate. Mark your calendars for February 7th, 2024, and get ready for a day full of excitement as we celebrate the joy of reading aloud. 

One of the great companies that will be participating in World Read Aloud Day is Curipod!  They will have a new author every 30 minutes, including a live Q & A session with each author.  Each registered classroom will get a 70-page activity packet from Curipod.  The packet includes amazing interactive, engaging lesson plans and activities, downloadable activity books, coloring pages, turnkey Curipod lessons, Genially activities and so much more!

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity! Register your classroom now to ensure you and your students don't miss out on the literary adventure of a lifetime. Even if you can't attend, registering to receive the student activity guide is worth it! 

Register with Curipod for WRADLive at https://wradlive.com/.

Happy Holidays!

I would like to send everyone warm winter wishes and happy holidays!  I look forward to writing more posts for you in 2024!

   

                                

FigJam, the Alternative to Jamboard

If you have not already heard, Google will be sunsetting Jamboard in 2024.  They have recommended FigJam as the alternative.  Like Jamboard, with FigJam you can brainstorm, align decisions, and collaborate —all in one place.

The following announcement and information has come directly from FigJam:

To make the transition as seamless as possible, FigJam has launched an importer that converts your Jams into FigJam files in seconds. Most importantly, all your Jamboard elements—including stickies, images, text and more—will still be fully editable in your new FigJam file so you can be up and running without losing a beat!

Here's how to get started:

Import your Jamboard files: Visit figma.com and click the “Import” button in the top right corner to start converting your Jamboards to FigJam files. To learn more, check out our importer tutorial or help center article.

Get started with FigJam: Find more ideas on how to use FigJam in your classroom with our tutorials and free template library.

Join a training: Meet the Figma for Education team during a free live training where you'll learn the basics, walk through classroom applications and ask any questions.

Start of the Year

I hope everyone has had a wonderful start to the 2023-2024 school year!

It has been very busy over here, in the technology world. With the return of all of the staff and students on top of a variety of new district initiatives, it has not been dull.

I look forward to writing some new blog posts for you this year. I will touch on both Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning options.

Although the use of AI has been around for a while when OpenAI launched its new Generative AI called ChatGPT last November it seems to be the topic everyone wants to know more about.

Since the launch of ChatGPT there are new generative AI platforms every day. I will touch on some of them this school year, especially those that can be used in education, to help both teachers and students.

I look forward to another great year of AT/UDL blog posts, I hope you do too!

Summer!!!

As the song goes 'Schoooooools out for summer!!"

Well, almost.  We are still in session for a few more weeks but we can see the end of the year is near.  

I want to thank all of my readers for a wonderful school year.  I will be taking a break from posting for the summer but will be back again after Labor Day.

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer break!

Google Workspace Introduction

Many of us used Microsoft products for our word processing, spreadsheets and presentations when we were growing up, going through school. Although Microsoft is still the biggest name in the field, Google is making a name for itself with its versions, Docs, Sheets and Slides.

As our schools continue to move to or be 1:1 technology environments, most of these devices are Chromebooks or have the Chrome browser available on them.

Although Google has changed the name of it's suite or tools, it is currently going by Google Workspace, the suite of applications has done nothing but improve, become more robust, over the years. Google Workspace for Education is a set of Google tools and services that are tailored for schools and homeschools to collaborate, streamline instruction, and keep learning safe. They are productivity and collaboration tools for all of the ways we work and learn.

Over then next few weeks we will be learning about these Google products and how we can use them to help our students achieve success.  I will be picking a couple of my favorite features and giving you a quick overview of how they work along with some ideas of how you could use them in the classroom.

REMC Association of Michigan

REMC, Regional Educational Media Center Association of Michigan.  REMC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1969. Its members are the 28 local Regional Educational Media Centers operated through the Intermediate School District structure.

The REMC Association of Michigan believes it must provide proactive leadership to the Michigan educational community in building a vision that supports quality teaching and learning, the effective use of educational technology and provides equity to Michigan's pre-K-12 students.

This belief has led to a wonderful website full of resources, a variety of professional development opportunities (most of which offer FREE SCECHs) and a great group of REMC and RITS staff willing to help.  

Check out what they have to offer by visiting https://www.remc.org/ today.  

Happy Holidays!

I would like to wish everyone the warmest holiday wishes!  I look forward to posting new Blogs for you in the new year!

New School Year - New Adventure

 Welcome Back!

I hope the start of the school year went well for everyone.  I started this school year in a new position.  I am an Instructional Technology Specialist with the Washtenaw Intermediate School District.  It has been a busy start of the year for me, learning a new job.  I hope it is starting to slow down a little for everyone.

Starting next week I will again be back to posting a weekly blog with an Assistive Technology and Universal Design for Learning Tip or Trick.  I look forward to providing updates to old tips and tricks and providing new ones as well!

End of the Year - See you in the Fall

Hello Blog Readers!  I hope you had a wonderful school year and that you were able to learn some fun things from my posts.  

Although, in the past, I have continued to post during the summer, this year I am taking a break.  It has been a crazy year and I am going to take this time to get relevant posts prepared for the 2022-2023 school year. 

I hope you have a wonderful summer break and I will see you again in the Fall.

Free Teen Audiobooks

Sora by Overdrive has paired with SYNC to offer 16 weeks of Free Audiobooks aimed at teens 13+!

You can download 2 FREE audiobooks each week, starting April 28th and running through August 17th!
 

Register and sign up for e-mail reminders or text reminders at http://www.audiobooksync.com/.

Check out the SUMMER 2022 SYNC TITLE PAIRINGS (https://bit.ly/3K0cZf1) page for the list of available books this summer.

Welcome Back!

Welcome back everyone!  I hope you all had a relaxing summer break!

If you are new to my Blog, let me give you a quick overview.  In this blog I provide you with Assitive Technology and Universal Design for Learning tips and tricks.  These bits of information can be used with students and staff, everyone that uses technology.  

Starting next week I will post a new blog each week.  I hope you find these tips and tricks helpful!  

Have a great school year and I am excited to be back!

Summer Break

Summer Break is upon us. Here in YCS this is our last week. We have exciting things planned for the summer with our Grizzly Learning Camps.  

Unlike past summers, I will not have the time to do a weekly learning series.  I will try find new things to share during the summer, and if time arrises I will post what I can.  I look forward to communicating new information next school year with all of  you!  

Have a great summer!  See you in the Fall!

Missing Blogs

 WOW!  What a year it has been!  😷😜😷

I want to apologize to my readers for all of the weeks that I have missed posting a Blog entry.  It has been very busy in YCS with 3 learning options available for students and keeping up with the provision of devices for our students and staff.  

Moving forward I will work very hard to provide a new tip or trick each week but please accept my apology if I miss a week or two.  I do missing providing you all with new information and things to try with the kids.  I look forward to sharing new items with you again! 😁

Free Audio Books

Overdrive has paired with SYNC to offer 13 weeks of Free Audiobooks aimed at teens 13+!

You can download 2 FREE audiobooks each week, starting April 30th and running through July 29th!
 

Register and sign up for e-mail reminders or text reminders at http://www.audiobooksync.com/.

Listen to the books by downloading the Overdrive app (https://rebrand.ly/overdrive).  The app is available for iPhone®, iPad®, Android, Chromebook, Windows 8 & 10 and Kindle Fire HD.

Check out the SUMMER 2020 SYNC TITLE PAIRINGS (https://www.audiobooksync.com/2020-sync-titles/) page for the list of available books this summer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For younger students, check out the audio book options I discussed in a previous blog post,
Audio books (https://at-udl.blogspot.com/2016/12/audio-books.html)

As an update to this list, NighlightStories.net has begun adding new stories that you need to check out.

ModMath

ModMath is a free iPad app that helps kids with dyslexia and dysgraphia do math.

ModMath assists students who struggle with Mathematical notation. The app lets you write and solve math problems on the iPad using the custom keypad.  You can also print, email, or save to cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox.

ModMath lets you:

• Write and solve equations with a piece of virtual graph paper, greatly improving speed and legibility.
• Solve basic math problems and more complex algebraic equations, all without ever picking up a pencil.
• Print assignments, email them directly to the teacher or save to cloud storage.

You can visit http://www.modmath.com/ to see a short video of the app in action and to learn more about the app and the family that created it.

IRIS Center: Autism Spectrum Disorder (Part 1)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (Part 1): An Overview for Educators 
(https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/asd1/#content)

This module, first in a two-part series, provides information on the early signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as an overview of the difference between a medical diagnosis and an educational determination of ASD. Resources include notes on instructional considerations for teachers who have children and students with ASD in their classrooms, as well as things to keep in mind when working with the families of those children and students. 

(est. completion time: 2 hours)

October

Over the summer I posted modules from The Iris Center at Vanderbilt Peabody College (https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/) which contained some useful information and that could be used to get PD hours.

During the month of October, I am going to post 4 more modules, one for each of the next 4 weeks. Each of the modules are also in the IRIS STAR Legacy Modules list (https://tinyurl.com/y56eews6) for which you can get a Professional Development Certificate (https://tinyurl.com/y472jytb). As a reminder, these certificates are free through the end of 2019 so check the modules out soon.

I hope you enjoy the modules as much as I have and that you learn something new and exciting to help your students!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back!  I hope you had a wonderful summer vacation!  If you did not have a chance to keep up with my Blog this summer please take a look back at the summer posts and catch up on some of the wonderful modules I shared.

As a general reminder, with this Blog, I (with some help from the YCS Instructional Technology team) will be posting useful Tips and Tricks for our Staff and Students to use in the classroom and for assignments.  We will highlight Google Apps, Extensions and Add-Ons as well as useful websites and iPad apps.


In case you were wondering about the name of the blog...

AT / UDL Tips & Tricks for Everyone...

What does AT stand for?

Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology consists of DEVICES and SERVICES that help children 
with disabilities carry out a functional activity in their environment.

What is the meaning behind UDL?


Universal Design for Learning

U.D.L. Technology consists of DEVICES and SERVICES that help children
carry out a functional activity in their environment.


Truthfully AT and UDL go hand-in-hand.

I hope you have a wonderful school year and look forward to share new information with you!