Hey Tek-Ninjas! If you are a user of iTunes for managing your iDevice apps, be warned, the new iTunes no longer manages apps.
As in, there is no app tool anymore. At all. Instead, I guess you download everything wirelessly. You can still "file share" moving data to and from your apps, but no longer manage them that way.
So. Do not update your iTunes if that is a potential issue for you.
Hey Tek-Ninjas! We are at the end of our first week of school for our district. From my perspective it's been a whirl-wind of activity. Today a colleague shared this nice story with me, and I thought I'd pass it along.
Last spring during an Exceptional Children (EC) adapted curriculum and EC Resource Professional Learning meeting, one of our school-based teams were discussing the game Hangman which was being used within a learning program called News2You (N2Y) that is offered internationally.
The team was discussing the historical messages that are associated with hanging and agreed that
"Build A Word"
they didn't want to reinforce those messages or portray them as a fun activity with their students.
So, rather than just abandon the activity, which they all deemed to have education value, they decided to advocate for their students and contact the company to request changes to the game.
They called and emailed with representatives from N2Y over several months. After several productive conversations they were thrilled that the programmers heard their concerns and made terrific changes!
N2Y changed the name to Build a Word and the activity now focuses on building a character! Way to go N2Y!
For me, the take away from this story is that we all have the ability to be "change agents". Here is to hoping you all have great school years full of learning and rewarding relationships.
I am pleased to say, that with the help of the IT folks in our district I have a solution!
Our district is planning on re-purposing old laptops, and we will load a
"Cloudready Chrome OS. This essentially turns any Mac or PC into a
Chromebook. The OS can run on an older device, and does so remarkably fast, thus turning an outdated computer into a functional Chrome Book.
Next, we install the Chrome app "Note",
or any other preferred/and free word processor app you like. We want a
simple word processor, with minimum bells and whistles.
Finally,
we turn on "Kiosk mode" so the laptop will boot only and always into
the Note app. No internet, no youtube, no settings, no distractions.
The
only downside is that right now, the only way to get the document off
the laptop is with a fob, but that is proving to be navigable.
Hope this helps. Please let me know if you do this, especially if you make improvements/changes!
Hey Tek-Ninjas! I'm looking for ideas. If you are an Occupational Therapist, or educator, you may have noticed recently that the makers of the Fusion Writer, WriterLearning, has gone out of business. The good folks at Alpha-Smart of course have been long gone.
So, if you are looking for a dedicated word-processor for your student who requires key-boarding, but is too distractible by a full blown computer, you are going to be in a jam. The only one I can find, the Freewrite, retails for $499, which is easily the cost of two Chromebook.
So, I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for ready made products? Or perhaps experience locking down a word processing function on a Chromebook, Linux, or Pi unit?
Hey Tek-Ninjas! This is a quick share. Many of you classroom folks or therapists have needed timers to help students with focus, transitions, etc. I've shared this inexpensive and easy to use app a while back. Today I thought I'd share this free resource in the form of a website: http://www.online-stopwatch.com/classroom-timers/. As long as you can access the internet, it doesn't matter if you are using Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome, or any smartphone. The online stop watch is very easy to use. And, the makers offer many varied types of timers. Choose a timer that is simplistic, or find one that is whimsical, or sports themed. An online timer can easily be displayed on a Smartboard or other projected screen for a class. Or, for a smaller setting, the online timer can easily run on a smartphone. Hajimé
Please call your representative and ask him/her to vote NO on U.S. House Bill 610 (HR 610) introduced by three Republican reps.
This bill will effectively start the school voucher system to be used by children ages 5-17, and starts the defunding process of public schools. In addition the bill will eliminate the Elementary and Education Act of 1965 (ESSA), which is the nation's educational law and provides equal opportunity in education. ESSA is a big comprehensive program that covers programs for struggling learners, AP classes, ESL classes, classes for minorities such as Native Americans, Rural Education, Education for the Homeless, School Safety (Gun-Free schools), Monitoring and Compliance and Federal Accountability Programs.
Let me be clear, I am not categorically against Charter schools, I have worked in some truely remarkable charters. But I am categorically against charter, private, and home schools replacing public education.
The Bill also abolishes the Nutritional Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act) which provides nutritional standards in school breakfast and lunch.
The bill has no wording whatsoever protecting Special Needs kids, no mention of IDEA and FAPE.
Some things ESSA does for Children with Disabilities
-Ensures access to the general education curriculum.
-Ensures access to accommodations on assessments.
-Ensures concepts of Universal Design for Learning
-Includes provisions that require local education agencies to provide evidence-based
interventions in schools with consistently underperforming subgroups.
-Requires states in Title I plans to address how they will improve conditions for learning including reducing incidents of bullying and harassment in schools, overuse of discipline practices and reduce the use of aversive behavioral interventions (such as restraints and seclusion).
So as a stated above, time to make some calls! If you are uncertain who to call, you can find your Congress-person here.
Hey Tek-Ninjas! So I'm on a roll reviewing the Smarty-Ears Apps. Let me say that I get no moolah for sharing these apps with you, I've simply been very impressed by them.
Today I am blogging about Custom Boards, an iPhone and/or iPad app which serves as a board and activity creator. Custom Boards retails for $49.99. This may seem like a lot for "an app", but take a look at the competition and you will see their prices are at least double if not more.
Some of our students require symbol support in order to experience success with transitions, jobs, ADL's, etc. Software can be very expensive, and tied to a computer. Custom Boards provides a great option to get around those issues.
Rather than retell the features, I've simply pulled this from the creator's website. It is impressive:
• includes over 125 templates from within 6 categories
• includes over 10,000 built-in Smarty Symbols
• Choose from a total of 100 floating shapes and 7 different styles of shapes
• Ability to add images from Google search engine
• Ability to add Floating Images—place an image anywhere on the template!
• Ability to add Floating Shapes—place any of the 100 built in shapes anywhere!
• Ability to add Floating Texts— place text anywhere on the template!
• Layers — select individual floating images, text, and shapes and move them forward/back
• Add multiple pages to a template
• Lock the screen to use a static image on the iPad itself in an activity without accidentally editing it.
• Ability to lock the screen so that the iPad surface itself can be used for an activity.
• Share editable files with other Custom Boards users
• Email PDFs of your custom boards creations to anyone
• Quickly print your creations with an air ready printer
• Cloud Compatible — backup your files via the cloud
• Organize your archive of creations with folders
Also, here is a video introduction with REALLY REALLY peppy music.
The built in introduction tutorial is really well done, and helps a first-time user get up to speed.
If you are in the market for "board-making" software, Custom Boards is definitely worth a look!
Hey Tek-Ninjas! If you are a user of iTunes for managing your iDevice apps, be warned, the new iTunes no longer manages apps. 
