Welcome, to Don Johnson webinars, my name is Jenna carpenter, and I am with the marketing, team from, Don Johnston, incorporated. If you. Have attended some of our previous webinars or. If you've viewed them online you may have come across our presenters, Katie and barb they, recently did a webinar with us on how they implemented, Google extensions. Using, a model school approach and they, were gracious enough to come back and present on the Wyeth implementation. So. Today's, webinar, is. Called, making. Google extensions, work and our, presenters, are barb, Michaelis, and Katie Stockstill, from school, city of Mishawaka barb. Is a graduate, of Ball State University and. Indiana, University she. Has been in education for 30-plus. Years as a special education teacher special. Education, administrator, special. Education director. She. Is currently a director at school, city in Mishawaka and, serves in a plethora of professional, organizations, such. As the Indiana, Council, for special education, directors, the, national organization, of special education, directors, the Council for Exceptional Children and, the National. Association for the education of, young children. Katie. Katie, Stockstill, serves as the curriculum integration, specialist, for school city of Marcia Wonka district-wide. She. Works closely with all. K, through 12 teachers principals. Instructional. Assistants, families. And district administrative, leadership team she, is an EDD student, in the, instructional, systems technology, program at IU Bloomington and before, becoming the curriculum, integration, specialist, she was an elementary, teacher a, middle, school teacher amount. Of saury teacher, special. Education instructional, coach reading, intervention, instructional, coach and adjunct. Professor at University. Of Northern Iowa, he is passionate about empowering, both students, and teachers, to take ownership of their learning process and. I'm, just very excited, for them to come and talk to us today so. Katie a barb hello, I am so, glad you're able to join us again and, I'm going to go ahead and, and the presentation, over to you. Can. You guys hear me. Okay. Awesome, I. Can't. Yet. And. Can you see our screen, not. Yeah let me just. Yes. So. Now, that we're professionals, now that this is our second webinar we, know all about these technology. Glitches. Welcome. Everyone I'm barb Michael it says, Jenna. Gave us those great introductions. We're going to talk today about making those, Google extensions, work the, flow of our webinar, is going to kind of look like this hopefully if the stand track will. Do a little bit further introduction. We're, gonna talk about Universal. Design, for Learning and accessibility, we're. Going to talk a little bit about our technology framework. And how we rolled out our plan from that model school and beyond one. Of the most important, things is really the why of, the Google extensions, and the great Don Johnson products, that we use really. Looking, at all. Populations. Of kids. Answering. Tough questions, from. Staff members administrators. Kids. Parents. Some, of them really not so tough but pretty insightful.
Looking. At student. Insight, because, we're hoping to impact, that group, the, most letting. Them know and, helping them develop and identify their, own learning, preferences. We, are lucky enough to have these Google extensions, due to an in grant through patents, that we, applied for last. Summer, and received, in the fall so we're new in this process, we just really kicked. Off in, about September, of 2017. In, Jim, Lambert, is our patins, consultant. An expert has been very very helpful along this journey so, that's kind of the flow of our webinar, today, our. Aim and hope this, is pretty similar to the one that we did before because really the aim and hope is the same so, looking, at sharing, our mentation strategies. And providing, equity, and access to instructional. Tools we, always have that discussion in special education about, equity, is, it or is it not equality. Looking, at hoping, to inspire you as. An administrator or, a teacher to. Help your staff members develop, a plan for their district, our plan, kind. Of evolved. Over time its spiraled. And really took a life of its own things that we were pretty, sure we're gonna be part of our plan never, ended up being part of our plan and, a lot of things just happen, naturally in. Spite of us through training, and going into buildings, and the, most important, part is really, spotlighting. How students, and staff embrace. The change you know I get. That word embrace, because it wasn't all hugs and kisses, we. Had some bumps along the way most, of them minor most, of them we could address without losing, sight of our goal in. Really looking at and addressing, everyone's, questions. And concerns a. Little. Bit more information about me just passions, and experiences. I've been in special education a long time I'm also the preschool, director here in the city of Nashua, helping. The school corporation, with multi-system. Multi-tiered. System, of supports, really, looking at accessibility. Social-emotional. Learning is, we're seeing our young students, come in today with a different, set of skills of they came into. School with a number of years ago really, looking at developing, that community. Partnership, ownership. You, know giving kids the tools that they need to be able to come back and be, happy. And healthy maybe after some, behaviors. Making, sure that they know those restorative. Practices, and Katie's gonna tell you a little bit about herself. Hi. Everyone. Thanks. For coming back or joining us for the first time we're both honored, and humbled, to, be leading this webinar and sharing. Our Missha way, as you. Heard I have, had a variety of experiences in, education I. Started. Like Jenna in, Chicago, but I was on the west side of Chicago for. An organization. Called, Academy, for urban school leadership. It's one of the largest. Turnaround. Programs. In the nation. Ruby. Payne also, mentioned, my school, that I started that several, times in her writings and her work, I. Work k12. As you heard of all teachers administrators. Support, staff but, I think what also should be known as I work with all the devices so. As a district, we strongly, believe in our students, having, access, and knowing, how to use a variety of devices, so, we work from Chromebooks. IPads. Laptops. Different. Types of devices and, great, thing that you're going to see with snap and read and co-writer. It's not just an extension there. Are also apps, that. They use on iOS. And so. We're just looking forward to showing you everything, today. So. Why are we in school stated Mishawaka pursuing. Educational. Materials, for our students, one, of the things that we've really worked on is our new co-teaching, model or, maybe reviving. Our co-teaching, model looking. At our least restrictive, environment and. Keeping all kids. Saturated. And then good general education, curriculum and, instruction. So we really focus on Universal, Design for Learning and our least restrictive, environment, compliance. With the ISO requirements. And, I don't know if you're aware but this is the first time that the nation's general, K to 12 education law, defines.
And Endorses, UDL, so that's a step in the right direction for, all students. Looking. At hmm. Excuse. Me increasing. Student engagement looking. At having those materials. Strengthen. Opportunities, for learners to experience. Independent. Participation. And progress, so we're really looking at how are they progressing general. Education, curriculum and. The last one is aligning, those assessable materials, with our one-to-one device for a while and we, are in the early first couple years of that device rollout, so some of those bumps I talked about earlier were, you. Know some, classrooms, would like to use it but there aren't enough devices. They have some buildings that we support, with carts of devices, so, that's kind of been a little bit of a barrier. Or us in as Katie mentioned we have a ton of different devices so making those decisions about which. One is the most appropriate for. Specific, grade level, a specific. Individual, student. Need. I'm. Going to talk just a little bit about UDL. If. You would like more information if, you google UDL, you can google essa to figure out you, know how those two things come hand-in-hand so I'm just gonna make some presumption. That everybody is at least familiar with that term Universal, Design for Learning UDL, is. Really based on scientific. Insights, into how humans, learn all, research. Base it, really looks at. Aim. And assessable technologies. Can be customized, and adjusted, to meet individual. Needs making, them assets, for all students. So again we're, gonna stress that through the whole presentation, that we, are talking about every single group of students, that you look at so, looking, at what. What is happening now which is really great is that software, hardware. Curricula. Everything. People. Are thinking about UDL, so things are happening way behind the scenes at. The inception, of things so that they're already coming. Out with items, product, strategies. Platforms. That, are universally. Designed, for learning. In. Essa, one. Component of essa calls on all states, and school districts, to incorporate, UDL, in, your textbook, adoption. And assessment. Design so. I have a great quote from a patins handout, on UDL it says curricula, should not be one size fits all the more scaffolds, choice and flexibility, the curricula contain the. More successful, the student, will become so, really looking at the the, tenets of UDL it, provides, flexibility. And the way the information, is presented the. Way kids respond, to that and, how, the students. Are engaged it reduces, barriers, to. Give students, accommodations. It also supports, them, and challenges. Them and in. Our corporation, as in all corporations, I'm sure all, educators. Have high expectations. For, every single student. And. The, last tip on UDL, really, looking at, offering. Students, multiple means of engagement and, that would be providing. Options for recruiting, interest, getting, kids engaged getting them to like learning. Optimizing. Individual, choice in autonomy. Minimizing. Threats and distractions. Looking. At multiple, means of representation, providing. Options for perception this, is where we talk about customizing. The display of information offering. Alternatives. Looking. At multiple, means of action and expression this, would be options, for physical, action varying, the means of response optimizing. Access, so, the the specific tools that we're talking about today through that aim grant, are. Those tools of snap and read and co-writer so as you can see both, of those fit very, well in, each of the principles of UDL. We're. Going to talk a little bit about accessibility. I included, a link on our slides that, will be posted, later that, that is the National, Center on accessible materials. At cast when, we started, down this venture we. Have a lot, of corporation. Wide team members really weren't familiar, with, assessing. Showing. What accessibility is, helping, about, getting.
Educational. Materials, in to all students, hand that, website, has more, information than you would ever want to know it has tools for, all, staff, members it, has appendices. It has explanation. So that, would be a great website for you to visit really. Looking at accessibility. We're, talking, about designs. Of materials. We're, talking about devices. We're talking about digital tools. Platforms. Accommodating. Individual, needs removing, barriers and. All this is done really through differentiation. Of instruction. Because. Sometimes. The very materials, that, are supposed to support learning, can actually create barriers hard, especially. Ingredient. While. We determine whether or not a student, needs. Accessible. Educational, materials and, there's. A great walkthrough. On set, of materials, in that aim, website, really, looking, at first you need to determine, the selection of specialized, format, what. Does the student need what, tasks, do they need it for what are the students preference, and, what environment. Are those tool is going to be used in the. Acquisition of materials, is really, looking at your digital, rights manager, you know Jimmy to order something in Braille or some type of a different format. Open-ended. Resources, which Katie's going to talk about a little bit later in freeing, commercial, resources. What. We did is we use Vieux Carre which is an assessment piece, that, Don Johnston offers, and we sat down individually. With students and really talked about the. Tools that they used of having things read out loud either, by a human, voice or a digital boy did. That improve, their performance did, it improve their understanding so. We also use that information. And, the, last piece really, is a determination. Of supports, needed for effective use this. Is where we fell short in the past we had Don Johnston products, years ago on CD. ROMs that, had to go around to be loaded onto our machines, so. It wasn't really teacher friendly, that you needed to stop go to a computer, so, having the. Extensions. And the apps really, make it teacher, friendly, because you can go right to it it's at your fingertips, so that. Is really, what made our our, whole. Plan or implementation. Work was really determining. You figure out what the kid needs to figure out get, everything ordered, or picked out or when are they going to use it but it's really the training piece and that does include student. Training. And.
I'm Gonna have Katie take it away and really talk about how, those tools align with our the way we do business ERISA law and. As. Barb, mentioned, earlier, this, is Spirit grant and I was brought in as a consultant in, the fall as part. Of my EBD. Program, at IU lead, and. I really had to think critically about these, tools, and how they can be used if, anyone, knows. In the technology, world technology, is always changing, I believe. I'm reading, blogs watching. Videos. Constantly. Every day, almost a new technologies, coming out that, we have to really be critical consumers of. That technology. Because not, everything aligns, with your core, mission. And vision. Also. As barb mentioned I did experience. Snapping. Reed and co-writer, and you, par many. Years back in Iowa as a special education instructional, coach and that was when Newhart was still on paper and so when I was shown now that, these are all digital they go across devices, and they've integrated with Google it really. Caught my attention but. I still had to be purposeful, in knowing, does it align with the Mishawaka way. Our. Senior, administrators. A few, years last year, unveiled. Our mission lock away these. Are our core tenets and beliefs of how we operate in Mishawaka. It's. Also not. Only for our inner public, meaning our teachers, paraprofessionals. Administrators. And principals of how we operate but, also for our external public is this, Venetia walk away does it align. To. Our expectations. Are, we focusing, on high expectation. Growth mindset, and so, working with this I really wanted to build leaders, in the technology, world through. Our teachers, and give them the capability to. Make critical, decisions as, teachers, on what, technology we should use and why you're using it we're not just going to use the technology, because, the. Teacher next seems using, this technology but we want to be purposeful, that we know our why behind, it. So. Using, the core values of Miss Rockaway and, also. Using, a, model. For thinking about technology integration. From dr. Monica Burns you can find her at class tech, tips. We. Created, a technology frame framework. I really. Appreciate, dr. Monica, burns as she, clearly articulates, and has a relatability, for teachers they, understand, what she's saying she, comes from being a teacher and, she really stays down to earth when she's talking to teachers about using, technology and, we've, really found a lot of success in sharing, resources and information, from her so. Through, these two sources we've created a way of thinking about technology I learned. About this framework our similar type of framework from, saying we stay lean public, schools in Michigan they have a compass, and I really wanted to give that experience our, that empowerment, to our teachers, I. Prepared. So here, it is you'll. Notice I have a technology and integration magazine. So we kept, that, highlights, in different teachers across, our district and the amazing. Things are doing with integrating, technology, into their instruction, and we. Kept that logo but now we've gone down, and really looked at three core features, our beliefs when you're thinking about technology integration. The. First one is. Sustainability. So. When you go here and you say can you sustain the use of the technology this. Is the point where we want teachers to ask how long does, it take me, to learn this technology, are my students, and how, can often, can I use it for. Example you wouldn't want to learn technology that takes you two. Hours to, learn how to use it and then you only use it once a week or you only use it one time you. Really are looking for those technologies, that are easy to learn that also have an high impact and that they can be used that. Goes for preparation, as well yeah everything about how. Much. Time does it take me to prepare using this tool versus how much time am I actually going to be using it the. Next, question. To ask her to think about is it customizable. This, is mean, can you personalize, this technology, can you make it your own to meet not only the needs of the student but the type of learning experience and, the content, we, really want teachers to feel that they have the ability to personalize, not.
Only The learning experience, but also the instruction, and technology, that they're using and, the. Major one and you save it for the last one isn't meaningful when. You look at the Mitchell walkaway does using this technology, align, with walk away and the four C's is it promoting, critical thinking of students, is it supporting. Collaboration. Communication, and, is, it really allowing, students. To be creative, so this was actually the first time I just had this approved, by Cabinet on Monday so this is the first time we've unveiled our. Thinking, about technology in. Mishawaka but, really focusing, on that learning, first but then empowering, our teachers start thinking, critically about the technology, that they use. So. What I'm going to do is we're going to go, through. Each of those core. Beliefs, about technology. And thinking about it and talk about how. We analyze, math, and read in co-writer as tools, and how they align with mission walkaway so. The first is, sustainable. So. What we've noticed is when you learn how to use snap and read it prepares, you to learn how to use co-writer, or vice versa so, they build on each other naturally it. Also gives, an introduction, to extensions. As many, know there are many wonderful. Extensions. That improve, the learning process. Available. On the chrome store so, not only are they learning how to use snap and read co-writer, but they also understand, now how, an extension, works, we. Have found that, one, workshop, of 50, minutes or less typically. At the amount of time it takes for a beginner to become proficient, and. There's no preparation needed by educators, as an, admin, I was able to do an upload, of all our Google emails, they, also have Microsoft, emails, where. You just upload and it's a sign on with that and then they have access to the materials, so, the teachers do not have to prepare anything, we. Also the other thing we looked at is that, it works across devices, so. It's not just specific. To Chromebooks. For example. If I'm going to my Lenovo laptop, I. Just open Google Chrome and there it is it also works, in Microsoft Word, and, it, works on the iPad so. Our learners, have different devices at most, of our grade, level banks so this prepares, them on each, year, to not only learn the device but they have that core tool of snow the reader co-writer, available, to them so it's not a learning experience, that's. Changed, to learning how to use snap, in read or co-writer. We've. Also found, that. Not. Only. Do. Some. Educators, need that workshop so they'll need us to sit down and show um are some. Educators, just have to learn what the tools were and they took off all by themselves so. What I did was I created a. Google, site and I used the new Google site everyone, thinks that I'm I, know a lot about technology but I just like to say I'm a fast, learner and I can apply what I'm learning and so, I really, appreciate, the new Google, Sites so I'm gonna take you over to that. In. The new Google Sites I they. Build it for you and the nice thing about Google Sites, is it integrates, with your Google, Docs your Google sheets you can embed other websites but, I created this website and I used a bitly that. Lee shortens, your URL, so i can see how many people click on that link so, when i gave it to teachers, they, were able to see the, google site and i can also see how many actually go to my Google site that traffic, how, many people are looking at what I'm sharing so. Here's a Google site it always started with our main page which just, was a Google slide deck. Then. We gave on our next tab is how to access snap. And reading co-writer there's. Two ways that we showed how, to access them hold on the internet floating there you go one, is with an actual, Google slide and you'll see with Google Sites I can just click through and you're, able to see. It right on there, the. Other one I use with Google Docs and my training, as an. Instructional, system, designer, they, really encourage you to have your step, again, a specific, action and then an example if, it's applicable to what you're showing so. We showed specific, examples, on how to download snap, and read and. Then. Also as, you go down you'll have the co-writer. As, well so, we gave the specific, step action. And example, of how to download them and for, some teachers that was all they needed and, they could sustain use, of it, in. Addition a Don Johnson has. Created. Two. Quick, cards for Snapple reading co-writer whenever. We did a training workshop, he passed out the cars to. Our teachers, and some, of the older students if you're thinking about middle, school or high school we.
Gave Them these quick cards that help them understand, what. Each icon was, and so when you're looking at that sustainability. Having. Those simple, icons were, easy for learners, to pick up and to use and they're the same across all devices. In. Addition, if you think, about sustainability, and they needed more time to practice a one workshop. Was not enough and that's okay Don. Johnston, provides, practice. So. Within these practice, they have some, people call it Bell work I call, it a do now where, students can come in and simply practice, on using, these, tools and, they. Created, and even within that creation, they, have videos. That are hyperlinked, and so. I just, they had it on a Google Doc on their website and I can just upload that into my Google Sites, so all teachers have access. The. Other feature, um, that, I have on my site if you're with our last webinar every, Friday, I send out a spotlight, and the, spotlight, you may highlight a specific tech, tool but it really focuses, on the teacher that's using, the text tool and so. Step firm some teachers, all, I needed was to see it on the um tech, spotlight, and they were able to use it so. Here I kind of explain what it is how. It works and then I gave a specific example. Of how people, are using it so, that was for snap and read and as. I mentioned earlier this is the bitly bitly. Is free to use it tracks your traffic, and your different websites and it's also easy cuz you can customize, it to. End. How you want it to and then. This is co-writer. Once. Again same format, or, explain what the tool is then, I highlight, one. Of our teachers, using, it in the district, and she uses it in Google, class, when students respond, every day after recess, to, the question of the day and they, can all see each other's responses so they're very concerned, because they know other people are reading what, they're writing and so, they use co-writer, in that process then I share a little bit of data of how much this class alone has, learned how to use co-writer, and then. Once again I share where they can get it with a bitly and those. Same bittley's are on this tab where I shall be accessing how to download it. Finally. The other piece that we wanted, to show was. Showing. Parents. How to use it a lot of we interviewed kids and talked about using the tool a lot, of students. Wanted to use it at home so, we, created. A guide. For. Our families, and for, our parents, to know how to use it and we. Use clever, that's our single, sign-on and rostering, tool it's also free, to districts, and you don't know what you do it without it and we, can put weeks on there so I'm able to organize, clever, in a very specific way so. We have organized, snap. And read and co-writer on clever, so people also see it in that way but. When provided, information about these and then how to install them at home so that students are able to use these devices not, only at school but, then transfer, that learning, to the home environment and, so. This will be published, in our next, technology, and, integration, magazine. And, I, cannot take credit, for these design elements. This. Is done by our director.
Of. Initiatives. In our district, and she does a wonderful job. And. So. As I mentioned earlier learning. About one tool, leads, to them being able, to know how to use the other tools so they could learn about co-writer, first and then learn how to use snap and read are they're learning about snapping unique and then learn, how to use co-writer, as we. Have stated, before we focus on snap and read first because, honestly, that I was a little biased at first I thought that was my favorite extension, and that's, and I thought teachers are gravitate, towards, the, most because, there's so many different functions on it and so, we train primarily, this year on snapping, Reed and on. Don Johnson's, website, your educator dashboard, you get rich data that shows, information. About what students are doing and how they're learning, or using the tools so. If you look with snap injury we're up to 93, days of, reading and using the tool, co-writer. We've maybe introduced, the fun classes, and just explained to teachers what it is but, that data is now exceeding, our snapping Reed data in terms of use at the moment and co-writer. Even breaks their data down even more to show what, types of words they're using related, to good traits of writing. The. Next piece we look at is can, you personalize, it is it customizable, and both. Of the tools may, allow, you to personalize, them, not. Only for, academic. Use but. Also for social use and in, a moment I'll show you how you can personalize each, tool but, I want to be said that our. Students. Are getting to, use social media more and more so, I always tell them that yes you can use this when you write an email or, you can use this when you post to make sure that what you're writing. Sounds. Right and looks right because. They're thinking about that and they're communicating, with people outside of the classroom. In. What we've also seen is it works in all content, areas so, it's not just specific, to one content, area like, reading and writing it can be using the math classroom it can be using the science, class or the social studies classroom, and because they know how to use a tool at a young age and you're building on that each year, we can continue. To use it across, content, areas. So. Here, this is my specific, one I've also mentioned, before, that I use it all the time, in, my EDD, program, I use snapping Reed and co-writer they've made my learning. More purposeful, efficient, and effective, when. You're in this tool bar it's probably one of the students favorite parts as they're learning the new tools is you, can change the text color so it's.
Going To your text on your screen it. Also changed, changes, the highlight, color so. We have some students, that may not want to hear snapping, reads read it to them and they just use the highlighting, because it's hard to track text when it's online also. Specific. Colors for students with visual impairments, on. That work better for them making you specific, colors, and. Adjust. The text, that they see on their screen, also. You have, many. Different languages that your voice can be spoken in and with. You part you can see that the person do better with the computer voice versus, a person voice as you can see this is typically how I how. I use mine and that is with the Google UK, English, mail don't, tell my husband I just let that accent a lot and you. Can also adjust, not, only how loud. House, talk here. You can adjust how fast it reads I prefer, to have mine right in the middle and so, you can have it go very slow, you can go it fast like a hummingbird, oh it's, nice to see here it's. Personalized. For all students, so, now if they couldn't read they're able to understand, that this is gonna go slow the hummingbirds, can go fast you. Can also do the pitch and then you go down here to see text plus complexity. You, can change the. Amount of words that. The text actually will change for you when you're being the dynamic, leveling so, you don't want that many words change, you can slide, that, down in different scales. The. Other piece that we've really enjoyed at, the high school level the middle school level and as a human element or ease the readability so. When. It's on a screen, on your Chrome or on, your iPad in the app it, will tell you the readability of that, level in the corner so is it at the 9th grade or you know is, it at the seventh grade reading, level and a, lot of times you've ever been in a classroom and teacher tells you I want 5th grade writing or sixth grade writing, sometimes, our teachers have them turn on snap, and read and will tell you the readability of their. Writing, and it'll. Encourage students, to use more words, more. Complex. Words that describe, what they want to more, in depth, it's. Also power, through google translator, so, there's over 150, languages, and Counting, and they also have voices specific. To those languages, our, e. Ll. Population. Is low but, that has not stopped us from using this feature because we have a lot of students, that, are learning different languages we, have a sister city from Japan so they're learning Japanese, and so they use this as a challenge if they're online and they want to read it and maybe the language that they're learning they. Translate. It to that language and, we've even had young learners use that they just want to start using different languages at home. So. Here's snap and read again and I'm just showing this I won't go over all the features again but, I really wanted you to see was that was the exact same screen but, I changed, a lot of different features and this is how we know that a student can personalize, and customize this. Tool to fit their needs. And. Here's, a similar screen for co-writer, so just like what's snapping you read you can customize, or personalize, co-writer. And this, is a screen typically. That, I use, in my own writing a lot, of times as you can probably see I talk faster, than I can type so, I actually, use it to type my emails, to type papers, and different, forms of communication I. Don't. Usually use a text, prediction feature that predicts what you're writing so I have, right now number, of guesses one, but. Most of our students, use that as. Five. To nine guesses, so you can really customize that, to fit your needs, you, can also look at the font type and this is Ariel but you can change it to what font type you need same. With the box that you'll use your new. Text would be in the background, here's. Another feature I like as well as I think you. And all these computers, is making my eyes go back is I, can increase the. Size. Of the letters and the words and. As. You go down here when, you're using co-writer, it predicts, what, you're, gonna say and then kids can hear that word out loud so you can customize, are they just gonna say, are they gonna say the words the. Sentences, and the voice so. Once again I'm using my favorite the, Google UK English, you know and, you, have the similar ones of the, volume, the rate of pitch and it's consistent, across nap and reading polarizer and this is another reason why we emphasize it.
Builds. One upon the other. Here. The topic, dictionary, so for each topic, they have some that are already created, but they can also search the web so, when I'm on my educational. Law class I would put educational. Law or when, our students were doing an animal, book report, they. Put in which animal, they're doing and that helps better predict, what they're going to write you. Can also pick, your prediction, language, flexible. Spelling, there's just a lot of different options for students to customize, it and teachers. To make it their own. And. Here's a similar, screen I just wanted to show you that. You could customize, it, again, but, it's the same tool but, look how different it can look for one student, they can change, the font number, of guesses, their background, colors, the voice and, looking. At different once there's my educational, law example, I didn't use that quite a lot and we. Even, had some students, at the high school that we're using it but they're studying Shakespeare so they had Shakespeare. As topic. So. The final piece we look at and what I consider to be the most important, piece when you're thinking about using a technology. Is this, technology, meaningful, does. It support students, in communicating. Does, it unleash unleash, creativity. Of, all learners not just some students, is it removing those barriers. That. May stop, some people from communicating, our collaborating. We. Also saw, that it, both, using, snap and read and co-writer, it acted, as a scaffold, for critical thinking, so students, didn't, back away or shy, away from thinking critically, in really expressing, themselves because. They had these tools to support them also. As we go through meaningful as, barb mentioned, earlier we're looking at how these tools can be used on all populations, of students, because everyone's, learning is important, so, we are going to not only look at the four C's but we're going to look at which population, groups and, give us specific example, for them and how they used it. So. The, first one here is we're going to look at collaboration do these tools support, collaboration, so. To your left is an example of how one classroom, has. Used, these tools to support collaboration. We have a veteran teacher that is amazing, that does a Flat Stanley project. Every. Year during spring break where. Students, take a Flat Stanley after. They've read the book and they go on an adventure but. Typically, the mom would email the. Works back to the teacher and then the students, would have to painfully, write them and, then the teacher a tight bomb and we wanted to use technology, to make it more efficient, and effective so. We use what's called a padlet, it's, like a digital bulletin, board and we, sent that to our, families. To use and to post throughout, spring break where they took a picture of Flat, Stanley and. Then they wrote about it and we had some students that didn't write about it at home but wrote about it at school and, so here's an example. I took my pointer off and now I got to use it again is right, here you can see there's, co-writer, so, to help students, express, and communicate and. Collaborate with each other about what they did during spring, break they, use co-writer, during. That articulation, process. Of writing, they. Also used it to communicate, and collaborate by, having co-writer. Read out loud what, they were writing. About so even though some text may have been inaccessible, because it was underneath, the picture of the caption, snapping, Reed had the capability, to pick up on that and read out loud the students, this, gave the teacher a lot more flexibility, in their instruction, and she didn't have to do the work we, really want the students do the work and that's what they did and this. Wasn't a general education classroom, so, it was used with all learners it wasn't just one specific student, every. Student was given the option to, use co-writer. The, second, wine we're looking at is communication. Doesn't support communication, internally. Within our school district but also beyond, with our external public and, so. The first one I want to give an example and I just, kind of stumbled upon this is I have, two children that are bilingual and they, are learning Spanish in English at the same time but, that also leads, to some barriers, with articulation. So, I actually started using co-writer, at home with. My daughter in my Stine and, I showed them their speech therapist, as, well because it improves their articulation so. Whatever, they're articulating. Goes. Onto the screen so they can self, monitor, it are they actually saying it, correctly. And, is it being produced on the page and so. We use it not only in the classroom but we also use it for LL and speech services, I think. It's also improved, my public, speaking skills I do not like public speaking and, I will clearly, tell anyone that that wants to know I prefer, being in the classroom working one-to-one.
With Teachers, students, or groups but. It is also improved, because I use co-writer. In writing, my papers, and my emails, and it helps me with my articulation. We. Also had another teacher, she's, pictured right here another amazing veteran. Teacher, uhm. Karapatan. She uses it with her class dojo so, class dojo monitors. Behavior. Students, can earn points it's, like a PBIS. System they, get rewards, for their behavior, acknowledgement. And it, also serves as a communication. Device with home so you can post pictures and, information to, parents quickly so. She uses, it for class dojo and she uses it in front of her students, and so, basically. She'll have her dojo, pulled up use co-writer, to speak something, to a parent, it writes it on it and it and it's cents and so this is really short amount of time it takes her to write out positive. Feedback. Or information, to students and communicate. With their parents, it. Also I think takes. Out the stigma, of using it so we're not just giving it to specific population, and saying hey, you'll benefit, from co-writer, and you're the only one in the classroom using, no we're saying. Everyone. Benefits from co-writer, and, everyone. Should have access to it so it's really encouraged, students. That not only. Need. It but students, that also it, instruments, of the experience, prevent, and I think it's probably on our teachers favorites, as well when they look at using, co-writer, to increase. Their communication. This. Is an example of how these tools support, critical thinking, so. We I also work, as I mentioned, with the high schoolers, and I really think I did miss the boat in teaching high school because it's pretty amazing to work with high schoolers when I've worked, with k-8, and just, incredible, things that they have in. Your mind it's, something. Special and we really want to focus on that critical thinking as we're building these students. To be citizens and. So. With our critical thinking um. This is an example from an advanced ela, class and. These are what we consider our college, students are going to college or preparing, for that some of these are actually credit college. Credit classes or, earning. Them in high school and with, snapping Reed they have what's, called study. Tools and so if you look down here. There's. This, arrow. And, box. And you click it and this, screen comes up it's a very similar, looking platform, to Google so a lot of students are familiar with, this platform so it's easy for them to learn in. Here, they have an outline and then. Our sources, so. This was actually just two, screenshots, from a less than I caught on Monday, to the group of students, writing a persuasive essay. Here. They can take the work that they're learning on the computer, so. If. You're reading a PDF if you're going, on to Google, Scholar you. Can take over text, citations, or specific, evidence from text and put them into this outline, the. Also, nice thing about it is it supports, digital city citizenship. They need to learn about plagiarism. When, it comes over we, have this conversation about, why is this in quotations. It's. In quotations, because it's not you're thinking, it's a direct statement, that you need to make sure that you include that citation, from. In. Addition to not only helping them improve, citing. Evidence or taking notes they. Also offer, many. Of the over 50 outline, formats, so. Here is a five paragraph, essay as, I remember, back in the day I would write it out with, my Roman numeral, numbers. What. My thesis is, the different reasons my textual evidence here, is already done for them so, they can really focus on the learning process. And what, they want right about what do they want to persuade, someone and they, can just type right there and it helps organize, their thinking. Also. It's your sources, you can source you've been cite in different formats, whether it's MLA, APA Chicago. And. It automatically, cites it but one thing we also like to use down here is if you go to the plus button you, click it and then you enter in the information like. You would do with, EasyBib. And then, it cites it there as well so they start seeing that you can cite sources. In different ways, and it's really made, my learning, more efficient, and our students really appreciate it as it prepares them for college and, beyond. And. Finally. When we're looking at our four C's is our creativity, and this. Creativity. We're highlighting to one. Student group and that's our high ability learners.
And Our students, with IPS so. I've been working very closely, with a teacher, that teaches high ability first grade and second, she, has been creating a blended. Readers, workshop, for, her students are so reading. The. Tech the chapter, books the picture books but, then they're doing most of the reading response journals their. Discussions. Their, reading log they're, doing that on the computer so. There she's. Using co-writer, to, support her students, and they're writing down their ideas these. Are first, and second graders that are reading Laura Ingalls Wilder so. They are reading high, level, texts that you'd probably see in the third fourth, and fifth grade but, they want to write about it and they want to make sure that they're expressing, their ideas and, so they use co-writer, as it supports their independence, and helps, them unleash their creativity. It. Also what we have seen is using co-writer, and snap and read it has, allowed students, to be able to go to general education, classrooms, without, another, person with them and as, students get older and more aware, of something being with them I think, it promotes a level of independence, it, lets them know that they can go in and there's something they need to access, or learn about that they can use these tools as needed. So. As, we. Mentioned as we looked at is this technology. Snap, and read and co-writer, are they sustainable, customizable. And meaningful. We, have a quick video that's, going to show you how, different population. Groups across our district, are using, these, tools. I. Hope. You saw as you looked at that video that not only is it just a student going into the digital world and being cut off from other learners it really has encouraged, collaboration, with each other I think every time I go and teach, the tool to a teacher or to a student, they teach me something I didn't know about the tool and it's really unleashed, on the availability, and the ability for learners. And students that usually aren't leaders to be leaders, but. As barb mentioned, earlier, not. Everything. Love, hugs, and kisses, as you, know if you've ever led a change movement. You can be met with resistance because. Change, is hard, so. Barb is going to tell you a little bit more about our experience. And offer, some tips for, addressing, concerns but, not letting them be a barrier, to interfere, with giving access to, all. So. We thought we did a pretty good job you, know at the beginning of the school year after, we received, our grant really, talking, to different work groups we presented. At the principal's meeting, senior, administration, our. PLC. Groups or special education, staff hitting our tech assistant, meetings, and, everything to really talk about that but through the course of those discussions, and once we went out training we did have some questions and I think you, know the top two questions, on the slide will probably, the ones that were asked most frequently you. Know don't we expect our students, to do anything, anymore and, isn't. This cheating or a crutch, and so, we had to you, know really talk with Katie and Heather, who is one of our teachers who is out often training. And Jim from. Patins really talking about how are we going to you. Know address all these things you know if we give these kids access, to these tools but. Can't do that in Indiana, it's called ice step is our big state standardized. Testing. You know they can't use these tools on those testing, if they can't use co-writer, help them right so. We. Had to come up with kind of a response, that we were pretty consistent, with across. Work groups because, as, Katie said he really didn't want to prevent any, student. From being able to use, these great, Don Johnston schools so, I guess the one good thing to think about it questions, and. Actually I thought about this - Katie you were talking earlier that really, rude we're. Really glad people asked questions because. When, you make it change that people don't ask questions, you know that means really they don't care they don't have an opinion they, really may not value, what they're doing so we were really excited.
Because This showed they did care they did want what was best for their students, they were asking. For clarification so, we, thought in our process, questions. Were a good thing so, I'd like to talk to you a little bit about how we responded. So you, know really these aren't crutches, they aren't cheating it's, a tool it's a tool for kids, to use it's, a. Way, for a child to help determine. Their, personal. Preference, in learning um, the, only difference, really in using those tools is the, decoding piece you, know the only difference is, they. Were having it read to them as opposed to reading it themselves, we. Often find out through those u-part assessments. That with the. Sniffing. Read being able to read it to kids my gosh they were exposed, to such a high level of vocabulary. Content. Comprehension. Verbal. Fluency so, why in the world wouldn't, we want that for all of our students, so what, it does it really expose, them, to. Higher level. Information. That they could use for comprehension. For who and see that impacts student, achievement, really. The correlation, between academic. Achievement. And the amount of independent, reading outside of school is, backed. By data, so, the more kids read I have lots of kids that said that they were just too tired to read like when they got home so, they had snap and read read it or if you but students who have, a high level of content, there does a lot of homework but, what a great way for them to be able to still complete, it still, the contents, you'll be able to articulate, and respond, without, having to be fatigued, from all of the actual, reading so after, we kind of explained, that across the board. We. Have a meeting. With the union. Representation. And that did come up earlier in the fall so those, were almost the exact same responses. I gave so I think I speak for everybody on our team that the more time that's gone on this implementation, we. Have had less and less question, so I think that's a good thing so. I'm gonna leave you with my, last thought of the day is really talking about what is really you, know are we talking, about just. Word calling, are we actually talking, about comprehension. You. Know really isn't the purpose of reading no, matter what format, no what no matter what style of presentation, isn't, that really. Having. Meaning, isn't that really having your students, understand. Being, able to go to higher levels, with vocabulary, both. In reading, and in writing so we, also included. Those and some of our responses to, some of those questions. And. We just figured you know a lot of students in our in our school corporation, whether or not they are students, with disabilities. Or general, education students. Students. Going through intervention. Process, our English. Language, learners they're, really, some of our kids whose reading level, isn't on a grade level we can't afford to stop them from. Learning we value reading and writing it all format, in our, corporation. So all of our students, are making progress and excelling in academics. And. As if, anyone knows me I'm a very data. Evidence-driven. Person. And part of my role is determining. Not only looking at all those EdTech, and supporting, our teachers in thinking, critically, about using. EdTech, but actually, generating. Results. In showing that what we're using is having, an impact or that we have a return, on investment for. What we are doing, so. We. Recently as, I was searching for different ways to do this because it hasn't been done in our district before I was using a frame, on digital, promise and looking at their different types of resources, that are on there and there's, one company that I noticed, they used a lot of the edge tech evaluation. Forms, focus, groups. Surveys. Was. Called learn platform, and so, we have actually partnered, with learn platform. They, are an EdTech, company. That the first thing they do is they provide a product library, so my teachers can see which, products, we have available so this is where I have Don Johnson, on that, website, for our teachers to see where they can give us feedback and, get resources but. Then they also do, an impact analysis, where, they can measure growth, and it can show an impact on our decision making what. We've already done for companies, that. Were using at the moment because, I would characterize us as being, a small district, but we have been spending, historically. Like a big district, when you see everything we're spending on EdTech. Just. In their first impact, analysis, they have done for us we have seen I think over, savings. They've. Identified over. 15,000. Dollars worth of savings we can make just by decisions, that we make in purchasing, investing, and training and so, they've given that then that's just one impact analysis, that, we had them, do three different companies and, it.
Also We're going to use this for Don Johnston, co-writer, and snap-in reading we're looking at it moving forward this, is some of the rich data a screenshot of the rich data that you get from snapping, Reed so if you're looking here, they show that you know I shared that earlier screenshot, how. Many words have been read how long they spent reading you. Can also break it down by students, and I suppose students information off, and you can see how many words they read time. Spent, and you see that they're all using in different ways and then, their reading level and we're, gonna be able to run this using, learn platform, I do not have the capability, to do that and we're, going to be able to measure the. Impact of students. That are using the tool they're students that are not using the tool and we can break that into subgroups, based, on, SES. Based, on ethnicity and, based. On grade level and, look to see how this. Don. Johnson, co-writers, snap and read are true we impacting. Our students. And the difference that they're making. Even. Though I know I'm the evidence, person, I'm also a people. Person and I think the real voice that we really want to listen to is the students voice and hear what they think about using these tools so, I'm going to end today with, some. Information about. Students, and the students telling you about these tools and how they use them. Like. Do you snap them read because, every. Now and then I'll just gonna. Login. Just snap, it Murray. So. You're using it at home are you using it here at school. Is. Is. Something that helps kids spell, so, like if you spell something incorrectly. You. Can type a number, because. Like there's like a little bit like there's. Like a paper on, your screen or your computer it's like if you, make it wide, it's it goes, all the way down to ten so it's gonna be like that big on your. Paper and. It can also go down to the zero which is the microphone, and. So you can talk into the computers what and that's what he was talking about and, so.
And. Co-writer. Just. It's. Just a fun activity. Kryten's. Real name is computer-operated, type because, when, you use the microphone. And, turn it off, it um. Makes. Your voice into, the computer, which is computer, awkward to type it. Three. Level today's show that you've got with the computer reader. What. Do you think. It. But. You don't know how to spell, it you can say it and the. Computer, will say. Make, em spell, it correctly so. Oh, what, he means is like there's like a little microphone, that, you can click and then, it'll like cross. It out looks like a little line then, that's when you talk then you click it again that it will go back to the microphone then, and the, word will be on your sheet so if you're trying to smell like. Computer. Or something you, could say you. Could click the microphone it and say computer, and then click it, again and then ill I'll be done but it, will be on your own silently. But when and, don't read I, can understand, it great. Really. I. Did. That but. So. I really, hope that you saw that the heart of the change movement, is the, students and this. Is really just an opened, another, door of, communication and. Really enrich the learning experience. For all students, in our school district. Awesome. Okay. Katie. Beirne thank you so, much for, I didn't, tell me back and sharing with us and. Just. Talking about the, lie of implementation. And talking about, just. Yeah the impact of change in your school and how. How. Important, UDL, is and, how you, know like, you deals for everyone but just just, how technology. Can work and be helpful for all, ages, there's a, comedian, and speaker whose name is Michael jr. who, said when you know your why your. What has some more impact, and all of the aspects, that you just spoke on highlights, your why and gives more weight to, what you're doing like it so I just think that that's, awesome. So. We. Are getting towards the end of our time and I do. Want to get to our questions, we. Had a couple of them so. The first question we have is, how, does, your district, enforce. Documentation. Or, features in the students, IEP. And. Students IEP s who need the tools when it's available to, all students, in the district, that. Makes sense do you either read that again. In. We use a state IEP, program so, we have an area in our, IEP. For, an additional, accommodations. So, we would still even though it's offered to all students. We, would definitely reflect. It either there, or in, the notes. Allowing. That just to make sure that, that, might be a student might be able to go to the resource, room to, have a test read but would still have access to that screen, reader to. So it would be captured in some part of the IEP could, be written into Agarwal you, know that they will achieve this. Goal you, know using bla, bla bla bla bla even. Though it's available to everybody if we had specific, needs or if it supported, a goal or. If we wanted to make sure that that kid didn't. Necessarily have, a choice to use it like other students, that we would really want to encourage that we would include it in the IEP document. And. My perspective. As a special, a former exceptional, learners teacher is, I, there's. Another in that we haven't shown you which is educator, dashboard, where you can get very specific data. About, the, students and how they're using that tool and on it probably the general education teacher I probably would not have looked at this but when I was in that role for that targeted.
Intervention. And support, you could look at how they're using it what words are doing it really could inform. Better. Writing of goals, present. Levels of academic. Academics. And, their, present levels and more information about. How they're using their accommodation, because I think that, I've seen that a lot of times many maybe all of you have seen it there were everyone just right that they get it read aloud but. Now we actually have the tool to support, that this student needs text read aloud but it actually shows, that it improves, their comprehension, and, then you'll find those students as we get older that don't want it read aloud and we have a tool that supports that as well too but then you can show this to those students for those specific ideas that hey, look you benefit, from having it read aloud so I know you. May not like having it read aloud there and I step but it's gonna help you improve your comprehension and, you. Should use this tool so I've also seen that difference as well, okay. And, then Carolyn, asked do you think co-writer would be could, be used as an RTI, strategy. You. Know it is, strategy. Is it a tool again. Kind of back to that same question if it's offered to everyone, you. Know is it a great way to gather data. Through that RTI, process I, would say I would definitely, use it for that for sure you, can look on those dashboards, you can look at word prediction you, can look at those. Definitions. We have a list of words there dictionary, that goes along with specific subject, I would definitely, use it as as part of RTI, I'm just, not sure strategy. Okay. I. Lost, many questions oh okay. So somebody asked, when, you were showing the data with, the learning platform, so, I, guess the question is how did you get the text readability, level to look like that so how did you how. Did you use the learning platform, I guess oh. That. Actually isn't even from, learning. Platform, that little funny you. Saw that's from Don Johnson, and we were just at the tech Expo, that patins, does, every year and it was in Indianapolis, and I didn't realize that, everyone, has the capability, to do this I always, just search through the student, you just have to click on the little printer, an educator, dashboard. And all. That data and you can also do that for co-writer, and I did not know that and I. Learned that when I went to the Don Johnson, session, and my mind was blown because now we can get specific data, about specific, students in in. All our schools we can get that form. So learned platform didn't create that form that was actually just built into educator, dashboard, provided, by Don Johnson, ah, see. And that's something I probably should have known. So. I learned something new every day. Okay. Well. Yeah and I believe those are all, of our questions. So. Yeah again thank you so much for coming, and and just, talking to us again about this and also, for those of you who came and listened thank you so much for taking your time we know that there's so, much you can be doing and so we really appreciate you coming and taking the time to listen, we would love to stay in touch with you and one way that we can keep connected, is through social media so I'll make sure you follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and, Instagram, for updates product.
Announcements. Just. In general fun, good stuff okay. Sure you follow Katie. On Twitter, and. I stop each I believe is her handle. And. Yeah thank, you guys again so much for being, a part of our webinar and we will see you around also. Sorry, if, you visit our website at Don Johnson con slash webinars you. Can see the list of on-demand webinars. That we have and, also a list of upcoming live, webinars, and we've got a couple of great upcoming. Live webinars, that, will be on there so, keep. An eye out for that and. We. Will see you all online have. A great day.
2018-06-25