Websites- Inspiration & Kidblog

This post will wrap up my module 3 assignment. My last few posts have really allowed me to piece together all the information that I have been learning in grad school about special education and assistive technology. As educators we are always on a journey, improving to become better and trying out new techniques and strategies with our students. There are so many great ways to support these students in the classroom and I cannot wait to try them. I wanted to provide you with additional resources in this post therefore I am taking some websites from my textbook chapter regarding assistive technology supporting writing.

• Graphic Organizers
• Inspiration/ Kidspiration
• This software supports visual thinking. Visual thinking allows the learner to better understand and retain information because ideas, words, and concepts are associated with images. Visual learning helps students organize and analyze information, integrate new knowledge and think critically. Graphic organizers, diagrams and outlines are just some strategies. 
• Graphic organizers are especially useful for the prewriting and brainstorming stage. They allow for students to organize their information and ideas for a writing assignment. 

http://www.inspiration.com/

• Blogs in Education
• Kidblog
• Kidblog is built by teachers, for teachers, so students can get the most out of the writing process. This allows teachers to benefit from the digital revolution of technology in education. 
• Blogging is something that is new to me this semester and I already love it. I can just imagine how excited older elementary students would be to use kidblog for their writing. This would definitely support those writers who struggle with fine motor and use portable word processors as assistive technology. 

http://kidblog.org/home/