So we are on the home stretch.  Classes are overwhelming me...LOTS of work.

Downloaded Boardmaker and working on a communication board.  Went back to use boardmaker and now it won't work.  Says need license agreement so now I'm FREAKING out.  Hoping I can start over and get my project done by Thursday.

So it's almost the end and I have to say I'm glad to see it come.  Learned alot. Found out I really like TED talks.  http://www.ted.com/talks  Going to watch continue watching them.

Been an interesting semester.  Thanks Professor :)  

Ok...so I'm an idiot.  Note to self:  READ directions more carefully and don't be stupid.  So I totally screwed up my LAIP because I misunderstood.  Won't make that mistake again.  Plus side. I learned a lot.  More than I thought I would.  Working on final LAIP won't screw this one up!!

LAIP II and III

The LAIP was quite challenging and sorta fun.  Which means I probably didn't do it correctly.  I know I will be working with a variety of students at a variety of levels.  It was very satisfying to create something for them that will benefit their learning.  I'm a very artistic/creative person and I like being able to put my creativity to work to make things for the students in an affordable way.  I have been looking at things you can buy for your classroom to enhance learning and have found them to be very expensive.  With time and effort I created useful learning tools for my future classroom.  Hoping I did them correctly but will still save them for use in my classroom.

TED Talks

What a wonderful way to view information.  These are short talks from various experts about quick topics related to learning, our brains, language, anything you can imagine.  They are delivered quickly in an interesting manner by a variety of people considered experts in on that topic.  Below is a summary of the TED talks I viewed:  TED talks can be found at http://www.ted.com/

Temple Grandin: The World needs all Kinds of Mind

1.       What I gained from this talk was…. We need to take a different approach with a child who is found to be “on the spectrum”.   I found Temple Grandins approach to visual teaching very interesting.  She stated how she learned in pictures and how many autistic children like her “think in pictures”.   Her comparison of an autistic child’s mind to that of an animal was enlightening and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way.  An animal remembers what it sees and sees the world in pictures as it does not have the verbal ability to associate what it sees to words.  She states this is true for many autistic children as well. 

2.       What I agreed or disagreed from this talk was… I’m not sure I agree with Ms. Grandin that most of Silicon Valley is made up of people with Asperger’s.  She almost makes it sound like any person with high intelligence has some form of autism.  I don’t think that to be true.  Some highly intelligent people may have a form of autism but I don’t think that is a requirement of intelligence.  

3.       Here are some ways that I can incorporate this information in my teaching practice… There are many types of learners but visual learning appears to work best with child on the spectrum according to Ms. Grandin.  Learning has become abstract.  Classes like art and music may be where some autistic children excel.  By incorporating these, especially art, into my lessons the visual learners may be able to better understand the lesson.  An autistic child’s mind tends to have fixations.  I could use those fixations in my lessons to get the child interested in learning.  Keeping the students interest is important when teaching students with special needs.

Doodlers Unite

1.       What I gained from this talk was…. Doodling engages all four learning modules simultaneously with the possibility of an emotional experience.  That’s a very good argument for what some people consider to be a distraction to learning.  By incorporating all four learning modules the learner has a better chance of retaining the information being presented.  

2.       What I agreed or disagreed from this talk was… I very much agree with Sunni Brown in the fact that our society is so focused on verbal information that we see doodling as a waste of time and an indication of not paying attention.  I am a compulsive doodler and I have restrained myself for years from doodling because of this very reason.  I have been reprimanded so often for my doodles that I have to consciously concentrate on not doing it.

3.       Here are some ways that I can incorporate this information in my teaching practice… I will allow doodling in my classroom.  I have always felt it was beneficial to my concentration and I am now vindicated in my beliefs. 

The Game that can Give You 10 Extra Years of Life

1.       What I gained from this talk was…. Positive thoughts and actions are important to your life, health and thoughts.  By incorporating some fun into your life you will have fewer regrets and live longer…allowing yourself to have more fun. 

2.       What I agreed or disagreed from this talk was… Jane McGonigal had some very good points.  I myself am a gamer.  I don’t play for hours a day but I do use a few minutes each night to play hidden object games or brain age games.  I find I sleep better when I use this time to relax my mind.  Most of my friends are gamers and find that gamers are much happier people.  I find they are more systematic in their decision making and are in general more content, happy and healthy people.

3.       Here are some ways that I can incorporate this information in my teaching practice…  I have always been a strong supporter of games and learning.  You can make any learning experience into a game.  It doesn’t have to be a video game.  Even Walt Disney realized this and in the movie Mary Poppins Ms. Poppins quotes “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and - SNAP - the job's a game”.   I think this can be used in so many ways in a classroom without chaos. 

A Second Opinion on Learning Disorders

1.       What I gained from this talk was…. I always wondered why if it was a brain disorder they didn’t look at the brain for diagnosis.  When my daughter was sick that was part of the first testing that was done.  When a child is given a diagnosis such as autism etc.  it is very important for the parents to get a second opinion from a medical perspective instead of just a behavioral perspective. 

2.       What I agreed or disagreed from this talk was… I agree Ms. Shankardass in that parents should not accept the word of a single person but should look into alternate diagnosis possibilities.  It would be wonderful for some parents to hear that their child is not destined to a world of silence but to a normal childhood. 

3.       Here are some ways that I can incorporate this information in my teaching practice… As a teacher you have to be very careful in how you suggest alternate treatments to parents.  You might offer suggestions to parents that other options may be available to them and perhaps they should seek a second opinion but as a teacher we are not allowed to make any kind of recommendation to parents regarding the medical testing of their children.

WebQuest...

 http://questgarden.com/124/35/0/110414114751/index.htm

Teaching Time

So for Teaching Time each group has a topic and teaches us instead of the teacher.  I have never seen a student do a Prezi presentation before and I was very impressed with it. I like the way the questions were big for the teams Noggin Knockers but the answers were small and moved the screen before you seen them.  I like listening to students its interesting what information they find important compared to what a professor might find important.  I plan on utilizing Teaching Time in my classroom.  It give the students a chance to be the expert.  Do I feel like an expert in my topic...yes and no.  It was a very broad topic (Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Low Vision) and very hard to narrow down to a specific area to discuss.  There was A LOT of information out there a lot of good information at that.  But, I think we have narrowed it down to provide the class with a good snapshot of what information we are trying to put across. 

I have to say I'm learning a lot.  Its a LOT of work and I'm doing things i didn't know I would be doing but learning none the less.  I like that my classmates are posting other resources as they find them.  I've been keep a binder with all the resources in one spot.  As I find something that will benefit my future I print it and stick it in the binder.  I hadn't been doing this in the past and now I'm sorta mad at myself.  I have the stuff from my previous classes in notebooks and such at home but I think I'm going to purchase a few more binders and organize all my resources.  I've realized I have quite a bit of workable material at my disposal if I just give it some direction.

I have surfing the Internet and keep track of the links I find also.  What a HUGE surplus of information out there. 

My classes are starting to work off of each other.  I have been waiting for that.  As I am learning something in one class another class picks up on some of the material and expands on it.  I'm also keeping all of that in a notebook. 

I'm not a good test taker and the projects are more to my liking.  It is allowing me to accumulate a lot of information without the stress of memorization or pressure of testing.  I learn MUCH better by doing and using the information than just throwing it up on a formal exam. 

Here's to keepin on keepin on!!

I.  Speech Production Structures

A. Respiration: the air we use to speak (diaphragm)

B. Phonation: The respiratory muscles allow air to be forced under pressure through structures in the larynx. They obstruct the airflow from the lungs, causing the vibrations necessary for speech.

C. Resonation: The tone of the sound is affected by the size and shape of the resonating structures into which the air is expelled. The larger the resonating cavity, the lower the tone.

D. Articulation: The production of sound (how you pronounce it)

a. Place of articulation (where is sound is formed

b. Manner of articulation (how a sound is formed)

c. Voicing (whether the vocal cords are vibrated)

II. Central Nervous System

A. Peripheral Nervous System: Made up of the cranial and spinal nerves that carry sensory information to the brain while relaying motor information form the brain to the muscles of the body.

B.  Central Nervous System: Includes the brain and spinal cord. 

a. The hindbrain (consists of the structures of the brain stem)

b. The midbrain (consists of the structures that assist in relaying information to and from the brain and the visual and auditory nerves.

c. The forebrain/Cerebrum (largest part; divided into two hemispheres connected by the corpus collosum; Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area)

III. Cognitive Bases of Language Development

A. Distancing: involves the gradual movement away form actual physical experiences to symbolic or representational behavior

B. Object permanence: the idea that objects exit even when they are not being touched, tasted, or seen.

Chapter 4

I. Language Acquisition

A. Surface Structure: the starts and stops, the ungrammatical sentences, and the colloquial and slang expressions that are a part of the language and normal conversation.

B. 5 factors that influence language acquisition: linguistic environment, inherited abilities, individual’s experiences and opportunities for interaction, and child’s developing linguistic and cognitive abilities.

II. 5 Models

A. The Behavioral Model: This places a great deal of emphasis on the role of the environment in language acquisition. The child is seen as a relatively passive recipient of external influences- from parents, siblings, and others. Language is associated with learning a behavior (reward, punishment,)

B. The Linguistic (Nativist) Model: The child must be exposed to language. Children were doing more than memorizing chunks of language- they were also learning language rules.

a. Language Acquisition Device (LAD): consists of basic grammatical categories and rules that are common to all languages.

C. The Semantic-Cognitive Model: Children develop syntax because they already have something to talk about rather than because they have the grammar to express themselves.

D. The Pragmatic-Interactionist Model: The model places greatest emphasis on the communicative function of the language. Language development takes place as children learn to choose the linguistic form that will best express their communicative intent.

a. Information processing: provides a more complete picture of what happens during language interaction

b. Parallel/Simultaneous Processing: in the model there is a hierarchy of steps but with parallel processing. Several levels of analysis may take place simultaneously, this speeding up the system
E. The Information-Processing Model: Attempts to explain how learning takes place. They were originated as a way to develop machine-based learning. Later then were adapted to be applied to human learning.

Language Acquisition: personal note.

While our understanding of language acquisition is incomplete, this pursuit of understanding may be well worth the effort.

We still don’t understand how a child learns its first language, why some children have language disorders or how children and adults learn a second language. And, we still don’t understand what happens when a stroke or a disease such as Alzheimer’s seems to wipe out a person’s knowledge of language. Figuring out the process of language acquisition will not only help scientists answer these questions, but it will also help explain the basic features of learning and the human brain. 

Language Models

Who	Principals	Limitations	Intervention
Behavioral Model: B.F. Skinner	The behavioral theory of places a great deal of emphasis on the role of the environment in language acquisition. The behavior is reinforced (good).  Punishing the behavior (shut up).  Or ignoring the behavior.	The theory makes the wrong prediction about what children will learn – particularly the order of work acquisition.  A second problem for this theory is its difficulty in explaining the phenomenon of novel productions.  Young children have been found to use constructions that they have never heard previously. A third problem is that systematic observations of parents indicate that parents actually tend to ignore grammatical errors and are more concerned about the truth value of what their children say. Lastly children can usually understand sentences before they can produce them.	This theory has been a successful tool in the development of intervention approaches to enhance the language skills of many persons with significant language disorders.  Teachers choose specific, discrete language behaviors as the focus of instruction and through assessment, determine that the child has acquired the prerequisite skills.  Instruction continues until mastery of the skill is achieved.
Who	Principals	Limitations	Intervention
The Linguistic (Nativist) Model:  Chomsky	Language is innate (hence the nativist label). It is inborn in the human species – hardwired at birth.  Babies are born ready to learn language and possess a mechanism that Chomsky called the language acquisition device, which consists of basic grammatical categories and rules that are common to all languages.	This theory diminishes the role given to language input.  Language is not learned but develops due to the maturation of a genetic program for language learning.  A second problem stems from the theoretical underpinnings of the model itself.  The theory explains the acquisition of syntax, it does not account for the child’s acquisition of semantic, morphophonological or pragmatic rules. Finally the nativist theory poses a dilemma to those who are interested in helping children improve their language performance, as it seems to suggest that there is little hope for children experiencing difficulty with language.	The Nativist theory has made important contributions by addressing some of the most challenging questions about language learning and my advancing our knowledge about language and language acquisition.  This theory suggest using developmental guideline for instructional goals and that instruction should focus on rule learning.
Who	Principals	Limitations	Interventions
The Semantic-Cognitive Model:  Lois Bloom	Blooms concluded that semantics precedes syntax in child language acquisition. Children develop syntax because they have something to talk about rather than because they have grammar to express themselves.  The theory proposes that young children pay particular attention to the meanings of things.  Experience comes first, then the language follows.  Syntax develops as the result of the need to talk about more and more things or experiences.	The Semantic-cognitive theory gives little attention to the role of input language.  Some children attain the cognitive prerequisites for language but do not develop language skills. Therefore it may not be essential for cognitive development to precede language.	It has forced theorists to look beyond syntax and to consider other aspects of language development.  The notion is that when children are just at the edge of developing a new skill, experiences and instruction can help them take this step.
Who	Principals	Limitations	Interventions
Pragmatic-Interactionist Model: Searle, Dore and Halliday	Based on very simple observation, people talk in order to communicate. Communication precedes language. Language development takes place as children learn to choose the linguistic form that will best express their communicative intent.  Child-directed speech: Adults tend to alter their language in the presence of young children. These alterations include using shorter and less complex sentences, slowing the rate of their speech, using a more limited range of semantic functions and engaging in shorter conversations. This is scaffolding for language development.	One of the limitation of the pragmatic-interactionist model is in how it accounts for the acquisition of specific syntactic structures. Or why to almost all children follow the same sequence of language development at about the same time.	Many clinicians emphasize the importance of engaging children in communication- especially in repetitive, routine interactions.  Rather than breaking language down into small stimulation, stressing the wholeness of language and the essential role of communication in the essential role of communication in the language learning process. Children should be encouraged to interact with parents, peers, and teachers.
Who	Principals	Limitations	Interventions
Information Processing Model:	Attention drives the information-processing system. Attention enables you to discriminate information in short term memory and transfer and retrieve information from long term memory. Has helped in understanding the complexity of the relationship between cognition and language. It recognizes that the processing of complex information is rarely done in a step by stop manner. Parallel or simultaneous processing:  several levels of analysis may take place simultaneously thus speeding up the system..  Language structures emerge from the communicative functions that drive language acquisition.	Research evidence for the operation of the model in children is limited.  Most of the research thus far has been with adults or with theoretical language processing models.  The model does not appear to be able to account for the role of social interaction in language learning.	Some children may lack specific language skills and some may have differences or delays in cognitive processing that may interfere with their understanding and/or use of language.

Chapter one and two

One of my team mates posted this website for making your own vocabulary quiz cards...great resource:

http://www.ehow.com/info_7906070_classroom-activities-learn-definitions-words.html

Chapter one and two outline:

                                                                                                                                          Michelle Shiner

                                                                                                            Collaborator                      

Chapter One

I.        Speech, Language and Communication

a.     Speech: Defined as the neuromuscular act of producing sounds that are used in language.

b.     Language:  is a rule-governed symbol system for communicating meaning through a shared code of arbitrary symbols.

                                                               i.      A true language communicates. 

                                                             ii.      Linguists say that in order for a system of communication to be a language, it must be shared by a group of people.  They call this feature a shared code.

                                                            iii.      A third feature of language is that it consists of arbitrary symbols.

c.     Communication:  defined by one author as “the process participants use to exchange information and ideas, needs and desires.  Four elements:

                                                               i.      A sender of the message

                                                             ii.      A receiver of the message

                                                            iii.      A shared intent to communicate

                                                          iv.      A shared means of communication

II.      Language Disorder:  A language disorder is impared comprehension and/or use of spoken, written, and/or other symbol system.  This disorder may involve (1) the forms of language (phonology, morphology, syntax) (2) the content of language (semantics), and/or (3) the function of language in communication (pragmatics) in any combination.

Chapter 2

I.        The Elements of Language

a.     Most linguists identify five major elements: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. 

b.     Alternatively, Bloom and Lahey describe language as consisting of three components:  form, content and use.

II.      Phoneme:  the smallest linguistic unit o sound that can signal a difference in meaning. 

III.    Phonology:  The first of the form elements of language is the study of the sound system of language.  Linguists who are interested in phonology attempt to identify the phonemes of language and the rules that govern the combination and pronunciation of the phonemes.

IV.  Morphology: the study of words and how they are formed.

a.     Morpheme: the smallest unit of meaning in a language.

V.    Syntax: The study of the rules that govern how words are put together to make phrases and sentences. 

VI.  Semantics: the study of the meaning of words.

a.     Selection restrictions:  These rules govern which words can appear together.

VII.Pragmatics:  the use of language for communication or the use of language to express one’s intentions and to get things done in the world. 

Another link posted by my group for additional information:

This link covers disorders, but for chapter 2, look under section B, which gives a brief insight as to what the different elements of language mean.  

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/ammaranas2005/english-language-systems-language-skills-0

This link discusses the importance of understanding the English language as a way to work in a classroom with confidence.  It also briefly discussess phonology, morphology, and syntax.

Resources for Survival

21^st Century Teaching

            http://p21.org/storage/documents/1.__p21_framework_2-pager.pdf

This Framework describes the skills, knowledge and expertise students must master to succeed in 

work and life; it is a blend of content knowledge, specific skills, expertise and literacies.  Skills for the 21st Century Student. 

Brain-Based Learning: Resource Roundup

            http://www.edutopia.org/brain-based-learning-research-resources

Edutopia's list of resources, articles, videos, and links for exploring the connection between education and neuroscience. 

Study Tips & Beyond:

 http://www.academictips.org/

- Note Taking Techniques

- Memorization Techniques

- Test taking strategies

Focus/Mindset/Time Management: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_78.htm

-Improve your concentration

-test taking strategies

Apps for organization:

http://www.iphoneness.com/iphone-apps/7-best-iphone-planner-apps-that-improve-productivity/

-Tips/Apps for organization

-Planners

Stress Management for teachers & students:

http://edudemic.com/2012/05/stressed-out-apps/

-Calming Apps

-Anxiety Relief

A little About Me:

I am an adult student returning to school.  I have 2 daughters ages 17 and 19.  My oldest daughter is currently attending Olivet Nazarene University in Kankakee  majoring in Environmental Science and Zoology with a miner in Geology (yes she will make way more money than her mother).  My youngest daughter is currently a Junior at Gardner South-Wilmington High School and is very active in Drama and Art.

I would like to teach and work with severe and profound special education children.  I think that they are sometimes overlooked and given up on.  I transferred from Governors State University having almost completing a degree in Elementary Education with a concentration in Science but, have always really wanted to teach SPED.