Today I spent a half an hour with a colleague who came to me stressed and in tears. She was struggling with her website and getting content from one device to another.
Okay this is it, the moment of truth ... can I really help someone else with a real deal problem? And it clicked ... so I went down to her room and within a few minutes I had helped her with her issue.
My tip? When you are using different input devices, try and use the same browser. Know what each device can and cannot do. Within a few minutes we had downloaded Firefox and Chrome.
Next tip: Make you tabs or menu bar contain both the actual online site NEXT TO the working site. For me I have it organized like the picture. That way I can toggle between sites and see the changes. But remember to refresh your actual page after you have made changes.
Third Tip: If one browser isn't working well ... it is not you ... switch to the other and see if that one works better. Why, really you do not need to know because you are not going to reprogram so MOVE ON ...
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In the afternoon, I was lucky to reconnect with my former paraprofessional ... who is now a SPED educator and obtaining his endorsement through Utah State University. Do not get me started on how wonderful that program is and the quality (HARD!!!) Anyway; he has taken a program that was dysfunctional and turned it around for behavior and social skills! He was given 2 iPad2 devices and that is as far as he has gotten. So we spent two hours together. I showed him what I was doing this year. He remarked that only one unit of curriculum was the same from last year. Every year I seem to spend so much time struggling to make the individualized educational programs truly individual and true quality. I struggle because I am evolving into a blended and flipped classroom. I showed him how to make and use Showme apps for units of instruction as well as Sentence Builder for reading and auditory skills.
His question was: "But does this count as teacher directed instruction?" He watched a video of these apps in action. 100% engagement, with self correction, focus and true self directed learning. My answer is "YES", I created the curriculum, I designed the instructional system, I analyzed my students' entry levels of skill and I am monitoring the progress. What is lacking the labor intensive repetitive live action "I do it ... We do it ... You do it" model. For the ECC the use of Flipped and Blended models means the "I do it" is the app and classroom is the we and you; with less focus on the we and more on the you. Isn't independence the ultimate goal? YES
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Final tip: NEVER EVER BE AFRAID TO MOVE FORWARD because it is bumpy and yet ... when you move forward everyone does .. in my program it is students, staff, and me!
Okay this is it, the moment of truth ... can I really help someone else with a real deal problem? And it clicked ... so I went down to her room and within a few minutes I had helped her with her issue.
My tip? When you are using different input devices, try and use the same browser. Know what each device can and cannot do. Within a few minutes we had downloaded Firefox and Chrome.
Next tip: Make you tabs or menu bar contain both the actual online site NEXT TO the working site. For me I have it organized like the picture. That way I can toggle between sites and see the changes. But remember to refresh your actual page after you have made changes.
Third Tip: If one browser isn't working well ... it is not you ... switch to the other and see if that one works better. Why, really you do not need to know because you are not going to reprogram so MOVE ON ...
***********************************************
In the afternoon, I was lucky to reconnect with my former paraprofessional ... who is now a SPED educator and obtaining his endorsement through Utah State University. Do not get me started on how wonderful that program is and the quality (HARD!!!) Anyway; he has taken a program that was dysfunctional and turned it around for behavior and social skills! He was given 2 iPad2 devices and that is as far as he has gotten. So we spent two hours together. I showed him what I was doing this year. He remarked that only one unit of curriculum was the same from last year. Every year I seem to spend so much time struggling to make the individualized educational programs truly individual and true quality. I struggle because I am evolving into a blended and flipped classroom. I showed him how to make and use Showme apps for units of instruction as well as Sentence Builder for reading and auditory skills.
His question was: "But does this count as teacher directed instruction?" He watched a video of these apps in action. 100% engagement, with self correction, focus and true self directed learning. My answer is "YES", I created the curriculum, I designed the instructional system, I analyzed my students' entry levels of skill and I am monitoring the progress. What is lacking the labor intensive repetitive live action "I do it ... We do it ... You do it" model. For the ECC the use of Flipped and Blended models means the "I do it" is the app and classroom is the we and you; with less focus on the we and more on the you. Isn't independence the ultimate goal? YES
***********************************************
Final tip: NEVER EVER BE AFRAID TO MOVE FORWARD because it is bumpy and yet ... when you move forward everyone does .. in my program it is students, staff, and me!