Teach Your Monster To Read

Teach Your Monster To Read is a fun-filled game for young children learning to understand the sounds and first words with the progression to simple sentences.  They have a pretty thorough demo that allows you to try various games so the student would be more comfortable working the controls and following its directions.  The student is able to first create their very own monster and then the monster does different games based on the spelling of words and how words sound.Within the teacher's area, they have a classroom toolkit that shows phonics and reading resources.  It also has a game by game comparison that gives the teacher info on which games gives what skills to each child involved. They also have a shopping tab where you can have your created monster and put in on a t-shirt to purchase.  I have to put out a disclaimer: This website is ran by Usborne Publishing which makes pretty good children's book but I must say that some of the follow thru of connect this website to the books they sell does not work well enough to me.  Overall though, many kids will be very entertained with their little monster making a stir-fry from things that start with a certain letter.

The Happy Scientist

Founded by Robert Krampf, The Happy Scientist is an online learning platform that provides engaging science experiments. The material available on the website is presented in a non-threatening manner which enables educators, students, and parents, to have a everyone can do attitude. Presentations available on the online learning platform promotes a strong desire to understand the world around us. The videos show just enough about an experiment to give an understanding of the likely outcome incase one prefers to not do the experiment at home. Educators and parents can enjoy the detailed activities and videos that are available for children to enjoy. Many of the videos on the learning platform involves projects and experiments that help broaden and further the learning of students. The videos that guides experiments are short, fun, and packed with engaging ideas to try. Students are able to select their own science lessons and do reports on topics that keep them engaged. Funny yet informative, The Happy Scientist guides the learning of students by learning and building concepts and using prior knowledge to connect related topics. The only unfavorable thing about this website is that educators and parents that homeschool their children will need a paid subscription to add this learning platform to their curriculum or to simply just use.

Education City

Education City is a website with a phelora of amazing tools to help teachers achieve their goals in bettering the learning of their students. Many of their resources are free and they have a 21 day trial to try out all they have to offer.  You can plan, teach, learn and monitor all of the student's activities with this program.  The edmentum blog which connect with education city is another resource for teachers to participate in writings and gather information.  This application is easily accessible on computer, cell phone, whiteboard, or even at the student's home to do a possible flipped classroom.  For a paid subscription, you would have to fill out some information and will give you a personalized quote.  This is primarily for elementary educators to use and it does teach all of the basic subject but  there isn't anything that stands out from the rest that our class has done this semester.  Overall it is still a decent product but without having a long-term subscription, I cannot say if it would be worth the money or not.

How To Use Robots in Education

     While some people might imagine a time in which our children are taught by intimidating, lifeless robots, the view over the horizon is decidedly rosier.  One Finnish tech expert has developed an interactive robot that he hopes will assume the mundane tasks of teaching, freeing educators to serve as mentors to students, while providing fun and consistent instruction to students.  While Lasse Rouhiainen did express some concern that children might grow attached to the robot, the benefits definitely seem to outweigh the potential drawbacks.  For example, the robot would provide "judgment-free" assistance; even the most patient adult can grow weary of explaining the same concept over and over.  School districts would need to absorb the initial costs for the robot (and the obvious maintenance), but those same school districts would be hard pressed to find teaching assistants who can speak twenty-three different languages.  Moreover, the costs associated with human beings, like health care and time off, are not factors to consider when using robots in the classroom.  As a student who needed support in a mainstream classroom, I think that a robot would have been a good fit for my needs.  I did not need assistance with self-care, I just needed certain instructions repeated and certain concepts reviewed.  After the initial allure of the robot wore off, it would have been more "organic" and less intrusive to receive assistance from a robot than to constantly have an adult at my elbow.
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Kahoot!

Kahoot! is a new way of learning. It is a "game-based learning platform" that's fun and engaging. Users can create quizzes or learning games to share and play with each other. This site can be used by teaches as a way to introduce technology in the classroom. This way of learning excites students and holds their attention. After launching in 2013, this site has made learning more fun and engaging for those who use it. When I first played a Kahoot!, I remember being much more engaged and interested in what was being taught. That's what Kahoot! is all about. They combine what kids like most - playing, with learning, and it actually works! The company is all about engagement. Instead of the traditional classroom setting, Kahoot! wants classrooms to involve every student and encourage connecting with each other. Since 2013, more than 2 billion players have played on the platform. and still going strong. It's grown to become a very popular platform that many all over the world use.

Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a website that has it all! From practice exercises to instructional videos, this site has many great tools to help with student learning. When I first went onto the Khan Academy website, I was blown away with all it had to offer. It has multiple subjects and grades for users to select to work on a specific area of learning. They have different categories for the subjects; Math, Science & Engineering, Computing, Arts & Humanities, Economics & Finance, and Test Prep. The Test Prep category is something I found very unique. The website offers practice for tests such as the SAT and MCAT all online. Millions of students all over the world use Khan Academy every single day! It's well-known and well-trusted. 

Codecademy is a website that teaches you how to code. You can join for free and have access to what they label skill building or you can go Pro for $19.99 a month and chose a career path that will give you a more in depth line of courses. When you first sign up you can explore on your own or you can chose to be guided. when you are guided they will ask you four questions to get an idea of why you came to be on the website. The first question they ask is "What brought you here?". Then they ask "What topic are you interested in?", "What is your learning pace?", and "How do you plan on using Codecademy?". Once you have finished answering those questions you will be giving the courses that they feel like will best help you achieve your perceived goals by the answers that you have giving for the questionnaire. To keep it simple for a beginner you can start of with the course Welcome to Codecademy! This course will teach you how to code starting with the simplest codes. If you like the coding experience I would suggest going Pro. This could be very expensive for one classroom so I would suggest having your school pay for it.  Happy Coding!

Highlights Kids

Highlights Kids is an online learning platform which is the counterpart to the Highlights magazine. This website features writing and reading based scientific yet artistic activities. Children are able to browse more than 45 science experiments, recipes, and instructions for more than 40 craft projects. Children are also able to access more than a dozen online art activities and view videos of other kids telling jokes. There are word searches, hidden pictures and other games available on Highlights Kids. A cool feature that kids are able to use is to be able to submit content of their own such as jokes and drawings to be featured in the print magazine.

The abundance of activities that Highlights Kids has to offer helps to keep children occupied while also providing an educational component. Some of the virtual art projects allow kids to create funny faces out of food and customize buildings. The science experiments provided offer great explanations on concepts such as gravity, how visions works, and much more. Kids do not need a subscription to Highlights' print magazine in order enjoy the online platform.

Digital Passport

Provided by Common Sense, Digital Passport is a way to allow elementary students to have them learn the fundamentals of becoming a digital native while doing so ethically.  In reality anyone could use it, but it is geared towards youngsters that are new to using computers for educational purposes.  The website has different games to play like Password Protect which teaches students how to come up with a proper password without their password being: PASSWORD or ABC123. Twalkers teaches the students about multitasking, Share Jumper teaches about privacy, and MIx-n-Mash teaches about creative credit.  Although this website is free, it does accept donations. There is also a downloadable pdf for educators to help assist them with how to use all of the tools mentions and explains the importance of each of these compartments.  Overall, this is a great tool for any young child new to computer technology become more comfortable and aware of their digital footprint.

ABCmouse.com

ABCmouse.com is an "award winning early learning academy". The website is tailored to kids ages 2 through 8. This site allows young kids to be able to access an entire curriculum. According to the website, ABCmouse offers over 850 lessons and more than 8,000 learning activities. This site is a great tool for parents to use at home with their kids for extra practice or use as a tool to teach them new things.

The site is divided into different categories depending on the subject. There's Reading, Math, World Around Us, Art & Colors, Music & Songs, Library, Puzzles, and Games. After clicking on the category, the user will be directed straight to numerous lessons and learning activities. Children have access to thousands of activities that include things like reading books, playing games, watching videos, painting pictures, and learning songs all while learning useful information at the same time.

A cool feature ABCmouse has is something called "My Learning Path". This is a step-by-step path that guides children from one activity to the next. The site arranges all the activities into a simple curriculum made by teachers and learning experts. What I like most about this website is that even though children will be playing games, each individual games is a carefully designed learning experience.

Assistive Technology for Visually Impaired Students

     Having interacted with two blind students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, I wanted to learn more about how they navigated a sighted world without asking intrusive questions.  Therefore, I researched the matter, and while much of the assistance offered to them is "low tech" in the form of audio recordings of lectures and the use of other students as readers, some exciting technology exists that can really "speed up" the intake of information.  For example, a Braille printer can help individuals completely devoid of sight, but the price tag is rather shocking (prices range from $1,800 to $80,000 for a high volume machine).  A graduate student at Vanderbilt explained how frustrating it is to lag behind her fellow students in completing assignments, at the mercy of various devices, and how technology like screen readers with speech or voiceover for her laptop, iPad, and iPhone level the playing field considerably.  I appreciated the way she further explained that all students have goals, and visually impaired students want to exercise the greatest amount of independence possible, and these superior devices allow them to do just that.  I think that this type of technology is a worthy investment for educational communities like universities in order to ensure that these students succeed.
     Another interesting point the website raised was the issue of advocacy.  The problem with allocating funds for this technology is that there are relatively few students on campus who are visually impaired.  Nevertheless, I think that an argument could be made that this technology allows them to compete with their peers.  I think that these students and their families should speak to the administration and ask that they make specific requests of their most generous donors for this technology; these individuals may not even be aware that such a need exists.  I recently saw a blind student almost run into a chair; we should all be more sensitive to the challenges others face and join them in asking for help that will make them enjoy their college experience even more fully.
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