Finalist

This little blog has been chosen as a finalist in 2008 Weblog Awards Education Category!

Voting isn't open yet, but I am hoping you all will cast your ballots on January 5th when it begins!

(You can still vote for TLWMSN in the Edublog Awards though! - TLWMSN currently has 42 votes, which is 3% of the vote. We are the only sped blog there too.)

Apparently there were 5,000 nominees in 49 categories, which gives a 1 in 10 chance of being chosen as one of the 10 finalists in a given category.

Here are the finalists for education (sorry they are not linked - it is late and I am tired):

Flypaper

This Week In Education

Joanne Jacobs

Mr. Hancock's Class Blog

Blogush

Nature Society of ACS Klang High School, Malaysia

Mike Falick's Blog - A School Board Trustee's Blog

Dr. Wizard's Advice for College Students

Education for the Aughts

Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs

I am proud to once again create a place for special education in the top ten.

Whatever It Takes

Years ago at a workshop an educational speaker said to the group, "Parents are sending you the best kids they have. They aren't keeping the good ones at home and holding back on you. These are the best kids they have."

I have repeated this statement, in one form or another, countless times over the years in workshops I have taught or when mentoring new teachers, but there is something more to that statement for me than the obvious. That statement is not only a reminder to let parents off the hook a little bit and remember you are in the same boat, but also a reminder that to truly change the life of a child you sometimes need to commit to helping to change the life of a family.

Heavens knows that is NOT our job as teachers (or OT/PT/Speech therapists or school nurses or whatever); we are not social workers, case managers or family counselors - but sometimes we are all that families of students with significant disabilities have. We are it. The only other person who may care about their child. The only other person who knows that child in good times and bad. The only other person who cares for and respects that child as more than a diagnosis. The only other person who looks at the child and sees strength and possibility.

When that happens I feel a human responsibility to reach out to that family however I can. I, as a human being, have to try to be the change I wish to see in the world* and go that extra mile. I have to do whatever it takes to make a difference to that child and that family.

P.S. Obviously there is a story behind this story, a story about a child and a family. I promise you it is a story that, for one child and one family, is starting to have a happy ending.

*"Be the change you wish to see in the world." -Gandhi

Image above by http://www.wordle.net/

Updates

Both the Alternate Format Book and Stories Section and the Free Boardmaker Boards and Activities Section have been updated this week.

This in from Gadget Lab:

LG Sunlight-Powered LCDs Bring Sunshine To Notebook Users

from Gadget Lab by Priya Ganapati

LG's latest green displays could offer consumers the two things they want out of their notebooks--lower power consumption and higher battery life--while working outdoors.

The company announced a 14.1-inch LCD panel that can switch to being illuminated by sunlight instead of the backlight unit when used outdoors.

The switching allows the display’s outdoor energy consumption to fall to one fourth the level of indoors consumption boosting battery life. Backlight units in conventional notebooks can account for about 75 percent of the total energy consumption used in LCD panels, says the company.

The new displays will solve the problem that most users face around visibility and clarity of their notebook screen in bright sunlight. LG says its offers contrast ratio of at least 9:1 when used outdoors, compared to 2:1 or 3:1 for most displays used currently in notebook PCs.

The LCD panels will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show next month where LG is likely offer more details on price and availability.

Does this mean AAC devices that can be seen outdoors might FINALLY be on the horizon?

Correction: Tizmos Visual Start Page

I just want to let everyone know that the Tizmos Start Page CAN two switch scan. It is far from perfect, but you can use the tab to move through all selectable objects on a page one at a time and enter to select one. Thus a switch set to "tab" and another to "enter" will do that same thing.

Yay!

A tip is to use some of the accessibility features in your operating system and browsers to make what is being highlighted as you "tab"/scan through the options more obvious. Another tip for scanning is to be sure the link on Tizmos goes directly to a switch accessible page and not to a non-accessible entry page.

Note: this isn't going to work perfectly because some pages that are linked to need different switch settings (i.e. space bar not enter) or there is no way to link past the set up page effectively. Someone will need to be on standby to help.


Maybe someone can let me know a way to refine this or Tizmos or another start site would be interested in adding single switch scanning or more refined step scanning.

You can try my Tizmos Launch Page here or make your own.

Happy Holidays

May this season be filled with light and hope for you and your family.

Three Visual Start Pages

Visual start pages seem to be all the rage right now, though I am waiting for one that allows at least step-scanning (tab to move through the choices and click or enter to select) to try in the classroom. (That would be because of the fact that I cannot install a touch screen onto the only internet connect computer due to admin privilidge issues.) Anyways, if you are lucky enough to have a touch screen or interactive whiteboard with internet you might want to check out these three options for visual start pages:

• Symbaloo - Symbaloo has many preset, pre-designed pages for those who use common applications like Gmail, Google, Box, Twitter, Remember the Milk, etc. However you can customize a start page for your classroom. I like that Symbaloo allows me to add my own images or symbols to the page, but I would have liked an integrated icon search engine like on MyClusta as well. I dislike the search bar always being in the middle, but I might be missing some vital step. Try my functioning sample or my screen shot below.
• MyClusta - Like Symbaloo, MyClusta allows you to create a visual start screen with icons for your most commonly used site. It has an integrated search for icons, but doesn't allow you to upload symbols. In general it seems to be simpler to use than Symbaloo, but I still seem to like the visual appeal of symbaloo better.
  
• Tizmos - Tizmos is another visual start page, but it uses thumbnails of pages instead of icons - saving a lot of time in the set up. My Tizmos page is here.

All told I have to say I would rank Tizmos as the easiest to put together, but least visually appealing and Symbaloo the toughest to put together and most visually appealling. MyClusta is in the middle of both in both areas. However, I am still holding out for one that scans. Pretty please?