More Game Ideas

I still don't know if I can use the graphics I asked the artist about-I had told her there was no hurry because I had to study for a test. Haven't been studying much though now that I feel like making a new game.

I found another set of graphics at Delightful Doodles and have obtained permission to use them to make a game. I'm not sure about what this game will be about since I don't know if I can use the other graphics to make a counting game or not. I have been thinking about how the game will work and have started putting together some ideas for different parts.

Here's a screenshot of one of the frames.



I made the room and the pedestal. The prince, princess, crown and window frame are from Delightful Doodles. The scenery outside the window is by Gina Jane Johnson, CEO and Founder of The D.A.I.S.I.E. Company.

My last problem for either game is that I do not have a Deaf person to sign for me in the videos-which is the way it should be done. It's their language not mine. I also am thinking of offering these up for sale for a minimal price since they do need high-speed internet to be able to view the videos.

Next summer is the final International Symposium on Instructional Technology and Education for the Deaf at National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York. If I can get a couple more games created I would like to present them in a poster session. That would be the ideal way to get the word out that there are these games available for the kids.

A New Game???

I had an absolutely awesome idea for a new game after seeing graphics by one artist. I emailed her and she is thinking over whether or not I could use them for the game. In the meantime, I can't make my brain stop thinking and planning the game. I sure hope she agrees to my use of the graphics. They would make such an awesome math counting game.

This is Getting Ridiculous

Rosemary (my supervisor during my instructional technology internship) told me today that there is a job opening at MSSD (Model Secondary School for the Deaf.) They need a combination Computer Applications teacher and Yearbook person. Not quite what I would like but definitely where I would like.

It's the same problem as Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. It's not in Pennsylvania so Jonathan would have to go on a waiting list for services. Why are there no jobs here in Pennsylvania?

Maybe I'm supposed to just go on faith that all will work out. Wish I knew what was happening with the Mentoring grant-I would feel better not looking at the job. Of course if I just look around the house and think one month to find a place to live and move......

I really want to make changes in my job and shift more into the technology end of things. It would be so much simpler if it could happen in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania-possible interpreting mentorship grant and other things

I was at the interpreting summer institute Monday and Tuesday at the Nittany Lion Inn. While there we were told that Pennsylvania had applied to get a grant for a mentorship for interpreters to help them improve their skills and pass the Educational Interpeting Performance Assessment (EIPA) which the state has now set a minimum skill level of 3.5 out of 5. One thing that was also mentioned was that they plan to produce materials for practice (videos) During one of the breaks I asked if they would be hiring someone to make the materials. I was told that they did not know if they had to use people already working for PaTTAN however it would be great if they could hire me for it because I already know the field and the kinds of materials needed. They will keep me in mind when the time comes. I assume that this would be part time work but I will have to wait to find out after they get the grant. (I did make myself very useful with technology problems while I was there so I will definitely stay in their mind-besides I actually know two of the people involved so I know my name will come up if they begin discussing hiring someone.) Keeping my fingers crossed that maybe this is where I am supposed to be heading.

I finished my degree two years ago and it wasn't until last year that I submitted the paperwork for the certification. I still don't have it. Yesterday I came across the Praxis test results letter and found out that the university never received a copy of the test results. Now I know why I never received the certification.

Looking to next summer-Next year is the last International Symposium on Instructional Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, NY. I have gone to the last two and loved it. It is really great to see the things that can be used with the kids. I think that unless Rosemary (my internship supervisor) is going to show my ABC games during a presentation that I will write an abstract to submit to show them during a poster session. Even if she is going to show them I think I will try to do a poster session. It would be great if I could get more games done by next year. I'll have to start thinking about a new game. There had been a request for numbers. Colors would be another good idea.

More info about jobs

Well, I seem to have adjusted fine to not applying for the job in Virginia.

On the plus side of all this, I had a friend (the one who dragged me into PESDHH last year) offer to write me a reference. That would have been the third one I needed. Oh well. Maybe another job will appear. In the meantime, here I sit in my nice comfortable life and I don't have to get up the bravery to leave my comfort zone. I really was going to go through the process before I found out about the time frame for services. I filled out half of the application even before I found out what I needed to know.

More about jobs

I heard from Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. The job sounds just like what I want. I have gone round and round in my mind about moving. I want the job but how in the world can I get the house ready to sell. I don't want to leave my friends. I really want a job like that.

Well I had no students today so I took time to call down to Virginia and talk to someone about services for my son. There is a good chance it will be 2-3 years before anything would happen. Not a possibility since I need him doing something during the day while I work.

Despite all my thinking, wanting and not wanting to relocate after talking to them I am feeling depressed. I thought maybe this was my chance to do what I want to do for a job. I keep thinking maybe I should continue the application maybe a miracle will happen. I don't know what to do.

A Long Post about Job Prospects

This morning I found out about an instructional technology resource teacher job at a school for the deaf and blind. My ideal setting, well the deaf part anyway. This is the first job of this nature that I have seen posted in the almost two years since I graduated. The only problem is that it is in Virginia. I tried calling them for more information but the school is closed this week. I'm not sure if this is a classroom position or if it is a more traditional instructional technology position. There is definitely staff training involved but then it talks about how the applicant should have knowledge about behavior modification techniques. It does not list experience as being required. I don't know how much computer troubleshooting/maintenance is involved or how much knowledge of networking is needed. It also says for next school year so I'm wondering if it is for only one year or if it would be ongoing.

I am weak in the computer maintenance and networking departments. My training was all in the instructional field and after just a couple years there is a lot more software out there that I would need to get to know, but I can deal with that.

Interestingly enough, since January I have been working with a deaf-blind boy and have gotten to see the effect of blindness. I can sit here rationalizing that this was God preparing me and maybe He is. But the fear of change is great and the thought of getting the house ready to sell is daunting. At least I got the new roof on, but the whole house needs to be painted and tons of stuff needs to be donated to the Salvation Army or sold at a yard sale. Then a lot still needs to be packed up and stored before I could even put it up for sale. It's enough to make me stop right now even thinking about moving.

And that is the least of my problems. There's my mother. She has beginning Alzheimer's and during this past year I have seen lots of deterioration. She lives with me. There is the distinct possibility that I will eventually have to sell anyway so that she can go into assisted living. We bought the house together. As a result of that, I have been looking at the house thinking about what I need to do to get ready to sell.

My daughter is another problem although she is thinking about moving in with one of her friends when her friend graduates from nursing school. She is only 21 and has not finished college. If she moves out I don't know that she will ever finish.

My last and biggest concern would be my son. He's 23 and has Angelman Syndrome. At this time he is still living at home. He has 15 hours a week of support staff who take him out into the community and I have two days of after school respite for about 4 hours each. I can survive without those services if need be, but he is also in a sheltered workshop/daycare setting all day. I need that or I can't work.

If I relocate I have no idea how much time would be involved in getting some kind of a day placement and setting up transportation and before and after workshop care for him if my hours are longer than his. I put out feelers to the Angelman Syndrome mail list asking for information from parents in Virginia and after I talk to the school I will contact the local Mental Retardation office for information if it looks like this is a possibility.

In the meantime, insecurity is taking hold. I don't know that I can do all of the work. Would I have to write grants? make technology plans? buy equipment? I have never done those kind of things. I really have little faith in myself sometimes and a great fear of stepping out of my nice secure world.

There is also a job at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf-an ideal place for this job-but they want three years experience and more software knowledge than I have. I would love to work there or at Gallaudet's Clerc Center.

PowerPoint Presentation Problems

They're fixed but it has been an interesting day.

• The hearing aid powerpoint in the web page did not have pictures. I had to resave it and now it has them. I don't know why it didn't work the first time.
• It turns out that people without the new beta version of powerpoint can't view the powerpoint shows, so I had to resave the ones in the download file in to the older version.
• After I did that I put the new zip file online but for some reason it would not replace the old one so everyone was still getting the old version when they downloaded it. I finally removed it completely from the old file and changed the name. Now they can get the usable version.

I'm not sure why any of these things happened but I am hoping that everything works right now. I do hate posting new stuff online becasue so much can go wrong and you don't know it until someone on another computer finds it and lets you know about it.

I also changed the color for unvisited links on the page with the downloads. I took the code from the graphics file and it turned out that all links were set for the same color as the font. Now they are a purplish/blue and are more noticeable.

PESDHH PowerPoint Presentation Posted

I got everything posted from my presentation. Hopefully it's not too cutesy-I don't have graphic arts experience so I borrowed from someone else. Thanks Grace.

Here's the link.
http://www.presentations.koolkidssign.com

Kool Kids Sign is really spreading out. Someday I will have to get back to the main site and link all the subdomains into it.

New Blog Look

I got tired of my background-it was too pink/purple so I went searching to see if I could find something I like better. I saw several things I liked but this one from Point of Focus was the only one that was clear on what to keep and what to throw away. And I love butterflies.

I'm not sure about the colors of the fonts as far as visibility goes, but I wasn't in the mood to fool around with it any more. I need to finish getting the PowerPoints posted from my PESDHH presentation.

Just pulled the blog up in Firefox and the right side bar shows up way down the side instead of where you can see it easily. I will have to play around with that later.

Next Year's PESDHH

My mind is working overtime thinking about next year. I think digital video is the way to go. The topic came up this year in one of the workshops so I think this will be where to go. I will need more time though. Last night's meeting talked about having something in the morning for the people that are here for Low Incidence workshops which have nothing on Wednesday. The 9-12 slot would be good-still not as much time as I would like but it would be a start. Of course that would mean we would not have a drop in tech lab with software reviews. Or at least not run by me.

I also need to check on computers to see how much memory they have and if they can do firewire.

Also need someone to help me who can do this stuff...

I still think Pattan itself should offer this-it could be a whole day training.

PowerPoint Games Training/PESDHH

I finished my first training. Only 6 or 7 people came-there wasn't really a description of the different workshops for the day so no one really knew what to expect. That was enough people for just me to manage.

What went wrong? What didn't go wrong!

First my computer wouldn't work with the LCD projector so I turned my screen and showed the sample games that way since it was such a small group.

Tech was able to get a different computer working with the projector by the time I was finished with the demo part so I switched to that one to teach making a PowerPoint game.

I was using a different version of PowerPoint on the new computer so things were different than I was used to but they were similar enough that I was able to work with them.

I had put two graphics on all the machines I thought, but I was wrong so I had to quickly put them on two different computers for the people using them.

When we went to insert clip art the computers we had borrowed did not have any clip art on them and the internet connections was not working so we couldn't get them from microsoft-I explained how to do that normally and I showed them how to add sound although mine did not work right.

What else went wrong? NOT ENOUGH TIME which I knew probably would happen but the directions were very exact so they should be able to follow them on their own.

All things considered it wasn't bad. The people were very interested and asked questions especially as we ran out of time so I gave quick examples of the unfinished steps.

Amazingly enough I was not at all nervous unlike last year when I did the Quizdom training for Rosemary, Julie and Bill during my internship. I thought I would feel nervous but I didn't. I was more nervous facilitating for the next session than doing mine.

One woman said she wished I could come do a training where she is (on the other side of the state from me) because even though there are people who could do it they are (not my words) mostly men and they don't break it down enough for someone who is not real skilled at a computer. I take that as a compliment that my directions and handouts were that helpful. :)

I think next year I will do something again but this time I will ask for a double session for whatever I decide to do. I'm thinking maybe something with video (I might be able to get cameras from the same place as I got the computers-got a whole year to plan but this time I will have to write a call for papers since I won't be on the planning committee for it.

Our drop in tech lab was also helpful. I had different software installed on the computers and people were able to play with them to see what they were like. They liked many of the different ones that I had.

PowerPoint Games Presentation and One Note 2007 Beta

Well, I'm going to do it. I am scheduled to do a 90 minute training/presentation at the Pennsylvania Educators of Students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing Convocation at State College, PA on August 2.

I am going to show different games that have been made and then show them how to make a game.

I downloaded Microsoft Office 2007 beta and One Note 2007 beta to see what they are like. They do not save files in the traditional format anymore and the beta will become unusable in February when the final version releases so everything will have to be specially saved to use with old versions or buy the new version.

Anyway the point of that was that One Note 2007 beta has made making handouts real easy. Instead of having to do a Print Screen and then put it into a graphics program and then crop the picture to the part of the screen I want, you can start One Note and then click the Windows key and the S key and then just highlight the part of the screen that you want to copy and paste it into the program you want to use it in.

ABC Game Auditory Finished

Long time no post.

I finally had time to work on the auditory version of the ABC game. I only have one version so far using a female voice. I had trouble remembering what I was doing with flash it had been so long. I had to search through the old games to figure out how to unload a movie.

I want to put the ABC song in the preloader but so far I haven't found a royalty free version. I'm not even sure that the song would be available royalty free. From what wikipedia says I think it may be copyright free-it was copyrighted in the late 1800s which seems to put it in public domain.

Anyway here is my latest game.

If you find anything wrong drop me a note here. I'm going to try it out a few times from different locations before I list in on the website.

ABC Game

The capital letter version of the game is finished!

I recorded a male voice for the auditory version yesterday which I will edit and put into the game today. I have made arrangements to record a child's voice and hopefully for the preloader with the ABCs I will be able to add the ABC song which the child will also record. I looked online for a free sound file of it but much to my amazement there is porn attached to that search topic.:(

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

I saw something today that reminded me of the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? It's very popular in kindergarten and 1st grades. They usually read the book and then make a class book following the same format.

I thought of a two ways to do that using sign language, both using technology.

Idea 1-Using a digital camera photograph each child full body. Remove the background from around the child on the computer and make a picture with two children. Photograph the first child signing "I see (child's name) following me" and put that on the bottom of the page. On the next page add a third child to the line of children and have the second child sign the sentence.





Idea 2-Using a digital camera photograph each child full body. Remove the background from around the child on the computer and make a picture with two children on a powerpoint slide. Videotape the first child signing "I see (child's name) following me" and put that on the bottom of the page. On the next page add a third child to the line of children and have the second child sign the sentence. Here's a rough idea of what I mean. I just did it real fast in flash to get the idea since Powerpoint doesn't post video online.

Kool Kids Sign and ABC Game

Bad news. I finished reading the grant information and Kool Kids Sign does not qualify for a grant. Maybe some day I will find a grant.

I worked on the ABC game again today. I made a capital letter version and a matching capital and lowercase version. I ran into a problem with some of the capital letters being too big. I need to go back through and adjust the background to accomodate that. I tried just changing the size of the font but it doesn't look right. Maybe by tomorrow night I will be done and can post it to the Kool Kids Sign website. Then I will burn a cd for Ruth who took time to let me videotape her for the game. I will also send Rosemary the final version too. And finally one of the preschool teachers asked for a capital letter version so I need to make her one too.

Oh I forgot. I wanted to make an aural version for the hard of hearing and cochlear implant kids. I still need to do that too. I guess I will hold off on the cd's for now. I had talked to our Auditory Verbal teacher about that version. I think I want to make a female, male and child version of the words and letters. I need to make a list of what I want to record and then find people to do them. Maybe I will use my daughter for the female version.

BTW Saturday I take the Praxis reading, writing and math test to prove to the state that I can do those things so I can get my certification for instructional technology. I'll know there if I pass the reading and math but I will have to wait for the writing score. I'm a little worried about the writing part. I am not a strong writer and looking at many of the sample questions I would not know what to write.

Kool Kids Sign

Kool Kids Sign in a concept I came up with a couple years ago while interpreting for a deaf middle school student. My idea was a combination of a daily video segment and a website. The daily video segment would be only a few minutes long and would teach sign language over the school's closed circuit tv during homeroom. Along with that I thought a website would be a good idea to reinforce the daily lessons. If the schools did not have a closed circuit tv system then the tape could be shown in individual classrooms.

Well the student I was working with and a friend of hers filmed a couple weeks of video to show in school but the website never really got started. I found that I can draw some what but I am so slow that the pictures that I drew never were posted. Then I found out about Sign Smith Studio. It's an authoring program using sign language and avatars that would allow me to post the words I wanted online and moving (my drawings were not animated.) Unfortunately Sign Smith Studio is expensive, as are all authoring programs, and I could never afford it.

I may have finally found a possible way to get it. I found out about a grant that I may be able to qualify for that might work. I had thought about grants before but none would really work. The only thing is that I don't know if I would be able to sell the videos or not-which would be the ideal way to spread the program to different schools.

I came up with this idea because so many deaf students are mainstreamed with interpreters these days. As they get older they really don't want an adult around all of the time and to be perfectly honest there are somethings I really didn't want to know. By creating a way for the hearing students to learn sign language the interpreters may be able to step back. The ideal, of course, would be for the deaf student to teach their friends but many are too shy to do so. A lot of times the hearing kids will learn the alphabet and that is all. Also only the immediate friends tend to learn any sign. With this program the whole school would be able to learn signs.

The program starts off with the alphabet, then goes on to teach common phrases or requests-such as do you have paper, pencil etc. It does not concentrate on American Sign Language per se but more on functional vocabulary.

I will post my write up for the grant online as I try to refine it for the final version.

The Comfort Zone

I really like my comfort zone but today listening to the radio I was hit by a sentence that I heard.

They had been talking about things and I was not really paying attention except that I heard something and started thinking how I would sign it in American Sign Language (the radio is where I always hear things that I wonder how to sign.) Anyway I suddenly heard a statement that was made about how our dreams are not in our comfort zone.

I have spent several years working towards a dream. When I began grad school I wasn't even sure what I could do with the degree I was pursuing but I was very interested in the subject matter. Well, I've finally graduated after having a fantastic 6 weeks at the Clerc Center doing my internship. When I left there I was all ready to change jobs.

I'm home now and I've fallen back into my comfort zone. It's really comfortable here so much so that I fear I will stay right where I am. But my dream is not here. I have to leave my comfort zone and find my dream. I'm scared and I have no idea how or where to find it. I was ready to move to a new location this summer but then I came home and reality hit. I don't see how I can move. I have support services for my son here. To move would mean starting all over again. I can't work without the support services and there would be no time to establish them. I don't see any possibilities around here. But God put that little statement in my ear today for a reason. Maybe there will be a job somewhere that I don't have to relocate to. I have to keep on following through. There are two schools for the deaf near here (well sort of.) I planned to apply as a teacher but I don't think I can get certified in New Jersey (can't remember why right now) and I don't think the one here in PA will pay enough to cover my bills with the added cost of the commute (at least an hour) so I guess I just apply for my dream? Would God make it that easy?

I thought about sending my resume to the School of the Future that is opening up in Philadelphia this year but there were two problems.
1. The principal is a well known tech leader and my insecurities made that intimidating. (see my blog from August 19)
and
2. It would be really cool to work there (if they were even hiring an instructional technologist) BUT It's not my dream. My dream is to be an instructional technologist in a school for the deaf.

Maybe I'm reading more into this than is really there. Maybe this was not a nudge to move me out of my comfort zone that I like so well. It really is nice here:)

(I did sign up to take the Praxis test to prove to the state of Pennsylvania that I can do math, read and write. First step to applying for the Instructional Technology Specialist certification in PA even though I don't see how I will ever get a job.)

The Negative Side of Blogs

While I have been pushing blogs at work and potentially to the state of Pennsylvania's teachers of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, I have recently seen the negative side of blogs.

My son has Angelman Syndrome. Wikipedia describes Angelman Syndrome as a "neurological disorder in which severe learning difficulties are associated with a characteristic facial appearance and behavior." When my daughter was younger I created a website for siblings, called Angel Land, with games and a chance to talk about their siblings with Angelman Syndrome.

Recently a parent found a blog that used part of my website (Angel Sib Thoughts page) to ridicule children with the syndrome. They quoted from what the siblings had posted, not always in its entirety, and mocked the children. The person also made fun of the fact that one of the children died when he was trapped in a recliner.

Needless to say there was an uproar among the parents to the extent that some contacted the dean of the university where this person attended. The school of course could do nothing since it was not school related. The person has removed the original post and is now just referring readers to the website implying that they can read into it what they will. I have also recently found another post that quoted the children with no comments except in the comments section(I have not told the other parents about that one.)

As a result I have begun changing the content to say that the page no longer exists because of the blogs which link to that specific page. For now I have kept the content by changing the name of the page and I am starting to go through the whole site changing the links. I thought that Dreamweaver would do that when I changed the name but it didn't.

I feel really bad about these incidents. I wrote an email apologizing to the parents and offering to take the page down or password protect it. Of the replies I got all said to leave it there. I am sure that the people that are quoting from my site are violating copyright laws but financially it is not worth pursuing.

Of greater concern as far as I am concerned is the issue of quoting underage children, with derogatory comments added, who have posted to my site with parent permission. I really researched the issue of children's privacy when I updated the site for one of my grad school classes and came to the conclusion that it was legal to have the page. To protect the children I have never used more than their first name, age and country to identify them. I also check every post before it is placed online to make sure there is nothing in it that could be used to identify them. I can't help but wonder how the combination of this issue and the copyright issue would play out in a court of law.

Despite all of this I still think blogs are a great idea to use with Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. I'm not sure but I think at our staff meeting this week I will be talking about my game and maybe about blogs. I need to check with my boss to find out if he still wants me to talk about them. He was going to talk about my blog article himself at another meeting, that I didn't go to, but never did. I'll have to remember to give him a call to check on things.

As an aside Clusty is a really cool new search engine that can search blogs by linking to five different blog search engines. It is even able to check if a blog links to a URL (which is how I found the other linking blog entry. I also found one that links to a graphic I had-but not any more haha-need to check with my ISP about that one to see if they can block people from linking from other sites)