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.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, April 09, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, August 14, 2006
PowerPoint Presentation Problems
They're fixed but it has been an interesting day.
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.
- 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 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.
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.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
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.
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.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
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.
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.
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.
Friday, January 06, 2006
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.:(
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.:(
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, January 02, 2006
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.
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.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
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.
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.
Monday, December 12, 2005
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.)
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.)
Saturday, December 10, 2005
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)
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)
Sunday, November 27, 2005
KoolKidsSign.com
I finally started putting together the Kool Kids Sign website using my characters on the flash page. I also set up the Teachers and So You Want to Get a Job websites under the Kool Kids Sign website. Both the Teachers site (an online curriculum? not sure what word to use-we were studying eLearning when I made it-for regular education teachers with hearing impaired students in the classroom) and the So You Want to Get a Job sites were projects completed during my Instructional Technology master's degree.
Not all of the links are working although most of them do. I don't think the discussion boards will work. They are at my old site and I don't think the links will work right until I fix them.
I have a vision for Kool Kids Sign but not enough artistic skill to complete it. A couple years ago I made videos with a student I was working with to be shown during homeroom to teach her classmates sign language. They were only 1 or 2 minutes long for each day. The idea was to then put the signs up at Kool Kids Sign for the students to go and get reminders of what was played in class. I would love to finish this concept and make tapes that other schools could use with the website as a reinforcer. I would love to have games there too to help the students practice. I have thought about using puppets to make videos-I worry about child safety on the internet-but have not been able to find any that look like the characters I drew for the website.
So You Want to Get a Job was also a vision I had during my classes. Included in there I would love to have a practice interview session with signing characters. If I was rich I could maybe succeed in creating that with the use of the Sign Smith Studio software by Vcom 3D.
The teacher's website I also want to eventually expand to include worksheets and lessons. I created worksheets for the Flat Stanley book by Jeff Brown that I want to post and also for a book about a deaf child who goes to a hearing camp called The Best Sign by Bonnie Highsmith Taylor.
Maybe someone will read this and help me make my visions come true:) In the meantime enjoy what is posted.
Not all of the links are working although most of them do. I don't think the discussion boards will work. They are at my old site and I don't think the links will work right until I fix them.
I have a vision for Kool Kids Sign but not enough artistic skill to complete it. A couple years ago I made videos with a student I was working with to be shown during homeroom to teach her classmates sign language. They were only 1 or 2 minutes long for each day. The idea was to then put the signs up at Kool Kids Sign for the students to go and get reminders of what was played in class. I would love to finish this concept and make tapes that other schools could use with the website as a reinforcer. I would love to have games there too to help the students practice. I have thought about using puppets to make videos-I worry about child safety on the internet-but have not been able to find any that look like the characters I drew for the website.
So You Want to Get a Job was also a vision I had during my classes. Included in there I would love to have a practice interview session with signing characters. If I was rich I could maybe succeed in creating that with the use of the Sign Smith Studio software by Vcom 3D.
The teacher's website I also want to eventually expand to include worksheets and lessons. I created worksheets for the Flat Stanley book by Jeff Brown that I want to post and also for a book about a deaf child who goes to a hearing camp called The Best Sign by Bonnie Highsmith Taylor.
Maybe someone will read this and help me make my visions come true:) In the meantime enjoy what is posted.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Workshop Day
Today the IU held their special ed conference. We have it every year on Election Day. Many years there really are no workshops I am interested in attending or they are all at the same time. This year there weren't any I was desperate to go to but at least I did find some to choose.
One workshop was about cochlear implants. The speaker was interesting but I had mostly heard it before.
I went to a workshop called "Assistive Technology for Writing." Bill Ziegler, the speaker, talked about intellikeys, alphasmarts and other such equipment. Nothing really new there but he also introduced us to two computer programs that he had developed. They can be downloaded from here, for free, by following the Download Software link.
One is Just My Type. The student dictates what he wants to say to the teacher who types it in and then the student practices typing it in. There are a variety of keyboards to choose from and it shows them which letters to type on the onscreen keyboard. Included is Just My Worksheets. You may choose vocabulary words and print spelling worksheets, word searches writing practice sheets etc.
The other one is Report Cards. This one is a simplified graphics organizer for students with writing problems. The first thing the student does is pick a topic. Then he/she creates three subtopics for three paragraphs. The student is able to brainstorm ideas or create sentences. After the three subtopics the student creates up to five supporting details. If the student has problem remembering what he/she wants to say while writing it, the program is setup for the student to record each sentence and then play it back to type in. Once all the sentences are written they can be rearranged into a better order.
Unfortunately for PC users both programs are MAC compatible only. This is because MAC has built in voices and both programs read what is typed to the student.
Now if only I can get Bill to adapt Report Cards so that instead of the students recording their ideas/sentences they can videotape them then this would be perfect for our signing deaf kids. As it is the program is still great. Both of these programs are on my list to show at the PESDHH convocation if we have a computer lab.
The last workshop was on cyberbullying and cyber sexual assault. I chose that because of my degree in instructional technology and the fact that it can become an issue in that field. It was presented by a woman from NOVA (Network of Victim Assistance.)
One of her points was that parents should not ban the internet from their children but instead should put the computer where there are adults present and to partner with the child showing them the proper way to use the internet. I did put our home computer where it is in the middle of everything but I do not sit down with my daughter while she is online. I have made a point of emphasizing to her about internet safety and the dangers of posting info online.
One of the things that surprised me was the fact that most of the predators do not lie about their age. I had always heard that they lure the girls by lying about their age but apparently it's not true.
A colleague and I discovered this year that there was a student who met someone online and then met him at the mall. She appears to have been lucky and the boy is really a boy. She seemed to be unaware of the dangers of the internet. Because the student has to read for one of her classes we are going to look for a book called A Girl's Life Online. It is the story of a young girl who fell for a sexual predator and was raped. Maybe this will help her understand the dangers better since she is your typical teenager and doesn't want to listen to the adults.
This year was definitely a good year for workshops. Hopefully future years will be also.
One workshop was about cochlear implants. The speaker was interesting but I had mostly heard it before.
I went to a workshop called "Assistive Technology for Writing." Bill Ziegler, the speaker, talked about intellikeys, alphasmarts and other such equipment. Nothing really new there but he also introduced us to two computer programs that he had developed. They can be downloaded from here, for free, by following the Download Software link.
One is Just My Type. The student dictates what he wants to say to the teacher who types it in and then the student practices typing it in. There are a variety of keyboards to choose from and it shows them which letters to type on the onscreen keyboard. Included is Just My Worksheets. You may choose vocabulary words and print spelling worksheets, word searches writing practice sheets etc.
The other one is Report Cards. This one is a simplified graphics organizer for students with writing problems. The first thing the student does is pick a topic. Then he/she creates three subtopics for three paragraphs. The student is able to brainstorm ideas or create sentences. After the three subtopics the student creates up to five supporting details. If the student has problem remembering what he/she wants to say while writing it, the program is setup for the student to record each sentence and then play it back to type in. Once all the sentences are written they can be rearranged into a better order.
Unfortunately for PC users both programs are MAC compatible only. This is because MAC has built in voices and both programs read what is typed to the student.
Now if only I can get Bill to adapt Report Cards so that instead of the students recording their ideas/sentences they can videotape them then this would be perfect for our signing deaf kids. As it is the program is still great. Both of these programs are on my list to show at the PESDHH convocation if we have a computer lab.
The last workshop was on cyberbullying and cyber sexual assault. I chose that because of my degree in instructional technology and the fact that it can become an issue in that field. It was presented by a woman from NOVA (Network of Victim Assistance.)
One of her points was that parents should not ban the internet from their children but instead should put the computer where there are adults present and to partner with the child showing them the proper way to use the internet. I did put our home computer where it is in the middle of everything but I do not sit down with my daughter while she is online. I have made a point of emphasizing to her about internet safety and the dangers of posting info online.
One of the things that surprised me was the fact that most of the predators do not lie about their age. I had always heard that they lure the girls by lying about their age but apparently it's not true.
A colleague and I discovered this year that there was a student who met someone online and then met him at the mall. She appears to have been lucky and the boy is really a boy. She seemed to be unaware of the dangers of the internet. Because the student has to read for one of her classes we are going to look for a book called A Girl's Life Online. It is the story of a young girl who fell for a sexual predator and was raped. Maybe this will help her understand the dangers better since she is your typical teenager and doesn't want to listen to the adults.
This year was definitely a good year for workshops. Hopefully future years will be also.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Possible Training Opportunity
Back on September 29 I wrote about the PESDHH (Pennsylvania Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) convocation and the possibility of doing training/workshops there. I went to the first planning meeting on Wednesday. The theme looks like it will be something involving Diversity of Learners since we have such a wide range of students we work with. As time goes on there seem to be more and more special needs deaf and hard of hearing students.
As we were talking I was thinking that it would be difficult to propose trainings (the reason I was there) but the person I had been talking to (Susan) brought it up. It really would be possible to do trainings since each of the three Pattan offices have 75 laptops for trainings.
We discussed possible trainings and whether or not I would want to do one (if you read my blog from August 9 and August 10 you'll understand.) One idea that Susan had where I would not actually have to do a training was to have a drop in lab to see and do things. I think we should still have a training of something but the drop in lab is a great idea too. I thought about it later and came up with the idea to have websites bookmarked for everyone to look at when they came in and also maybe it would be great if we had different software installed that are considered hearing friendly (a good resource for that is the database on the TecEds website at the Clerc Center in D.C.) I guess I will have to start going through that to see what I can find. I can also ask Rosemary (my supervisor from my internship) for ideas. I know I want to show something from Sherston, VCom 3D, and Team up with Teamo (it would really be great if they would do exhibits if we have them.)
As we were talking I was thinking that it would be difficult to propose trainings (the reason I was there) but the person I had been talking to (Susan) brought it up. It really would be possible to do trainings since each of the three Pattan offices have 75 laptops for trainings.
We discussed possible trainings and whether or not I would want to do one (if you read my blog from August 9 and August 10 you'll understand.) One idea that Susan had where I would not actually have to do a training was to have a drop in lab to see and do things. I think we should still have a training of something but the drop in lab is a great idea too. I thought about it later and came up with the idea to have websites bookmarked for everyone to look at when they came in and also maybe it would be great if we had different software installed that are considered hearing friendly (a good resource for that is the database on the TecEds website at the Clerc Center in D.C.) I guess I will have to start going through that to see what I can find. I can also ask Rosemary (my supervisor from my internship) for ideas. I know I want to show something from Sherston, VCom 3D, and Team up with Teamo (it would really be great if they would do exhibits if we have them.)
Auditory Version of the ABC game
I started the auditory version of the ABC fruit and vegetable game in PowerPoint. The problem is that the animated gif that is used if the answer is wrong does not play after it has been accessed one time. If the child makes more than one mistake then they don't get the animation the second time just the end frame.
Any input let me know here is the link
ABC Fruit and Vegetable Auditory game
Any input let me know here is the link
ABC Fruit and Vegetable Auditory game
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