Blog Post #3

Peer Editing
In “What Is Peer Editing”, "Peer Editing With Perfection Tutorial", and "Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes", the creators help you understand the best way to help correct a person's personal work. I completely agree with the technique used in these peer editing videos. As they describe, when writing a comment, first, you should complement the writer on something specific. Then, politely point out the issues you saw in their writing. Last, suggest ways the writer can adjust their work to make it better. What happens if a peer only comments and corrects the work without a suggestion? The writer may not know how to correct the work. Giving a suggestion could help someone figure out how to improve their work.
Someone may question the importance of a complement, but when commenting on someone’s work it can be vital. When you complement the writer it starts off the comment on a positive attitude. This also makes the writer more prone to listen to what you have to say. When writing a comment you must take into consideration that the writer cannot see your body language or hear your attitude while writing the comment. When correcting someone’s work you have to be very careful of the writer’s feelings. A peer must be careful on how a comment is given. If someone mindlessly starts typing, the writer may become very defensive. To some people, correcting their work is not only an attack on their writing but on them personally. It is important to tread lightly but still get your point across.

Assistive Technologies
While watching “Assistive Technology For Vision and Hearing Impaired Children” and “The Mountbatten”, I was introduced to the idea of teaching deaf and blind students. I was also shown the technologies that have been created to help these students in the classroom. When teaching, you may encounter students that have these types of disabilities. Before watching these videos, it never crossed my mind that I may encounter these students. I have personally only come in contact with four people that have been blind or deaf. I am not sure if I would be ready to handle a situation like that. Gladly, there is technology out there that can help a teacher interact with those children even if you cannot read brail or sign. This insight has made me start thinking about how I would have to adjust my teaching to accommodate students with those handicaps. Thankfully, I know my alphabet and a couple words in sign language, so I have some sort of advantage over the average person. When in education, you never know the types of problems a child may have before they walk through your classroom door and come into your world. We all have to be prepared to adjust our teaching styles to every child that walks into our world.
Although there is useful technology out there for blind people to use, they still have some issues that could be corrected. Other technologies are still being created and improved. One example of helpful tools is in Art Karshmer’s video, “Teaching Math to the Blind”.This video informs the viewers the struggles blind people have with learning math. Math is not only a problem for blind people but for the average person. When a blind person reads brail the whole math problem is laid out sideways; this causes problems for everyone. The technology that Karshmer has created has changed the way a person with this handicap can learn by providing an easier way to learn math, which is a huge success. Apple has joined in on the effort to help technology to stretch its capabilities to accommodate the blind. In "iPad Usage for the Blind", this technology has been introduced on the iPad. The iPad now has the capabilities to personalize and adjust to the people that are using it. Using multiple ways to touch the screen and voiceover, the iPad has improved its accessibility. Although this technology has been very encouraging to see, they still have their down falls.
Although the technology has been very encouraging to see, they still have improvements that can be made. By watching a parent learn how to use this iPad in “Teaching Mom What Her Deaf/ Blind Child Is Learning On the iPad” video, I thought about another way this technology could be improved. Without having to listen to the voiceover to navigate through the iPad, a person should be able to talk to the iPad just like they would the iPhone , using Siri. This option would eliminate having the hear a narration through every file and app. Then, the user can get straight to their destination without the long drawn out process.In a classroom setting, if a child needed to use the voiceover that student would have to have earsphone to be able to use this technology. Athough it is an amazing tool for that child, it can be a distraction

Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts
Harnessing student’s digital smarts is a very good way to help students be prepared for using technology. It allows a student to have hands on, work with others, and be independent learners. As Vicki Davis said in this video, “when you use only pencil and paper only certain types of students will succeed”. Every student learns in a different way. When you allow students to vary from using only paper and pencil, it allows them to attempt to learn in a different atmosphere and way of thinking.
In Vicki David’s class all of the students work on computers and she does not always lecture in front of the class. Mrs. Davis is “letting them learn how to learn” and allowing her students to be “very comfortable with any technology". I agree with Mrs. Davis’ teaching style. By allowing the students to search for how to do a certain task they were given in class, this is a very good way to make students learn even more than just the meaning of a word or how to do a task. These students learn how to sort through the internet and find the information they need. It causes independence thinkers so the students are not dependent on the teacher to show the class every little task that needs to be done.This teacher if preparing them for life and not so they can pass another test.