Student Guide Corner

Did you know? Recently, the US Department of Education released information about additional funding sources to support students with special needs under IDEA B and C. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) appropriates significant new funding for programs under Parts B and C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) . Part B of the IDEA provides funds to state educational agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) to help them ensure that children with disabilities, including children aged three through five, have access to a free appropriate public education to meet each child's unique needs and prepare him or her for further education, employment, and independent living. The IDEA recovery funds under ARRA will provide an unprecedented opportunity for states, LEAs, and early intervention service providers to implement innovative strategies to improve outcomes for infants, toddlers, children, and youths with disabilities while st...

Looking for inspiration today? Here's an amazing resource that I learned about from Kevin Jarrett's blog . Ideas to Inspire is an incredible, interactive, collaborative resource comprised of Google presentations filled with exciting curriculum ideas. It's difficult to highlight particular presentations since they are all informative and instructive. Explore " Inspiring Writing" or "I nteresting Ways to use Netbook's " or " Pocket Video Cameras " or " Interactive W hiteboards " or " Google Earth " and " Google Docs. " There are ideas for all grade levels. These ideas that inspire clearly support multiple methods of engagement, representation and expression and will support students with diverse learning needs. Try them all under each category and have your class rate their favorites. There are enough ideas that can last you the entire school year. Have fun exploring your favorites with your students!

Just an FYI - My Webspiration is temporarily closing beta sign-ups on March 18th. It's highly recommended that you sign-up now so that you don't miss out on this opportunity . My Webspirtion is a free online graphic organizer/concept mapping tool/visual outline tool by Inspiration and is included in the UDL Tech Toolkit wiki under graphic organizers. I don't know of any other free online graphic organizers that allow you to easily switch from diagram view to outline view with one click. This is a must have as part of your Classroom Toolkit.

From my reader this morning - Joe 1.0 - Joe's Non Netbook by Chris Lehmann The improv video is a brilliant illustration of the textbook as the disability and the need for Universal Design for Learning! How engaged were those students? How able were they to work with the material? How accessible is a textbook? It's clearly time to review our curriculum purchases as we enter another budget cycle.

Can education be transformed or is it just a dream? I may be idealistic but I believe that it is possible to transform education. Not only do I believe it is possible, I believe it is essential especially when considering students who are struggling learners. One way to achieve transformation is to incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework based upon neuroscience research which promotes multiple methods of engagement, representation and expression to benefit all students in our classrooms. The book Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning (2002) by David Rose and Anne Meyer elucidated the research, the framework and the principles. Sarah McPherson is using social networking tools to encourage interested educators to join an online discussion of the book. The discussion began yesterday and continues through July 1. Join the Teaching Every Student ning and participate with other educators in grasping UDL principles that will tran...

Do you notice the visual clutter on websites? Homepages filled with junk, unnecessary visuals or information that makes reading what is important difficult? For people with print disabilities, this can be especially challenging. Enter Readability . Readability describes itself as a free, simple tool that makes reading on the web more "enjoyable" as it reduces the clutter on the screen. I think it also makes reading the web easier . Throw in a screen reader or Click,Speak and listening to text for content is easier then ever. Check it out here: Add it to your toolbox and share it with your students. Equip and empower them to develop their own toolbelts for success and independence beyond the walled gardens in their classroom.

Does Amazon realize what it makes possible for those who struggle with print access? Apparently not. Too bad, because the Kindle 2 truly is a "revolutionary wireless reading device." First, the bad news : Amazon has caved to the Author's Guild and backed away from the Text-to-Speech feature available in the newest Kindle . According to the NY Times , Amazon has released this statement, bowing to pressure, partially excerpted here: Kindle 2�s experimental text-to-speech feature is legal: no copy is made, no derivative work is created, and no performance is being given. Furthermore, we ourselves are a major participant in the professionally narrated audiobooks business through our subsidiaries Audible and Brilliance. We believe text-to-speech will introduce new customers to the convenience of listening to books and thereby grow the professionally narrated audiobooks business. Nevertheless, we strongly believe many rights holders will be more comfortable with the text-to-s...