Student Guide Corner

Questions I'm pondering this morning..... What does a "good" Assistive Technology evaluation for learning look like? How does the model used by other special education professionals (Psychologist, Speech and Language Pathologist, Special Educator, etc) influence the current AT Assessment model? How does the federal mandate that evaluations must be performed in all areas of suspected disability affect our assessments?  Is it time to rethink Assistive Technology evaluations/assessments and create our own model which includes the fact AT consideration/assessment and implementation must be a dynamic and a team process? Is this too huge a paradigm shift for special education which expects an assessment format to which they are accustomed? Is this too huge a shift for those of us who specialize in assistive technology to take on? Should we move away from an "expert" model to something else? What does that look like? I thank Brian Wojcik for continually challenging m...

I wrote my first entry for this blog on January 7, 2010.    At that time, I expected to write 5 or 10 essays.    I thought I might get a few hundreds readers.    I had one goal in mind:    to get more teachers talking about teaching.   Personally, I don�t think we come close to having enough serious conversations about the challenges and fun of being teachers and I wanted to push people in that direction.    I just think we need a lot more exchange of ideas if we are going to meet the educational problems of today. Well, this is now my 159 th posting on this blog and there have been more than 72,000 page views over the past three years.    I very much appreciate everyone who helps to spread the word by mentioning the blog to someone else.    The goal never changes � to get people talking about their teaching.    Education is serious business.    It is not a job to be taken lightly.   ...

I am beginning an experiment today to help more of my students be successful in the classroom. If you look on the upper left hand side of this page, you should see a link titled �FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING � 2nd Edition.� If you click on that link, you will come to a page that has a series of audio clips between 8 and 11 minutes in length. These audio clips were created by me to accompany the Financial Accounting textbook that I have written with CJ Skender at UNC (and published by FlatWorldKnowledge). Although these audio files are specifically designed for our book, they could probably be used quite well with any book. Debits are debits and credits are credits in every textbook. Right now, I have five audio files posted but I hope to have many more soon. If you are teaching financial accounting, please feel free to suggest that your students listen to these files to see if they are helpful. Heck, they are free. What do they have to lose except for a few minutes of their time? Each fil...

During the Patriots play-off game last night at my in-laws house, I heard the familiar question asked, "Did you finish your homework?" Reluctantly, my nephew left the room to work on his math homework. He had 15 double-digit multiplication problems to complete. He also had to use t wo different assigned methods, FOR EACH PROBLEM .  Really? I've read Alfie Kohn ( The Homework Myth ).  I've read the counterpoints to his thoughts. I do understand the importance of math practice, which helps solidify the process of understanding. But 15 problems?  And the double method for every single problem ?  How about this idea - Three problems one method, three problems the other method and then finish three more problems using the method that works best for you. That way, you have time to reflect on what works best for you.  Isn't that the point - we want to help students understand that there is more than one way to reach the solution. Let's help kids identify w...

At this moment, I am half-way through my 42 nd year as a college professor.    Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. I walk back into class to see if I can do it all again.    This semester, I have 28 students in one Intermediate Accounting II class and 26 students in another Intermediate class.     I also have 15 students taking my Governmental Accounting course.    I have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these 69 young people.    Hopefully, that will be a positive difference.    That is not a responsibility that I take lightly.    Whether each of these students is better off on the last day of the semester depends in large part on how well I do my job.     After all this time, I am still thrilled when I think about going into class and leading the conversation.    I never fail to get a stomach full of butterflies before the first class.    You could describe my feel...

  Before I get started today, I want to wish every teacher out there a wonderful 2013.    During the upcoming year, go out and make a positive difference in as many lives as you possibly can.    This teaching job might not always pay well but having the opportunity to be a positive influence on so many lives (especially the lives of young people) is absolutely priceless.    Enjoy every day you have in the classroom!!    Happy 2013!!!! ** I want to experiment more in my teaching.    I guess that is my new year's resolution.   This is my 42 nd year in the classroom and it is easy to get into a rut.   There are days when I can do this job in my sleep.    Sometimes I really have to stop and push myself to get outside of my comfort zone.    I never want to get into a position where I just go through the motions.    I do better work when things aren�t so easy. For that reason, in the c...