Blog #4 - Social-Networking

I have joined Pinterest and Google+, but I had no idea that these social networking sites had helpful sites dedicated to education! I rarely ever used these sights and always thought, “What is the big deal?”, but now I know what all the commotion is about! I found this resource on Pinterest called, “TheSpEd Teacher’s Must-Have IEP Kit” on Pinterest after searching “I.E.P”. Sometimes, I have several students with different Individualized Education Plans with many different goals. I feel it to be very beneficial to have a summary, goals, and information about these students organized in a manageable form. The I.E.P. documents are very lengthy and wordy, so I feel having the most important parts highlighted will help me be mindful about the student’s goals while planning lessons or interventions. Instead of having to create an outline, I would just download this resource from Pinterest, print the organizer, fill it out based on the I.E.P., and keep in a place I would look often. I also found this goal sheet called, “My I.E.P. Goal”. This goal sheet is actually a bar graph allowing students to keep track of their reading fluency. Currently, I progress monitor four students on an online reading program called AimsWeb to track the progress of their reading fluency and accuracy over the course of the year. I give these four students weekly passages to read and reread at home. I am going to print out this resource and send it home, so the students can keep track of their progress they make at home!

In Google+, I did not know that there were “communities” to join. I thought of Google+ strictly as a socializing site, but it can be used for professional development as well. I found this community called, “Special Education” and joined it which is like following a group or person on Twitter. I know that some of my students require help with learning social skills. The first resource on the Special Education community site was a webpage titled, “MySocially Speaking App for iPad”. As a general educator, I know only basic information about teaching special areas such as social skills. I would to reflect and foster social skills learning the general education setting too. Finally, I found this slide show called, “Hand-Painted Wall Murals”. The brief article talks about how the arts can affect student behavior. For students who require calming methods, I though this may be beneficial. It also helped me think of how we could best repaint/transform the library into the Learning Commons! I could spend all day on these social-networking sites because there is such a wealth knowledge being shared every minute!