“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”

My two cents is that the world will never change the way it responds to minority groups physically until we change the way we respond mentally. Individuals with disabilities are capable, although limited and often times not fully, human beings. Sure, they have physical and perhaps mental short-comings but, we all do. I, personally, do not believe in an "average" or "normal" person, we all have something wrong with us.

Luckily, there are companies working to combat that issue. They are currently working to develop and further produce technologies which aid persons with disabilities in everyday tasks. Theses technologies are known as assistive technologies.

1. Tobi c8 is a dynamic device that turns text and symbols into speech. It has a follow-up device known as Tobi c12. It comes with an upgraded eye control option. This could help individuals with limited to no hand functionality to better communicate.
   

1. Vibrotactile systems are systems which allow easier access for individuals with accessibility issues. A more common type pf vibrotactile device is a recliner, it allows individuals with spinal/vibrotactile issues to easily enter and exit the seat.
   


2. Designer Talking Calculator w/Music Box is a device designed to aid those with low to no vision, it reads entries out-loud so that the user doesn't need to physically see the calculator in order to use it. It could help those students who are blind/visually impaired to easier perform mathematics problems.

More resources include:

• http://www.abledata.com/abledata.cfm
• Education World's Classroom Assistive Classroom Technologies
  
• http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te7assist.htm
• http://atto.buffalo.edu/registered/ATBasics/Foundation/intro/introbasic.php

The great thing about elementary education is that children are still primarily innocent and thus motivated by abstract, fun, concepts like imagination, creativity, and love. It doesn't take much to entertain their brains. All it takes is some quick ingenuity and thinking outside the box.

It takes some thinking about using tools not necessarily designed for the classroom or the purpose of education, tools like the Apple iTouch [iPod]. JenniferWillems, writes on a Ning.com education post about her schools recent funding of the invention, originally designed for entertainment purposes through music and television. One way Jennifer could use the iTouches is by uploading fun and creative song related to classroom lessons like School House tunes which range in content from Social Studies, to Math, and even Language Arts! In fact, you can upload both audio and video further enhancing the experience. Perhaps the sweetest part to having an Apple iTouch in the classroom is its Wifi connectivity features which is also a huge downfall (but no worries we have passwords and such to keep kiddies safe!). Still, that capability allows a teacher to download Apps from Apple's wide array of selection including educational software!

More Help:

• iPhone Apps for Kids
• Top 10 iphone Apps for Children
• Apple.com
• 5 uses for the iTouch in the Classroom
  

A flashcard or flash card is a card used to aid rote memorization. They are often made using index cards and combined to form a set. The set of cards bears information such as words or numbers, on either or both sides, used in classroom drills or to help for memorization practices.

I know I used flashcards growing up to help memorize my multiplication table and again for Social Studies to help memorize the capitals.

Long gone however are the days of handwritten flashcards. Instead classrooms everywhere are implementing electronic flashcards. There are lots of advantages to electronic flashcards for example:

1. e-flashcards are a more effective technologically advanced method of conveying the same information, making this an efficient use of classroom-time.
2. Technology also allows for you, the teacher, to access the cards and information just as easily as the students, meaning there is a lesser chance of students studying the wrong information.
   
3. It is also easier to monitor student participation, decreasing the possibility of students doing poorly or being allowed to fall behind.
4. E-cards cut down on waste and costs, meaning students have equal opportunity to do well. As cheap as they are, with standard flashcards there is always the possibility that some students may not be able to afford the costs of flashcards.
5. E-flashcards can be printed out! So, for those learners who prefer physical cards they still have the opportunity to have a tangible set.

Electronic Flash card Website: Homework Hub's Flashcard Maker

Other Flashcard makers: http://www.flashcardmachine.com/, http://www.kitzkikz.com/flashcards/

Kid Pix is a bitmap drawing program aimed at children. Originally created by Craig Hickman, it was first released for the Macintosh in 1989 and subsequently published in 1991 by Brøderbund.

Hickman was inspired to create Kid Pix after watching his son Ben struggle with MacPaint, and thus the main idea behind its development was to create a drawing program that would be very simple to use.



With this particular in-class workout we explored different ways in which to use drawing, like the ones you can create via Kidpix, to help in other areas of instruction, like counting in math. Below is a copy our activity where we discussed how to use KidPix to discuss "tallying,"a quick way of keeping track of numbers in groups of five.












For the full example check out the File Cabinet page in my ePortfolio.