3/18 Wrapping things up

I just want to use this entry to wrap up the project and make sure I'm (explicitly) meeting all the requirements. First, a summary of the new resources I played with while making this blog. (Actually blogging is a new resource for me on its own, along with making web pages!) A) I learned to use an RSS feed to discover new resources. I set my RSS feed to alert me to resources having to do with Special Ed, which is where I actually found a few of my other resources. I didn't like the RSS feed because I'm not devoted enough to check it daily, so I have hundreds of hits waiting for me to go through them. It was nice, on the other hand, to have a list of entries that were already filtered into what I was looking for that I would have available to me at any time. (You can't save a typical search that easily.) B) I had also never used any form of podcasting, so it was new for me to learn the websites to look for, and the whole experience was new. I wrote already that I didn't like this very much because I get too distracted, but it's nice that I could download that to my ipod and listen to it while I'm doing anything throughout the day. C) A professional discussion board/ forum is also new to me. (The only discussion board I've ever really read is movie or food reviews.) I enjoyed witnessing the interactions between teachers from all over, especially when they disagreed or debated something. I'm glad I learned these new things, I think I'm skeptical because I'm not entirely sure how to work them yet but they'll probably grow on me. Collaboration: A) The first time I collaborated was when I looked at Jessica's project, where she gave me the idea to check out AZ teacher forums. I'm really glad I found this because it ended up being my favorite part of the project! B) Then we created our group blog, and although we never really used it until the end, I added all the links to each of our inquiry projects so it was easier to navigate. It ended up being useful to have the group blog so we could share our final project with each other. C) Although they aren't my classmates, I was able to collaborate with other teachers using the AZ teacher forum. I didn't get much response to my inquiry, but that's understandable since it wasn't really a discourse. I was excited to get one response though, and enjoyed reading other threads. D) Again I collaborated with Jessica, she posted on my blog and I responded, and I also read her blog and posted a comment. It was interesting to see what other people in the class are doing, but our group was kind of a stretch as far as fitting together, so I wish there had been a closer tie-in. E) One of the organizers from the LD podcast commented on my entry about the podcast I listened to. It's always exciting to have a new opinion, and also to see how cool technology is! (I'm really impressed that someone from outside of our class read my blog!) Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to post my PowerPoint here, or at least a link to it, since it will go into more detail about what I got out of this project than I'm going to go into here. Overall, although I didn't end up doing everything I had planned, I think I answered the questions I wanted to answer. I still think it would be helpful to go over all of the different disabilities in the "alphabet soup" just for a starting reference point, but from what I looked at, it seemed that I really could generalize a lot of the accommodations. The line about anything that helps a special ed student will probably help most students, that our teachers kept drilling really is true. So I feel that I've learned where I can look when I have specific questions and I've learned a few more general things too...I count this as a success.