Special Technologies for Special Needs

One of the student populations that can be best served by the application of the proper technologies is the special needs student. In the past, due to the niche nature of this market, an unfortunate reality was that, although the benefits for the individual student could be very high, so were the associated technology costs. Thankfully, there are some dedicated companies out there focused to addressing the needs of these special students, and they are coming up with cost-effective ways to serve this group. For me, the a-ha moment with these technologies was when I worked for the Franklin County Department of Education and worked with one of our teachers to program a Boardmaker device (covered in the hardware post) for one of his students so she could call her dog. That simple act so delighted her that, according to her parents, the dog was worn out by the end of the day. As a result of that single incident, I couldn't avoid including a post on some special student technologies.


Bookshare.org is an online resource providing access to thousands of digital textbooks, general literature, periodicals, and newspapers made available for free qualifying students and teachers through funding from the Office of Special Education.
Qualified special needs students can apply for an individual account, or districts can gain access for all qualified students and teachers through a single district-level application. You are required to agree to a detailed usage agreement to ensure copyrights are not violated by non-qualified students and staff accessing and using the site.



Almost everyone agrees that computers are wonderful tools that can increase learning and productivity options for everyone. Everyone, that is, who is physically able to interact with the computer's keyboard, mouse, and other human interface devices (HIDs). For those with difficulties in this area, there are a wide range of options available, including a very clever device called Magic Touch that is affixed to any standard CRT so that it can be used as a touchscreen. For many students who have difficulty controlling a mouse, or have cognitive issues that make it difficult for them to understand how the movement of a mouse on a table surface relates to the pointer moving on the screen, this device is a much less expensive solution than a specifically engineered touchscreen monitor.




The USB Mouse Mover by Tash uses 6 individual switches, or a multiple switch, to control all functions of a computer mouse, allowing computer access to many students who can not control the mouse itself.



You can also buy a mouse specifically engineered to allow the attachment of two standard 1/8" plug switches to be used for left and right mouse clicks. The mouse pictured here is by Infogrip.



Another option for students who have trouble with using a standard mouse are large trackballs that require less fine motor skills to successfully operate. The BIGtrack offers a 3" trackball that the manufacturer claims is the largest available.



Technology also offers solutions for the student with visual challenges. Technology leader companies like Microsoft should be recognized by taking complaints that they did not do enough for our special needs population to heart, and in many cares are integrating more accessibility features into their products. Microsoft, for instance, now includes some interesting text-to-speech and speech-to-text features in Windows XP and Vista, and other companies produce solutions for screen magnification. Microsoft itself offers a very nice magnifying mouse that uses software to magnify sections of the screen when a special button is clicked with the left thumb. A simple, but effective, solution for under $40.00.

Five Representative Web Sites

The World Wide Web and its boundless resources was a tipping point for the launch of computer technology in the K-12 school environment. We soon learned that this resource was not without its downside, and schools soon began implementing filtering technologies to help teachers and other staff protect students from the dark side of the Internet and its inappropriate content. However, the challenges are offset by the sites offering quality content for student and teacher research. Of the sites that immediately came to mind in this category, I have chosen the following 5 to represent the range of resources available via the Web.



Anyone familiar with Internet searching knows Google, and the fact that “Googling” is now part of American vernacular shows that it is a major force with Internet users. In the early days of Internet research, a firm understanding of Boolean terminology was necessary as users conscientiously used AND, OR, NOT, quotes, and other qualifiers to locate appropriate information. Search engines like Google, Ask, and others that allowed users to do searches by entering questions such as how many steps are there in the statue of liberty moved Internet from the realm of the initiated few to the general public, and the value of the resource exploded. Since I know you’re wondering, according to several sites returned by the search, there are 254 steps inside the statue and its pedestal.



The Internet Public Library www.ipl.org was originally created by a student class at the University of Michigan’s School of Information. From the Spotlight article on the homepage to the deep and well organized content it offers, this site should be checked out by all educators and students. Media specialists will appreciate the way the site is cross-referenced; clicking the Education link under Subject Collections, for instance, not only brings up a list of subcategories fro Adult Education to U. S. Department of Education, but also offers See Also links to Magazines and Associations on the Net.

K-12 students may be most interested in IPL’s Kidspace, TeenSpace, Almanacs, Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, or their specialty POTUS (U.S. Presidents), Stately Knowledge, and Science Fair areas.



Microsoft has developed an online workspace for students and teachers to collaborate on projects. The new offering, called Office Live, allows students to store their work online and share it with other students and teachers for collaborative projects.

One of the interesting features of the service is an activity panel that tracks activity on the shared project, be it a database, spreadsheet, or document, so that you can easily see if there have been any modifications since you last logged on. You can even create e-mail alerts to inform you of changes.

Although you may not throw away your flash drives, as their site’s homepage implies, you will find this a valuable collaboration tool.




NASA’s web site is a personal favorite of mine. I admit to a certain prejudice here because, yes, I was a space geek. Despite the fact that space shuttle launches have become so commonplace that they sometimes don’t garner enough interest to be included on the evening news, when I was a child the world still paid attention when space missions launched. My 6th grade teacher made me feel special by using her credentials to sign me up for NASA press release mailings, and 3 – 4 times a year I received a large manila envelope full of mission information, photos of planets and other space objects, and other such treasures. The contrast between those admittedly public relations efforts and today’s delivery of that information and much more via the immediacy of the web makes this site one of my favorite examples of government communication done well.



Wikipedia has withstood early challenges to the quality of its information in several double-blind studies that show errors are not substantially higher than in trusted print resources (see, for instance, Softpedia’s report on Nature magazine’s investigation).

As the largest encyclopedia in human history, Wikipedia contains information not generally found elsewhere – and definitely not as easily. One never builds an entire research project from a single source, and including print materials is a necessity to ensure that information contained even on multiple websites isn’t simply the result of a self-perpetuating incorrect piece of data, Wikipedia can be a valuable starting point for a wide range of investigations.

Five Representative K-12 Software Tools (Plus One)

Adobe Photoshop CS3

Photoshop is an incredible program that allows students to modify photographs in a digital darkroom. The robust set of tools included in the program allow students to change brightness, contrast, color balance, and replicate the use of photographic filters. The program also allows students to easily modify reality by adding or removing elements, and change the work to resemble ink and pencil drawings, chalk and pastels, watercolors, and other artistic forms. Student creativity is also enabled through the use of layers, allowing students to assemble components from multiple photographs and other digital sources into a single image (think Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump with John Kennedy - and John Lennon).


SynchronEyes

SynchronEyes is a classroom management software particularly suited to K-12 computer labs. The teacher can use the software to broadcast videos to the computer monitors of specific students or the entire class, and can be used to electronically deliver tests and quizzes.

The software can help the teacher keep students on task by controlling Internet access, and teachers can remotely monitor student computer activity not only to ensure the students are not visiting inappropriate Internet sites but also so the teacher can offer assistance when needed.



Odyssey

The Odyssey software, by Compass Learning, targets the educational needs of elementary through middle school students. According to the manufacturer, they used “confirmed” research on student mental development to design their sofware’s project-based lessons so they could be learned in the shorter attention span of the early learner.

Students are engaged by the animations and sounds in the program, and the engagement can be expected to stimulate learning and increase student achievement. This is not an electronic baby-sitter, however, and is meant to be tailored to students’ individual needs by a skilled teacher. This helps the student achieve AYP, and the software provides summative and formative assessment tools that provide data collection opportunities to ensure that progress is being attained and differentiate instruction as needed.

The software is aligned to state standards, making it easy for teachers to ensure the standards are being accommodated in their classroom and students are progressing toward meeting these standards.



e2020


EDUCATION 2020 is a software that uses “master teachers” to deliver educational content in a virtual classroom environment. The class modules that are available include middle- and high-school level Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies courses, and offer an additional tool to meet NCLB, AYP, and other goals. In our district, the program is being creatively used to allow struggling students an additional opportunity to master Algebra and other required courses through computer based training – under the supervision of a licensed teacher - and graduate.




Data Analysis for Student Learning

For years, schools have spent vast amounts of time and effort collecting massive amounts of data for reporting and accountability, but getting to that data required a knowledge of esoteric codes and processes. DASL is based on the simple premise that if this data is to be used to increase student achievement, it needs to be accessible to those who need it.

DASL puts a graphical front end on the data so that it can be accessed through mouse clicks on descriptive links. This ease of access results in increased data use by principals, teachers, and other district staff involved in data driven decision making (D3M).

Not only does DASL ease data access, but data entry as well. It’s simplified interface helps ensure greater data accuracy, which is particularly important because the DASL data feeds numerous other systems from student attendance to cafeteria point-of-sale, media center automation software to printing labels for district – parent communications.





ProgressBook is an online grading software that integrates with your existing student data to allow real-time attendance entry, scheduling modifications, grading, and more. The software includes reporting and letter printing options to increase communication between teachers, students, and parents with a minimum investment of the teacher’s valuable time. Although there can be some challenges during implementation as systemic processes develop to accommodate required changes, districts that have implemented the Parent Access Web Site feature, which allows parents to easily access their student’s classroom performance, have found that this information flow increases the parents’ ability to assist the schools in addressing developing issues before they become major problems.

Photo integration capabilities offer a range of benefits, from substitute teachers being able to take attendance based on a seating chart with student photos to encourage student – teacher relationship building at the beginning of the year as teachers more quickly learn the names of new students.

ProgressBook can accommodate traditional or standards-based grading; districts can select from a selection of report card templates or work with the company to design your own to meet specific needs. Standards-based districts will appreciate the program’s ability to track the number of times an academic standard has been addressed. The program also offers an optional SSEM module that assists with special need student data entry and tracking.

By consolidating many different functions into a single tool, data entry and access is greatly facilitated and the integration with the district’s “live” student data ensures that data has the maximum currency and value.

Five Representative K-12 Hardware Tools

SMARTboards

While there are a number of options available to districts purchasing interactive whiteboards, Smart Technologies’ SMARTboard remains the de facto standard in the K-12 classroom. SMARTboards allow you to project your computer’s screen on the large, interactive whitescreen, and interact with the computer program by “clicking,” drawing, dragging and dropping through the whiteboard itself. This is an excellent way not only to demonstrate concepts and lead learning in your classroom, but also to provide access to computer content where there is an insufficient computer-to-student ratio. Teachers can annotate the lesson by writing on the board, and save the lesson – with annotations – to their computer to share with students after the class.

A large part of the SMARTboard success is the company’s companion Notebook software, which assists teachers in quickly building powerful interactive lessons tailored to the specific needs of their students. Novice SMARTboard users benefit from many downloadable lessons already built by teachers around the globe, and can tailor those pre-existing SMARTboard delivered lessons to meet their specific classroom needs. The teacher is able to search for lessons based on topic or state standards. If your district has invested in the optional Senteo student response devices, the teacher will also find lessons creatively employing that additional interactivity.

As the teacher’s SMART skills increase, he or she will find additional useful features such as a recorder option that records all onboard activities as well as the teacher’s voice. This file is saved as a Windows media file, so the file can be shared with a student absent from class, or provided for a substitute teacher to present if the teacher is absent. One thing that is often overlooked is that the SMART Notebook software also installs some components into Microsoft Office products, so you will find an additional toolbar and print option in the Office programs. One particularly useful feature that is often overlooked is the ability to “print” documents and PDFs to the Notebook software to make them available when using the SMARTboard, very useful for projects such as converting the practice tests available as PDFs on the ODE website for classroom use.



Computers - Creative Evolutions


Sometimes it is easy to forget that once the cutting-edge technologies in schools included mimeographs, overhead projectors, and filmstrips. For most people, however, when you mention technology in schools computers are the first thing that comes to their minds. While the computers that were placed 10 years ago are no longer impressive technologies, computers are evolving in some interesting ways to address specific needs.

On April 8th, Hewlett-Packard announced the release of one such computer evolution: The Mini-Note 2133. This notebook is about the size of a large college textbook and weighs in at about 2 ½ pounds, yet has a keyboard that is only 5% smaller than a regular keyboard. The size of this computer makes it easy to transport, so it is the perfect candidate for field investigations, carrying between classes, and take-home use. It’s relatively low cost, with a base price of around $500.00 and $700.00 “nicely equipped” (as they say in the car commercials), this is also an excellent option when considering notebooks as a communication tool for special needs students. Many teachers and administrators who do not like lugging larger notebooks or laptops will find this unit to be transportable enough to take to meetings and conferences.


nComputing


Almost all districts have problems keeping up with the financial commitment required to maintain an adequate refresh rate on the computer technology they have implemented. As the economy soured, even businesses extended their average 3 year replacement cycles to 4 or even 5 years; even wealthy school districts are extending their computer refresh to 5 or 7 years, while some districts have no plans for replacement at all and run their old equipment until it is absolutely beyond repair.

One company, nComputing, is offering a very interesting option. For just over $200.00, district CTOs can purchase a kit that contains an internal expansion card and 3 PDA-sized modules that allow four students to share the computing resources of a single computer. Rather than buying 4 computers, the CTO can purchase one desktop, the nComputing kit, and three additional monitor/keyboard/mouse sets to serve the needs of 4 students in a type of mini-terminal services environment. The modules allow each student to use his or her own headphones, flash drives, and other connected components. For pods of 7 computers, two cards can be used, as shown above.


Digital Still and Video Cameras

The ease of use offered by digital cameras – be they still or video – opens a whole new world of creativity for the K-12 students. The cameras can be used to create images to help support a student research project, or be the center of the lesson for art and media classes with follow-up digital photo editing or video editing modules. In one particularly noteworthy example, a student dramatically enhanced his project of interviewing local WWII veterans by including each of the men and women with whom he met.

While higher end cameras offer higher quality lenses, extended zoom ranges, and increased megapixel ratings that typically yield increased resolution and higher quality results, most classroom projects can be accommodated by the more reasonably priced cameras from the lower end offerings. Where top quality images are needed, even near professional level digital SLRs, such as Canon’s impressively successful EOS Digital Rebel XT, can be had for less than $500.00.


BoardMaker Activity Pad

Sometimes we forget how easily we interact with our environments, and how difficult it can be for those who are nonverbal. For some children, particularly those at the critical developmental stage of learning that their behaviors impact their environment, the ability to press a button to have a voice call the dog – and the dog comes to the child – is an amazing ability. The combination of the Activity Pad and software allow this to happen.

The Boardmaker software program can be used to create device overlays for the Boardmaker Activity Pad. The software allows you to create word and graphic touch areas that allow the user to use presses to create sentences and convey thought and needs.
To allow a student to independently order lunch, for instance, you could use words and pictures to create a pad template containing the words and phrases required, and then record your own voice speaking the words and phrases. In the lunch line, the student could use touch could use touch to communicate I would like + pizza or I would like + hamburger.

The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Photos of friends and family, buildings, pets, and so on can be used for a variety of communication options.

When Disruption Isn't Bad

Those who have not heard the term disruptive technology may be forgiven for their assumption that this is a negative term and, for some industries unable to adapt to new realities, it can be.  However, typically the term is used in technology circles in a positive way to indicate a product that is so vastly superior to its predecessors that it drastically alters the world.  Disruptive technologies are not simply evolutionary, or even revolutionary, improvements to an existing technology, but are new technologies that usually completely displace the competition.  For computer user, possibly the best example is the USB flash drive, which exploded on the market due to its superiority over its predecessor (floppy disks - remember them?) in both storage capacity and ease of use.

While the term is relatively new, the concept is not.  We have seen disruptive technologies time and time again, from candles to gas to electric lighting, from Conestoga wagons to Volvo semis, from cooking on wood fires to gas stoves to electric ranges (and back to gas stoves and wood-fired pizza ovens again; evidently disruptive technologies can be cyclical).  However, the pace of disruptive change certainly seems to be increasing, and everyone from the Gartner Group to the Washington Post pronouncing their "Top 10" disruptive technologies.

Educational technology has certainly seen its share of disruptive technologies, which started me thinking about my personal "Top 10" disruptive technologies in our business.  I quickly realized it would be impossible to come up with an exhaustive list of technologies that have radically changed the way we educate our students, but have chosen a few representative examples that you will find in the next posts.  I am interested in reader comment on these, so hope you will post your own personal favorite disruptors.

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Introduction to Web Research: Finding and Evaluating Websites

Description:

This one class period lesson is intended to introduce the student to some techniques for online research and the evaluation of the quality and authority of the web resources found. Due to the limited time available for this lesson (40 – 45 minutes), this introductory session will be an instructor-led overview. Ideally, it will serve as a launching point for additional opportunities in which the student can apply this knowledge to his or her independent research to gain a deeper understanding of evaluating research resources.

Be sure to include, at a minimum, the following concepts.


1. Site Appearance

Does the site “look good?” Is it obvious that a lot of time was spent on the site’s creation?

Are words spelled correctly, and the grammar correct?

Do the graphics support the content of the site? Are they sized and placed correctly?


2. Site Functionality

Is the site structured in such a way to make it easy to use?

Do internal and external links work, or lead to “404” and other errors?

Does the site need specialty add-in software, or a specific Internet browser or Java version?


3. Domain type

Is the site an official government (.gov) or military (.mil) site and carry the “authority” of the US government. Note: remember that “country codes” such as .us and .ca do not mean they are an official government site.

Is the site a college or university (.edu) site?

Is the site a K-12 education site (in Ohio, often indicated by a .k12.oh.us extension, but sometimes by .org to avoid the overly long standard)?

Is the site a personal site (often indicated by “slash” addresses off a main site, such as \joeschiska\everythingabouteverything\index.asp)?


4. Content Quality

Is the “ownership” of the site available and provide the credentials of the author or authors? Look for an “About Us,” “Contact Us,” or copyright information? This is especially important on sites that do not attribute authorship of individual articles or pages, as in those cases you can not determine credibility based on the author’s personal authority.

Does the ownership of the site indicate objectivity, or might the owner be expected to display a bias?

Does the site reference quality information, and is it properly cited?

Is the content current?

Is the content authoritative?

Is the content supported by other sources?



Expansion Ideas

Do a WHOIS search through the “official” InterNIC site www.internic.net/whois.html or www.betterwhois.com to check ownership of a web site and discuss if that person or group might have a personal agenda or bias that may taint the quality of the site.

Use a site like www.about.com, alexa.com, www.lii.com, or infomine.ucr.edu to further investigate a site.

Do a Google search on the site authors name(s) to learn more about him or her.

Use http://blogsearch.google.com/ to see if the author has a blog site.



Ohio Standards Addressed

Technology Standard 5: Technology and Information Literacy

A. Determine and apply an evaluative process to all information sources chosen for a project.

C. Formulate advanced search strategies, demonstrating an understanding of the strengths and limitations of the Internet, and evaluate the quality and appropriate use of Internet resources.

D. Evaluate choices of electronic resources and determine their strengths and limitations.


Library Benchmark: Technology Literacy

A. Formulate advanced search strategies, demonstrating an understanding of the strengths and limitations of the Internet, and evaluate the quality and appropriate use of Internet resources.

B. Evaluate choices of electronic resources and determine their strengths and limitations.

C. Utilize the Internet for research, classroom assignments and appropriate personal interests.


English Language Arts Benchmark: Research

B. Evaluate the usefulness and credibility of data and sources.


Learning Goals/Objectives:

What student learning goal(s)/objective(s) do you have for this lesson?
After completing this lesson, the student will:

1. Be able to identify at least 3 ways to evaluate a web site based on the site content, appearance, design, and function.

2. Be able to identify at least 3 tools to learn more about the site owners and authors.

3. Be able to identify at least 3 domain types and how they relate to the authority of the site.



How does this lesson address the Specialty Professional Association (SPA) standards?

National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)

7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

NCATE Report - Teachers Need to be "Fearless" with Technology

In 1997, the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Task Force on Technology and Teacher Education published a paper entitled Technology and the New Professional Teacher. 1 This focus of this report was how support could be provided to teacher education colleges and universities as technology continued to increase in the education of students being prepared for the 21st century that was rapidly approaching. It is interesting that in some areas this forward-thinking report already seems quaint itself, with admonitions such as, “Teachers must participate in formal courses, some of which may be delivered in non-traditional ways, e.g. via telecommunications” (p. 11). Barely 10 years later we have respected universities offering graduate degrees entirely through online study without the need to ever set foot on their physical campus, MIT making entire classes available online for free (but not for credit), and few people in awe of the fact that they’re being offered “via telecommunications.”

Now that we have both feet firmly in the 21st century, it is interesting to review the NCATE task force’s vision of education in our century, and how technology integration into the education environment can be encouraged and supported.

_____________________

“Teachers need an ‘attitude’ that is fearless in the use of technology, encourages them to take risks, and inspires them to become lifelong learners” (p. 11).

“Teachers may be forgiven if they cling to old models of teaching that have served them well in the past. All of their formal instruction and role models were driven by traditional teaching practices. Breaking away from traditional approaches to instruction means taking risks and venturing into the unknown. But this is precisely what is needed at the present time” (p. 10).

I agree with these statements wholeheartedly, but developing a teacher who is fearless enough to take risks and venture into the unknown is much more difficult than simply recognizing the need. While there are some teachers that are approaching retirement and “coasting,” or simply don’t want to put forth the effort required to change the lesson plans they have been using for years, we also need to recognize that there are some very real concerns that make it difficult to be fearless.

In Maslow’s hierarchy of need, safety is second only to physiological needs like breathing. Maslow specifically includes safety “of employment” and the safety to provide for the needs of one’s family in these secondary level needs. To be fearless in embracing technology, teachers must feel secure enough in their employment to be willing to take risks. If they stray from the lesson plan that has “served them well in the past,” they run the risk of getting a decreased result as they perfect their new lesson. Will that be acceptable to the school principal? Will the school principal be willing to take the risk of allowing the teacher to try a new approach, or will he or she be concerned about the possibility of a negative result that will need to be explained to the assistant superintendent, and so on up the chain. No Child Left Behind, AYP, and “district report cards” are important and noble goals, but have made education a very high stakes game in which everyone is very focused on “the numbers” to continually improve the district’s report card rating.

Given this reality, it is important that teachers are given as much as we can give them to facilitate the technology integration. Three of the items listed on page 21 of the NCATE report regarding needs of teacher educators are equally important for teachers in the classroom.


1. “Incentives for faculty in terms of release time for professional development, new course development, and recognition for experimental teaching at times of tenure and merit review.” We may not be able to offer tenure and direct financial rewards, but need to be supportive of teachers making the attempt and recognize their efforts. Time, in general, is a huge challenge for our teachers as they are increasingly stretched to deliver more academic content, more effectively and thoroughly, to increase student achievement on standardized tests.

2. “Technical support that provides reliable maintenance of existing equipment and assistance for new software applications.” Classroom teachers also need to know that when they develop a technology-infused lesson, every effort has been made to ensure the lesson will not be challenged by non-functional equipment. Offering instruction on newly adopted software, rather than just letting teachers flounder trying to learn the application by trial and error, also decreases the time needed to integrate a new technology and increases the likelihood of a successful result.

3. “Sufficient access to technology for faculty and students.” Classroom management and lesson delivery logistics can be a real challenge if there is insufficient technology available to teachers and students. Even when labs are available, it may be difficult or impossible to reserve them at the time(s) they are needed to effectively deliver the lesson.

“The new technology will transform the role of the teacher as thoroughly as did the introduction of printed textbooks” (p. 12). We need to ensure our teachers and our administrators – including the superintendent - have the support they need if we expect them to be “fearless” enough to take the risks necessary to reach this potential.


1 The full text of the NCATE report at ERIC.

Who Am I? A digital camera infused elementary lesson

For an actual lesson plan, I would first determine my students needs and tailor the lesson to those specific requirements. Since this core lesson can be used to address so many different needs and content areas, it is written in a much less concrete form than a more focused lesson plan.

Objectives:

Introduce students to their ancestry to:

 Provide a context for history

 Provide a context for geography

 Provide a context for cultural awareness

 Provide an opportunity to examine personal and cultural differences

 Provide an opportunity for research

 Provide an opportunity for writing

 Provide an opportunity for timelining

 Provide an opportunity to integrate technology (digital cameras, scanners, computers, photo and timelining software)


Prerequisite:

The teacher will need to arrange to borrow the school’s digital cameras through the media center, the building principal, or whoever controls those resources. He or she will also need to develop a rotation schedule for the students to take those cameras home for parent and grandparent photos, and possibly to re-photograph existing family history photos.


Process:

Genealogy and the student’s personal ancestry is the core of this lesson. The teacher will provide an overview of genealogy, common threads students can expect to find, lesson goals and processes. Students will then work with their parents to develop their family history through the identification of their grandparents, great grandparents, and so on. It is important to have birthdates, if possible, and being able to trace the family back to the countries from which they came would be optimal if using this lesson as a starting point for cultural studies.

Next, the teacher will explain digital camera use, camera care, transferring the photos to a computer, editing and printing the photos. Students will use a digital camera, either borrowed from the school or one owned by his or her family, to take photos of their friends, parents, and grandparents (if available). For any ancestors no longer living, students can scan existing photos or use a digital camera to re-photograph the originals. Note: Students should use the school’s camera to take pictures of their classmate friends to avoid the necessity of bringing personal cameras to school.

Students will then create a standard family tree on a large posterboard, with photographs of themselves, parents, grandparents, and so on and their birthdates. Beneath their own photo, they will place the photos they have taken of their friends.

From this core lesson, there are numerous possible options that can be selected by the teacher based on his or her curricular goals.

 Teachers can use this student’s personal history to create a timeline that puts historical events into a personal context. For instance, if a student has a great-great grandparent born in 1867, the timeline will show that this was right after the Civil War and put the war in a historical context related to his or her own family. An ancestor born on June 6, 1944? That was the date of the “D-Day” invasion in World War II. Having photos of those ancestors further personalizes the student’s ties to historical events.

 Teachers seeking to enhance student understanding of cultural differences may compare and contrast the ancestries of those who are descendents of African, Asian, European, and Native American ancestors. What culture did they bring with them? How were their lives and perceptions the same or different from yours? Are the friends pictured in the photos the student has taken representative of the friends your ancestors would have had 50 years ago? 75 years ago? Why or why not?

 If most students are able to trace their ancestry to specific countries, research on their home countries can support library, electronic research, geography, and world history and culture state standards. If students are unable to get back that far, most will be able to identify ancestors from other states, so can address geography and history standards in the US.

 The use of computers, digital cameras, scanners, genealogy software, photo editing software, timelining software, and other technologies will address the state technology standards through integration of these technologies to support the central lessons.



Assessment:

Students will be assessed on the family tree information gathered and their posterboard presentation presentation of that data, as well as their participation in classroom discussions.



Follow-up Activities:

Students can use the information they gathered on their own family, plus information gathered from class discussions about history, timelines, geography, and cultures to create a portfolio-worthy technology-based project such as a family book, a PowerPoint, a slideshow, or a video.

Students can pair with a student with a dissimilar history to create a blended story of two families that compares and contrasts their family experiences.

Students can write a nonfiction story about an ancestor who lived through an important historical time or event, such as participating in the D-Day invasion in WWII or remembering the assassination of President Kennedy, of a fictional account of a historical event through the eyes of an ancestor who lived during that period.


Need a free photo editing software? Get Google's Picasa software.