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Jeff Moyer, in a concert at Closing the Gap several years ago, performed a song called 'Techno Rangers.' In it he described a '...strong and noble band...' of people using assistive technology to meet the needs of individuals with disabilities. I've heard a lot of people called techno rangers but there's a line in the song that goes, '...a teacher, tech and more, from shore to techno shore, a teaching ranger, techin' ranger...' The techno rangers I hold in envy and awe are those teachers who, on top of everything else, find time to learn about and use assistive technology for their students. Even the most dedicated teacher, though, has a finite amount of time and faces an impossible task if they try to become familiar with everything. That's especially true with software, where there are literally thousands of good educational programs. One solution, that Sharon Hance discovered for herself, is to find a few versatile programs that can be adapted across curriculum areas for our kids. This is how she described the discovery.
'I need one program I can use for a bunch of stuff. I do not have time to learn three or four new ones every few months!' was my cry to our county Technology Coordinator, Rob Gibbs.
'...Well Sharon, you will love these two!' said Rob as he loaded Kid Pix and Kid Works 2 onto my Macintosh LCII. 'Play with them!' he said as he walked out the door.
At first I could not figure out why these programs were given to me as 'instructional software.' Kid Pix was clearly a creativity tool which would distract the kids, and although I liked the word processor part of Kid Works 2, the 'Story Illustrator' portion would also be a way for the kids to be 'off task.' As I played with these two programs though, I realized their great potential not only as creativity tools, but also as instructional equalizers! Both programs are colorful and have sound output. They include letters of the alphabet as well as numbers and math signs like '+', '-', and '=.' They can be used across curriculums and they are designed so that kids have the power to access them fairly independently.
Using Kid Pix, I began to do a 'mini' math lesson of about 10 minutes a day with a second grade student with Down Syndrome. We were able to build his math vocabulary and skills as we used the 'Stamps' tool to count and eventually do simple addition sentences. He became engaged in the learning process in a very natural way. As the year progressed, this student was able to do his mini lesson with me and then complete a follow up 'worksheet ' that I had set up in the computer as a file with his name. What a relief! I had found independent, appropriate follow up work that he could do.
Seeing the power of Kid Pix, I began to wonder if Kid Works 2 might also be used in some unconventional ways. A second grade girl with a learning disability and mild cerebral palsy gave me some clues as we were completing her writing assignment one day. We were using Kid Works 2 and she said, ' I really like the way it (the computer) talks. It helps me remember.' With that comment she had given me the answer to her problem memorizing simple addition facts. We began to use the program to do mini lessons with a follow up 'worksheet' set up in the computer. The 'Talk' option in the program gave her the auditory feedback she had been needing.
The market is full of good software focused on specific learning outcomes. Unfortunately, schools are not full of cash to buy them all, nor do teachers have the time to learn to use them all effectively. These dynamics are forcing educators to come up with new ways to use the software they do have and to invest wisely in the new software the do buy. I would love to exchange ideas with other teachers on the many uses of Kid Pix and Kid Works 2 or any other multipurpose pieces of software. I can be reached at Green Holly School, 140 Millstone Landing Road, Lexington Park, MD 20653.
| Kid Pix is from Broderbund Software, Inc. 800 521-6262. Kid Works 2 is from Davidson & Associates, Inc. 800 545-7677. Both pieces of software are available from many local computer stores or software catalogs, or you may call the company. |
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