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LAPTOP LEARNING STRATEGIES INFORMATION NIGHT YCDSB PILOT PROJECT ST. AUGUSTINE CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL. AGENDA. INTRODUCTIONS. Lynne Oliphant Department Head, Special Education Angela Wheeldon Learning Strategies Teacher Mary Talamo Information Technology Teacher
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LAPTOP LEARNING STRATEGIES INFORMATION NIGHT YCDSB PILOT PROJECT ST. AUGUSTINE CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL
INTRODUCTIONS Lynne Oliphant Department Head, Special Education Angela Wheeldon Learning Strategies Teacher Mary Talamo Information Technology Teacher George Smith Special Education Program Consultant
RATIONALE Students with learning disabilities often have difficulty in the following areas: • Reading and Writing skills • Organizational skills • Time management skills • Memory skills • Test writing skills • Note taking skills
STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES Traditional accommodations: • More time to complete work and tests • Alternate formats for learning printed materials (e.g. audio tapes) • The use of computers or scribes for written work • Teacher made graphic organizers to structure assignments and information
PRESENT BARRIERS TO DELIVERING ACCOMMODATIONS Barriers: • Audio taped versions of materials are not always available • Limited access to technology in the schools • Scribe availability is not readily accessible • Inconsistent use of graphic templates across the curriculum • Technology has not been user friendly • Technology poses problems to those students with poor keyboarding, fine-motor, and eye-hand co-ordination skills
WHY INTRODUCE LAPTOP LEARNING STRATEGIES? Through the integration of technology, we hope to: • Increase overall student achievement • Increase in the use of technology in many different environments • Decrease student frustration levels and number of academic barriers • Increase in student motivation to learn and be successful • Prepare students for post secondary • practice
ADDITIONAL SUPPORTS TO THE PROGRAM Teacher Training: • Series of software workshops offered this year and next • Access to consultant support Curriculum Development: • Curriculum writing team to write lesson by lesson plans • Parallel BTT and GLE curricula to emphasize integrated approach Resources: • 10 laptops • 10 software packages (Kurzweil, Dragon, WordQ, Inspiration) • Site based equipment
SOFTWARE DEMONSTRATION George Smith, Special Education Program Consultant (Sec), to give software demo
BTT and GLE COURSE DESCRIPTION Students are required to take 2 courses: Grade 9 Business Information Technology and Grade 9 Learning Strategies. The intent is that the skills and content learned in the BTT and GLE courses will be used to facilitate success in all of their courses
HOME ACCESS Recommended Hardware Processor: Pentium IV Memory: 256 MB 512 Monitor: 17” Hard Disk Space: 40GB Operating System: XP Professional Sound Card: On board should support at least 16-bit or higher Other Items: Floppy Drive, CD ROM, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, USB Key Flash Drive, Scanner, Printer
POST SECONDARY SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS Research has shown that all colleges and universities in the province of Ontario provide support for students with learning disabilities. Students with learning disabilities will not receive modifications. They can, however, expect accommodations at the Post-Secondary level.