As a way of wrapping up 2012, here are the 10 most popular posts on this blog from the year. It's a little artificial as this list is just based on page views, which don't take into account Google Reader or email subscriptions, but it roughly comes out as a list of posts I was pretty happy with, anyway.
It's been a great year, and I look forward to spending 2013 with you all. Happy New Year!
10- iPad Essentials: Sharing your iPad Screen as a Visual/Interactive Context with a Group
9- 2012 Edublog Award Nominations
8- iPad Essentials- Using Images
7- ASHA 2012 Highlights
6- iPad Essentials: Displaying PDFs on iPad
5- Flummox and Friends
4- QR Code Update: Make Audio-Based QRs
3- Explaining + Animation= Explanimation
2- Notice
1- Animonths-Shaun the Sheep, Netflix and Home Sheep Home
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
Holiday News and Link Roundup!
Hi Folks, just a few bits of news and links to some posts elsewhere to share with you!
First of all, I wanted to offer a belated thanks for all who took the time to vote in this year's Edublog Awards. I was thrilled to place 2nd (wow!) in two categories! Like Avis, we try harder.
More importantly, SLPs made an excellent showing in this year's proceedings, with several wins and many top 5 placements. See all the results here, and please check out all the nominees. The Edublog Awards is above all a great place to find new resources to follow.
I am going to be offering a 2-day (you can attend one or both days) workshop here in MA on January 17-18 in Dartmouth for Southeastern MA Educational Collaborative. Click here for more information and to register.
In other news, here are a few other posts I was involved with elsewhere on the Interwebs:
-On the Mindwing Concepts Blog, I posted a video tutorial on one of my favorite apps, Puppet Pals, and a discussion of how to use it in a story retelling activity.
-Also on Mindwing, a post on using the Gift Wrap App (Holiday season and year-round) to target knowledge of the narrative element of character and social skill of remembering things about others.
First of all, I wanted to offer a belated thanks for all who took the time to vote in this year's Edublog Awards. I was thrilled to place 2nd (wow!) in two categories! Like Avis, we try harder.
More importantly, SLPs made an excellent showing in this year's proceedings, with several wins and many top 5 placements. See all the results here, and please check out all the nominees. The Edublog Awards is above all a great place to find new resources to follow.
I am going to be offering a 2-day (you can attend one or both days) workshop here in MA on January 17-18 in Dartmouth for Southeastern MA Educational Collaborative. Click here for more information and to register.
In other news, here are a few other posts I was involved with elsewhere on the Interwebs:
-On the Mindwing Concepts Blog, I posted a video tutorial on one of my favorite apps, Puppet Pals, and a discussion of how to use it in a story retelling activity.
-Also on Mindwing, a post on using the Gift Wrap App (Holiday season and year-round) to target knowledge of the narrative element of character and social skill of remembering things about others.
Happy Friday!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
iTunes 11's New Code-scanning Feature
I am sure I am not the only one who received a few iTunes cards this holiday season. My peeps know my passion for apps. Additionally, I had taken advantage of a Best Buy deal that I'd encourage all to be on the lookout for periodically- on Black Friday iTunes cards were 20% off! These deals are also often available at BJ's, Costco, or Sam's, and when you add funds in this way to your iTunes account, it gives you a nice budget to stretch over...whatever period of time you choose.
Normally, the process of redeeming an iTunes code can be a bit of a pain for those of us with the best decoding eyes, but with the recent overhaul of iTunes, Apple has made this much easier. As long as you have a recently produced iTunes card that has a box across the code, when you go to redeem the code on a Mac or PC, you can scan it via webcam and it's as simple as this:
Normally, the process of redeeming an iTunes code can be a bit of a pain for those of us with the best decoding eyes, but with the recent overhaul of iTunes, Apple has made this much easier. As long as you have a recently produced iTunes card that has a box across the code, when you go to redeem the code on a Mac or PC, you can scan it via webcam and it's as simple as this:
Super cool! It hadn't even occurred to me until I saw it while blog surfing that this new feature is actually assistive technology...it has been mentioned that this new code-scanning element will be of great assistance to the visually impaired and those with dyslexia.
So, be sure to update to iTunes 11, which is important software to have on your computer in case anything goes wrong with your iPad, and I still prefer it as a way to back up my devices rather than buying more iCloud space. Here's a nice tutorial.
Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday break!
Posted with BlogsySunday, December 23, 2012
Mr. Rogers' Wisdom
I apologize for that little bit of radio silence the last couple of weeks, but in the wake of the CT tragedy, I hadn't felt much like writing.
For so many of us, this event just hurt on so many levels. Worst of all is the children and their families, which I have difficulty even thinking about. Having spent most of my career in elementary school settings made Newtown seem horribly close to home, as did thoughts of my mom, dad and sister, who have spent their lives in classrooms (my sister is a first grade teacher, additionally).
My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to this entire community, and for all of America as well.
So, although this is quite a delayed response, I wanted to post a resource that I found helpful in the days following December 14, and indeed shaped my response to a group of boys that brought up the event during a treatment session. Good old Mr. Rogers:
I also found great comfort from his famous quote, which in itself is a strategic use of reframing:
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world."
For so many of us, this event just hurt on so many levels. Worst of all is the children and their families, which I have difficulty even thinking about. Having spent most of my career in elementary school settings made Newtown seem horribly close to home, as did thoughts of my mom, dad and sister, who have spent their lives in classrooms (my sister is a first grade teacher, additionally).
My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to this entire community, and for all of America as well.
So, although this is quite a delayed response, I wanted to post a resource that I found helpful in the days following December 14, and indeed shaped my response to a group of boys that brought up the event during a treatment session. Good old Mr. Rogers:
I also found great comfort from his famous quote, which in itself is a strategic use of reframing:
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world."
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Notice.
People may mistake my enthusiasm for the potential of technology with a desire to spread the message that our lives, both work and personal, should be tech-infused all the time. Though I struggle myself with balancing high- and no-tech, and there's the whole "those who can't do..." thing at work here, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge how important it is that we regularly Notice our analog friends, family, neighbors, and, of course, students. Erik Raj recently wrote a wonderful post on tuning in to the parts of our job that make us happy, and you should check it out.
On my part, this post may seem out of the blue, but I do have a Zen streak to me, and I was actually inspired by two TED talks I watched at the gym this morning. If you don't know about TED (it stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design), it is a series of events in which people from all disciplines give short, inspiring talks. It is also, naturally, an app and website. TED really gives us a LOT to think about, and certain talks could also serve as a therapy context given their real-world and multimodal nature (a good opportunity to use graphic organizers to break down information).
Don't think I don't recognize the irony and contradiction of writing a post that advocates for focusing on the present moment related to the use of an app, all prompted by my utilizing said app while working out (hey, it was a warmup). Also, as I was writing this post, and I am not kidding, my mother called me, I received a text from a friend, a Google Chat message from a different friend because I had that open in a tab, and both a Facebook and Twitter notification, all at the same time. Couple solutions: don't have multiple tabs open in your browser, and minimize notifications so you can check services when you want to, and not be constantly interrupted by them (one example). Anyway, despite all those levels of concentration/distraction, the meaning got through to me, and I hope these two brief talks are meaningful to you as well.
(Google Reader or email peeps, please click through to the post to see the videos)
On my part, this post may seem out of the blue, but I do have a Zen streak to me, and I was actually inspired by two TED talks I watched at the gym this morning. If you don't know about TED (it stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design), it is a series of events in which people from all disciplines give short, inspiring talks. It is also, naturally, an app and website. TED really gives us a LOT to think about, and certain talks could also serve as a therapy context given their real-world and multimodal nature (a good opportunity to use graphic organizers to break down information).
Don't think I don't recognize the irony and contradiction of writing a post that advocates for focusing on the present moment related to the use of an app, all prompted by my utilizing said app while working out (hey, it was a warmup). Also, as I was writing this post, and I am not kidding, my mother called me, I received a text from a friend, a Google Chat message from a different friend because I had that open in a tab, and both a Facebook and Twitter notification, all at the same time. Couple solutions: don't have multiple tabs open in your browser, and minimize notifications so you can check services when you want to, and not be constantly interrupted by them (one example). Anyway, despite all those levels of concentration/distraction, the meaning got through to me, and I hope these two brief talks are meaningful to you as well.
(Google Reader or email peeps, please click through to the post to see the videos)
Monday, December 3, 2012
Vote for SLPs Shortlisted for 2012 Edublog Awards
A couple weeks ago, you might have seen my post nominating some peers (always hard to make these choices) for the 2012 Edublog Awards, and may have seen many other posts if you hopefully follow some other SLP blogs. The way this works is that the folks at the "Eddies" need to comb through thousands of nominations made by all the people in the edublogosphere and create a manageable Shortlist. This is based on some qualifying factors as well as measures of reader engagement such as page rank, use of comments on the blog etc.
I am proud to say that SLPs have again represented in this initiative, underscoring our key role in the educational process and in the spheres of social media and educational technology. What follows is a list of SLP nominees, so please VOTE early and often.
As the Edublogs People tell us:
Remember that only one vote per day per category will be counted from the same location!
This means, if your school uses one IP address, you’ll need to ask students and staff to vote from home, or only one vote will count.
The best way to vote is to navigate to Vote Here, select Vote all at Once from the dropdown menu, and be aware of the following SLP nominees in various categories.
CONGRATS to all the nominees!! Thanks again to those who nominated me!
Best Individual Blog
SpeechTechie
Best Group Blog
ASHAsphere
Best New Blog
Speaking of Apps
Speech Adventures
Speechie Apps
Best Student Blog
HannaB, gradstudentSLP
SLP_Echo
Best Ed Tech Blog
PediaStaff
SpeechTechie
Best Teacher Blog
(I'm in here too somehow, wow, but please vote for..)
speech-language-therapy.com- Caroline Bowen
Most Influential Post
Lexical Linguist – Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs)
Individual Tweeter
@SpeechyKeenSLP – Tara Roehl
Twitter Hashtag
#slpeeps
Podcast
A.T.TIPSCAST
Edceptional
GeekSLP
Therapy and Learning Services
Social Network
PediaStaff
Mobile Apps
Custom Boards Premium
Vote Away! Remember that this event is also a great way to discover new resources to follow, including those not created by SLPs.
I am proud to say that SLPs have again represented in this initiative, underscoring our key role in the educational process and in the spheres of social media and educational technology. What follows is a list of SLP nominees, so please VOTE early and often.
As the Edublogs People tell us:
Remember that only one vote per day per category will be counted from the same location!
This means, if your school uses one IP address, you’ll need to ask students and staff to vote from home, or only one vote will count.
The best way to vote is to navigate to Vote Here, select Vote all at Once from the dropdown menu, and be aware of the following SLP nominees in various categories.
 |
| CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE TO VOTE or go to this link |
CONGRATS to all the nominees!! Thanks again to those who nominated me!
Best Individual Blog
SpeechTechie
Best Group Blog
ASHAsphere
Best New Blog
Speaking of Apps
Speech Adventures
Speechie Apps
Best Student Blog
HannaB, gradstudentSLP
SLP_Echo
Best Ed Tech Blog
PediaStaff
SpeechTechie
Best Teacher Blog
(I'm in here too somehow, wow, but please vote for..)
speech-language-therapy.com- Caroline Bowen
Most Influential Post
Lexical Linguist – Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs)
Individual Tweeter
@SpeechyKeenSLP – Tara Roehl
Twitter Hashtag
#slpeeps
Podcast
A.T.TIPSCAST
Edceptional
GeekSLP
Therapy and Learning Services
Social Network
PediaStaff
Mobile Apps
Custom Boards Premium
Vote Away! Remember that this event is also a great way to discover new resources to follow, including those not created by SLPs.