Readiris

Readiris is another app, similar to Prizmo, that can be used to scan and read text to our students. The main difference, however, is that Readiris allows you to bring in pictures and Prizmo doesn't.  This is great for our students if they need to capture a picture of a text book in Science, Social Studies, or Math, for example, where there are many diagrams, maps, illustrations, etc.  Watch the video created by Geoff Mortaley, our assistive technology advisor, to see how easy this program is to use.  Once you have taken a picture and scanned the text, you export it into a word processing app and have it read to you.  Geoff models how to do this step-by-step and shares how to trouble shoot if a problem arises.  Technology isn't perfect, but as Geoff says, minor glitches should not be a deal breaker! Text is accessible to our students now in a way that wasn't possible before and we are leveling the playing field for all students with LD.

Another Free Webinar through LD@School! Check it out!

FREE WEBINAR: Supporting the Social and Emotional Development of Students with Learning Disabilities 

Presented by: Dr. Colin King
Tuesday, May 12, 2015 3:30 – 4:45pm EST
 
Many students with learning disabilities also struggle in their social-emotional development. How can educators and professionals support the development and social-emotional skills of children with learning disabilities? This webinar will provide an overview of the complex interactions between learning disabilities and the development of social-emotional challenges in students. It will also attempt to answer this question by providing information about common social-emotional challenges that are experienced by students, and strategies and tools to connect these ideas into a practical plan for student support.

This is a great professional learning opportunity for all, so please share this with your friends and colleagues.

Click here to find out more information about this FREE webinar on the LD@school website!

Personal Devices as Assistive Tools

FREE WORKSHOP FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS

Monday May 11th, 4 to 4:45pm

This workshop has been designed for parents and teachers who want to learn more about personal, mobile devices and how they can be used to assist and deepen learning.  Geoff Mortaley, our assistive technology advisor, will demonstrate the basic built-in supports that are available on iOs devices, as well as several apps that our students are using to access text, create digital products, and demonstrate their learning. Parents and teachers of returning schools are invited to take part via Adobe Connect to learn more about how we are using this technology to support students with learning disabilities.

Connect via Adobe Connect:   http://connect.psbnet.ca/parentworkshop/

Contact Martin Smit at martin.smit@ontario.ca for more information.

All About Tessa

Twice a year at Sagonaska, home school boards and families are invited to attend review/transition meetings to see first-hand the progress our students are making, learn more about the supports and strategies that are being used, and hear the students advocate for what needs to be in place when they return to their home schools, in order for them to be successful.  Our students spend a lot of time preparing pamphlets, videos, presentations, etc. to share with everyone at the meetings, in order to capture their strengths and needs as learners.  Schools and families are always impressed at how well our students can articulate their needs and advocate for themselves.  As a result, we have had several requests for students to present to groups of teachers or educators about what it is like to have a Learning Disability and how teachers can accommodate their needs.  Tessa, one of our second year students, created this video to share with a group of in-school resource teachers at her home school board, Hastings Prince Edward District School Board.  She also answered questions about life at Sagonaska and responded to inquiries about the different programs she uses on both her mobile device and her SEA laptop.  We are so proud of what Tessa has accomplished and how well she can advocate for herself.  Check out her video and feel free to ask questions through the comment section of the blog.

Celebrate the Hero

Weekly Mission

Support a local business/organization

Local businesses and organizations support our community in big ways. There are many local organizations who support people who are sick, who have no food, help with healthy eating, who have no money, need a home, help getting a job etc. Local businesses support our community by supplying things the community needs, like food, clothes, electronics and more jobs. When we spend our money on local businesses this money goes back towards building our community. For this week let’s support a local business/organization by volunteering our time, shopping at a local business and showing our appreciation through our words. Try dining at a locally owned restaurant or diner, or support local entertainment when you go out, like a bowling alley.  On the weekend, check out your town's farmer's market and convince your parents to get some fresh produce! There are many ways to support our community throughout the week.

PRIZMO

Prizmo is an excellent OCR or Character Recognition app for iOs 8 devices. If you aren't sure what OCR or Character Recognition means, to put it simply, it will take a picture of text and have it read to you through your device.  It's really amazing and life changing for our students.  Now any text in the real world or in school is just a click away from being accessible.  Here's how it works! You take a picture of the text that needs to be read, the app scans it, and then reads it back to you.  You can also export it as EDITABLE text to another word processing app, like pages.  From there you can have it read to you or use the built-in dictation software, Siri, to add text or edit the piece.  Geoff Mortaley, our assistive technology advisor created this easy to follow video that demonstrates it's use!

EXPLAIN EVERYTHING

Explain everything is an app our students use to create and share projects.  This app basically works like a whiteboard type screen and it allows the user to insert pictures and videos from their camera roll, write or record text and move objects around, all while recording in real time.  In the end, this project can be captured as pictures, videos, or even templates.  This is an easy app for adults and children to learn and the end result can be shared using a number of methods (e.g., air dropped, shared through Google Drive, exported as an MP4, etc.) This app is such a great tool for our students because it allows them to capture and share their knowledge or expertise on a subject with accessibility features that are built right in.  Our students can record their voice or use Siri to dictate written text.  Geoff Mortaley, our assistive technology advisor, created this video to highlight some of the basic uses! Enjoy!

Justin Eves Foundation - Post-Secondary Financial Aid for Students with Learning Disabilities

Hey parents! Have you heard of the Justin Eves Foundation (JEF)? It's a charitable organization dedicated to serving students with learning disabilities and in financial need by providing bursary/scholarships for appropriate post-secondary education! Continue reading to learn more about the organization or click here to learn more about how to apply!

JEF:

• Assists students with learning disabilities resident in the Province of Ontario.
• Provides primary program by disbursing funds to colleges and universities for bursary/scholarships or by matching funds of same institutions for bursary / scholarships.
• Disbursed over 400 bursaries/scholarships since establishment in 1996.
• Works closely with Learning Opportunities Task Force in the Province of Ontario.
• Notable supporters include Pace Savings and Credit Union, CB Richard Ellis, Molson Coors, Himelfarb Proszanski LLP, Wm. J. Trotter & Associates and Tim Hortons.
• Volunteer Board of Directors and Advisory Committee provide vision and leadership.
• Funds primarily raised through annual golf tournament.
• Referrals come from schools and JEF foundation web-site.
• The ONLY Canadian foundation providing awards for students with learning disabilities.
• Funded $220,000 for best-in-practice research into learning disabilities to Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario between 1999-2004.

ASET

Last Friday, a group of teachers from Sagonaska presented at a conference held by the Association of Special Education Technology (ASET).

Martin Smit, Mike DiDonato, Brian Hayes, Tammy Brintnell and Anne Truaisch spoke to a group of educators about how our students and teachers at Sagonaaska are using personal devices as assistive tools to transform their learning. The presentation  focused on how we are discovering ways to connect the world to the classroom via social media, transitioning from consumers of digital content to active, collaborative creators, and how our students personal devices level the playing field and become learning tools for both in and out of the classroom.  Once again our students and the ways they are using their strengths and their technology to overcome obstacles is inspiring people across the province! The staff and students from Sag continue to lead the way in transforming learning and developing 21st century skills!

Such a great point Martin Smit made. #ASET2015 #sagonaska pic.twitter.com/s25F8tInAt
— LD@school (@LDatSchool) April 10, 2015

Sharing #sagonaska learning @asetOntario! #Proud of my students for #learning and #teaching me so much! Check out http://t.co/f5EtKNisRj.
— Mike Di Donato (@mikeydidonato) April 10, 2015

Thanks @MartinSmit11, @mikeydidonato, @Hayes14Brian, @annebrown77, @tammybrintnell for sharing innovative #technology uses @asetontario!
— SNOW (@SNOWocad) April 10, 2015

To learn more about our presentation click this link to visit our Beyond Engagement blog or click on the contact information link on the right hand side of this blog.

Celebrate the Hero

Weekly Mission

Go Green!   Are you doing all that you can do to take care of Earth? Well, this week the team at Celebrate the Hero wants us to up the ante! There is so much that we can do to be green, and CTH to get involved in helping to clean up our environment! It is important to always remember that we only get one Earth so it’s really important that we always take care of it for our generation, and the generations to follow it.
Please comment and share some ways we can work towards taking care of our Earth on a daily basis!

Learning Through The Arts

Over the past few weeks, our students were able to work with a group of talented artists through an initiative called Learning Through the Arts.  The artists and staff worked together to design a project that combined the use of technology and art deepen to explore important curriculum expectations in both social studies and science.  Here is an example from a Grade 6 student who chose a historical figure or event to learn more about through this creative process.  The students began by choosing their topic, completing some research and story boarding five major parts of the story. Once the students completed their story boards, their creative juices flowed and they created collages to depict the events. The creative interpretation of these events has allowed the students to go deeper with their thinking and understanding of  major events or figures that helped shape Canada. 

Take a look at what our students produced... engaging, informative and self-directed pieces that demonstrate incredible understanding of not only the curriculum content, but advanced technology use as well.  Their independence with their technology truly transforms their learning.

Top Ten - Secondary Perspective

This is the final installment of a project our secondary students worked on which is meant to offer prospective students insight into life at Sagonaska. It was collaborative project, written by our students using Google Docs.  Please enjoy reading the top ten things our high school students like about Sagonaska.

The Top 10 Things Current Students Like About Sagonaska:

1. The counsellors are helpful during homework hour
2. More one-on-one time and small classes make it better for learning
3. We have more freedom with our technology here - we’re allowed to use it in class to help us and we’re encouraged/forced to use new forms of technology and apps
4. If we’re stressed the teachers help us, and it’s okay to fidget or have stress balls around. Teachers are used to kids fidgeting and moving around and understand ADD and  AD/HD
5. Feeling accepted and safe - knowing that everyone knows what its like to have an LD
6. It’s comforting here - it doesn't matter who you are, you will always make friends here
7. The school is loveable! Students really get to know the counsellors and their teachers and are close with them
8. Having the experience of living away from parents
9. Ski and snowboard trips every week - in residence there is always something going on and options to do things and you do a lot with the school - trying new things that are different than at other schools like a high ropes course, using the green screen
10. Being able to earn things like your off-campus