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