After spending a good portion of this week at the brand new ATIA Chicago Conference, I have a lot of really great tools to share! So, I’m sorry that I’m a day late on posting, but the conference is actually still going on right now (saturday) and I wanted to wait until I had everything possible to share that I could!

First, I’ve also spent quite a bit of time with the folks at Don Johnston discussing and working with Read:OutLoud 6.  I wanted to be sure to remind everyone that you have access to download this new version 6 of Read:OutLoud at no charge to you AND to put it on ALL of your school computers AS WELL as send it home wiht your students for their home computers!  Read more on this opportunity you have to move your educational space toward a more Universally Designed instructional environment:   www.icam.k12.in.us/ DRMs download ROL6 here: www.icam.k12.in.us/downloads.php

CRU’s:

…AND You can get 3 CRU’s just for learning how to use Read:OutLoud!   Here: www.donjohnston.com/state/indiana/indiana_readoutloud/index.html

UDL Blog: Some of you may know of Karen Janowski already.   If you don’t, you should!   One of the many great things Karen has is a real nice blog on UDL (Teaching Every Student)  http://teachingeverystudent.blogspot.com

Wikipedia Simple English Image

Wikipedia Tip: Many of you know my feelings on Wikipedia and if you don’t I’ll be happy to share.  In general, I am strongly in support of allowing the use of wikipedia and teaching students to cross reference and to truly evaluate their resources.  SO, I thought I’d share this little tip.  When performing a wikipedia search, there is a link along the left side of the screen that reads, “Simple English,” within the available languages.  Remember that access to the curriculum is certainly about physical and sensory access, but it’s also just as much about cognitive access.  Play with using this Simple English setting to get the same content presented in simpler terminology.

UDL Concept Map: Check here for a nice pdf of a UDL, AT, RTI, DI concept map from Brian Wojcik: http://59303.wikispaces.com/file/view/UDL+RTI+AT+Relationship.pdf See what you think.  I’d love to have discusison with Indiana folks on how these terms/concepts relate to one another.

Magify! I think I’ve blogged this one before, but certainly worth sharing again.  A MAGNIFIED search tool: http://big.com/home.php

Simplified Web Pages: Allows you to simplify and remove some distracting content on web pages.  There are also add-ins for firefox, apps for the iphone and bookmarklets.  http://tidyread.com/

OK… I have LOTS more to share and I promise I will… I have to make the journey back to Indiana RIGHT NOW, before Jim leaves me in Chicago, but I will try to post another entry perhaps tonight after Trick Or Treating!