My best graduate course at the moment, bar none, is Computer Applications in Education.  It is no secret why I am so enamored by this course – I love technology.  Ed Tech is my most pervasive professional interest.  My technological inclinations have led me to sit on my school district’s Educational Technology Advisory Committee, as well as be apart of a research team at my  university that created and lead professional development workshops on how to integrate and utilize different educational technologies into ones teaching.  Personally, I strive to include an array of modalities into my curriculum but I do rely heavily on modern technological tools to create my own handouts (like the ones below), as well as construct a curriculum that engages and stimulates my students.

As for this particular course, it has a special education focus, with a heavy emphasis on UDL and assistive technology.  Each week we focus on a novel technology that we get to test out and play around -some I have experience with and some are brand new.  At the moment we have been asked to adapt a previous unit plan to include assistive technologies in order to better meet the needs of the exceptional students in our classrooms.  We opted to use my fractured fairytale unit which focuses on story retelling and imaginative writing.  Below you will find a few of the resources and handouts I devised (using great educational technologies) for this unit that I thought I would share.

1. Fairy Tale Mail

This activity I open with the book, The Jolly Postman, and my students would already have  had an abundance of experience with different fairy tales.  After reading the story, we go over the elements of how to construct a proper letter and the term point of view.  Then I ask each of my students to pick a fairytale they have read, and take on the point of view of one of the characters.  They are then expected to craft a letter from one character to another making sure they refer back to the story, take on the point of view and use their creativity.  You can download the PDF version here: Fairy Tale Mail

Furthermore, you can download the assessment rubric I use to evaluate this work here: Fairy Tale Mail Rubric

2. Fairytale Book

I have my student use this book template for the good copies of their fracture fairy tales.  After going over traditional and fractured fairytales, my summative activity is to ask students to pick a fairy tale and retell it as a fractured fairy tale.  If you are unfamiliar with fracture fairy tales Read, Write, Think has a great description and technological tool you can use to help your students practice writing Fractured Fairytales.  You can download the PDF version here: Book Template

Please note there are more pages in the PDF download than are shown in the image above.  The download includes a front cover, back cover, book pages and further ideas and information.

3. Story Map

This is an activity that I do in other retelling units also.  After reading a story to my students, I ask them to create a story map by using words and pictures to depict all the critical events in the plot.  Their maps are to include all the characters, all main events, the different settings and a key like a traditional map would. You can download the free PDF version here: Story map

Furthermore, here is a student example done of what the finished product would look like:

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