Famous last words for Day 1
“This is a really good day for a Monday”
Conner
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May 5th, 2008
Switching Roles
At the end of Day 1, it was the students’ turn to give the adults a grade on their knowledge of Kurzweil. Each student gave an adult helper questions or tasks to perform in Kurzweil. Heads were shaking and nodding as teachers gave their final answers. Some students were lenient - gaving hints and allowing the helpers to arm themselves with cheat sheats
Here’s Walter giving his adult helper a B- on her test – a pretty good score considering she had little time to use the computer herself (and Walter asked very tough questions!).
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Learning and Demonstrating
The students are grouped into teams to create demonstrations for tomorrow. Here you will see them preparing and discussing.
Danica, Adriana, and Lauren are working on Creating a vocabulary list. The girls chose an Animal theme for their list.
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Customizing the Tool Bar
How you customize your toolbars can greatly affect your efficiency and productivity with Kurzweil. Here are the important items for Mitchell’s Reading Toolbar:
New, Open, Bookmarks, Previous Page, Next Page, Previous Sentence, Read, Next Sentence
Mitchell has another set of toolbars for Writing. On his writing toolbar he chooses these items: New, Open, Go to the Web, Bookmarks, Toggle Word Predictions, Spell Check, Previous Page, Read. Mitchell tells me that since he has difficulty with spelling, the spell check is essential for him. Also he likes to hear Kurzweil spell the word out for him.
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Classroom Setup
Both Windows and Mac users are harmoniously co-existing in the same space. To the left is the Kurzweil demonstration on Windows and to the right is the MAC platform.
After lunch the students dove into topics of audio output and zone editing.
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Lunch time banter
Here’s Travis, who prefers to remain under his hoodie. He tells me that he has learned a whole bunch since this morning. He thought that the internet reading feature is really neat. He also thinks the synonyms and definition tools will enhance his reading skills.
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Kampers picnic by the river at lunch on Day 1….
Getting ready to enjoy lunch by the Fraser River…
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Introducing May Participants
Kamp started early and everyone paired up with a partner to introduce themselves to each other. Later they had to present the other partner to the class. I spoke to most of the students ands here are some of things they told me…
Amarinder, a grade 8 student, is quick to point out that he’s an experienced Kurzweil user; in fact he has been using the software everyday for the past 3 years. He uses Kurzweil to read E-text usually. The tools he finds most useful in Kurzweil are the Text Reader and the Definition Tool.
Walter, a grade 10 student, uses Kurzweil frequently to scan and read books. He thinks that Kurzweil overall is great software. He has using Kurzweil for about 2 years now.
Mitchell is in Grade 10. He’s experienced in using Kurzweil and uses it for scanning textbooks for reading.
Adriana, a Grade 11 student, is new to Kurzweil. She’s seen a friend use the software in her class, and thinks that maybe Kurzweil will help her with English and Socials. Both are subjects she enjoys and in which she excels.
Travis is in Grade 9. He’s not familiar with Kurzweil . His favorite subjects in school are Science and Math.
Ian, a grade 5 student, has been using Kurzweil on his Mac for the past year. Today he will attempt to learn the software on a PC. Travis is a good reader, but needs Kurzweil to help with his written output. He says that the Spell Check and Word prediction in Kurzweil helps him write more accurately and quickly.
Zakaria is in grade 7 and frequently uses Kurzweil. He uses Kurzweil to scan and read books. He often uses Kurzweil to make notes when he reads and listens. Summarizing what he hears and reads helps with his reading comprehension. P.E. is his favourite subject in school.
Conner is a chatty fellow! From his experience, he prefers Kurzweil on the PC than on a Mac. He uses Kurzweil for all his subjects, except for French. He has recently even used Kurzweil for his PE class, where he had to write an essay on the personal benefits of fitness. He uses all aspects of Kurzweil like scanning, writing and reading. The spell check function helps with his writing. He also likes to use the circling tool in Kurzweil to help him with math word problems. For example, he circles the important numbers in the question so he can see what he needs to do.
Dino is in Grade 5 and he’s had very little experience with Kurzweil. He is looking forward to learn more about the software.
Danica, a Grade 8 student, is new to Kurzweil. She hopes that Kurzweil will help with her spelling and her writing output. She has recently transfered from French Immersion school, so Kurzweil is a great tool for her to help her to re-orient herself to writing English again. In her spare time she likes to write fiction.
Laura, a Grade 7 student, has worked on Kurzweil since October of this year. She uses it for reading and for typing responses to class discussions.
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