The cerebrum -- which is just Latin for "brain" -- is the newest (evolutionarily) and largest part of the brain as a whole. It is here that things like perception, imagination, thought, judgment, and decision occur. I hope you are thoughtful as you leave your comments on this blog.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
"Speech Tools"
What did you think of last week's class and the powerful speech tools that Microsoft Word has to offer? What classroom applications have you thought about or implemented?
I was extremely impressed with last week’s presentation. In my classroom, I am going to require that every student be able to fully utilize the speech to text component. Not only does it help my special education students, but it provides an important way for all students to master technology and incorporate new methods into their curriculum. Speech tools are extremely important today as more students are having hearing and speech problems, making these programs extremely useful. I look forward to practicing with this application and making it part of my future lesson plans so my students can fully appreciate it.
I really enjoyed last week's presentation. I had a use for everything that she said! I spoke to my classroom teacher and we are trying to figure out some ways to implement these tools in our classroom. My students' disabilities are a bit more severe so some of things will be tricky to enforce, but we can at least use the headset to read tests, books or assignments to the students. Just one less thing we will have to sit and do with our students!!
I thought last week's class was great! I have used Microsoft Word 2003 for many years and never had any clue that there was a speech to text program. The Microsoft Excel text to speech was great too. These are great tools that I can use in my classroom for my special needs students.
I agree with josh and Caitlin in that I was astounded at the technology that is available through Microsoft Office that I had no idea existed. The speech to text application of Microsoft Word is such a tremendous tool and could potentially alleviate many issues in a school in terms of children with modification and incorporation into normal lessons. As a result of the lesson, I went out and bought a headset for myself to investigate whether these things could be used in the school I work at. Unfortunately, we are still using Microsoft 2000, so perhaps in 8 years when we upgrade, I will be able to infuse these technologies into a classroom.
One other quick thing, aside from being an interesting topic, I think that Jen Maichin's presentation was excellent. The energy and apparent love of her profession came through during the lesson and regardless of the content, would have held my attention.
Last week’s class was the most useful class I have so far at Adelphi. It gave me tools I think I will be able to use in any type of classroom. Jen was a great teacher and extremely helpful! I appreciate being shown these abilities on Microsoft Word and Excel. I have already shared these tools with several teachers I know. It is a great way to teach children with special needs.
I thought everything Jen taught us was amazing! The no-cost aspect of speech recognition is priceless! I tried to set it up at my work, but we have word 2007 and word 2007 does not offer this service. Excel however still reads documents in 2007 so that's helpful regarding online texts and tests. Unfortunately most of my students' or my previous students' deficits are primarily in fine motor coordination, spelling, and typing so I really would have loved giving them the ability to type through speaking, but I told the technical coordinator about the disparity between word '03 and word '07 and he told me he would try to find a way to enable speech recognition on our computers. For my own purposes, my supervisor has begun training her voice to her laptop so that she does not have to type up annual meetings, she can just dictate what was said when it is said at the meeting.
Last weeks presentation was extremely important because now I have more options regarding using Microsoft word. Learning about the speech to text on the computer was so helpful for me and to any students who has trouble writing for themselves. Also this gives a chance to teach my students more about technology. That's the world we live in today and kids have to adapt. If a child can have a cell phone at a young age, they can learn how to use certain programs on their own computer to help them do better in school.
I agree with Caitlin’s comment in that Steve Job’s speech can show students they do not always have to follow a traditional way to success. It shows them there are other opportunities in the world for them. I think it would be great to show graduating Seniors in order for them to think outside the box to become successful.
I thought last week's class was extremely helpful for my future in teaching. I never realized all the tools available through Microsoft. I was actually quite fascinated while learning the voice recognition feature on Word. The voice recognition feature is amazing for students with disabilities in addition to those without, as it is such a fantastic tool. I personally would enjoy using this feature once and a while on my own. The "readability level" feature is also extremely helpful to aide teachers in the reading process for his or her students. This is helpful because we can ensure that the material used in the classroom is on the appropriate grade level. This is helpful for those of us who need to revise stories or other forms of literature to fit our students’ needs.
Jen's presentation was rather impressive. She was very knowledgable and helpful. I paticularly remember her talking about how there are children that are highly verbal, but once they put pencil to paper it's as if they don't anything. I see that in the classroom I work in every day. Some of the most verbal children, are the most delayed with their writing skills. This tool could be really beneficial for their needs, and increase there own fluency and writing skills. Once mastered I believe that many children will have a better concept of themselves once they see what they can do. Using it for my test was a little tricky, but with more training I think I could get it down.
I agree with the entire class. The demonstration on the speech tool was very impressive. I shared the information with some of the teachers i work with as well as the principal. The principal agreed to purchase one to try out. I think the speech tool could also be useful when I take my online courses. I think it could help me respond to some of the questions the teacher asks promptly. I plan to purchase two sets. One for home, and one to use in my inclusion classroom.
I notice that children learn computer/technology quickly & well, even we don’t teach them to use it. And knowing this, I always thought computer can be a wonderful tool for their learning because children are interested in technology. But many of us are struggling to find out the right/effective way to use it as an educational tool. Last presentation was very helpful to solve these problems I used to have. I think it will be great to use this function to students who started learning reading. Like sight-word/reading activity.
Over the past year I have been actively learning the French language through the software called Rosetta Stone. This software program has amazed me time and time again with how easy it is to pick up vocabulary words without even realizing that your doing so. One of the key features of the Rosetta Stone program is its speech recognition software. I was amazed at how it was analyzing my voice to be sure i was pronouncing each word correctly. I realized it was looking for the tone changes of my voice and using that to be sure I was pronouncing the word sufficiently. Last weeks presentation blew my mind! I was in the mind set that Rosetta Stone was this amazing software and the only one using this great tool which i didn't believe could be utilized any further but leave it to Microsoft to take it to another level. On my drive home I thought about which ways i could use this in my teaching. Everything from lessons on spelling, to punctuation and quotes, ESL students, students with writing problems; the possibilities are endless. While my mindset was strictly on the teaching of young students, I also had a thought which I put into motion as soon as I got home. My father hates typing and he is developing arthritis in both his hands from breaking them in his early adulthood in a skydiving accident (very irrelevant). However, when I got home I gave him my mic and had him do the lessons to develop his voice into the program. Im pretty sure he either thinks im going to be the next Einstein.
I really enjoyed the Speech Tools presentation. I had no idea that students can "talk" or "listen" from Microsoft Word. I will absolutely incorporate this into my classroom. I think that all students can benefit from this. I wish that I would have known about this technology sooner.
I posted a response to the "Speech Tools" lesson under the wiki for "Today's Class" that is in the discussion tab of the "Speech Tools" page.
I am now adding a copy of my response to the blog:
ChristineMurphy77 re: Today's Class
I was familiar with the Speech to Text application in Excel (I actually found it by accident!). However, I was amazed to learn about the MS Word "Speech to Text" feature. It is such an excellent tool, and can be used to help so many people – the young, elderly and those with physical or learning disabilities! It really is an amazing tool!
I am in the Adolescent English Education program, and taking this course as an elective, but I am learning so much! As an English teacher, I will definitely use the MS Word Readability Statistics to help my students evaluate and improve their writing skills.
I have installed the Speech Recognition application on my home computer, and have been practicing with it during the week. I am getting more comfortable with it! Posted Yesterday 6:28 pm
I enjoyed last week's class and presentation because it showed me a relatively easy (and highly available) way to use tech to customize and tweak lessons so that they are more adaptable to our students comfort levels. Also, it was pretty clear that Jenn knows exactly what she is doing,and I thought she was a great person to gring in so that we could see first hand how someone is succesfully leveraging this technology to hopefully make a difference in a child's life!
The speech tutorials were amazing. I had no idea text could be made into speech or that you could program your own voice to have it converted into text. This will surely aid students in better learning. Posted Yesterday 11:22 am
I was amazed at the presentation last week on microsoft. The speech to text component will be very helful for my students that are english language learners. I am looking forward to using this in my classroom. If using technology in the classroom, will help my students improve on any subject matter I am all for it. Students with varying disabilities will be able to use this application and feel confortable in their ability to stay on task.
19 comments:
I was extremely impressed with last week’s presentation. In my classroom, I am going to require that every student be able to fully utilize the speech to text component. Not only does it help my special education students, but it provides an important way for all students to master technology and incorporate new methods into their curriculum. Speech tools are extremely important today as more students are having hearing and speech problems, making these programs extremely useful. I look forward to practicing with this application and making it part of my future lesson plans so my students can fully appreciate it.
-Josh Lewis
I really enjoyed last week's presentation. I had a use for everything that she said! I spoke to my classroom teacher and we are trying to figure out some ways to implement these tools in our classroom. My students' disabilities are a bit more severe so some of things will be tricky to enforce, but we can at least use the headset to read tests, books or assignments to the students. Just one less thing we will have to sit and do with our students!!
I thought last week's class was great! I have used Microsoft Word 2003 for many years and never had any clue that there was a speech to text program. The Microsoft Excel text to speech was great too. These are great tools that I can use in my classroom for my special needs students.
I agree with josh and Caitlin in that I was astounded at the technology that is available through Microsoft Office that I had no idea existed. The speech to text application of Microsoft Word is such a tremendous tool and could potentially alleviate many issues in a school in terms of children with modification and incorporation into normal lessons. As a result of the lesson, I went out and bought a headset for myself to investigate whether these things could be used in the school I work at. Unfortunately, we are still using Microsoft 2000, so perhaps in 8 years when we upgrade, I will be able to infuse these technologies into a classroom.
One other quick thing, aside from being an interesting topic, I think that Jen Maichin's presentation was excellent. The energy and apparent love of her profession came through during the lesson and regardless of the content, would have held my attention.
Last week’s class was the most useful class I have so far at Adelphi. It gave me tools I think I will be able to use in any type of classroom. Jen was a great teacher and extremely helpful! I appreciate being shown these abilities on Microsoft Word and Excel. I have already shared these tools with several teachers I know. It is a great way to teach children with special needs.
I thought everything Jen taught us was amazing! The no-cost aspect of speech recognition is priceless! I tried to set it up at my work, but we have word 2007 and word 2007 does not offer this service. Excel however still reads documents in 2007 so that's helpful regarding online texts and tests. Unfortunately most of my students' or my previous students' deficits are primarily in fine motor coordination, spelling, and typing so I really would have loved giving them the ability to type through speaking, but I told the technical coordinator about the disparity between word '03 and word '07 and he told me he would try to find a way to enable speech recognition on our computers. For my own purposes, my supervisor has begun training her voice to her laptop so that she does not have to type up annual meetings, she can just dictate what was said when it is said at the meeting.
Last weeks presentation was extremely important because now I have more options regarding using Microsoft word. Learning about the speech to text on the computer was so helpful for me and to any students who has trouble writing for themselves. Also this gives a chance to teach my students more about technology. That's the world we live in today and kids have to adapt. If a child can have a cell phone at a young age, they can learn how to use certain programs on their own computer to help them do better in school.
I agree with Caitlin’s comment in that Steve Job’s speech can show students they do not always have to follow a traditional way to success. It shows them there are other opportunities in the world for them. I think it would be great to show graduating Seniors in order for them to think outside the box to become successful.
I thought last week's class was extremely helpful for my future in teaching. I never realized all the tools available through Microsoft. I was actually quite fascinated while learning the voice recognition feature on Word. The voice recognition feature is amazing for students with disabilities in addition to those without, as it is such a fantastic tool. I personally would enjoy using this feature once and a while on my own. The "readability level" feature is also extremely helpful to aide teachers in the reading process for his or her students. This is helpful because we can ensure that the material used in the classroom is on the appropriate grade level. This is helpful for those of us who need to revise stories or other forms of literature to fit our students’ needs.
Jen's presentation was rather impressive. She was very knowledgable and helpful. I paticularly remember her talking about how there are children that are highly verbal, but once they put pencil to paper it's as if they don't anything. I see that in the classroom I work in every day. Some of the most verbal children, are the most delayed with their writing skills. This tool could be really beneficial for their needs, and increase there own fluency and writing skills. Once mastered I believe that many children will have a better concept of themselves once they see what they can do. Using it for my test was a little tricky, but with more training I think I could get it down.
I agree with the entire class. The demonstration on the speech tool was very impressive. I shared the information with some of the teachers i work with as well as the principal. The principal agreed to purchase one to try out. I think the speech tool could also be useful when I take my online courses. I think it could help me respond to some of the questions the teacher asks promptly. I plan to purchase two sets. One for home, and one to use in my inclusion classroom.
I notice that children learn computer/technology quickly & well, even we don’t teach them to use it. And knowing this, I always thought computer can be a wonderful tool for their learning because children are interested in technology. But many of us are struggling to find out the right/effective way to use it as an educational tool. Last presentation was very helpful to solve these problems I used to have.
I think it will be great to use this function to students who started learning reading. Like sight-word/reading activity.
Over the past year I have been actively learning the French language through the software called Rosetta Stone. This software program has amazed me time and time again with how easy it is to pick up vocabulary words without even realizing that your doing so. One of the key features of the Rosetta Stone program is its speech recognition software. I was amazed at how it was analyzing my voice to be sure i was pronouncing each word correctly. I realized it was looking for the tone changes of my voice and using that to be sure I was pronouncing the word sufficiently.
Last weeks presentation blew my mind! I was in the mind set that Rosetta Stone was this amazing software and the only one using this great tool which i didn't believe could be utilized any further but leave it to Microsoft to take it to another level. On my drive home I thought about which ways i could use this in my teaching. Everything from lessons on spelling, to punctuation and quotes, ESL students, students with writing problems; the possibilities are endless. While my mindset was strictly on the teaching of young students, I also had a thought which I put into motion as soon as I got home. My father hates typing and he is developing arthritis in both his hands from breaking them in his early adulthood in a skydiving accident (very irrelevant). However, when I got home I gave him my mic and had him do the lessons to develop his voice into the program. Im pretty sure he either thinks im going to be the next Einstein.
I really enjoyed the Speech Tools presentation. I had no idea that students can "talk" or "listen" from Microsoft Word. I will absolutely incorporate this into my classroom. I think that all students can benefit from this. I wish that I would have known about this technology sooner.
I posted a response to the "Speech Tools" lesson under the wiki for "Today's Class" that is in the discussion tab of the "Speech Tools" page.
I am now adding a copy of my response to the blog:
ChristineMurphy77 re: Today's Class
I was familiar with the Speech to Text application in Excel (I actually found it by accident!). However, I was amazed to learn about the MS Word "Speech to Text" feature. It is such an excellent tool, and can be used to help so many people – the young, elderly and those with physical or learning disabilities! It really is an amazing tool!
I am in the Adolescent English Education program, and taking this course as an elective, but I am learning so much! As an English teacher, I will definitely use the MS Word Readability Statistics to help my students evaluate and improve their writing skills.
I have installed the Speech Recognition application on my home computer, and have been practicing with it during the week. I am getting more comfortable with it!
Posted Yesterday 6:28 pm
I enjoyed last week's class and presentation because it showed me a relatively easy (and highly available) way to use tech to customize and tweak lessons so that they are more adaptable to our students comfort levels. Also, it was pretty clear that Jenn knows exactly what she is doing,and I thought she was a great person to gring in so that we could see first hand how someone is succesfully leveraging this technology to hopefully make a difference in a child's life!
vitofelicciardis re: Today's Class
The speech tutorials were amazing. I had no idea text could be made into speech or that you could program your own voice to have it converted into text. This will surely aid students in better learning.
Posted Yesterday 11:22 am
I was amazed at the presentation last week on microsoft. The speech to text component will be very helful for my students that are english language learners. I am looking forward to using this in my classroom. If using technology in the classroom, will help my students improve on any subject matter I am all for it. Students with varying disabilities will be able to use this application and feel confortable in their ability to stay on task.
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