Animated Step-by-Steps®

Monday, August 3, 2015

What if I Want the Symbols to Appear Upfront?

As previously mentioned, the Animated Step-by-Steps™ are designed to add the symbols AFTER the animation sequence is completed. In the 04/06/15 post (When to Add Symbol Support in a Mixed Ability Lesson) we discussed the benefits of having the symbols appear at the end of the animation sequence to allow students to focus more fully on the text and the language comprehension aspects of the lesson. After all the animations have been triggered the symbols magically appear and the page can be ‘re-read’ using the symbols.

Sometimes, however, you may wish to create a ‘parallel universe’ for a student who is experiencing difficulty focusing on the lesson when it is presented at a distance on the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB). While the rest of the class is following the Animated Step-by-Step lesson on the IWB, the target student might be following the exact same lesson on his/her personal laptop. If that child is cognitively young there may be value in allowing him/her to view the lesson with the picture symbols being readily visible BEFORE the animations start.

This goal can be achieved quite simply. First, you will need to convert your downloaded .pps file into a .ppt or .pptx file. You can do this by selecting the file’s text and changing the .pps on the end, into a .ppt or a .pptx (if you are using a more current version of PowerPoint). This will create a file that you can now edit.

Select Animation on the menu bar, then select the reorder button (located on the far right) to display the full animation sequence for each page.

Select whatever is the last group in the sequence (see diagram on far left). This is the picture symbols grouped together. This group is programmed to fade in automatically after all the previous animations have been triggered. Use the up arrow at the bottom of the dialog box to move that group to the top of the sequence (see image to immediate left)

Now when in presentation mode, the symbols will automatically appear as soon as the page opens. Presto! A Secondary Facilitator seated with the child at a laptop can now point out the symbols as the text is being read in the lesson.

'til the next post (new posts every Monday!)

Augmentative Communication Specialist

Speech-Language Pathologist

Special Educator

canadiangoosse@gmail.com

http://animatedstepbysteps.blogspot.com

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Monday, July 27, 2015

Why No Hands?????

You may have noticed that several of the Animated Step-by-Step recipes include a clock animation. You probably have also noticed and possibly wondered why there are no hands on that analog clock?

Although Animated Step-by-Steps are now being used on the iPad (using the Microsoft PowerPoint app), they were originally designed for use on an interactive whiteboard where several colored pen tools were available to embellish the clock providing a ‘teachable moment’ relative to time concepts.

In the Animated recipe, Brownies, for example, we are instructed to ‘Bake the brownie batter in the hot oven for 25 minutes” The presence of a star at the end of this text indicates the need for an animation … that animation brings in a clock without hands.

If the class is quite young it is sometimes sufficient to just establish the idea that we will be using a clock to mark time while we wait for our brownies to bake. For the class functioning at a somewhat higher level, the Facilitator may wish to reinforce the distinction between the shorter hour hand and the longer minute hand. The interactive whiteboard pen tools can be used to draw in the hour hand and the minute hand. “Heh clocks are suppose to have hands. Let’s use our blue pen to draw the short hour hand and a red pen to draw the longer minute hand.”

At a more advanced level the hands are drawn to reflect the current time and the colored pen tool is used to count off 25 minutes (using red to reinforce the link between the minute marks and the red minute hand). “When the minute hand moves to this point (indicated with a black arrow) it will be time to check on our brownies. I need two volunteers to be clock watchers … and just in case let’s set our timer ….. Now we have two ways to be sure we don’t burn our brownies!”

With a still more advanced class, the Facilitator might be marking off the minutes in groups of 5 providing a functional use for skip counting by 5’s.

The previous examples highlight the continuum of ways that a Facilitator might wish to provide some incidental learning re: time concepts when using the Animated Step-by-Step Recipes. None of these steps should encumber the food preparation process. Rather, given the availability of time, the Facilitator may or may not opt to include a ‘teachable moment’ re: time concepts.

It is hoped that across recipes, across time, difficult time concepts may just start to make sense for children who experience difficulty learning.

…’til the next post (follow me .... a new post every Monday!)