Blog #10

Now that I have finished my second artifact I am starting to put together my ideas for my next artifact. The third artifact I have decided to do is to create two different journals. One journal will be from the view point of a parent with an autistic child and the other journal is with a parent that has a "normal" child. With the journals I am planning to write summary of what went on during their day and how the children act and what the children do. At the beginning of the journal with the autistic child I am going to put a schedule of what the child does throughout the day and at what time, because they need a routine schedule. I have started working on the information that I am going to out in the journal, all I have to do now is make up what goes on during the day(s). I am hoping to be done with my artifact by the middle of next week so I can start putting it all together and figure out how I am going to present them. I am excited to create the journals because they will bring together all the information that I have found out about the different autism spectrum disorders.

Blog #9 Spring Break

My spring break is going pretty good. I went to the lake with my mom and grandma and went shopping all day, so that was fun. I really haven't done much expect catch up on my sleep and get some homework done. I did have a job interview on Thursday, that I got, so I was really excited about that, but that is about all my excitement! Other than that my spring break has been pretty boring. As for my project, I have worked on it in bits and pieces. I have got it 98% complete and am working on fixing my rationale. I am hoping to have my rationale and artifact completed my Friday night. After i finish completing my artifact and rationale and I am going to begin making a draft for my third artifact; that will be challenging because I have no idea what information I am going to include in my artifact.

Blog #8

I am not going to present my artifacts until I have to so I do not have to repeat myself. With my artifacts, I really only have one that is presentation material. My first artifact was a brochure, my second is a PowerPoint, and my third is going to be two different journals. My second artifact is going to be easy to present because it is meant to be presented, but my others are going to be a little challenging. For presenting my first artifact, I think I will explain what I included on it and why. My third artifact will kinda be the same, but with the journals I am writing from the point of view of two different parents. So when presenting my third artifact, I might read parts of the journals so the class can get a picture of what the two different life styles really are like, and what parents have to go through every day.

With my project I was wanting to open people's eyes about autism, and show people that they are like everyone else, they just have to do things in a certain way. All of my artifacts are geared toward informing parents and teachers about the different types, how they can be treated, and how children with ASD act and develop compared to "normal" children. I am really pleased on how my artifacts are turning out so far, and am looking forward to seeing how they all turn out and how well they fit together.

Blog #7 New artifact

Now that I have finished my first artifact and rationale I started to think about my next artifact. For my second artifact I have decided to create is a PowerPoint. Right now, I have not started on my second artifact, but I have been looking at the information that I want to include. With the PowerPoint I am going to include different information comparing a child with autism to a "normal" child and find out the differences between them.

Now that I have decided what my second artifact is going to be, i have a lot of work that needs to be done. My first step for this artifact would be to gather all the information that I want to put in the PowerPoint so I do not have to go searching for that information. My second step would be to pick out the design of my PowerPoint. For instance, what colors I am going to use and what type of font(s) that will be used. I will also need to decide how my information is going to be placed, and in what order. Finally, I will need to decide if I am going to include pictures, and If I do, where the pictures are going to be placed on the PowerPoint.

There are so many things that need to be done before I can even start putting the PowerPoint together, that I need to get started on it right away, so that I do not get behind. I want this artifact to connect really well with my first artifact, and to make sure that happens I am going to make sure that all my information doesn't overlap each other, and that this artifact includes and more information about child with and without autism and how they differ. I hope this artifact goes as planned and looks the way that I am imagining it.

Blog #6 Artifact #1

One aspect that I have chosen to focus on in my artifact is the content. Since there are many different types of autism spectrum disorder, I decided to make a brochure with all the different types of disorders. For the content, I decided to include the signs and symptoms along with if they can be treated or not. Many of the disorders can have the same symptoms, so I also added how they may affect one child one way and another child a different way.

I believe the information that I have included in my artifact is very helpful and would really help parents understand the different disorders better than they know now. With this artifact I have also tried to provide information that would be helpful even for educators to understand and be able to help the children with an autism spectrum disorder better succeed and be comfortable with their disorder. I am really pleased with the brochure at this time and think that it provides really good information that is important for people to know.

Free Write

For my artifacts I plan on connecting them through the information that is provided. For every artifact I am going to work off the previous one. For instance, for my first artifact I am creating a brochure that has all the different types of autism disorders and then information about them. From this artifact I am going to create my second, which is most likely going to be a power point, but I will add additional information and focus more on a child with the disorders in the school setting. My main purpose of this topic is to focus on the development of an autistic child in school, socially, physically, and academically. So, for every artifact that I create I want to work off the previous so that the information that is going to to be represented will not repeat its self. I am hoping that all of my artifacts will connect well with each other, and as of right now I think that they will, but I will have to wait and see if it goes as planned.

Blog #5 Library visit

Visiting the library Thursday really helped me get more information. I was having trouble finding scholarly articles, but with the librarians help and suggestions I was able to find articles that were really helpful with my research. I had a few frustrations because some of the articles I found kept repeating information that I already had. Other than that one frustrating I found the library visit very helpful and I am glad that I went. With the information that I found I will be able to make my artifacts better because my information will provide more information.

Blog # 4 Changes in Project

My project is not the exact same as the first day of class, and some things have changed since I have written my proposal. I have changed my artifacts that I am going to do. I have chosen to do make a power point, a brochure, and make two different journals; one from the point of view of a mother who has a child with autism and one from the point of view of a mother who has a "normal" child. I have found a lot of good information on my topic and am looking forward to creating my first artifact. I think that with my new artifacts I can make this topic a little more fun to research even though it is a very serious topic.

Blog # 3/ Free Write

The biggest struggle I am having right now with my writing assignment is figuring out what type of artifacts that i am going to create. I am having trouble being creative, but I know that if I stop looking and worrying about it for a while I will be able to come up with some good ideas. I am also worried that some information is going to overlap in my artifacts and I do not want that to happen, but I will just have to deal with that when it comes. I am a little worried because I still do not know really what to expect, but I am looking forward to working on my topic and answering some questions that I have and to further my knowledge.

Blog Assignment #2: Reflecting "Letter from Birmingham Jail" within How Autism Affects Schooling

With my research on how Autism affects a child's schooling, I want to find new ways that a teacher can help a child adapt in the classroom so that their schooling could improve. I hope to see more and more special needs children in regular classrooms learning, with help from teachers, how to function in a "regular" classroom. I also hope to see more children being more confident in themselves and improving in school, just like MLK Jr. wanted the black citizens to stand up for themselves, be confident and fight for their freedom.

Throughout my research and at the end, I hope to move teachers of autistic children, but also the parents and children themselves. I hope to move the teachers and show that children with special needs, like autism, can function in the same classroom as other students just in a different way. These children deserve to be treated like other students and not blocked off. I want to move the parents and let them realize, more than already do, that their child has the potential to develop just as well as other students. The children themselves just need to realize that they are like everyone else and can do just as much.

My research is here to find out how children with autism get through the school day and how it is affecting their grades among other things. I have done a little research and found that children with autism learn less from the environment and have to have a very structured schedule to get through the day. With that information, I wish to find out how well a child does in school when they have a schedule and what happens when they do not.

Blog Assignment #1 Genetic Disorders and School

I am very interested in researching how disorders like Down syndrome and Autism affect a child’s school development and success. I am interested in this topic because it is related to my major, Elementary Education. I know there are many children that with these diseases that do very well in school, and then there are others that do not do well.  With this project I want to find out not only how, but why these two disorders affect children and their schooling the way they do. At the moment I do not know much about this topic, but with this project I hope to educate myself more and be able to understand the affects these disorders have on children.

With this project, and the proper research I hope to not only educate myself, but also other people. I hope this research will explain why and how children with Down syndrome and Autism develop in school compared to those of other children. I would also like to find out if there is a better way to help these children in school.

For the topic I have chosen there are different artifacts that I could work with. I could interview a teacher that has taught both special needs children and children without disorders. An interview would allow me to get a teachers point of view on the subject, and one that has first-hand experience with how a child with one of those disorders develops in school compared to other children.  A video would be a good artifact because it would show exactly how a child with Down syndrome or Autism functions in school. PowerPoint presentations would allow me to show charts on how children with these disorders develop compared to those children without. I would also be able to explain what is being showed and why. Traditional papers would allow me inform other people why and how the disorders are affecting children in school. I am looking forward to working on this project and finding out more information.