Just a couple of short notes today (in the style of The Jose Vilson); none of which merit their own blog post:
Feed Me
If you don’t have enough feeds in your RSS reader (and really, who ever has enough?), you can check my Google Reader shared items feed. This is the same feed or stories that you see in the sidebar at DamianBariexca.net, but you can subscribe to this in your reader of choice. I try to limit my feed’s focus to psychology, special education, or technology that I think has potential for use in the special ed classroom (and Ira Socol’s SpeEd Change features regularly in my shared items).
Tech Geekery
I spent much of this past weekend playing with my new toy, the Asus EeePC 1000HE. A few cons, mostly pros, and I will likely be putting up a “Tools of the Trade” post on this machine before the end of the school year. Bottom line: best $400 I’ve spent recently.
Stop By & Say Hi
If you happen to be in the Jamesburg, NJ area on Friday, May 1, why not attend the NJASP Spring Conference? Jim Wright, founder of Intervention Central, will be presenting on “Strategies for Working with the Unmotivated, Non-Compliant, Disorganized, Struggling Student” (link to PDF). I’ll be there, and am considering liveblogging, if I can. If you’re interested, see the linked PDF above for registration information.
Call for Advice
So every member of my new Child Study Team has some ‘pet project’ that they contribute to the department, and along those lines, I’ve been approached to put together a website for the department (not sure if it’s just for CST or Special Services in general; will get more details in the summer).
My supervisor and I both have some ideas as to what should go on the site, but here’s where I reach out to you: I want to make this site more than just pictures and contact info; at the very least, I want to make it an information repository for students and parents. What information do you think would be most valuable on a high school CST/Special Services site? Transition information? Laws in “plain English”? Flowcharts of legal processes? Biographical information about the team/teachers? A blogroll? Monthly blog posts/articles?
Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments here – parents, what info can we make readily available to you? Special ed teachers/service providers, what “frequently asked questions” or topics would you put on a site for the community?