In Stephanie Tyler's suggestion, Technology in Special Education, technology is viewed as a tool to assist in the teaching of special needs children. I agree that modern conveniences of ipads, laptops, and projectors are great tools to help those with learning disabilities. Growing up I can recall hearing, "reading, writing, arithmetic", however, now it seems as though we should change it to, "listening, typing, and Texas Instruments". At what point does technology inhibit our learning ability?
Penmanship used to be something to be proud of, whereas now it's how many words per minute you can type. More recent advances in technology have made it so you don't even have to type. You can speak to text. Making carpal tunnel a thing of the past. My husband won't even read novels. Harry Potter, Da Vinci Code, and Twilight, he wouldn't think to read. If someone recommends a "great" book to him, he responds with, "if it's that great of a book, then they will make a movie out of it and I'll watch it then". Technology is fine and good, but let's not forget the basics.
How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism
After watching the video "How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism" and visiting apple.education.apps.com I have become very interested by the process of special education teaching. While all of the apps are great, I think mathboard and math bingo would be my favorites. Math is one of my favorite subjects. I like the fact that mathboard has a chalkboard look as well which kinda gives it a retro feel. Some math equations require a lot of paper. With the children having the ability to write out the equations on the ipad, they save on supplies. With math bingo, math is turned into a game. The winner probably gets bells and whistles with confetti.
The majority of children these days seem to be diagnosed with one learning disability or another. The most popular being ADHD. The ipad allows for individual paced learning. With different programs to allow for different methods of capturing learner's attention. This is important because what works for one child may not work for the next one.
Gary Hayes Social Media Count
Gary Hayes has put together a social media count to show how much technology people are using worldwide every second of the day. Using these tools in a class room will benefit students by giving them the skills to build off of every year. As rapidly as technology changes it is important to keep up or it will be even more difficult to relearn technology and social media. As a teacher you will not only benefit yourself but your students by preparing them for their futures.
A Vision of Today's Students
After watching the video produced by Kansas State University "A Vision of Today's Students", it has made me view education in a different way. Previously, I was focused from a students point of view. Spending hundreds of dollars on books and never wanting to attend classes because there may have been something more interesting to do. From a teachers stand point, encouraging your students to come to class should not have to be difficult. If students are interested in searching the web, Facebook and twitter; then as teachers it will benefit our class and our societies future to adapt to this.
Kaylan,
ReplyDeleteBe sure to title your blog post as "Blog Post 3" and so on for each blog post. I agree with you about how reading and writing are becoming things of the past. I think part of the problem is students associate reading with boring textbooks and hard-to-understand novels. Writing is only used for tests and quizzes. We should find ways to make both of these skills fun and used in ways the traditional classroom has not. Then, we will not have to worry about them disappearing!