Blog Post #3

Technology in Special Education

I think technology will increase in benefiting Special Education children because, like on the video, they can achieve their goals and succeed in their assignments with the assistance on technology. They are also more efficient with their assignments and faster. I spend my extra time in a Special Education classroom at E.T. Belsaw Mt. Vernon School and those kids recent recieved a SMART board and they LOVE to play educational games on it and be able to interact with the screen projected on the wall. Also, they have one autistic child who loves to draw! He is always drawing pictures for me of fast food restaurants and highways and such. With the smart board, he can draw and color pictures with educational meaning and facts. I have asked some of the students if they like to be on the computer and if they would rather type on a computer or write sentences and vocabulary and they would much rather type it on a computer, but some have trouble with the alphabet and typing. The SMART board helps them identify letters and complete words that the computer presents them. Now, these students can actually type in what they want to search in the search engine instead of me having to type it in for them.

These students have come a long way since they received their SMART board and this is just a small step to technology in the classrooms. They are already excited about what is next to come in technology. Students these days already know about iPads and iPhones and things like that as soon as they hit the shelves and they are intrigued by these new technologies that they are extremely excited about what the school has to offer with the SMART boards. Technology works well with Special Education classrooms, I have seen it and believe that more technology should be awarded to schools. The teacher I assist with, Mrs. Curow, she wrote a paper for the grant to get SMART boards in her room and one other room in the Elementary side of the school. She won and received them almost two years ago and it had made her classroom succeed even more and it educated them on a whole new level.

How the iPad Works with Academics for Autism

I saw an app called Math Bingo on Apples website. This educational game was created for kids to correctly get five bingo bugs in a row my adding, subtracting, multiplying or dividing to get the right answer and they win bingo. This game will definitely keep kids learning Mathematics and having fun at the same time. Like I have said before, technology is advancing and the educational benefits do as well. Schools need to acquire these technologies into the classrooms and for homework. Think about it, you give your students a regular book assignment for homework in Math and they use paper and such to complete the homework. Well, if they could complete lessons online or levels in a game that is based on your lesson for the day, there is no grading paperwork. There is just checking what level each student is on because if they complete the level, they succeeded in that Math lesson for the day. Interesting isn't it? I thought so too. This new technology they have for kids to learn everything from Reading, Science, and History to Math and Writing.

Special needs children can benefit the most because it helps the speak, write and interact with their teacher and classmates as well as complete assignments more efficiently and accurately. Technology will become the new learning key to education and teachers will still have a job because students always need help and always have questions about things. Plus, someone has to be there to teach them how to use these technologies.

Social media Counts

WOW! I am astounded by the amount of data rolling in on those statistics and I had no idea that all these programs and downloads were accessible. It truly amazes me to see that there is that many people per second using this much technology. When it comes to educators, I question how much of this technology is being used now by them. Teaching is more than just lecturing students and giving homework assignments, it is about learning new technologies and advances themselves. I'm not even a educator yet and I have learned a lot more things are accessible to the world now.

Technology has come a long way since it was discovered and the education field is a little behind on its' advancement of technology and the usage of it in the classroom. Technology is meaningful in education and helpful. The Technology in Special Education video demonstrates how effective technology can be for students in the classroom. Every teacher should enhance their ability to be technologically literate. I now know what it means to be technologically literate as a teacher. It means that a teacher should understand how technology benefits their classroom and students and then acquire the technology to use in their classroom and with their students because those students will be adults in our working society and need to know at least the basics of now technology works. It is okay for students to teach the teacher, but the teacher needs to technologically literate.

A Vision of Students today

This video help me learn that technology is important in keeping kids focused on learning and engage them in activities that will benefit them int he future as well as today. I also watched a video that was not on the list called A Vision of K-12 Today on youtube.com by B. Nesbitt and I think this should be included into the assignment because it benefits elementary as well as secondary educators. I thin this video is more focused that the other because it is children and they are what we as teachers will educate and assist. The other video originally assigned opened my eyes to what students do on a computer and throughout their day. They spend most of their time on a technology device anyway, so why not make it educational and intrigue them to do their homework and assignments, at home or in the classroom. If anyone reads this particular post, check out that video, it is very interesting and only 4:09 minutes long.