Blog Post #3

Technology in Special Education

Special Education has come a long way with the success of technology. After watching this video it made me recall when I was a special education peer helper in high school. The students that I would help also had computer and desktops for communication, hearing aids for hearing, and technology for viewing simple sentence for vision impaired. Simple requests like: going to the bathroom, needed help with an assignment, or simply hungry/thirty would be difficult to ask without a touch pad or computer for those whom can not communicate. Without technology for learning, understanding, and communicating, I know the stress on the teachers and the students would be very frustrating. I was there, so I understand how difficult it can be on the student to show their ability to learn.
I strongly feel every student regardless of their learning capability should be able to perform to their fullest and gain a sense of success and creativity. The technology that is used for special needs provides opportunities for those students and we as educators definitely need to know what kind tools are out there for our students. As a future educator I will definitely be mindful of the technology that is available for my students who may have special needs.


How the iPad works with Academics for autism

After watching the video about the iPad I quickly realized how amazing apple has come. I think it is wonderful that the iPad has so many apps and options to help autistic children with learning and success. There are many many apps to choice from at Apple.Education Apps.com. It is fantastic that there are apps that will motivate and help children in specific areas. Many areas that are essential for these children with autism are: counting, reading, siting, drawing on the iPad to practice, and etc. I looked through several of the apps that were provided and I would definitely consider using them in my classroom if it were allowed. My favorite app is the Britannica kids about volcanoes for Science. The colors and very visual pictures would definitely excite any students, especial one who has special needs.

Gary's Social Media Count

This media count is absolutely incredible! I am yet again shocked at how technology impacts almost everyone on a regular basis. What does this mean for a professional career as a teacher? We as educators must learn to familiarize ourselves with the future of technology. We must not only know how to use the technology, but we need to know how to learn from it and change our previous teaching techniques to evolve from it. We incorporate the new technology of our future into our classroom. There are so many new ways to use technology to teach and I believe it we can embrace these techniques then will we have a successful classroom indefinitely. I am very excited about using technology in my classroom because I know the smartboards and iPad will help students come a long way. We must embrace changes in the technology world and not fall back into the old ways of teaching.

A Vision of Students Today

This video shows how we have developed tremendously through technology. This video raises the point that teachers are still teaching in an old fashion way, and with technology constantly evolving, students are getting bored. Throughout class students are not even focused on their readings, the teacher, or focused on actually learning. Looking at the chalkboard and taking notes; forget about it! We as educators need to allow changes in our classrooms due to the progression of technology that is unstoppable. We can still teach our students the same material and set them up for success, we just have to change the route with technology. There are options such as: internet based classroom, electronic based books, and more smart board activity. We do have to keep in mind avoiding students texting, face booking, and non classroom web browsing in the classroom. We as educators must keep our students in tune during class so they will not be tempting to do the non class activities. We definitely need to prepare are students for the next step in their careers because this world is a technology based one.