Inclusion By Way of Technology- A New Way of Thinking

Over the semester I have learned a great deal about new technology I did not know how to use. I have learned how to use new technology and how to apply it to my classroom. As I started this class I was very skeptical about the class. I was unsure if I would apply anything that I learned in it to my classroom. When the year began I didn’t like technology because I didn’t know how to use and I felt too many teachers were using technology to run their classrooms. Now, if I looked back on myself three months ago, I would call myself old school. Through my many encounters with technology this semester, I have learned that technology can be a great ally in the classroom.

One great thing I learned this semester is technology can be used to help your students teach themselves and create their own learning goals. One way I learned to do this with students would be through a webquest. Throughout school I thought this was a mindless worksheet you filled out and passed in. But through innovative thinking you can have your students direct their own learning process and have the experience become meaningful to your students. I think that by being able to give your students power over their learning they will strive to reach higher goals for themselves. By creating a website students can share they work and be proud of it. As a teacher, I think seeing the look on their faces when they are proud of their work is one of the best moments throughout the day. My goal is to use technology to help my students feel they created something that is their own and that they can be proud of.

My thoughts about technology have shifted from thinking technology should just be used for students with disabilities. In the beginning of the year I thought technology was just one small tool in a toolbox of learning aids. Now I understand technology can be used as a large window to show your students new ways of learning and thinking about new ideas. One thing I learned, from the ACTEM conference I attended, is that technology is about connecting to others around the world. Technology is a way to share and communicate as an active part of the world you live in. As a teacher you can connect your students to anyone anywhere in the world. Having that capability inside a classroom in rural Maine is fantastic. As a teacher you can open doors that lead your students into places they would never be able to go on there own. I now believe it is a teacher’s obligation to their students to explore technology in the classroom. If you are not using technology in your classroom you are not providing your students with all the tools they need to learn and become successful.

Science pre-quiz

Hello, Kristen

Hi, my name is Erika. 

       I live in Maine. I go to school and work. When I am not working I play with my dog. His name is Wookie. He likes to play catch. 

       At home I like to bake. I make very good chocolate chip cookies. My favorite thing to cook is spaghetti. 

The ACTEM Conference

Jim's Best of the Web was an amazing session. He knew so much about finding great websites and found many during the session based on what teachers in the audience needed. I got so many good websites from the session.

1. Google Earth: it is not just for looking at the Earth but you can also turn around and look out into space. You can use this feature in a science unit for students.

2. http://phat.Colorado.edu/index.php is a great website to let second graders explore college level physics!! They learn through games on this site and there are many of them.

3. www.literactive.com is a great site that has book fro children to read with as much assistance as they need. By highlighting words the student can have them read to them or they can read it on there own. The images that go along with the story are very cute and interactive. This site can befit children in classrooms with varying levels of reading.

4. www.iknowthat.com has many types of informational packs for teachers and can be searched by grade level.

Jim also emphasized the idea of being creative. Creativity is the overall goal, and computers are just a tool to accomplish the goal. (I really liked that idea)

Lulu is an online publishing site people can use. I thought that was very cool. I have always wanted to try writing a children’s book and with lulu I can do it for free!

The Are you Ready to be a Teacher in the Twenty First Century was a very interesting session as well. I liked his comparison of a classroom and an operating room. He shows how over the years operating rooms have changed dramatically over the years. This is NOT true of classrooms. As years have gone by classrooms have not changed that much. I think that with smart boards the classroom is changing slowly but not enough.

In this session we also focused on technology as a tool of communication and learning with the three E’s.

· Expose

· Employ

· Express

The session also talked about students being able to claim ownership over the things they make and how that ownership is very import. If the students feel like they have ownership over their work they will care about what they are producing.

The one thing I did not like about the session was everyone was talking about one to one classrooms. I understood this to be the new program that many schools were using, giving lab tops. I also thought many schools were starting the program at an older age (in middle school). Many of the examples that were used in the session were one to ones in elementary classrooms. I was just wondering what different schools were doing with their one to one programs.

The over all topic is researching and learning about the Holocaust. Students will read and understand a time line of the events during the Holocaust.

1. What is going on?

Topic: Students will look at the time line of the Holocaust and map out different time lines for different sides of the war. They will all read and do research for their side of the war and make a presentation to share with the class ( a time line). At the end of the presentations the class will come together to make a complete outline of the war.

Grade Level: Eighth

Tasks: The war has ended but the chaos has left many questions for the surrounding governments. You are a historian and need to find out were your armies were and when. If there was a battle you need to document where it was and who was involved. Follow the armies and movement and map them.

Roles: US army historian, German historian, Rebel army historian.

2. What can the children do? (might use)

Topic: Research how children have impacted the war before and after. Find out what American children did, and what children who were part of the holocaust had to do to survive.

Grade Level: Eighth

Tasks: You are a child in . . .America, Germany, Poland, France, England. . . . and you have to contribute to the war somehow. If you are a Nazis in German how are you contributing to the war. If you are in Poland and you are a Jewish, how are you surviving, or helping the rebel cause against the Nazis.

Roles: Many roles, representing different areas of the world during the war.

3. Being a family during the war in Europe.

Topic: Students will research where many families went during the war and that children were separated from parents. Students will be broken up into families Mom, dad, children, and they will have to act out a skit that is a narration of what there family went through during the war.

Grade Level: Eighth

Tasks: You are part of a family. The war is over and a writer, me, wants to make a book containing the stories of families journeys through the war, and after the war. What is your families story? What did you go through in your individual role.

Roles: Mother, Father, Son, Father

4. The artist’s perspective.

Topic: Through research the students will reproduce or make photos that represent many of the things that are going on during the war. In groups they will make a portfolio of picture that they create in many creative ways that tell a time line.

Grade Level: Eighth

Tasks: You want to tell the story of what happened during the Holocaust. The artist in you wants the world to know the truth and you are going to show them through your creative eyes.

Roles: Artist: the painter, color, and creator

The historian: helps get things in the time line

The information provider: lived through the Holocaust and tells their story

Inclusion by Way of Technology

Inclusion by Way of Technology
One thing Teachers need to be aware of every year is the making sure all of you students are participating in the classroom and learning experience. A Childs unique learning style and interests makes it hard for a teacher to keep everyone involved with what’s going on. Another aspect to getting and keeping children involved is children who are in your class with learning disabilities. This broad title includes children with physical and mental disabilities. No two children will have the same disabilities. With all of these differences in the same classroom, one teacher has a very difficult task in front of them at the beginning of every year. One thing that helps with many disabilities in the classroom is the use of technology. This learning technology is not just for the students how can not function in the classroom with out it but also a tool for students to learn and see information in new ways.
Technology can help children who could not participate in a normal classroom years ago be able to interact better with their school and also their classmates. This means a child with sever autism can say hello to his classmates every morning before starting the day. The use of a tango can help a student become part of the class and help them interact with their classmates. This interaction could be a brand new thing for the child if they did not have access to this technology before school. This technology can also benefit students who do not need the technology to be part of the classroom. By allowing other children to look and use the same technology as a disabled student in the classroom, the student may learn how to communicate better with the student who has to use the technology.
By sharing assistive technology in the classroom with students who don’t need it, will help them understand their classmates who do. For example, if a child is paralyzed from the neck down and has to use a Lomak device, it would benefit other students in the class to use it as well. By allowing them to use the technology they get to see how the other student has to do his or her work. By allowing the children in the class to better understand what the child with the disabilities is doing the students may connect better and open up more lines of communication between your students. Also by allowing children to use assistive technology in the classroom they get the opportunity to view information in different ways.
By changing the Childs view of information they may become more interested in the lesson and may also soak up more information. For example, if a child is suppose to read a chapter in a book they could read it online using a Read Please. This way you could have the student read every other paragraph and let Read Please assist them. This is a different way to get children who don’t like to read more interested and willing to do it. Another example would be, instead of having your children write there next paper they could practice typing on a Dana or Alphasmart. This is a new way to get children’s ideas written out and some children may enjoy this for better than handwriting. These are more ways to bring assistive technology into the classroom fro everyone’s benefit.
I think all the assistive technology options are great for teachers and fro their students. It helps keep children interested in school but also gives teachers another way to show their students information. I think the more ways we, as teachers present information, the better it is for our students. By bringing new things into the classroom all the time children will not be so inclined to ‘get bored’ with school.

New Educators

Same Old, Same Old
Every teacher has the same goal and that goal is to get the children in the class to learn and grow as much as possible in the year they have with them. As a student I can easily identify the styles my teachers have used over the years. Teachers can get into a rut when it comes to the style of teaching methods they use with their students. Styles such as lectures, taking notes, reading the book and writing essays can get repetitive for a student day after day. I believe technology can help teachers break away from traditional learning styles and bring in new opportunities for their students. As a new teacher I think changing the way my students are learning will help them stay focused and interested in learning.
The internet opens a world of possibilities for teachers and their students. I think the internet should be incorporated into the learning experience of younger children. I liked the unit Salina organized for her students (Media Assassins). By having her students work online they were able to look up and use many resources with varying topics. By giving the students freedom to read the article they find, they stay interested in what they are learning and also learn how to find and site useful web articles. Without the internet, students will be confined to the library resources they have, and in many schools, that may not be very much. Also, by helping your students use the internet in class they will learn to use it wisely. You, as a teacher will be able to teach students how to site sources properly which will benefit them later on in their school careers. You will also be able to help them figure out what is good information and what is junk. Learning all of these skills will make them into better students and prepare them for the challenges they will face in high school and college.
The use of computers also allows children who are not artistic to be creative in different ways. If the project is to make a book, the student can make their pictures online using a program or they could find images that fit the story. Without the computer, children that can draw would get frustrated and may not even be able to complete the book out of their own frustration. I think that if something is available and can help students in a way that interest them it should be used. The computer could also cut down financial struggles in the classroom. Instead of a child needing something new for every project they can use the resources they need on the computer. Instead of buying twenty copies of the same book for each student, teachers can mark web pages online for their students to use. This method of getting reading material also allows the students more choices without having to wait for a book to arrive or have multiple children sharing one book.
Technology can also help classroom time management. By having students type their papers, instead of writing them out, students will be able to edit and make revisions quicker (Everyone Learns). This will save the student’s time and they will be able to work on a different subject or assignment. Having students use these programs at a younger age they will be able to learn the proper way to type and be much more efficient when they are in high school. With technology being introduced with student work, teachers also have technology advancements that allow them to teach more efficiently. Smart board will allow teachers to lecture without having to take time to write it all out on the board and rewrite it for the next class. This will ensure every class will receive the same information.
Even though I feel technology can help students and teachers in the classroom it should not be over used. Technology should be only part of the day; teachers should not rely solely on technology. Many different ways of teaching should be used because two children do not learn the same way as using technology could hinder their school experience as much as not using technology could hinder another student. I think the best approach is to keep things fresh but not to change everything overnight.

Cummins,J., Brown, K., & Sayera, D. (2007) Literacy, Technology, and Diversity: Teaching For Success in Changing Times. Boston: Pearson.

My Introduction

My name is Erika and I am not very good with computers. I know the essentials but nothing fancy like making a website. This is my first blog and I am very excited to learn how to become a blogger!