While completing the most recent learning module for IICT2, it became quite apparent to me that we as teachers need to not only be prepared to integrate technology in to our practice, but we must also fully know who are our special education students. Psychologists make diagnoses and recommendations to assist students with these diagnoses, but it is a teacher who must support the student each day. In order to best help the special education student, teachers must prepare his/her students to utilize the recommended technology, and that means he/she must teach his/her student(s) the features and tools of the technology, not simply allow the software program and its capabilities to provide the support. This vital step involves knowing your student's strengths, areas for development, and needs because without first getting your student to fully utilize the technology, it then becomes another unused tool and does not provide any value to the student's education.
The teacher is not alone in this venture. He/She has support of his/her SERT and principal, who can provide some answers, guidance, and connections necessary to help make the process easier. The teacher must approach this process as one member of a team, whose ultimate goal is to support the student in his/her learning endeavours. Only as a team can the integration of technology and software programming be valuable to the special education student body.
I really enjoyed having an opportunity to explore the variety of software and technology which the OSAPAC website has to offer. When completing the software review brochure activity, I spent some time exploring many of the software titles on the OSAPAC list. It gave me a chance to see what there is to offer my students as well as an opportunity to learn more about the main features of each program. There are a few titles accessible to my students on our board's server, but up until this point, I had not the time to explore their capabilities. I found the OSAPAC website to be extremely informative, and it will be a place I will continue to visit as I continue to explore the many titles.
The discussion forum in this module provided me a space to not only express my thoughts, but also reflect on them to either change my thinking or strengthen it. One aspect of utilizing assistive technology for special education students which has concerned me is the time it takes to make the students feel comfortable and skilled enough to use some of the complex software. But through viewing some of the videos in this module and reading some of the success stories from my colleagues' experiences, I have come to the conclusion that spending time teaching these students how to use the technology, even if it is an enormous amount of time, is 'money in the bank', especially if the students are young. In this way, they can make use of the technology for the remainder of his/her educational career.
Another 'aha' moment struck me when I watched the video of a young man with Autism give a presentation to hundreds of people after having been told as a young person that he would never speak let alone be innovative. This video made me realize that we can limit or inspire our students, depending on how we approach our instruction for them. If we truly believe all students can learn and that they all have unique experiences and abilities, then integrating the tools and resources to support them becomes less of a burden in our busy lives, and more of objective. It has inspired me to be more active in seeking out technology and software which will aid all of my students in their learning.
The teacher is not alone in this venture. He/She has support of his/her SERT and principal, who can provide some answers, guidance, and connections necessary to help make the process easier. The teacher must approach this process as one member of a team, whose ultimate goal is to support the student in his/her learning endeavours. Only as a team can the integration of technology and software programming be valuable to the special education student body.
I really enjoyed having an opportunity to explore the variety of software and technology which the OSAPAC website has to offer. When completing the software review brochure activity, I spent some time exploring many of the software titles on the OSAPAC list. It gave me a chance to see what there is to offer my students as well as an opportunity to learn more about the main features of each program. There are a few titles accessible to my students on our board's server, but up until this point, I had not the time to explore their capabilities. I found the OSAPAC website to be extremely informative, and it will be a place I will continue to visit as I continue to explore the many titles.
The discussion forum in this module provided me a space to not only express my thoughts, but also reflect on them to either change my thinking or strengthen it. One aspect of utilizing assistive technology for special education students which has concerned me is the time it takes to make the students feel comfortable and skilled enough to use some of the complex software. But through viewing some of the videos in this module and reading some of the success stories from my colleagues' experiences, I have come to the conclusion that spending time teaching these students how to use the technology, even if it is an enormous amount of time, is 'money in the bank', especially if the students are young. In this way, they can make use of the technology for the remainder of his/her educational career.
Another 'aha' moment struck me when I watched the video of a young man with Autism give a presentation to hundreds of people after having been told as a young person that he would never speak let alone be innovative. This video made me realize that we can limit or inspire our students, depending on how we approach our instruction for them. If we truly believe all students can learn and that they all have unique experiences and abilities, then integrating the tools and resources to support them becomes less of a burden in our busy lives, and more of objective. It has inspired me to be more active in seeking out technology and software which will aid all of my students in their learning.
These moments connect to our professional standards of practice as reflections on my current, personal teaching practice in order to ameliorate it. The learning I have absorbed ensures I am remaining current on learning theories and best practices. It also provides a place for ongoing professional development.
One area I am currently interested in researching is the integration of technology in the Kindergarten classroom. I know many of my students are familiar with new technology, but not in the same way as in the classroom. I would like to use Web 2.0 tools and other technologies to help my students grow as learners, but much of the application of these software tools require a moderate to high amount of competency in regards to technology. I would really like to discover a means of aiding Kindergarten students with speech difficulties, not necessarily speech impairments, through the use of technology and speech and language software.
One area I am currently interested in researching is the integration of technology in the Kindergarten classroom. I know many of my students are familiar with new technology, but not in the same way as in the classroom. I would like to use Web 2.0 tools and other technologies to help my students grow as learners, but much of the application of these software tools require a moderate to high amount of competency in regards to technology. I would really like to discover a means of aiding Kindergarten students with speech difficulties, not necessarily speech impairments, through the use of technology and speech and language software.
RSS Feed