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Reading Reflection #3- "One Size Never Fits All"

Reflection #3

            The article “One size never fits all” illustrates the idea of using applications within the special education classroom setting to help students with various disabilities achieve their Individualized Educational Program (IEP) goals. The article introduces what support teachers would need, the techniques they would use to implement these different forms of technology into the classroom setting, and how these forms of technology are matched with students and curriculum. Since every student has a unique set of individual goals and learning styles of which the teacher has to be aware, the process of implementing these forms of technology has to be thoroughly thought out and well developed. By implementing a technology support plan for students with special needs, educators are seeing those students meet their IEP goals and achieve benchmarks quicker. The developers of the program have tried to connect curricular activities and tasks to various forms of assistive technology and other technology resources. The training and professional development educators need would have to offer various choices in which they could learn the material and various methods to apply these strategies into the classroom. Integration of this technology is done in three tiers due to the individualized attention each student needs and how diverse learning environment is in a special education setting. In the first tier, teachers participate in workshops getting familiar with technology and how to use them to increase learning and help them meet IEP goals and benchmarks. In the second tier, teachers participate in student led conferences and have both students and teachers develop their own e-profile. In this tier, teachers learn in both a face-to-face and online environment to experience learning in an online format as well as become more familiar with what the student experiences. In tier three, although face-to-face interaction continues, most collaboration is done online and utilizes texting and other forms of communication for support. Technology integration in special education settings has had real results. For example, students who may have difficulty expressing their thoughts into words on paper in writing might find it useful to use speech-to-text feature, word prediction, and other supportive tools. Since implementing new technology into the classroom students’ attitudes towards writing have drastically changed and their motivation to write has greatly increased. The advantages to the integration of technology are seen throughout classrooms and the possibilities for different learning experiences are endless.

            As a future Special Education Teacher, I want to use technology as much as possible in the classroom, not only to benefit students’ learning and development, but as a benefit to the teacher as well. I find that technology can help when students don’t want to communicate they are struggling or may not be able to make progress due to their attention span. Applications can help in instruction, assessment, reinforcement of information, and practicing knowledge already obtained. Regardless of students’ needs, there are many different applications and tools that technology has to offer which would help the students and support the learning process. Interactive games and other applications can help increase students’ attention span and their ability to communicate to their teacher where they are struggling. They also help educators assess where students’ ability and skill levels are and what methods of teaching leads to the most progress. I feel that as long as students are engaged, positively interacting with their peers, and learning, that the basic goal of education is achieved. As a substitute teacher, a lot of the issues with behavior management stem from either a lack of engagement or being distracted. If teachers could shift students’ attention towards the lesson and engage them in the classroom and as a result, teach them the information by using technology, then technology has proven successful in contributing to the learning environment. Educators need to find ways in which they can grasp students’ attention without having it be a constant battle between what is distracting them within the class. These issues take away from instructional time and hinder learning from taking place. Overall, I believe as a future educator, technology will play a major role within my classroom, and as time moves forward, more opportunities will open up for technology to contribute to the educational process.

     This article supports implementing technology within a special education setting. Educators should be experts in the various concepts of the ISTE standards for students; however specific standards are necessary for integrating technology within a special education setting. This article illustrates how educators will implement technology, instead of the methods they will use to teach and implement technology. Certain standards need to be addressed in order to move forward with the integration of technology into a special education setting. This article does not address any specific ISTE standards for students. The main standard that is addressed for teachers is “Technology Operations and Concepts.” Teachers need to understand and demonstrate a sound understanding of the concepts, systems, and operations in order to implement and integrate them into the classroom as well as teach these standards to their students. Another concept that needs to be addressed for teachers is “Research and Information Fluency”. Teachers need to apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information to help their students learn the information in the lesson and use a variety of teaching strategies to best fit students’ needs and learning approach. Overall, I believe Special Education Teachers need to develop a firm understanding of different strategies to implement and integrate various forms of technology into curricular tasks and activities to help students achieve the objective of the lesson as well as their goals.       

References

Courduff, J. (2011). One size never fits all. Learning and Leading Through Technology, 38(8), 16-18.

Reading Reflection #2- "Unlock Literacy with iPads"

Reflection #2

            The article “Unlock literacy with iPads” illustrates how iPads as well as other technology can be integrated into classrooms. This article introduces the idea that by using the right applications on iPads, student can do activities, receive feedback, and have the application assess their skills and abilities all at the same time, while also keeping students engaged and focused on the task. There are many different types of applications educators can choose from that can help with the learning process, such as reading apps that have a built in dictionary, vocabulary applications for building such as “Words with Friends”, storytelling apps that allowed students to engage in digital storytelling, and authoring apps that allow students to create their own poems and stories with inserted hyperlinks within the writing to connect their ideas to sites that illustrate their ideas further. High scores from games could be posted to help motivate other students to achieve higher standards. Also, journal entries and other writing could be immediately turned in online when students are finished. This gives students the freedom to do the work and turn it in all at the same time in the comfort of their home. This also gives educators the freedom of grading the work wherever they are and not having to keep track of papers. By using the applications in the classroom, this particular educator noticed that assessment scores, student engagement, and completion of school work all increased. When educators use technology in the classroom, this gives students the feeling that they are more in control of their education, which leads them to take more responsibility for their work. Access to having iPads positively correlated to increased passing test scores for both reading and writing. Also, students who had iPad access rated themselves lower on reading and writing compared to those who didn’t have access to iPads in the classroom due to iPads giving students more accurate assessments of their skills and abilities due to having experience with the various programs available on the iPads. Overall, technology and applications have given educators endless possibilities and more freedom to create a unique and successful learning environment that gives students more control over their learning and academic careers.    

            As a future educator, I think that the more teachers incorporate technology into the classroom, the more engaging and interactive the environment will become. Although using technology may have its issues, such as distracting students or having to teach students how to use certain programs, the reward of creating a more interactive and engaging environment will outweigh the costs. The different types of applications offered by smart technology have endless possibilities to assist with the learning process. There are applications for all subject areas for every aspect of the learning process such as teaching, practicing, assessing and testing, using interactive games that teach and reinforce information, grading, behavior management, classroom management, and many other applications that can be utilized to help create a more productive learning environment. Applications can easily be learned and students have the freedom to take more control over their learning and even testing, which leads to increased productivity and test scores (Harmon, 2012). Overall, I believe that for educators to develop an effective lesson plan and curriculum, educators need to incorporate students’ interests to engage and motivate them to learn.          

            The idea of implementing various smart applications in the classroom connects to different NETS-S criteria. The first NETS-S criterion that is illustrated by utilizing applications in the classroom is Creativity and Innovation. By using smart applications, students are able to apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas by using new technology to reinforce existing information. Another criterion that is present is Communication and Collaboration that occurs by letting students collaborate and communicate during individual or group projects, assignments, games, and presentations. Students can also collaborate through a variety of applications and programs to help complete assignments and communicate with each other. Students can communicate with other students around the world to complete assignments, such as interviews, compete in interactive games, or even collaborate to complete assignments together. Educators’ possibilities with using smart technology and integrating the various types of applications within lesson plans are endless. Educators have the opportunity to create a collaborative and interactive environment by using technology, such as smart applications, that will increase student engagement and help increase the control they feel over their education and learning.              

References

Harmon, J. (2012). Unlock literacy with iPads. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(8),

            30-31.

Reading Reflection #1-"What if Abraham Lincoln had a Facebook Page?"

Article #1

            The article “What if Abraham Lincoln had a Facebook page?” illustrates how educators can introduce the subject of history to students while incorporating technology and social media to help classroom engagement and help them learn important facts, historical events, and the people involved. Educators can ignite students’ interests by incorporating technology and social media into their lesson plans. This article demonstrates how history can utilize Facebook to sustain students’ interest and attention while also making the learning process more interesting by creating an assignment in which students make a Facebook page for a particular person in history, such as Abraham Lincoln. The activity of constructing a Facebook page for a specific person in history has students learn biographical information, important historical events they are involved in by developing Facebook posts, viewpoints, preferences, and hobbies by “liking” certain pages, and posting photos and videos of paintings or movie scenes with captions to portray historical or personal events in history. Another activity students can perform is to generate a Facebook page for a specific person or country involved in a historical conflict, such as the Cold War or World War II. Students could start by researching and filling in the “About Me” section of the country’s history, economic, political, and social atmosphere, government philosophy, and then illustrate views and interests through what they “like” on Facebook, and even “friend request” other countries to show ally relations. Further action could be taken by “personal messaging” specific countries to show important historical events that required communication between other countries such as the Warsaw Pact or German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. Overall, this article illustrates that lessons can utilize technology, while also keeping students’ attention and interest during the lesson.

            I think this is a great example of how to integrate technology into the classroom. By using students’ interests and what already captures their attention, educators aren’t fighting an uphill battle to keep their attention during lessons or making sure they are staying on task. Also, using technology within the lesson can benefit students academically. Students truly want to learn and develop skills for success, but it is up to educators to use innovative methods of teaching that will capture students’ attention and motivate them to want to learn. I believe the learning process should be fun and interesting, and by integrating students’ interests and technology within a lesson, educators will reinforce the learning process and information presented. Although technology may be distracting in some circumstances, I believe educators can successfully integrate technology into their classroom by using different programs or applications that help engage students and reinforce collaboration within a lesson.

            The ideas in the article of integrating technology into the classroom by utilizing social media connect with the NETS-S indicators. The first indicator this activity uses is Creativity and Innovation, by having students create a Facebook page for either a person or country. This activity combines the existing knowledge they have of Facebook and the information from the lesson, while exploring ideas and creating an original idea. I also believe this assignment uses the concept of Research and Information Fluency. Students must not only research their person or country in depth to create a Facebook, but they also analyze and evaluate the information from a variety of sources. Students need to then process the data from multiple resources to create a resulting product, a Facebook page. Students also use the concept of Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, and Decision Making by identifying specific questions to investigate in their project. They must also make informed decisions and use multiple processes from a variety of perspectives to explore their topic successfully. If an issue arises, they must develop a strategy to successfully develop a solution for the issue. In this activity, students are also using the concept of Technology Operations and Concepts by demonstrating an understanding of the technology concepts, systems and operations by creating a Facebook page and updating the Facebook page regularly. This illustrates they understand how to navigate through the page, edit, and connect with other users. Integrating technology and social media into lessons engages the students, while also helping them develop the skills they need to become successful in their academic careers.                    

           

References

Glover, B. (2013). What if Abraham Lincoln had a Facebook page? Learning and Leading            Through Technology, 40(8), 38-39.

Evaluating Websites Critically

I will effectively search for information by evaluating websites critically. I will first evaluate to make sure the source is a credible and trusted source that publishes articles and websites from scholarly sources. I will also search for credible information by taking into account the sites url, whether the site is a .com, .gov, .edu, or .org and examine whether the information is credible. For example, a .org can be from an organization that has extremist views such as extremist religious groups or hate group organizations that may have .org websites. Although .edu tends to be the most credible source in my opinion, as a researcher you must also evaluate who is sponsoring the research being published. For example, if it is a pharmaceutical study proving the effectiveness of a certain drug, as a researcher I want to evaluate and make sure the study wasn't sponsored by a pharmaceutical company or organization that is supported by a pharmaceutical company. This will ensure the study is unbiased and not skewed to the satisfaction of the sponsors. Some tips to evaluate the sources credibility are to:

• Check the dates of the publication to make sure information is up to date
• Check the websites url to examine the source of the information
• Examine the content of the site 
• Examine the organizations views or the sponsors of an educational study

Overall, I will try to effectively search for information through evaluating the trustworthiness and credibility of the sources and examining the content and information of the site to make sure I am using relevant and credible information in my research.  

A Pressing Issue In Education

I think the most pressing issue in Education is how we interact with our student population and the methods we use to educate them. There are a variety of student populations, teaching practices, and pedagogical styles of teaching that exist today, so a universal standard or fit for how we interact with student populations wouldn't fit our society. We will need to create a interactive and engaging foundation in which each educator can build upon to help educate their student population with their own unique pedagogy.

Education and Technology