Chapters 10 and 11 covered several topics of interest to me, including, the use of technology to support diverse learners, the inclusion of technology in service-learning projects and the utilisation of pre-assessment surveys.
As someone pursuing my degree in Special Education, in conjunction with my Childhood Education degree, I was extremely excited to read about various low-tech, mid and high-tech classroom organization tools--such as text to speech software, virtual manipulatives and assistive technologies--that enrich the learning experience for diverse learners, including children with disabilities. I also appreciated the emphasis on how technology can facilitate more multicultural and multilingual approaches in the classroom. In New York City, it seems to be a good bet that as teachers, we will be encountering students from diverse backgrounds. These students--whether they have a disability, are a different gender or race, have different SES levels, or are from a different country--may feel isolated from their peers. Any strategies--technological and non-technological--that a teacher can utilise to make their classroom more inclusive and welcoming of differences are important.
Chapter 10 raised an important connection between technology and service-learning. Service learning
is a teaching strategy that combines classroom learning with community engagement. Based on lesson objectives and learning goals, students help identify a community need, implement a project which addresses this need and reflect on this process throughout. One example of a service-learning project that I could incorporate with my students in the future is to have students identify (through internet research) what skills seniors would like to gain or what needs they have. After, for example, identifying that seniors often feel lonely in their senior center and would like to connect to their friends who are dispersed around the country/world, students could work with seniors to set up social media accounts and write profiles with them. Students could write a blog to reflect on the experience of setting up an account with the seniors.
Chapter 10 also addressed the use of pre-assessment surveys to gain insight into student knowledge on a topic. This discussion on why pre-assessment surveys were used definitely expanded my thinking on how to use these surveys in a more engaging fashion. For example, I can use a pre-survey to have students vote on what type of final project they would like to complete or assess their knowledge of an issue up front and show students how they have grown in understanding by giving them a post-assessment at the end of the unit.
Questions for further thought
1) What technologies have you found in working with children with disabilities? What disability did the child have, and how was the technology useful?
2) Do you have experience creating service learning projects with technology? If so, what was the project and how was technology incorporated?
3) For what reasons or how would you plan to use a pre-assessment survey in the classroom?
