Assistive Technologies are Essential

One thing that I would like to fully implement into my classroom is the use of assistive technologies.  I believe that they are essential in every classroom.  Students have a variety of learning styles and learning needs, therefore need as many options for learning as possible.  Some students have hearing problems and could be greatly helped out by some form of microphone used in the classroom, others with sight problems could be helped out by projectors which can enlarge the size of things.  Other technologies can be used to help students with other motor skill problems such as trouble moving their hands and fingers, or who have trouble walking and getting around the classroom.

Although I believe this is important, there are many obstacles which could prevent this from happening.  Some schools do not have the funding to provide these technologies, therefore it may be difficult to help some students properly adapt in the classroom.  As we become more and more aware about what students need to succeed, I believe it will be something that will be a goal of many schools to be able to provide these for their students.

image provided by iowaaeaonline.org

Even though it is up to the school as to the opportunities these students have, I would like to make a case for any students who needs some assistance to help them with their learning.  Any adaptions which could benefit the student, efforts should be made to get these in the class.

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Assistive Technologies in the Elementary Classroom

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Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants

I coach basketball at Waverly-Shell Rock and I recently attended the all sport pre-season scrimmage and meetings and at this the superintendent was the guest speaker and I was very surprised to hear him suddenly begin to talk about the students being digital natives and all the the teachers and people his age being digital immigrants; since we have talked about this a number of different times this semester.

He basically talked about how the students have all this technology at their finger tips and they are so fluent at using it because they grew up with it and have been using it their entire life.  Where as himself, and the other teachers, did not grow up with all this technology and is something that they are continually working at getting familiar with as things continue to change.  He talked about his grandchildren and how they are eight and six and they can do more on a computer that he can and they are faster at everything than he is.  That is because this is the only thing they have ever known, where as he is trying to learn something brand new and it takes a lot longer when your not used to it.

Another thing that he hit on relating to this was how things are continually changing and how they will always continue to change.  He talked about how teachers can prepare for all of the current technology that is out there and become knowledgeable about what is out there, but that will all be old news in the next 20 years or so.  He mentioned that this current generation of all this technology and information will be gone within the next 15 to 20 years and we will have a whole new generation of something that we can not even imagine right now.




 Digital Natives vs Digital Immigrants













Images provided by: iowaaeaonline.org

The meaning of colors

When you see the color green...what do you think of?  What about blue? Red?  Some people may just see a color and think nothing else about.  Some people, however, may look into this color and see much more.  For example, many people when they see the color green think about money, or grass in the summer; when you see the color blue you might think oceans, water or the sky.  And red might represent fire or warmth.  This is something that I noticed but I never really stopped and thought about until learning about visual literacy in this class.  You can make people feel a certain way just by the colors that you present to them.  If you want your students to be calm, you can use blue to help mellow them out and prevent them from going bonkers in your class.  Or if you like that type of atmosphere and want you kids to be up beat and wild, you can surround them with oranges and reds making them more energetic.

Also what you present to your class visually can determine what it is you think about.  If you are teaching about money to a younger class and you are using powerpoint, you could make your slides green, the color of money, to get them more in-tuned to the lesson.  Or when you teach them about oceans, use blue in your presentation and they will naturally think oceans because the blue is shown.

These are things that you may not normally think about as being important but it is something that really is effective and has been proven that people do think of certain things when presented with a color.  Therefore, use this to your advantage and psychologically engage your students into your lesson by using colors as a hook for them.



What do people think of when they see a color??







photo from iowaaeaonline.org

Not quite up with the digital age

It seems that many teachers are unfamiliar with the increase in technology that is continually occurring.  There are many times during a class when the teacher will be trying to use a computer program or DVD player to enhance their lesson, but they do not know how to properly use this equipment.  Often times they have to stop and ask the students to help them get it set up.  Then, once it is set up, they often struggle to even get the program to work.  Many of today's teachers did not grow up using this technology, but it is something that is becoming required in today's world.  They need to be able to use this technology in order to keep the students interested and to effectively educate their students.  This also means, however, that they need to take the time to learn more about what they are using this way they are more efficient and effective at using the technology.

Here is an article about how teachers learn technology and things that could be done and done better to enhance the ability of the teachers to better use today's technology.
http://fno.org/mar01/howlearn.html

Picture from:
http://ithirewire.com/personal-perspectives/cell-phones-ipods-and-a-venti-zen-tea-from-starbucks.html