Adapting for Impairments in the Classroom

In every teacher's career they will, at some point, have to adapt their classroom for children with impairments whether it may be severe or not.  There are some general adaptations that will help these students like arranging the classroom desks in a manner that will be beneficial, or providing an Individualized Education Plan to help organize what the student can do and needs to work on.  With today's technology there are many computerized programs and activities that can adapt to children with different impairments or disabilities.  I think it is important for teacher's to learn about some adaptations that are currently available, so that they are able to make the students with impairments as comfortable and mentally able as they can be.  Some aids are of higher cost, but these students need them because it can allow a student to feel and do their best in the classroom.

Related Site:  http://atrc.utoronto.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=86&Itemid=94

Image From:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesclay/3509154283/
 

ACTIVboards in Classrooms

I have been fulfilling my level one field experience at Irving Elementary School in Waterloo, Iowa, where I have, for the first time, used an ACTIVboard in a classroom.  This experience for me was rather neat because I got to interact with the students while teaching the lesson as well.  I feel that this board is much more interactive for kids than just writing down information on a regular white board.  As well as being interactive, the kids get really excited about using the board as well.  They become so excited that they pay more attention incase there is any chance they will be able to go up and answer a question.  The teacher's lesson became more interesting and interactive for all of the students when they got to be involved in using the board.  I felt that this was an amazing way to integrate technology in the classroom, not only to get the kids involved, but also to benefit the teacher's lessons as well.

Related Site: http://www.techlearning.com/article/13910
Image From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosipaw/4316117083/

How do Teachers Integrate Technology in the Classroom?

Some years ago, there was not an option to even use the classroom and even when it was introduced the availability and use were limited in the classroom.  Now that it is available for use in the classroom, I think teachers and staff should take full advantage.  There are some very positive outcomes for using the internet in the classroom, but like most things, there are also some negative aspects as well.  Using the internet opens an unending amount of information to them and integrating different forms of learning from the internet can be very beneficial to any diverse group of children.  New things, such as using various forms of the internet for learning, can get many kids excited about school, like creating a website where kids can all contribute ideas of which they have all personally researched and were able to add to the data already found.  Another interesting idea is having an online assessment, so that even students who are on vacations or on summer vacation can be involved.  One other thing that we are seeing more of in classrooms are called "interactive white boards" which allows for a more hands on learning environment in a diverse classroom.  Along with these amazing positive changes also come some concerns about the use of internet in the classroom including; cost, available equipment, the quality of the site being used for research, plagiarism, and cheating.  Although many of these things may occur I believe that it is worth it to be able to integrate technology in the classroom environment.


Related Site: http://712educators.about.com/cs/technology/a/integratetech.htm
Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/extraketchup/408727666/
Video Embeded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za0SoaGQsYg

Who Should be Responsible to Teach Internet Safety?

I think parents should be the ones who take primary responsibility for teaching kids about the dangers along with the benefits of the internet. Parents should be involved with the child's use of the internet and know the warning signs of children putting themselves in danger on the internet.  There are internet safety laws, but the best way to keep children out of internet trouble is the parent watching out for their kids.  The best way to keep kids out of internet trouble is to have the parent be involved with the internet activity and keep their time on the internet monitored.  Another way to keep children safe from online predators is to have the parent teach the child about the warnings and caution them about what can happen if they aren't careful, and to let them know that if these things are happening to immediately tell an adult.  I also believe some websites should be blocked in schools because it is inappropriate for students to be able run across inappropriate sites on purpose or on accident.  Although, I think if teachers are using the internet in their classrooms, they also need to inform their students of the risks.

Related Site: http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/net_safety.html#
Images from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hammahamma/3094166547/

My First Post!

I'm going to be using this site to share some things I explore related to educational technology.