My ultimate goal as a teacher is to make sure I provide my
students a chance to obtain the skills necessary to be successful in their
lives after high school. One of the most important skills to have for the
future is the ability to use and be familiar with technology. Using technology
as an aid while teaching also allows me to reach and teach many more students.
“Digital technology provides more flexibility in reading needs of students. It
customizes learning. It reaches all kinds of learning” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). As
stated in my previous post, my goal is to use and incorporate my classroom set
of iPads as often as possible. It is my responsibility as a teacher to provide
access to curriculum for all of my students (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). All of my students have
IEPs as well as additional unique and diverse needs. I hope technology
(specifically iPads) will assist me in meeting their needs.
The
resources that I plan on using to meet my goal are obviously the classroom set
of iPads. I also plan on utilizing our school librarian /technology specialist.
She has an abundant amount of helpful resources; specifically free apps that
are supportive in the education field. Another resource that I would like to
access is a speech to text app. I have one student in particular that is
learning disabled. She is incredibly smart but has an extremely difficult time
getting writing down her thoughts. If she had the opportunity to speak into the
iPad and have it write for her, she could be extremely successful.
I would
love additional information on HOW my students learn best or how my students
are most engaged. I could easily find
the answers to those questions by creating a class survey. I want additional
information on how they learn best and what motivates them to learn. I would
also like additional information on how familiar and comfortable they are with
using an iPad. Once I have that information, I would like additional
information from my colleagues on any apps they have found to be absolutely
awesome.
So far, in
order to try and achieve this goal, I have been able to experiment with an
iPad. I try to work through apps and sites and find particular apps and sites
that I find beneficial. I have a student that already has an iPad and I have used
her as well. I ask her what apps she likes best and have her try out some of
the apps I have found.
By the
start of next school year, it is my hope to use and implement iPads on a daily
basis. Technology is the best way to hit all levels of learning and I hope with
iPads I do just that and reach all of my students (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).
Do any of YOU fine folks have any
suggestions for me?
References:
Laureate
Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Meeting Students’ Needs with Technology
Part 1
Hi Stacy,
ReplyDeleteI am so jealous that you have access to a class set of iPads! There are so many apps and tools that I have not been able to use or explore because of limited access. I have responded to other classmates about my struggles with speech to text software. I will be curious to find out if you locate an app that works well for this. I have found that the Dragon Speak software that many people rave about is very difficult to use in practical application. In a classroom, there are too many background sounds that interfere to make for effective recording of speech. An additional challenge that our school has faced is that we have a site license for Kurzweil, but this does not apply to the Kurzweil app. Therefore, all of our students who use text to speech software cannot access this on the iPad. I am always looking for useful apps that can help students learn and engage in learning. I have been deterred by reports of the number of apps that may not be county approved and may not work or be accessible in school.
Please continue to update us on your progress. If I find any great apps, I will be sure to share them as well.
Good luck!
Ellen
Hi Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI too have sued Dragon Speak and am still unsure how I feel about it. I recently received an awesome resource from one of my coworkers. It is Bloom's Taxonomy for iPads. I am working my way through those apps and will try to keep you posted on ones that I find useful or beneficial!
I recently had the opportunity to observe a very talented colleague teach a class where all of his students have access and use iPads. He has "flipped" his class and much of class time is spent producing work. I was very impressed with the app explain everything. I highly recommend looking at it as a possible tool.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck.