Assistive Technology

Through CEP 452, I have learned a great deal about assistive technology.  Before this course, I had not given assistive technology very much thought.  I had no idea how much assistive technology was out there or what exactly qualified as assistive technology.  I now see how much potential assistive technology has.  Assistive technology can be used in any classroom.  This technology has such a wide range of offerings that it allows teachers to find the technology that will work best for their student.  Assistive technology has a place in both general eduction and special eduction rooms.  I feel that a lot of students could benefit from having assistance from technology.  I think that almost any student will struggle with something throughout their schooling and technology could help.

Questions

I feel that questions play a very important part in the classroom.  Even if a student asks a question that you cannot answer right away, I think it is still important to value the question and encourage your students to continue asking questions.  I feel that there are ways for students to know you value questions without having to answer every question immediately when it is asked.  I think that each teacher needs to find their own way balancing the encouragement of questions without answering them all right away.  One possible way to do this is to allow your students to write their questions down.  You can then have your students put the questions in a question box for you to answer later, or the students can hold on to the question and the teacher can answer it during a designated time later that day.  This is just one possible solution but there are many.

Wait Time

I think that wait time is a very important in the classroom.  Once you have asked a question of students, you need to give the students time to process what you have asked.  Students also need that time so that they can formulate an answer.  The additional time give students to think about an answer and to form it in a way that they can say it.  I think wait can also be beneficial for teachers.  Once a students has given a response to the question, the teacher also needs a second or two to process what the student response was. Wait time at this point gives other students time to process the answer as well so that they can respond as well to what the student said.  I found an article that discusses some of the benefits of wait time: Think-Time.

Google Docs

I had never used Google Docs but I had heard some about them.  What I had heard was that they were there and could be used.  I had not been told or encountered the benefits that Google Docs has over Microsoft Word.  I finally experimented with Google Docs and I had no idea that they could be so useful when collaborating on projects.  I think that Microsoft Word has its uses but Google Docs is great for group projects.  I love that you can all simultaneously work on the document at the same time.

Online Tool

I found the assignment in last class fascinating.  I never knew there were so many tools out there that were available for use.  Most of the tools were free but some with cost upgrades.  I found it really helpful to go through some of these tools and just start exploring what was out there.  While we did have some issues with some of the tools, I could see the use for several of these tools in a classroom.  Even if you as a teacher did not have access to a lot of technology, these tools could be used to as extensions that students could choose to explore at home.  I also had the thought that because there were so many different tools to choose from just on this one website that you could find a tool that for everyone.  One tool may help a couple of students but not others.  There were so many different options that you could explore to find just the right tool for students.

9-28-10 Digital Books

I think that digital books have their place and that they may be helpful for some people.  I do not think that hard copy books will ever go completely away.  As time passes more people may find digital books more to their liking and we may find more uses for digital books, but I do not think that hard copy books will ever completely disappear.  Hard copy books do have their place as well.

In class mathematics and the use of calculators came up in discussion.  I feel that calculators do have a place in mathematics but most concepts should be taught first without calculators.  Most of mathematics is about relationships and those relationships build on each other.  If, as a math teacher, all you teach is how to push buttons on the calculator, then I question if you have really taught mathematics.  Math is more than just the answer.  If students do not understand why there are pushing the buttons on the calculator and what exactly the calculator is doing, then you have not really taught them math.  On the other hand, once students have demonstrated that they know the underlying concepts, then there is no reason that students cannot use calculators to make things easier.  Also, as a good math teacher, students need to be taught why this math is important.  If you teach math from a relational standpoint, I feel that it is easier to make the connection to real life.  Math concepts build on each other, so if you do not understand the concepts  in one grade then it is extremely difficult to understand the concepts in the next grade.  This is not completely true for all concepts, but is for the majority of them.