Teachers Versus Technology

I was eating my lunch at my placement last Tuesday. The teacher and I usually eat in the classroom and chat while the students are at their lunch recess. But on this particular day the principal asked all of the first grade teachers to come in my teacher's classroom for a meeting. I was allowed to sit and observe the meeting as the teacher's talked. The main goal of the meeting was about how to incorporate more technology in the classroom even with all of the budget cuts the school is having. None of the teachers had an idea of how to do this, so I spoke up and told the principal about some of the technologies we had used in class. He wrote them down and asked to speak with me next semester (I have the same field placement next semester). I don't know what will come of this meeting next semester, but I hope I will be helpful in helping to 'update' the school with technologies such as SpeakingFox and Googdocs next semester!!

Tips from a Cripple 2: My own Brother AGAIN

I decided to ask my brother what assistive technology helps him out the most now that he is attending LCC. I was expecting to hear him say that he uses the vast amount of assistive technological equipment that is available to the 'students with disabilities' that we students see at the bottom of all of our syllabuses. But actually my brother surprised me. It seems that years of working with an occupational therapist, texting, and gaming have caused my brother to have better range of motion in his fingers and thumb so he now uses his iphone's 'notes app' to take class notes so he has them for reference at all times for five minute studying increments, because he has found that this way of studying is most beneficial to him. My brother says he uses his laptop for the heavy note taking but for big ideas he just jots them down in his phone, so he can look at them when he has time, is waiting for something, or is just bored. I have found another surprising personal technology effects a person's life

Tips from a Cripple: My own Brother

My little brother has moderate cerebral palsy. He cannot walk and has extreme stiffness in his extremities. My little brother cannot wiggle his toes or make a peace sign with his hands. I am telling you this because I want to give you a reference as to how things like putting on shoes and handwriting are extremely difficult for him. But in school my brother was classified as POHI in the special education system because he has no mental retardation and was considered an average learner in his K through 5th grade classrooms. My brother was assigned a para-educator to help him with things like writing his thoughts on worksheets, zipping up his coat, and transpiring him from a wheelchair to his classroom seat. My brother was used to having much of his school work done for him, until technology came into our lives. In 1993 (my brother is 19 now) the school gave my brother a laptop to do all of his course work, and my brother went from having a school helper be his 'shadow' the entire school day, to a school aid that just came to help him transfer from class to class, get him ready for recess, and to help him with his lunch tray at lunch. I asked him, for the purposes of this blog, how was the change to having someone helping you all day to having technology help you be independent (almost) all day. My brother responded: "at first I felt really intimidated by the whole thing because I was the only kid who was using a laptop at the school. But when I did my first assignment and found the freedom that comes with writing down your own ideas exactly how they have played out in your mind, I realized the power this laptop had finally given me." I just wanted to give a personal story of how technology has changed one person's life. Mission accomplished!

Why Facebook? Why Not!

Ok so I missed CEP one week! I know, I know. But it was really bad when I realized that I have no one's number from that class so calling classmates to get notes and an overview of what went on in the class during that day was out of the question. I also do not live on campus so that makes it harder to find people you know, who knows someone from my class. So I decided to resort to Facebook. In looking at my Facebook friends I found a classmate who was 'mutual friends' with a girl in CEP. I recognized her by her profile pic. On Facebook there is an option to send a message to someone you are not friends with so I decided to do so. I messaged my classmate asking her tell what happened in class, if I could get a copy of the notes, and what, if any homework there was for next class. The classmate immediately (I mean within the hour) messaged me back and then friended me. The first thing she posted on my wall after we became facebook friends was that if she ever missed class, would I message her with the same information I asked her. I said no prob. So I just have to say that people who think that Facebook cannot be used for academic purposes is wrong! LOL

How did I not know this?

I really had no idea that our educational system has not been through any major changes from its time of invention! I had assumed, up until last week's discussion, that America's educational systems had went through the same social changes that our American society went through during the civil rights movement, the passing of the IDEA laws, and discrimination laws. When Ira said that the way we run our schools dates back all the way to President Jefferson's time, where the main reason for school was to "scape a few gems from the mess", and that many schools "failed 50& of the students because of our society's need for manual laborers," I was shocked I didn't know any of this. I also felt mislead not only for myself, but for everyone else in education programs in universities across America, who are spoon fed the idea that our TE and CEP classes are "so innovative" with talks of mainstreaming, technology in the classroom, and those engaging teaching techniques we are learning that will change the "old days of pencil pushing worksheet time". When in fact these changes only enrich a certain population of children's learning. Specifically, the kids, I think, who would have succeeded in the traditional academic form of schooling anyway. To me, many of the changes to the curriculum and to the philosophy of teaching styles DO NOT account for those children with any kind of special needs, because our education systems have not done the major changes needed to be a completely Universal Design for Learning environment. From reading Ira's blog, I learned that not even the most necessary schooling needs such as the building construction of many schools today are not UDL appropriate. So my perspective has changed and I now know that our education system is something that is outdated and not clearly effective because "our society has changed but our education systems has not." (Sarah said this) :)

Digital Text Debate

Ya know, I like digital text. I believe in the accessibility, free cost, and ease of using Googledocs to publish anything you want, because it takes the power away from publishers when it comes to censorship. Typically publishers could have clout in changing the plot of a story for fear of the majority of readers would not like it and book sales would go down. Or publishers could make the cover of a novel more sexy with good looking people or some hip graphic design that was not the original intent or direction the author was thinking. It is this freedom and creative license that "open source" (hope I used this term correctly) technology like Gooogledocs gives anyone who wants to become a "published author", a level ground to let their unedited written opinions and narratives to be read. In tying in what I said up above and the course readings, I guess I was just really unaware of "magic 1920s law" that determines which books are public domain and which books are bound by copyright laws. I guess since I was one of those kids whose mom took me to the library twice a week, I just felt that any book I needed I could grasp at my local library. But digital text does make accessibility easier, and local libraries are not always down the street as mine was growing up. So I do think digital text is a fully positive thing, and do not really care about copyright laws anymore because they limit accessibility.