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