Blog Assignment 3

Technology in Special Education

Seeing these students' faces brighten up at the thought that the world can be much easier thanks to technology reminds me why I want to become a teacher. I got the chance to watch Technology in Special Education, where Ms. Cook displays how technology has greatly enhanced the ability of learning for her her students.

All of her students seemed more excited about learning then ever before. I do believe this can be attributed to the fact that technology makes learning easier for them. They all had the will to learn, it was just so difficult for them. The increased difficulty discouraged them. Now with technology they can do assignments quicker, read and write much easily, and have more time for more learning.

Apple Education App.

I searched through several applications in the education category of the app store, and I found one that really caught my eye. It is an app called Word Bingo. This app includes four different games for the learning of words. I think that creating games for learning is a great tool because every kid loves to play game and most love to be competitive.

This app keeps a log of each participants scores, so the students could challenge each other to do better each time. As I mentioned before, this app offers four different games. This will help keep the students attention, instead of it being the same old game every time. It comes with a speech function so the student will also have to say the word along with identifying it.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

Looking at this Social Media Counter really can help to open your eyes to how much the world now relies on the Internet to get information from one person to another. It makes you think as an educator if my students go home every day and use the social media mediums on the Internet. How am I going to keep their attention with just lecturing and paperwork?

There is no question I am going to have to incorporate social medias and online activities into my lesson plans. Students' minds are so in tuned to computers and technology that it only makes sense to teach them through the mediums they are accustomed to.

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

I see the message in this video A Vision of Students Today saying that there are too many distractions in today's life to want to apply yourself to old and basic classroom techniques.Every student is more worried about his or her cell phone, or more concerned with getting on Facebook then sitting down and reading a book. Many students think why should they care about class if the instructor does not care about them.

Technology helps associate the student with what they do on a daily basis. Its kind of like the app I mentioned earlier in this post. Students love using newer and cooler technology just like kids love games. So anytime you can combine something someone loves into with something they are not very fond of, it makes for an easier time.