Blog Post 8

Lots of adaptive technology can be used to help students with special needs. Concept mapping is a helpful tool. It helps students visually see how abstract ideas are interconnected and provides writing organization help. Recorded books and electronic texts can help visually impaired students listen to audio in order to still retain information from text. I’ve listened to audio books in the car while driving, so I understand that it’s a great alternative to actually reading a book. I think challenges would arise with audio books, if other children are silently reading and one child needs to have an audio book playing out loud, that would be distracting. But the class could take turns reading passages aloud together to solve this issue.

Using PowerPoint to teach students at each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy would be easier than with some other forms of technology. For remembering basic facts, PowerPoint enables teachers to use catchy transitions and graphics for kids to recall later on, in order to remember a certain concept. Certain colors and animations will stand out and allow students to recall information more easily than just simple writing on a white board. PowerPoint can play videos of your choice that can show students how information is used in real life situations. For elementary science, Bill Nye videos are a good example of this. He shows science in real life situations and explains concepts in easier ways. Students can also produce their own original work using PowerPoint as well. They can create presentations about an idea and speak in front of their classmates. PowerPoint presentations can help students get more comfortable with each other. Also, while they’re explaining their own ideas they will be able to better evaluate and analyze that topic themselves. Presentations are a form of self-learning.

ISTE’s website has the most updated events and learning tools for teachers to stay up to date with the latest technology trends. They are interested in bringing “the world to the classroom.” Their next conference is being held in Chicago. 16,000 educators will be there. This is the place to make face-to-face connections are learn about the latest, most important trends and teaching advice. They also have eBooks, magazines, and consulting services to learn from on the website.

https://www.iste.org/