I really enjoyed Ira and all of his ideas. It was great to hear of all of the ideas and practices that would lend themselves to helping students to become successful regardlesss of their abilities. The obstacles I forsee would be administrative due to time constraints,time on task, etc.Research would have to be presented and proven in order to get approval. Nevertheless, it would sure be worth a try. Th A plus program would be one example of a great program that allows students to work at their own pace, allowing them to become successful.
Technology for diverse learners was an eye-opener. I did not realize there was so much out there available. Having the time to research, practice and then implement these technologies could be quite a task but so worth it for the children. All children are diverse learners but technology could reach them in such a positive way. I especially like having the ability to offer information to students in their native language. Once they understand what reading is, learning a second language will make so much sense. What tool for them to have. Making these resources available to students will be the challenge.
What better classroom than yours to start students with assistive technologies? Do you think your students could use the text to speech to learn to read faster and with more fluency? How about dictation software so the students can tell stories and have them recorded?
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a semester long course on integrating assistive technologies into the regular ed classroom. The whole point of universal design is that all students can benefit from these technologies. We still have a long way to go in this area. What do you think?