Well in my head I have been formulating what I have wanted to say about this class since the moment I left the room! But finding the time to do that is always a challenge!
Day one with Barbara left me amazed, to put it bluntly the first class really rocked my world! ( I actually told my principal these exact words!)
I left feeling excited, overwhelmed and enthusiastic!
I immediately went back to school and into a program planning meeting for one of my students. I had new fresh assistive technology ideas to share. Ideas that I feel will really help this student, both now and in his future. I loved that I immediately had something useful from this course that I could apply to my teaching. I discussed Imovie as a way for my student to respond to the texts he reads, as well as, the PRIZMO app to help him read. I really could not believe, that there is an app that can read text for you! I guess the saying "there's an app for that" is true!
I have been a fan of Apple products since I bought my Iphone two years ago, but after this first class I am a total believer. The idea of universal design for learning and making it assessible for all, well Apple just seems to have it all wrapped up! The things that we learned the Ipad can do, just amaze me and I already loved the Ipad.
I love Imovie. I do reading logs with my class and have decided that an I movie reading log is another way to teach and reach my students, who I feel are digital natives and do not know or want to know a world where technology doesn't exisit. Although, I do not have class Ipads, I am sure I can russle up 3 Ipads and a couple Ipods to do this project!( My students are thrilled and excited with the idea!)
This class made me think differently about my Smart Board as well, sometimes I feel we jump on board for the lateast gaget without really thinking about how it could be better!( I jumped on the SMART board ban wagon, and didn't really think about is it really best for my class?)
The SMART boards are great in some applications, but discussions in this class about universal access and only being able to have one person at a time at the SMART board has really got me thinking!
The final thing I am going to touch on was the video about Suzy Rueben...
Wow, this video was so powerful for me, and has made me think differently about how I interact with students who have autism or other special needs. I had a discussion with my husband Saturday after class, explaining that it's sad to think that these students are very aware of all that is being said around them and yet as Suzy said, we often treat them as a "non-person". It made me think of someone who is basically trapped in their body . We often assume because we can't always understand a person, then they can't understand us. This made me evaluate and think.... do I treat students in my school as "non-people" because they can't communicate with me? This completely changed my thought processes and how I will interact with all students from here on out! It also makes me want to ensure that Suzy's video gets shown to other staff at my school.
This is a video of a little girl with autism made me think of Suzy and how many really underestimated what she was truly capable of!
