Day 1: Back at School!

First class is over! It's been a while since I've been a student and it is a nice feeling. Looking at assistive technology in the classroom is something that I find a daunting task as I don't often encounter these types of students in my day to day work life. For me, I took this class as a way to challenge myself and my teaching.

The first video that we watched was truly inspiring. It made me feel that no physical or cognitive limitation should stop someone from accomplishing great tasks. I found myself thinking that this person is doing something that I could never do... Mostly because I am terrified of heights! This person has kind of inspired me to try new things, and maybe my limitations will not stop me from accomplishing anything I set my mind to. I may try to conquer my fear of heights the next time the fair is in town!

I definitely enjoyed using the PollEv in class. I can definitely see myself using it as a way to start or conclude conversations in my own classroom. I am teaching ELA for the first time this year, and it will definitely be a useful tool for brainstorming and getting student opinions.

Our first activity of the day was defining a term (Disruptive Technology) and explaining it using the Chomp App. Chomp is a very fun and engaging app. There are many options for students to use various ways to represent many topics and concepts. I am still struggling to see how I could use this in my math and science classes, but it is definitely something I will be getting students to use in ELA and Social Studies.

And now for your viewing pleasure... Our video!!

For me, the biggest takeaway of this class was all the new apps that we've discovered. I am new to teaching languages, and I can totally see myself using many of these apps to help students augment their learning, or to even redefine the way we learn. Giving the students a more collaborative model where we could work with other classes in the building, or even in other schools and school districts.

I really appreciated Timeline and Adobe Spark. I am very much a slave to PowerPoint Presentations. My very linear thinking and analytical mind likes having these things organized in a orderly and efficient way. With these programs I can continue to teach using the methods I enjoy, but add a bit of spice and variety for the students in my classroom.

I feel that it is very important to always be on top of new technologies because my students are very much up to date and ahead of everything I know. They drink up and thrive on technology.

In summary my three takeaways are:
1. Limitations should not stop anyone from accomplishing great things and any goal that we set ourselves.
2. PollEv is a great way for students to brainstorm, to communicate, to indicate things they know or need to learn.
3. The new apps that I can now use in various settings of my classroom to help engage students and diversify their learnings.