Things 1 and 2

Wow! Reading the article and watching the video definitely reiterates what I think we all are aware of....that technology provides so many options and honestly, our students are most likely aware of the options technology can provide. Beginning this, I feel a little overwhelmed thinking about options I'm not completely familiar with, but I'm excited to be able to learn and grow through this experience.

Here's a quick anecdote that I think is relevant. Last month during a quick writing topic from a book, Writing Down the Days 365 Creative Journaling Ideas for Young People, that has a writing topic a day usually connected to an important date or a holiday celebrated, one the 6th grade students I work with wrote/typed something that I think demonstrates how connected to technology our students are. The topic dealt with Alexander Graham Bell's invention, the telephone. The question posed was, what would your life be like without a telephone and how would you communicate with others if there were no telephones? The student wrote that his life really wouldn't change that much because he could just send an email or a message on Facebook to anyone he needed to talk to.

Reading the article, I found myself jotting down a few notes that came to mind. Being a special ed. teacher, I think the idea of blogs is wonderful. Being able to stay in touch and up to date on everything that is going on in the general education classroom can be a challenge. Telephone calls and emails do work, however, the idea of posting weekly plans in a blog format is neat. It provides another option for staying current with my students and the work they are completely (e.g. book reports, projects, tests). Blogging about what my students are working on or interesting articles connected to special education, could be beneficial for parents and gen. ed. teachers as well.

As I read, I also immediately thought of the Montessori philosophy and Gardner's multiple intelligences. So many options present themselves with blogging and students responding to blogs, creating own study guides etc. Students take responsibility for their learning (study guides), practice different forms of writing (e.g. persuasion), provide facts and details, not just a broad statements.

With the use of technology, students are not just providing back to us rote facts. It provides us an opportunity to provide them with experiences in thinking in other ways than paper and pencil.