Blog Assignment #3

     After watching the videos What Is Peer Editing?, Writing Peer Reviews the Top 10 Mistakes, and watching the slideshow Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial I have learned how to efficiently critique my classmates on their blogs as well as future co-workers in my teaching career. The information given is not only very useful but can be productive in our own personal growths as good teachers. Teachers, especially, need to know how to give someone constructive criticism in a nice fashion. They are role models to their students and need to be setting a  good example for them at all times.


     Criticizing someone else's work can be difficult but as they said in the video about writing peer reviews, "don't be a Mean Margaret or a Picky Patty". It is quite possible to explain to someone their mistakes without hindering your friendship or work relationship with them. In the past I have always strayed away from expressing my judgement about another's work because I did not want to hurt the person or make them feel bad. I have learned through this blog assignment however that it doesn't have to be a bad thing. We need to help one another become the very best student, teacher, and person we can be, and to do so we must be honest with each other about difficult subjects sometimes.

     While watching the video Technology In Special Education I learned many different ways in which we can enrich the lives of students in the special education programs. Technology is taking new leaps across the globe in ways that we can never even imagine, so why should we hold back in the classrooms full of students who will one day be required to use these devices in the work place. Not only does technology make things easier for teachers, but it can make the world of difference for students too. For example, Corbin, the little boy from the video who has struggled in the past with silent reading. He is able to listen to the book being read through headphones on an iPod while he follows along reading his own, physical copy right in front of him.


     Another example of how technology can improve the well-being of special education students in and outside of the classroom is a girl named, Sherae. Sherae uses a computer like device that makes it able for her to speak without actually speaking with her mouth. A big battle in the special education field can be non-verbal students. The only reason this even poses as an issue is because we as teachers cannot communicate properly and effectively with non-verbal students while trying to keep eyes and ears on the rest of  the classroom. But with the help of technology like Sherae's this battle could be won effortlessly! I hope we see the day where students like Corbin and Sherae will no longer have to struggle in the classroom.

     After watching the video How the iPad Works with Academics with Autism, I searched for an app here, Apple.Education.Apps.com and found an app called "Math Bingo" that I would thoroughly enjoy using with special education students in my classroom. The app allows the student to work independently yet still receive help through the Apple device. Math Bingo specifically can keep students engaged simply by their graphics. They use bugs and insects instead of boring red dots to cover numbers that have been drawn. Each equation must be answered for them to determine which square must be covered, therefore they are intrigued while working out math problems that could bore them when written out on a piece of plain notebook paper.

     I watched the video Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts and was impressed with the creativity of Mrs. Vicki Davis. She sees her classroom as a canvas. Teaching her students how to use computers and technology programs while she herself continues to learn more about these areas of expertise. Mrs. Davis doesn't see herself as better than her students which makes a huge impact on her life as well as the progress of her students. When she teaches them about a new program or device she is teaching them skills that they will need in the future as either a requirement for a job or just simply to help them throughout their work day.


     A big thing that I love about Vicki Davis is that she doesn't focus on one aspect of technology, she spreads out as far as she can when taking advantage of her students time on the computers. She turns computer class into language arts class when a student asks how to spell a word or where to stick a comma by making them research it on the internet. However, when students are not watched carefully enough there can be an issue of distractions from games or hazardous internet sites, or  getting a hold of false information and learning things incorrectly. Vicki Davis is on to something, and it's about time we start listening.