Chapter 13 Synthesis

Chapter 13: Assistive Technology

*Things I Do Right

     I have to agree with this chapter's insistence that, "Classroom success involves hours of planning in order to create a classroom community that actively engages all students in appropriate learning opportunities" (p. 297).  I think that while I could always use help with my planning because of a lack of time, at the same time, when I do plan lessons, they are usually almost flawlessly pulled off.  There have been times when I thought every eventuality in a lesson plan was accounted for, and in the end, it was a massive failure; in that case, you just get back up on the horse and move forward.  Before reading this chapter, I didn't really know what the term "assistive technology' referred to specifically.  Now that I do, I can say that I don't have much experience with utilizing this technology in my own classroom because there hasn't been a need yet.  However, I need to be familiar with the options available.  I think I do a good job of suggesting and choosing professional development sessions to help with some of this new knowledge.  For example, I am getting much better at using my SmartBoard (interactive white board) to get my students involved, and also to record all of my "board drawings."  

*Oops

     One thing I know I need some work on is knowing what technology is available out there for my students to utilize.  I need to make myself more familiar with the possibilities.  I also need to try to make the lessons more useful to my students' lives by creating real-life contexts using the media available to me.  I need more training on my SmartBoard, and I also probably need a refresher course on what I could use in my classroom to make my students' learning experience more exciting and interactive.  I want to be able to easily create review games, and at this point, I just don't have the knowledge base to do this. 

*Things I Might Use
     I want to be able to use technology to give immediate feedback in order to let my students know what they are doing right and in what areas they might need more help.  I think if I keep continuing my professional development in the available technology out there for me, it will make me a better teacher and will help my students to learn better and in a more real-life context.  It is important to me that the students can relate what I am teaching them to their own lives, and I hope to be able to use technology to facilitate this in the future.