An Introduction to Assistive Technology in the Classroom

Welcome to my blog chronicling my learning throughout Assistive Technology 5163.  Today we started out what could have been a sleepy and blurry (and HOT - although I guess it was still hot) morning by introducing ourselves through an interactive and exciting Ipad app called PicCollage (see above for what Candice and I created).  This was a really fun and engaging way to get to know one another and offered some insight into what types of opportunities are available with this app.  As we were "playing around" I couldn't help but reflect on the ways which I could use this in my 2/3 classroom next year, including students creating collages about big ideas in Social Studies or Science, or as a way which students could introduce themselves to one another in our September project.. All About Me.  Really, the options are endless as this app allows students to use photos and other interactive tools like stickers and text to record their ideas. 

As this is a course in which the focus will be on how to integrate technology to help students access literacy, our next activity was eye opening for me.  We were asked to write a letter to Santa... We had about 4 minutes and ..... had to use our left hand.  Here is what I got down (I realize it is sideways, but flip your computer around.  I am new with this blog thing!).

As I was writing, at first I was impressed with my progress!  I thought the "Dear Santa" part looked pretty darn good!  But as I was writing that last a, I realized I was forming my letters just like one of my students from this past year.  We will call him Cody for the purpose of this blog, and he was in my Grade 4 class this year.  He is on an IPP for language arts and math and his Psycho Ed. this  past year revealed he is cognitively low in almost all areas.  For him writing was a painful experience.  Luckily for me, he was not a "reluctant writer" per say, he would sit quietly, get a few words down on paper each writing period.  After a little while, as I got to know my students better I began to notice he was mostly doing a whole lot of nothing during writing periods.  As I was desperate to support his independence with writing activities and decrease his reliance on adults, I introduced him to the WordQ writing software.  He had success with this program; however, as I am introduced to more and more apps, especially the Prizmo app, which albeit is a bit expensive ($9.99),  would be extremely beneficial for him as it can read aloud (not to mention that the Ipad has the capabilities to read selected material), I can't help but think how an Ipad could support Cody in the classroom, and many students with similar learning struggles to him.  

As an educator, supporting independence is high on my list of priorities.  Using assistive technologies is one way to do this for students, especially students who struggle with independence in certain areas.  Using an Ipad to support Universal Design of learning and differentiation across subjects is something that I can see myself doing more and more of in the future (as it is my belief it is a necessity)  as these technologies become available.  Stay tuned for more exciting apps and ways to support ALL students access outcomes, across all subjects!