HELLO? Can you hear me?

This past week I was fortunate enough to attend a training session for the benefit of several of my students.  Being an exceptional student education (ESE) teacher I use many pieces of educational technology just to help my non-verbal students communicate effectively with myself, other staff members, and their peers.  I have five students in my classroom that use an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device on a daily basis to help them communicate.  Four of my students currently use the same device, which is what I went to a training on.

Communication devices have always fascinated me just because of their shear ability to help a non-verbal person connect to those around them.  This particular device is actually a tablet with a communication board application on it. Can you believe how far we have come in our technology that we can now have a deceive that we not only can watch movies, connect to the WWW, get our email and communicate with others!  During this training I was able to really see the full depth of the program.  The memory on both the program and the device is unreal!  You can program anything you would like into the AAC that will be helpful to the student.  During the session we went through and personalized our students device.  By personalizing I mean, adding their name, their age, their birthday and so on.  You can add mom and dad, brother, sisters, other family members, family pets, pretty much anything imaginable.

While going through the program another really cool feature that I learned was the pronunciation menu.  This was a place where you could actually program the device to say words and names in the correct form so they don't sound so computerized.  Being able to work with this program gave me another jump start back into my love for educational technology, specifically AAC devices.

I also use many over AAC devices in my classroom such as an IPad, a big switch, and general picture cards with my students to help them begin to communicate their needs and wants to others without becoming to frustrated or overwhelmed.  I also this is in important to get those kids who are non-verbal to begin starting their own conversations with others, which sans these devices would be impossible.

In an ESE classroom educational technology in the form of AAC devices are essential for the communication needs of the students as well as to be able to teach them to become independent and possibly participate in the general education classroom.

So I ask you this, have you ever had to use an AAC device in your classroom?  If so did you find it difficult to incorporate into the routine?  Why?

"Are we doing what's best for our students..."

Dr. McLeod posed the question "Are we doing what's best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?' is a strong question that made me think about myself and reflect on things that I have done while teaching.  I think as teachers we tend to stick with what we know works and don't think outside the box as much.  This is proven many times in reference to technology, a new technology becomes available to us in a classroom and I know I mumble and grumble about it because "its just another program/device I need to learn about."  Once I learn about the program I generally fall in love with it and enjoying using it but initially all I can think about it the hours I will have to spend getting to know all about it.

After viewing the youtube video "Iowa, Did you know?" I needed to pick my jaw up off the floor.  I knew students of this generation use a lot more technology then I did as a child but not to the extent that was pointed out.  Since we do live in such a technologically rich time we as teachers need to adapt with our students.  Many times our students will know more about the technology then we do and actually will teach the teacher about new technology or programs.  This year I work with many different communication devices with my students as well as IPads and computers.  So I have thought about the question from Dr. McLeod, there are times when I did not want to take the time to learn about the devices because it is an inconvenience to myself, that is NOT what is best for our students!

This year I have become excited about using all these new forms of technology to connect my class together.  This year I am fortunate enough to be able to use Edmodo, a type of "Facebook" for schools.  Although I am teaching an ESE class, I am going to use this program to be able to communicate with my families and be able to allow the families to connect to each other, something that I have never been able to do before.  It is also a great opportunity to incorporate technology into my classroom, one that I want to take full advantage of because there are so many schools that are not as lucky as mine.

The best thing about technology?  It motivates our students! Is that not what is best?  To have our students motivate and engaged in their own learning, to make discoveries on their own, and want to continue learning.

Technology keeps moving forward, are you going to join the game or are you going to stand on the sidelines?

Learning experience

Well this should be an interesting experience for me having my own blog and something i am looking forward to learning how to use!