Promoting Success for all Students through Technology

       Being a teacher doesn't only mean showing up to work and teaching the same kids all the same thing and going home and calling it a day. Being a teacher means learning the way different students learn and going through that journey with them. Whether it be a disabled student who has speech issues and takes a while to verbally express themselves or a blind student who needs an iPad everyday - making sure these students succeed is also a huge part of being a successful teacher.

        I remember I was in a program called ESOL in Kindergarten. This was a time where me and two other Spanish students spent separately from the rest of the class to focus on the English language. From what I can remember it was fun and interactive and filled with mostly games. Programs like these that run all the way until High Schools are focused on children who have learned English until they enter into the school system or who recently are transferred from Spanish speaking countries. Other tools that are more on the spot are websites like Google Translate which is available in many many languages. It isn't always 100% accurate but it gives basic translations.

        There are also universal designs for technology according to the class textbook which are arranged in three different categories pertaining to the level of technology involved in each.  The first one is low-tech accomodations which means changes can be made easily, inexpensively and without using digital materials, like a chair and desk. Mid-tech accommodations involve shifts in organization and delivery of curriculum that may include using digital tools. An example of a mid-tech would be classroom recordings of the class that students can look over after class is done for review. High-tech accommodations introduce changes associated with the use of computers and other specialized information technologies in the classroom, like educational apps.

         Multicultural education in the 21st century is changing as students are coming from all over the world into our school systems and integrating more multicultural tools, stories and teaching plans helps them be more engaged and involved. Multicultural education means how teachers go about "affirming" the expansive diversity of students interests, needs and talents present in every school classroom as said in the textbook. Instead of using only American history for projects, reading material and videos in the classroom students from elsewhere might find it difficult to pay attention or relate and incorporating different history points or historical people might make it more interesting and familiar for the entire class.

        In conclusion, in today's classroom it is almost impossible to not use technology in some way or another. Adjusting and accommodating our special needs students should be an opportunity for a teacher to help a student grow. Incorporating technology doesn't always need to be only for the ones that are highly trained as we see in the universal designs of technology levels.

RESOURCES:

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.