Reflections

1. My favorite tools that I played around with during this course were the google documents. We used the GMail accounts the district provided last year with our fifth graders but we did not do it justice. The email accounts were used primarily for email purposes which is just the beginning. Next year, I would like to have my older resource students collaborate with their peers to work on class assignments. By partnering them up on assignments, I could support the special education student when he/she is out of class. This is something we could collaborate on either online or side by side. The fact that the documents are saved in one place and accessible by any computer makes the documents mobile! This is convenient when the special education students are often pulled to different locations. Through the online collaboration of google docs, the special education students can stay connected even when they are out of class!


2. Last year I was thinking about an entire grade level in regards to technology. However, this year I am refocusing my attention to my special education students and using technology to boost not only their knowledge but self-esteem as well. At the end of the year, I had already started to mentor a fourth grader who I am going to call on to help his peers. I have found that technology is an equalizer and students who sometimes have difficulty with reading and writing, are not intimidated by technology. This is a medium where we can reach them!

3. Unexpected outcomes from this program was the realization of how much I am unfamiliar with! I have heard of some of the tools but hadn't taken the time to experiment with them. Use it or lose it! So I will definitely make a concentrated effort to expose my students to these tools this year so that together we will fill our toolboxes!