June 12, on my way to a memorial service

I almost forgot to e-journal last week because I was not in class, so I decided to respond about the learning that is taking place in and out of the AT course. I do find it difficult to grasp the availability of technology that can help students become more independent because of my lack of experience in this field. Although I was not in class I did text and stay connected to my partners to make sure that I was in the loop as we are winding down and completing our final presentations for the last day of class June 19th 2010.

It is very interesting that research shows, intervention at the early elementary level is crucial for the academic success of the student, so why it is that the resources and funding are primarily in junior and senior high school. As time passes in this master’s course I am being exposed to so many new strategies and approaches to support students with learning difficulties; we do have the technology, no pun intended. It seems that we need more education and training on what is available and how it can be incorporated in our day-to-day classroom activities, inclusion.

It is difficult to promote the use of technology when it is not readily available in all the classrooms and more importantly the teachers are not familiar with the support available for their students. It is not always about having a diagnosis, sometimes the technology is beneficial to empower and motivate students that have difficulty with the writing process.
If I had three wishes my first wish would be to give every student a computer and have them take advantage of their technology skills and produce work that can be submitted digitally, become environmentally friendlier as well as to maximize the assessment and tracking.

Teachers seemed to be bogged down with all the paperwork, marking and tracking information that the technology would minimize significantly allowing more time to support the students with their learning, which should be our focus. The profession has become so bogged down with data that we have lost sight of our role as the teacher.