Blog #2

While I was searching through the technology center for elementary school-age children, I learned how teachers are becoming more creative in using technology for the younger students. They even showed the parents how they integrated technology in the classroom. The example given was a slide show about different families and the different holidays they celebrate or what days are special to them. Each of the students made a slide about the different things their family celebrated. The teachers, of course, would help the students create their slides after they brainstormed ideas and made a sketch of what they wanted on the slide. I have never heard of that before, especially in an elementary classroom, and I think that it's a really good idea.

Since the last class meeting, I learned how to do so many different things on Microsoft Word. I considered myself pretty literate when using Microsoft Word, but after the last class meeting, I didn't really feel that way anymore! There's so many things you can do on word that I didn't realize. When I become a teacher, I can use these new skills to create things that will keep the students interest and hopefully they won't be bored!

I learned about the ICommunicator. This piece of assistive technology allows students who are deaf or hard of hearing receive the same education and can communicate back with the teacher. It can turn speech or text into sign language and allows the deaf person to understand what the teacher is saying. It can also translate English. I think this is a really neat tool, especially since more and more students are coming to the United States not knowing very much English. This will also help as students with disabilities, especially hearing disabilities, are mainstreamed into the regular classrooms.