Over the past few weeks my opinion about technology integration has not changed significantly; however, I have made substantial growth in my ability to engage students through technology. When I came to the class I brought with me an idea that there should be greater integration into the classroom because today's students have become wired to learn in a way that is different from the way that I learned in school. As a teacher I knew that I needed to be able to meet those needs and make sure that students are prepared for lives in a digital world. The unfortunate limitation of my technological ambition for the classroom was that I could not answer the question, how do I actually incorporate lessons for digital learners.
Now, I fell that I have grown significantly in my ability to create a classroom atmosphere that utilizes technology as a special education teacher. Before that class I knew about digital stories and virtual field trips, but could not figure out how to actually implement them into my classes. I could tell you what I though was a great idea about how to use technology, but there was no way I could follow through. Over the course of EDU 533, I have utilized such resources as Quizlet, Glogster, iMovie, Prezi, VoiceThread, and currently run a blog that provides digital lessons to support my students when they are outside of the class and are struggling with a new concept. This summer I am creating virtual mini lessons to assist my incoming students with their summer math packet and lessons.
As a special education teacher I have struggled with how I could engage my students with technology, but felt it was more difficult because I did not have one core subject. Now, I have used that weakness as a strength and I am beginning to use digital techology for all core subjects that I support. So, my opinion has not really changed, but now I have the tools to back up my opinion, which for me is even more important than my opinion. I now feel much more confident in my ability to create lessons, using technology, across the curriculum to support students with specific needs.
