Blog Post #8

There are many new adaptive technologies that are used to support learners with exceptionalities. Adaptive technologies are technologies that have features built in to them that are meant to help students with disabilities or impairments. They are used in schools to help students who have disabilities in school succeed. One example of an adaptive technology is recorded books. Recorded books are also called audiobooks and can help students that are blind or dyslexic. These books can be free and are used by school districts that lack funding. Another form of adaptive technology that can be used in the classroom are keyboard labels. Keyboard labels are adhesive labels that stick to keys on a keyboard and provide larger letters with higher contrast than regular keyboards. This adaptation helps students that have trouble distinguishing letters and numbers on keyboards. Another great technological adaptation is word processing software. Word processing software can be used by students who have a physical disability and cannot hold a pencil to write. Typing on a keyboard may be easier for these students than writing with a pencil would. This technology allows for students with physical disabilities to keep up with their class. I was in talented and gifted programs throughout school and I distinctly remember one type of adaptive technology that helped me tremendously in elementary school. SuccessMaker is a program that I used to study math in elementary school and it let me work at my own pace and work ahead of the class. This helped me because I was never bored with the material being studied. The main challenge that I perceive with adaptive technologies is price. Adaptive technologies for students who are deaf and blind are very costly and many districts in rural and poor funded areas do not have the money to implement these. This could create a socioeconomic barrier to a student's success.

Using powerpoint is very important to help a student succeed in school. Bloom's taxonomy is a hierarchical model used to classify learning objectives in schools. I will be using a lesson about the Civil War to illustrate how powerpoint is useful to students on each level of this taxonomy. The base of the taxonomic pyramid is "remember". This base stipulates that students must be able to recall facts and statistics. A powerpoint on the Civil War would have important definitions, dates, and statistics that would satisfy the "remember" level. The next taxonomic level is "understand". This level requires students to be able to explain concepts. Including maps on the powerpoint about the Civil War could help students visually understand where battles happened and why. The third taxonomic level is "apply". This level requires students to be able to use the information learned in new situations. A powerpoint could have discussion questions integrated throughout about how the Civil War relates to current race relations and ethnic tensions. The fourth level in the pyramid is "analyze". This requires students to be able to draw connections between ideas. A powerpoint on the Civil War would give a teacher the ability to connect ideas in the chapter in the presentation and facilitate a student's analysis. The fifth level of the taxonomic pyramid is "evaluate". This requires students to be able to justify a decision. A powerpoint could help students weigh their own thoughts and opinions about the true reason behind the Civil War and create an educated stance. The top of the pyramid is called "create". This requires students to be able to produce a new work. As a teacher you could require students to create their own powerpoint presentations about an aspect of the Civil War to show this creativity.

Teachers are responsible for keeping up with current technological trends and implementing changes in to their classrooms. One website that can be used to keep up with technological innovations and professional development is Edutopia.org.

Edutopia is a popular online resource that contains a variety of information on many different topics. The topics they cover on the website range from new adaptive technologies to modern day teaching techniques. This site also features many new articles every day that help teachers hone their skills and stay knowledgeable in their subject areas.