Hello everyone!
My name is Amanda and I’m from Surrey British Columbia! I teach with the Surrey School District as a Learning Support Specialist Teacher and have been teaching for 7 years! I currently teach intensive Math to students in Grades 5-7 who struggle in this area. Some of my students have designated Learning Disabilities in Math and work on Individual Education Plans while some students require intensive intervention to bridge the gap by using specialized programs.
I am currently taking my 7th and 8th courses and can’t believe that I’m almost done my MET journey! I’ve completed ETEC 511, 500, 565A, 565G, 512 and 531 so far!
I am looking forward to learning more about using technology in Math and Science and also about STEM.
I enjoy living an active lifestyle! I love running and playing sports. I love basketball and am a huge NBA fan. I definitely miss the Vancouver Grizzlies and hope one day we can have a team back in Vancouver again!
Looking forward to learning and working with everyone!
Hi there Amanda!
I really enjoyed reading your introduction and was very excited to see that you and I share such a similar interest and experience! I also work closely with our students with special needs in order to provide intervention in their curricular programming using technology. Through the years many non-traditional forms of assistive tech has really supported me in this area getting kids who struggle to code, use robotics, and engage in physical computing as a way to bring math to life for them. I am really hoping that despite the secondary focus on mathematics and science in the course content this term that I will still be able to take the pedagogy, new tools, and ideas to be able to apply to my areas of intervention.
I am really looking forward to hearing more about your position and what kinds of technology you are using with your students to enhance their math programs. Perhaps we will have a chance to work together.
Have a wonderful term!
Trish
Hi Trisha!
Nice to meet you! That’s awesome that you also work in a specialized position! I really look forward to working and learning with you this term and to learn more about how you use technology to support your learners!
Hello Amanda,
It is a pleasure to meet you! I am curious as to how you can use assistive technology to support your learners. My students enjoyed using speech-to-text tools to help them document their thoughts.
I look forward to exchanging ideas with you!
Sincerely,
Alice
Hi Alice,
Nice to meet you 🙂
My students are in upper intermediate (Grades 5-7) and when I was teaching Literacy as I work in a specialized position, I found the speech-to-text tool did not work well as their voices are not developed in that their pitch is higher, so the devices wouldn’t pick up. I know in high schools it works well but for elementary students there are still some difficulties. iReadWrite I found through an inquiry project did work well for speech-to-text but still the student required an adult to work through it with them.
As for numeracy, my students enjoy using interactive learning apps such as Nearpod for their lessons. So I try to use that and it is very engaging and provides immediate feedback for them depending on how I set-up the lessons as I tailor them to specific needs.
Good luck this term! Looking forward to learning with you too!
Hi Amanda:)
It was great reading your introduction, we have a similar background:) Technology has come such a far way in helping our learners learn according to their needs. I hope we have the opportunity to work together!