I am currently finished revising my resume and cover letter, which includes my teaching philosophy. Moreover, it includes my technology philosophy, as there are countless reasons why technology is a key aspect of learning in today’s schools. I found that David Jonassen definition of technology to be similar to my own philosophy, where teachers should focus on being a facilitator of knowledge, and the technology helps the educator to specialize individual instruction. Furthermore, I believe technology will allow the learner to be involved in student-centred and project-based learning, which contributes to students to apply problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
As a special education teacher, Technology-Enhanced Learning Experiences (TELEs) should involve scaffolding knowledge for students with diverse needs and the technology is there to help the students complete tasks and bypass an area of difficulty. For instance, assistive technology tools such as Read&Write for Google empowers students to be more independent learners without the presence of their teacher and enhances the opportunity to be equal contributors with their peers.
Hi Mary,
Jonassen’s definition also resonated with me too. It is important to allow students to be in control of their learning and explore inquiries they have and the teacher take on the facilitator role. I also am in the Special Education field of teaching and use assistive technology in my class as it allows students to gain confidence and be successful with the curriculum. I have not used Read and Write for Google. How do you use this in your practice? I’ve used iReadWrite with my students which is an assistive technology app which allows students to write with confidence and has text-to speech and speech-to-text features!
First, I want to apologize, I hyperlinked the wrong video. Click on the above link to see the features for READ&WRITE for Google. It sounds like the two applications are similar, but I believe RWG some enhancements that can further students independence. Especially students with an LD, this extension has the ability for them to keep up with the peers and builds up their confidence. Ultimately, isn’t that what we want for our students!
This is an interesting post, Mary. Assistive technology allows so many learners to access the learning tools and express their understanding. There are many teachers who feel students need to master the basics before they are allowed to move on to the rich tasks that involve technology but I think it’s the other way around: when students are able to use the technology it allows them to move beyond the basics and into real understanding.
Hello Tracy,
I would agree some teachers still have that mindset where the “technology” is a privilege to use after students are done their work. Luckily, there has been a “push” to incorporate READ & WRITE for Google in my division, we PD time given to learn how to implement in the program in the classroom. For example, the students in the classroom are expected to do a book review (a paper document) after they read. I had a particular student who did not do any reviews for months. After a one-on-one discussion, he relieved that he did not like the writing component of the assignment because he does have LD. Therefore, I put the book review in Google forms, where RWG could text-to speech and speech-to-text. Note, you don’t need to use Gsuite to access
RWG. VOILA, he was reading more and doing more book reviews!
Hi Mary
I like the fact that you are revising your resume — now that is another skill as well. The list of my accomplishments get longer and so does my resume. What do you leave on, what to take off, what to consolidate? Everyone seems to have a different idea.
I wonder how to incorporate scaffolding with students with diverse needs? How does a teacher be effective when there are so many different types of students in the class?
A good next step might be to share a student-centered project.
Christopher