Technology Tools For Resources and Motivating Activities

My Students

As a special education teacher, working both in the special education and general education classrooms, many of my students struggle with basic skills at an eighth grade level. Many of my students lack motivation and confidence in their abilities and so they do not meet their true potentials.

My school is located in a small town rural community where low socioeconomic status affects access to resources and technology for some.

The main focus of the population in which I work with have disabilities that create additional struggles for them to improve their overall fluency in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Multiplication facts are a skill that they all need to improve and so using an Ipad in place of simply writing their facts to practice these facts is one examples. Real-world math problems and application of the basic skills to more complex and multiple step concepts are a large part of the instructional needs of the students with which I work. The weaknesses in these skills have created a lack of motivation and confidence in their abilities. Motivation and effort are often a problem with many of my students and so they are not meeting their true potential.

My Project

My students need Ipads and protective cases in the special education classroom to improve overall literacy and basic mathematics skills. Math stations are an area in which I plan to use the tablets. So many of the multiple step problems involving the four operations as well as the real-world problem application can be practiced using the different applications and games. Math and language arts projects and units can be accessed through hot lists, blogs, wikis, and online resources with the tablets. Also, applications like QR code readers can allow for a fun way to access instructional videos for reteach, math problems, or even pictures for writing prompts. Providing the access to the digital books and online research will be a whole new world for working on reading comprehension. Such skills are a focus for eighth graders including citations and improving their written expression. Data collection and progress monitoring will also be done using the tablets for myself and the students. This can be done with the applications. My focus is the students and their learning!

Kids get excited when they have access to technology and are able to use devices such as tablets in the classroom.

Classwork or studying is no longer tedious or something that they dread. When they struggle with the fluency and basic skills like my special education students, classwork is even more challenging and so sometimes they are not motivated to even try. Using applications and resources provided through technology makes it fun! Digital books provide endless opportunities!