The common core standards (the national standards that state what all students should know and be able to do at each grade level) say that middle school students need to be able to write organized texts that develop ideas thoroughly and use precise language.
For my special education students, getting their thoughts from their heads down on paper in a way that is complete and makes sense to others is very difficult.
Writing is extremely stressful to most as they struggle with using correct spelling and have difficulty finding the words they want to use. Searching for the right words to state their thoughts is a big mental challenge and slows them down tremendously while writing. For some, writing can also be physically tedious. To help them be more successful, I try to incorporate technology that can assist them. Electronic dictionaries and thesauruses allow them to check whether they're using words correctly. There is also word prediction software that can help them when they get completely stuck. These are tools that are necessary for them to be able to accomplish the goals set for them for writing and allow them to compete with their grade level peers.
My Project
Unfortunately, I don't have enough of these valuable tools for my students. Each year my class size has been growing as more and more students are diagnosed with disabilities that affect their learning. However, even though I get more students, the school hasn't been able to provide the resources needed to best educate them. Having another computer will allow my students create pieces of text and then be able to more easily go through the whole writing process of editing and revising and then rewriting.
In addition to using computers to create the documents, I've chosen to ask for a chromebook because then the students can also then share the pieces with each other and collaborate on projects. All of my students are assigned a Gmail account and save and share documents using Google Drive. Doing so fosters peer conversations about writing which is important in helping them improve their own writing.
I hope that I've convinced you that helping to provide a computer for my students to use for their writing is a worthy project.
In addition to all the benefits I've already mentioned, the computer can also be used for many other subjects including watching educational videos on so many topics, practicing math problems, listening to audio texts online, etc. The students will also gain valuable computer skills that are needed in this age of technology. Please help my special students if you can.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Keleher and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
