"If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow" John Dewey said, and couldn't have hit it more on the nose. Today's teenagers, especially those with disabilities, need a greater presentation of information to meet educational entry points, than traditional pen and paper.
My students are AMAZING.
They are high schoolers empowered to do their best, but are limited by their intellectual, or multiple disabilities. My class is enrolled in a NYC Specialized School in a high poverty area of the South Bronx. They face cognitive, physical, and emotional challenges that many of us will never have to encounter, everyday. They are brave, resilient, eager to learn, and come to school with a positive attitude each and every day.
Their needs however, are not best served by my current classroom tools. My students cannot learn in the traditional methods on which we were taught. They require engagement on a variety of levels, instead of just one. I continue to do my best as a professional to reach these students on these levels with the tools that have been provided to me, but after watching their gleaming reactions to their seldom experiences with technology, I can only imagine how fast their jet to success would travel with this classroom tool.
My Project
The Promethean ActivBoard is an interactive whiteboard. With the tools provided on promethean's software, my students would be able to access rich content that would reach them through a variety of learning styles at once. Students who's physical disabilities can only allow use of their pointer finger to press a picture symbol onto a paper for their work, can now use that same finger to access engaging content, learn cause and effect relationships, and draw geometric representations of objects for this year's math theme. The audio, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic learning styles can all be addressed, (often simultaneously!) through use of this technology. As mostly non-readers, the whiteboard can help to revive foundational literacy skills. It will serve as a HIGHLY motivating tool to increase student engagement to insurmountable levels. I could go on and on with the benefits of this device, but I've run out of space!
With your help, the implementation of this teaching tool can strive to push my student's limits to points previously unattainable.
After years of struggling to achieve success, I cannot wait to see the look on my student's faces when they have reached these new access points. Today's teenagers are invigorated by technology, and I truly feel that, with your help, they will now become invigorated towards their education. I cannot thank you enough in advance!
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Ms. Fargnoli and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
