This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
“Children with disabilities are like butterflies with a broken wing. They are just as beautiful as all others, but they need help to spread their wings”
Author Unknown
My students are brave extraordinary people. They approach the world with many physical and intellectual obstacles; yet, on a daily basis they enter the learning environment with an eagerness to learn. I am greeted with an enormous smile and a gentle hug or handshake each day. These students are not just any students. They are often ostracized by others and lack resources needed to meet their diverse needs. Our school is predominantly lower socioeconomic families; more than three-quarters of students are from low-income households. Many of the students have fatherless or single-mother households or they are being raised by relatives other than their parents. Some live-in foster care or group homes.
My classes consist of 9th – 12th grade students with multiple intellectual disabilities. I have students with high functioning autism, non-verbal and low functioning autism, physically impaired, visually impaired and severely profound. However, despite the disability, it is my philosophy that every child has full potential to develop abilities for learning. Each child learns at a different pace and manner.
My Project
I plan to use these Kindle tablets in my classroom to enhance the learning of all my students. The tablets will allow me to program individualized lessons for students to complete at their own level and pace. Students with intellectual disabilities are visual learners and learn best when lessons are presented with pictures and diagrams. The tablets will definitely reach the sensory needs of my students. Our severely profound or physically impaired will have an opportunity to strengthen their motor skills utilizing computerized eye-hand therapeutic assignments. The touch screen monitor will allow them to become interactive in their lessons.
The tablets will allow us to differentiate small group lessons that will compensate for an individual’s specific learning deficit.
The tablets can provide innovative ways to enhance listening skills, reading, writing, math, science and motor skills. As a result, utilizing technology to individualize lessons will reduce the number of distractions often experienced in the classroom.
Overall, access to technology will compensate for an individual’s specific learning deficit allowing them to work independently and improve their technical and literacy skills. No matter how diverse the children are they all have one thing in common, their love for technology!
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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 Ms. Dunn and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.