I'm the 7-12th grade Special Education teacher. I teach Math, English, Literature, and Functional Living classes. My students learn best when they can understand how every standard relates directly to them. For this reason, each year we have a different 'theme' that I incorporate into each lesson..... "Learning the Backstory", "Tolerance", "Mindfulness", "Music", etc. All lessons are tailored to the individual student and their unique needs. We spend a lot of time working on employability and daily living skills. Social interaction and personal skills have to be implicitly taught as well as the importance of basic hygiene.
As a class, we talk through hard situations they're going through outside of school.
These students are truly like a family. They're with me for 6 years and I have close relationships with all of them and their parents (I grew up in the town where I teach). These kids are everything to me!
My Project
I'm just so excited about this project. It has got to be one of my favorite projects! I can't wait to see this little gem in action! For my special education students, taking notes is just a necessary evil. The kids abhor the idea, because it's incredibly difficult to listen and write at the same time (let alone read their own handwriting). However, there is value in learning to take notes, especially because some of my students are college bound. I would be doing them a disservice to gloss over this skill with them.
This 'smart' pen will allow the students (and parents) to upload copies of their notes onto a smartphone or computer, and as an added bonus, the pen records an auditory copy of the lecture as the learner writes.
This is huge!! Students can go back to review their notes and hear what the teacher actually said. Maybe they missed a chunk of info in their notes, maybe they can't read their handwriting, maybe they miswrote what they thought they heard. This would also allow parents (or ME as the special ed teacher) to help them with reviewing notes from general education classes. I'm also asking for a couple notebooks with the specialized paper to store until needed.
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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. Yosten and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
