My students are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and come from many different backgrounds. They use American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate. Most students have very low language and academic skills when they first come to me due to lack of access to language in earlier years. This creates a long road ahead of us as we work to minimize those large gaps.
My students attend an urban school where one hundred percent of the students receive free breakfast and lunch.
The students come from many different backgrounds and face many different challenges in their day-to-day lives. There are many single income families, families that are homeless and families that are receiving assistance in one form or another.
This year, I have seven students: one first grader, two-second graders, three fourth graders and one in fifth grade. Most of my students' language and communication skills are very low. My challenge is to teach them their language, ASL, and academics at the same time. It is a tough challenge, and my students give me their best effort every day.
My Project
I am requesting a Microsoft Surface Go to help improve my students technology skills.
There are so many features the Surface Go has that will help enhance my teaching and my students' learning.
One of the features is that you can highlight any text and it will narrate the selection for me to easily interpret it to my students. I can see giving my students a story comprehension lessons/assignments this way and be able to file it away right on the device. I will be able to create portfolios for each of my students and be able to show parents what we are working on during conferences.
Another feature is the ability to use the stylus. The students can be working on a writing assignment and I can help them edit their paper right there using the stylus to mark up their paper.
The Surface Go will allow me to do lessons from all over my room. By connecting it to my projector I can stand anywhere in my room or pass it to the students to show their work whether it be math problems, science, L.A. or any academic lesson. What a great teaching tool!
We recently got a project funded for a green screen and I can see us using the Surface Go to video our projects and editing it them right on the device! And, having it on a portable device, allows me to be able to bring it home to work on it after hours.
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 Mrs. Fochtman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
