Technology is expanding rapidly within my students' lifetimes, more so than we can expect to anticipate. 60% of the jobs they will apply to post-high school and post-college haven't even been conceived of yet. It is my vision to expand their consciousness using their imagination and creativity.
My students are in a self-contained special education school which only serves students with disabilities.
My students are classified with Emotional Disturbance, Autism, and Other Health Impairments. No matter the classification, each child is completely unique in their learning style and personal strengths. Despite these differences though, their one common underlying passion is technology. No matter their academic deficits they shine when given the chance to compute.
My school is different than a public school, it is a program. We have a phenomenal behavior modification program which yields successful movement into less restrictive environments (inclusion and community schools). This means that my students are being prepared for more rigorous general education curriculum and then, ultimately, for the real world. By exposing them to high level technology early in their education, we can prepare them for a high-tech lifestyle and an exponentially growing job market.
My Project
Last year my students participated in the "Hour of the Code" international event which promoted a dive into computer programming in education. Since then, we have completed the code.org computer programming curriculum and are hungry for more! However, we haven't had the chance to see our programs come to life. When we receive the Sphero robots we can program them competitively in teams. This worked well in the past when we were first learning how to program on the iPads, and we got a chance to show off our skills to a number of engineers at Apple. We will use the iPad VGA adapter to project the teacher iPad to model the lessons. We will use the Sphero robot to have a real-life experience with the coding and add an engineering context to our lessons. We will use the Makey Makey kits to explore the first steps of creating arduinos.
Growing up, I had all the new technology in my classrooms.
I always experienced my lessons in an up to date way. Now that I am a teacher, I see the growing deficit in school technology budgets. It's important to me that my students get to experience all that the world has to offer. If they don't get access to it, how will they master it? With all of the academic rigor that has placed a precedence over creative play, I want my class to serve as a respite and space for whimsy.
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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 Coach Louis-Jacques and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
