Every day I am greeted by the smiling faces of 6 of the most incredible children. They are positive, hilarious, and hardworking. While they all have cognitive disabilities, they have never let that stop them from being happy children who are excited to learn.
As a first year teacher, I came into the school year thinking I would be the only one teaching but they have taught me so much in our 7 months together.
My students love to learn, play, and imagine. I want to do all that I can to help them keep doing those things.
My students come from diverse backgrounds with some being refugees from Somalia and Puerto Rico post-hurricane. Whether they are from Nepal, Somalia, or Puerto Rico, have autism, Down syndrome, or a traumatic brain injury, they each have a story to tell. As their teacher, it's my job to help them develop the skills to tell their stories.
My Project
Students with moderate to severe disabilities work best on a schedule of reinforcement. This means that after a certain amount of time or after a certain number of tasks the student gets rewarded with a preferred item. Many students in my class are highly motivated by playing games, watching videos, or looking through a camera lens; all of which can be done on iPads! Our MD unit recently switched from one classroom to two classrooms and with the switch, our unit iPads went to the other classroom.
My students loved working for time on the iPads.
Some of our best work like learning letters, learning to read CVC words, and even potty training were achieved by using the iPads as positive reinforcement.
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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. Fintel and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
