I currently work in a high school special education classroom, and let me tell you...the influence that technology's presence in the classroom has on my students is huge. This is both a great thing and a bad thing.
Down syndrome is a language all of its own. Some of my students with down syndrome can go on and on for hours but you'd never understand what they were saying to you. With so much to say and inability to do so, they use an iPad that literally speaks for them. They can express their emotions, opinions, and interests via the iPad AND communicate more effectively. How awesome?
One of my students used her iPad to send illicit photos via some messenger of herself to her "booboo bear crush". Connected to the messenger thread are all the other students in special ed. Each iPad contained the indecent angles she gingerly thought were private. Little did she know that the police would be involved and she'd never see her "booboo bear crush" ever again and her iPad would get the lockdown.
I think that technology's presence in the classroom is really important and beneficial to student learning, but with it must come checks and balances. The internet is an entirely different place. It is our job to teach our students how to be responsible digital citizens of the internet. We need to encourage the awesomeness of the world wide web and some of the stuff it has to offer, but also make it our responsibility to make our students responsible for how they use their technology and aware of any consequences that comes with technology misuse.
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Down syndrome is a language all of its own. Some of my students with down syndrome can go on and on for hours but you'd never understand what they were saying to you. With so much to say and inability to do so, they use an iPad that literally speaks for them. They can express their emotions, opinions, and interests via the iPad AND communicate more effectively. How awesome?
One of my students used her iPad to send illicit photos via some messenger of herself to her "booboo bear crush". Connected to the messenger thread are all the other students in special ed. Each iPad contained the indecent angles she gingerly thought were private. Little did she know that the police would be involved and she'd never see her "booboo bear crush" ever again and her iPad would get the lockdown.
I think that technology's presence in the classroom is really important and beneficial to student learning, but with it must come checks and balances. The internet is an entirely different place. It is our job to teach our students how to be responsible digital citizens of the internet. We need to encourage the awesomeness of the world wide web and some of the stuff it has to offer, but also make it our responsibility to make our students responsible for how they use their technology and aware of any consequences that comes with technology misuse.
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