Education is an ever-changing field and as a teacher I have learned to adapt my teaching style to meet my students’ multiple needs. One of the major changes in the field of education is special education. As a regular education teacher, I am now expected to have students who could be but not limited to the following: several grade levels below in reading, nonreaders, or ELL or ESL students. As a result of this push for more inclusion for special education students, there has also been a change in requirements for educators who work in the education field. Teachers are now being required to take multiple special education courses to help them prepare for this change.
As the technology director, my job requires me to coordinate with the school counselor and special education teachers when working with the special education students. I also support the other staff members as they have questions about incorporating new technology and devices. One example was a request from our school counselor to set up mini-computer lab set with three desktops and two Chromebooks in her office for students use during counseling sessions. Having this lab available assisted students when completing job or college applications. I also was asked to install certain programs and lift some restrictions that were put in place for the general student body on some of the school devices. An example of this was that social media was blocked for the student body but at times the seniors needed access to a college’s social media website when researching colleges for their application.
I frequently have requests from teachers, especially during virtual learning, for certain Google apps to be installed on the staff computers. Below is a list of some of the apps used by the teachers during virtually learning.
As the technology director, my job requires me to coordinate with the school counselor and special education teachers when working with the special education students. I also support the other staff members as they have questions about incorporating new technology and devices. One example was a request from our school counselor to set up mini-computer lab set with three desktops and two Chromebooks in her office for students use during counseling sessions. Having this lab available assisted students when completing job or college applications. I also was asked to install certain programs and lift some restrictions that were put in place for the general student body on some of the school devices. An example of this was that social media was blocked for the student body but at times the seniors needed access to a college’s social media website when researching colleges for their application.
I frequently have requests from teachers, especially during virtual learning, for certain Google apps to be installed on the staff computers. Below is a list of some of the apps used by the teachers during virtually learning.
- EquatIO - Math made digital
- EquatIO makes math digital, helping teachers and students at all levels create math expressions quickly and easily. Type or handwrite virtually any mathematical expression directly on your keyboard or touchscreen. There’s no need for any complicated code or programming languages.
- Just Read - A feature-packed, customizable reader extension, you can remove distractions like: - The page's styling - Ads - Popups - Comments
- Read the article in a customizable, simplified format - like a read mode but better!
- Ziteboard - Whiteboard (Art Teacher loves this extension)
- Ziteboarding makes discussions more effective and improves communication. It's great in complementing both PowerPoint and Prezi presentations
- Is compatible with Zoom