Class # 10 - Our Final Class :(

I can not believe our assistive technology class has come to an end tonight! I have mixed emotions right now...relief that I will have a little extra time in my extremely busy schedule but also sadness because I have been learning so much in this class and know I have much more to learn! After June I plan to set aside a certain time for assistive technology exploration. There is so much out there and it is constantly changing that I feel I need to do this to keep up with it all and better serve my students. I am already on the School Program Planning Team and I plan to take my newly acquired knowledge and share it at these meetings when student referrals are discussed and looking for strategies to assist them. I also plan on talking to my administration about setting up an Assistive Technology PLC in our school so interested teachers can meet and share expertise and then plan and share regular presentations or sessions for the staff around various aspects of assistive technology. I would like to see our school set aside at least one afternoon a month dedicated to increasing our awareness and knowledge around assistive technology. I currently sit as co-chair on our accreditation team and plan on bringing up at our next session the possibility of adding an assistive technology awareness goal! My goal is to increase the communication amongst staff regarding student services and create a whole school student programming ownership culture; this should not just be laying on the shoulders of our student services staff! Teachers will need to become familiar with the assistive technology framework where they look at the student first and they look at the task they are hoping to complete, the environment or milieu in which the task is to be completed and then looks at the suggested technology that can support and enable the person to complete the task successfully. Another crucial component is the aspect of time. Staff needs to realize that this is not something that can be accomplished in one meeting. All five of these components affects and impacts each other and needs to be looked at in detail and in an ongoing process. It is not a static process where once you think you have found a support the process is over. As a team we will need to be constantly gathering evidence to see what is working, what is not working and asking why. By doing this one will see how this process can impact growth of students and teachers and how it can change our school's culture where we truly do support all students! I have learned so much in this class that it is impossible to list it all here in this space! I now feel better equipped to serve my students better in helping them all experience success after learning about the different AT frameworks, different AT available and the more modern forms of AT with apps for iPhones, iPods and iPods! I am still blown away with all the various apps and how easily they could be integrated into a student's program! And we just scratched the surface of what is out there!!! I have already paired up with one teacher in my school that is also passionate about implementing iPods and iPads into the classrooms and hope to continue to work with her on this! I also have developed a deeper appreciation for what some of my students are going through with their disabilities in reading and writing after walking through the very complicated process. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my instructor, Barbara, and all my classmates for sharing their wealth of knowledge and experiences with me. Words can not express how much I have learned in these short 10 weeks! I really enjoyed all discussions, projects, blogging and research!! Best of luck to everyone as we continue on our journey of facilitating learning in all our students!