Josh was a classroom teacher for grades Kindergarten through 8th grade and used The A+nyWhere Learning System® with his 5th & 6th graders in order to differentiate the curriculum and provide appropriate content to his many students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Josh currently meets with schools, assisting in implementation, and training teachers and administrators on various software tools.
Universal Screening Response To Intervention Reading Intervention SoftwareWe're not going to focus on the specifics of the funding and how it's being accounted for. We are going to talk about how this funding will greatly impact our students!
Due to funding education hasn't been able to keep up with technology. We're not talking about not being able to upgrade to Windows Vista...how about upgrading to Windows XP!! For those that aren't familiar with software releases, Windows XP was released in 2005...that's four years ago! Schools currently with Windows 98 (11 years old!) are trying to find the funds to improve their software.
Software and hardware will greatly enhance the students experience as they learn in today's Facebook, MySpace, gamer society.
Aside from the video games and the multimedia, students need to be engaged; they need interactivity in the classroom. How is this done? With technology.
There are many devices available on the market today. mimio is an example of an extremely inexpensive, portable device that turns ANY whiteboard or surface into an interactive board! Did you get that?!? Look up interactive boards in Google. How ridiculous is it to buy a whiteboard when schools already have whiteboards? This device allows schools to keep their whiteboards, save money, and gain the interactivity they need to engage their students. Capture is also a feature in this device. Capturing regular dry erase marker notes on the whiteboard WITHOUT a projector. If you haven't seen this, it's a must!
The 21st Century Classroom and creating interactivity in the classroom doesn't stop with just an interactive whiteboard. Classroom Response Systems, Online Assessments, Computer-based Prescription, off-line extension activities, etc...are all necessary to engage students for the long term.
A term that is being used quite a bit is Universal Screening. This allows for true differentiated instruction. But just providing the teachers with the data to then turn around and teach 25+ students based on their needs is not the answer. Technology can prescribe content helping the teacher really understand where the student needs that one on one attention.
How does this all relate to the 2009 Education Economic Stimulus Plan? I think it's pretty clear. A teacher's objective is to move a student forward both academically and behaviorally. Technology can diagnose, prescribe and monitor. Technology also has the ability to provide the interactivity and teamwork so that true engagement occurs.
We'll have to discuss training and the importance of the teacher's ability to implement this technology another time. The Education Economic Stimulus Package, Plan, Bill for 2009 WILL help students engage and retain their academic skills so that they're successful in the work place.
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