Blogging is a great additional tool in the teacher's arsenal. Reminding students of their homework and allowing them to use the blog to turn in their homework are great uses of this medium.
However, I am worried that these things will not work as well in a special ed classroom, which is where I am hoping to work.
It seems to me that some of the great uses of blogging all focus on a class as a whole. In special ed however, each student has an individualized education plan. Homework is also individualized and many kids cannot use a computer like typical students can, so turning in homework that way is unlikely.
This weekend I went to the OTEN conference in Forest Grove. One of the workshops I went to was about he use of technology in New Zealand. A school there uses a blog as a focal point for what the students create. This school feels that through the blog the student connects to the world and finds that they have real power to reach out to that world.
This example seems to me the greatest use of blogging for the special ed classroom. One of the problems children in general and children with disabilities in particular struggle with is their perceived ability to be heard by the world. If, through blogging, special ed students could feel more connected, that could be incredibly empowering to them.
In fact, this might be something to look into at the school I work at. Hmmmmmmm......
Yes, a feeling of connectedness is invaluable. For special ed classrooms, especially those with lower-functioning students, a blog would have more teacher involvement, but still there could be videos and suchlike...
ReplyDelete...think of Philip and his emailing :) (sorry, inside reference.)
Fun to read your Post. Seems you processed your way to some potentially creative applications to engage your special needs kids.
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