Planning with Technology

Technology can offer our students so much help in ways that teachers can't; that being said, I believe one of the biggest issues that affect whether or not technology is used effectively is how the teacher implements the use technology in the classroom. The potential for its benefits are right there, but can they be delivered to the student correctly? This is an extremely hard question to answer. As a teacher, I am not very confident in my ability to provide technological support to my students. I know that many students benefit from using technology in their learning, but often my confusion with technology only adds to their multi-tiered levels of confusion. It seems so simple when I am trying it out myself, but as Yelena said in her post, sometimes things fall apart in the classroom and the tools aren't used correctly or delivered effectively. It's such a gamble to rely too heavily on technology; yet its potential to excite and expedite learning is amazing.

Thinking of how to better assist children through the "organizing and accessing networks" really helped me better understand how we, as teachers, can better "break down" the networks of assistance students need. My color group was asked to focus on Luke:

Luke
Dyslexia and Executive Functioning Difficulty
Luke always amazes with his keen insight and contributions to class discussions even though he is reading about 5 grades below grade level. When it comes to technology, Luke is the resident guru, often sharing pictures, videos, and is up on the latest developments. Even so, with his disabilities, he is extremely sensitive and apprehensive about trying anything new related to school, and often hangs back in class until he is certain he has a good understanding of what the class is discussing. Luke often has difficulty following through with directions. Even when the homework or project does not include decoding, Luke rarely has his homework or in class work done, often loses his papers, and rarely follows through on using references or asking for help.

LUKE	Strengths	Needs	Interests
Recognition	Enjoys class discussions	Follow directions	technology
Strategy	Contributes to class discussion -shares his thoughts	Struggles to try new things	Can share his knowledge about technology
Affect	Keen insights	disorganized	Go to person for technology-others will ask him for help

I am enjoying this method of breaking down students needs and strengths into more accessible networks.