In today’s society, it is almost impossible to live a functional life without technology. Cornish (2005) describes this phenomenon as “technological progress”
(p. 22). During this time, a significant amount of resources have been added to better assist students with disabilities. One piece of technology that a great amount of teachers are using is promethean boards. Promethean began in Blackburn, Lancashire, UK in 1995 by a small group of professional people. Promethean boards were created to provide interactive learning technology that empowers teachers to engage, educate, assess and motivate learners and helps teachers prepare digital lessons quickly and easily. The technology enables them to create, customize and integrate text, images, quizzes and tests, web, video and audio content, so they can more easily capture students' attention and accommodate different learning styles (Promethean, 2007). It can be used in grades Kindergarten and higher to enhance the education of students. There are over 2.5 million children and students in over 70 countries seeing lesson through Promethean products and services (Promethean, 2007). These boards are offering teachers alternate ways to enhance their instruction and are giving students more exciting and creative ways to receive instruction. Through technological progress, students who aren’t able to participate in daily instruction are given the opportunity to embrace learning through alternate methods. For example, a student by the name of Joe, from Florida was able to use the promethean board to interact with his teacher and peers. Joe is wheel chair bound, uses a breathing machine and is paraplegic. He has an Activpanel velcroed to his hat which allows him to see everything that appears on the Activboard and gives him the control of the board through the panel. The class is able to see everything Joe does without them having to reach across him.
These boards seem to be enriching the lives of students who thought education was difficult to learn due to their disability. Teachers are given a chance to offer their students something different.
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5 comments:
It's amazing how far the field of special education has come over the years. I began teaching in this field back in the early eighties when special education students will still placed in a classroom way in the back of the school or in the basement if there was one. Technology was slim, with possibly the use of an overhead projector. These were still the days of black boards and chalk!
The Promethean board sounds like an amazing creation. I am a strong believer in technology and it's tremendous impact it can have on special education students, as well as ALL students. I applaud your work with special education students but have also discovered something along the way. With all of the standardized tests, graduation expectations, and so on that exist, we as educators need to prepare our students to the best of our abilities. Just think, if we worked with all students as if they were special education students we might actually reach more of them. What I mean by this is that as special education teachers you take the time to find out the strengths and weaknesses of our students. We write individual education plans and work towards individual goals. Technology has made a tremendous difference. It sounds like the Promethean Board is fantastic in assisting with the job of educators. However, the important question is the cost. Is it something most schools or districts can afford?
School boards, administrators, teachers, and parents must work together to restructure schools to promote inclusive educational practices. Educators and students must become collaborative partners in meeting learner needs. First of all, there is no evidence that the schools need to be restructured or that educators and students need to establish more of a partnership. The curriculums and POIs may need additional integration such as technology may be the key to address inclusion, but this is not restructuring the schools. Not only must educators and students become collaborative partners, but parents and the community alike.
Although this opinion sounds factual, research indicates otherwise. The No Child Left Behind Law was based on both research and Law that indicates that inclusion can work, given the proper supplies and environment. With careful and proper curriculum design, student to teacher ratios, and highly qualified teachers, the facts show that no student is robbed of a quality education with inclusion. This could also make teaching a more rewarding profession based on getting more students to reach beyond their present achievement levels.
All stakeholders in the educational arena must abide by the law in developing and cooperatively working for the betterment of all students. We must continue to strive for properly training teachers and administrators to ascertain “all” students’ needs are met. After all, we will probably never have the luxury of selecting the exact students that we want to teach. Inclusion is here to stay as it seems and we as educators must rise to the challenge.
Yes Jacqueline,
Inclusion can work and does work with students who are able to function in this type of environment. This is my first year teaching inclusion. It has been great for me and the students thus far. Prior to this year, I was teaching a contained varying exceptionalities class. I enjoyed working with these students but sometimes it was tiresome. I was teaching my heart out and these students were only retaining a minimal amount of information. It was very disappointing at first until I realized they were learning and improving by just slower than there peers.
There are some students who are not able to function in an inclusion classroom. Therefore they must be educated in their least restrictive environment.
Dr. Burden,
Notwithstanding accountability, many economists have dismissed fairness, in education. According to Steuerle, abandonment of tax equity is misguided, stemming from a misunderstanding of contributions that economists are uniquely prepared to make. Thus, they may not always be able to pinpoint the right answer in terms of fairness. To that end, the fallacy continues to exist because of political obstacles that misdirect the main concern of equity in education. Equal treatment of those with equal incomes may be fine, but advocates for the minority groups have traditionally suffered from past discriminatory practices within a tax system (Steuerle, 2002). Again, the theory in action poses more of a threat than the policy of taxing and providing equally.
Semper Fi,
Sgt. Lowery
Hello,
I really would like to learn more about the Promethean board. I feel it would also be beneficial for students at my school too. I am truly amazed at the amount of technology that is out there for the sole purpose to better instruction and motivate student learning. I just don't hear enough advertisements. It seems that school systems hear about certain items but not all. As a Principal, I am trying to learning as much as possible for all my students. I just do not know always what is the best reliable.
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