blog 8

Adaptive technologies are very helpful to all sorts of learners. The podcast discusses that they are necessary for students who have physical disabilities as well as learning disabilities. For example, she notes that some students are not able to use a mouse so they have a touchpad, or are unable to see perfectly so they use a Braille printer. She also discusses that adaptive technologies like spell check or voice recognition are helpful for students with learning disabilities. Chapter 4 discusses other adaptive technologies such as recorded books (71). My sister had a friend in elementary school with cerebral-palsy, and she used adaptive technologies every single day. Jordan was unable to use a mouse so she had a touchpad that would allow her to select items that she was referencing and it even spoke for her. Adaptive technologies are without a doubt helpful for many learners, but there are so issues attached when using them in a classroom. I can imagine younger students in pre-school or elementary school being jealous of the learners using different technologies than them, or the learners being embarrassed of their adaptive technologies. 

Powerpoint is an awesome resource and is definitely capable of supporting student learning at every level on Bloom’s taxonomy. For example, let’s say the lesson is about poetry. The first slides can include bulleted lists about the components of poems and the basic definitions that will help students Remember. Then, the second slides can classify the types of poems and provide examples and possibly recording of poems to help students Understand. To Apply what the students learned on the first page, the next slides might display different sorts of poems and ask students to interpret their elements. After these slides, to help the students Analyze, the slides could ask students to differentiate and compare samples of poems. Then the students will Evaluate, and support their answers with knowledge they have learned throughout the slideshow. Finally, students might Create their own powerpoint with their own poems and assemble all the elements by themselves. Powerpoint would be very helpful to any lesson because you can easily include outside sources, images, and you can group the different parts of the lesson together. 

Wired is a website that basically posts daily updates on new technology and news related to technology. Teachers could follow it and then be updated everyday on the latest updates and tools, therefore doing what chapter 12 identifies as one of their most important jobs: being the "driving force" of technology in students lives.