Carrying out My Game Plan

My first step to carrying out my GAME Plan is to decide exactly what it is that my students need support with at this point in time. From there, I will complete searches on the internet to not only see what assistive technologies are available, but what strategies can be incorporated to assist my students in achieving success. In addition, I will speak with my colleagues and discuss what technology they used and strategies as well to meet the needs of their diverse learners. We always meet in our Professional Learning Community, and this topic would be one to discuss. My plan would also involve continuing to work very closely with the technology teacher in my school. She would know what the district itself has to offer in regard to technology. The technology teacher is also a great person to turn to because she knows my students. She can share her insights and it truly would be meaningful because she has known the majority of them since kindergarten.

So far, I have been using the SMARTBoard in my classroom with all subjects. In math especially, I see that my students have an easier time understanding what it is that I am teaching when they can see visual models (virtual manipulatives) and use those manipulatives. For example, if my students must count up or count back and they have difficulties, I have a virtual number line that can assist them. If my students have to figure out the expanded or word form of a number, it is easier when they can see the actual base ten blocks. The internet is also providing my students with the opportunity to complete reports, especially if they have difficulties with reading such as my resource students. They can access the information they need and view videos on any topic that I am assigning. In Math, I am also exploring Touch Math. A colleague of mine teaches in the self contained room, and she said this is a great technology tool to explore to help my struggling students. For those that need enrichment, I can assign interactive websites that they can explore.

As of right now, I still have much research to complete because assistive technology is all new to me. I have always differentiated instruction, but I have only recently been using technology to support my teaching. I now have a SMART board in my room, and next door to me in the self contained room, they have a SMART Table. After completing more research on my own, I can decide what is the next step in working on my GAME plan and accomplishing my goals.