Technology Tools

I chose to read the article,  Build an Assistive Technology Toolkit from Learning & Leading with Technology. This was written by Kelly Ahrens. She is a technology director for the East Providence School District in Providence, Rhode Island. She discusses different personalized and customized technology tools for people who have learning challenges or physical challenges. These tools are called assistive technology, which are free helpful tools people can use. They consist of tools that are helpful for people with challenges such as, visual impairments, finger challenges, reading challenges, and many other special needs.

This article is very important because people who have specific needs are able to still use technology because these tools accommodate to their own needs. This article taught me different functions of these customized technology tools that I did not know about. I think it is amazing that we have such customized tools, such as filter keys. Filter keys help the computer ignore repeated keystrokes so that students who tremble and hold down keys too long do not have issues with typing. After reading this article, I would like to know how teachers determine if their students need to use any of these personalized technology tools and how they figure out which one their students might need.

This article definitely educated me on what we can do with technology to help our students. As a future teacher, I think it is great that these technology tools can help students who are struggling or falling behind because of specific reasons. When I teach someday, I will definitely look into my students with specific needs being able to use these tools for help.

Ahrens, K. (2011). Build an assistive technology toolkit from learning & leading with technology. 22-24.

Internet Safety

The article I chose to read is, Learning Connections: Students Dig Up Dirt to Learn about Internet Safety. This was written by Jesse Morehouse, a teacher of computer science. This article mainly discusses internet safety and how easily people can find information about others on the internet. Morehouse teaches a lesson to his class every year about personal information being available to anyone on the internet. He has the students look up information on the internet about him, and they all discuss as a class what they have found. Then he gives the students guidelines to follow and look up information about a complete stranger. They share with the class everything they have found about this person they have never met.

I think this article is very important. Morehouse's assignment that he discusses in the article teaches students to be more careful and aware of what they post on the internet about themselves. I learned that people's privacy can be invaded at any time on the internet, so it is best not to post very personal information on social media websites. I would like to know how the internet has gotten so out of control and why people are not able to protect information about themselves anymore.

I really enjoyed this article because I love the assignment Morehouse teaches his students. As a future teacher, I would like to copy and teach Morehouse's assignment because I think it is important to educate students about internet safety. This assignment is also fun and interactive for the students. 

Morehouse, J. (2012, August 07). learning connections: Students dig up dirt to learn about internet safety . Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-leading/issues/september-october-2011/learning-connections-students-dig-up-dirt-to-learn-about-internet-safety