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In my classroom there will be evidence of many of the 21st Century skills happening. As I am teaching in a junior end Special class, social skills are a big focus for what we work on. Collaboration is something we are always striving for. This year, I am going to use Videos to show the children examples of good communication and eye contact. I will then work on the children being able to greet each other in pairs and video them in order to play back for them to see themselves. I think this will be a fun way for the children learn communication with others.
Daily self regulation is something that we work on every day in the class. When working on fine motor skills the children can screenshot or take pictures of their handwriting and look back to compare themselves on their work. For example, there can be a huge difference in how children are able to write their pencils from day to day. By getting them to compare their work, they should also be able to communicate what type of ZONE they were in when completing work as we spend a lot of time discussing zones of regulation and how it affects their daily activities.
At certain times throughout the day some children are able to join in mainstream activities. Often the children join during a lesson when ICT is used (usually ipads). This allows the children to participate equally as verbal communication is not always the main focus and also fine motor skills or reading is not needed as often.
Videoing the children working with their mainstream peers and reflecting on their behaviour and how they interacted would be a great way to reflect after the lesson with the children as they love seeing and being with the other children. Eg. modelling behaviour that allows for integration.
Innovation is also used as many of the children in my class have special skills or are extremely innovative in how they think. It can be very exciting for the children and teachers in other classes to see their new ideas and problem solving skills.
Digital Technology
Digital technology within my current classroom setting can be somewhat of a challenge to implement and use effectively.
While there are many benefits to some, there are definite difficulties within an ASD special class for young children.
Many of the children become extremely distracted or overstimulated when technology is used. Particularly when being used with only a portion of the children in the class as sounds and visuals can be very distracting. For this reason I ttend to use the IWB or videos as whole group lessons or as a reward activity. Individual use of laptops or ipads is often kept for choice activities or special times in the day.
I have found that technology is beneficial for teaching emotions or feelings, or also as a visual for stories I have read in class.
SSE- Checklists and Interviews are regularly used for self evaluation. In future I think I will try to record a students interview as I think the children in my class would enjoy seeing themselves in a video talking to the teacher. It would be a great way for them to remember their goals and achievements.
Personal Growth- My own ICT skills are something that I am working to address. Working with very young children does not always allow me the time at work to develop my ICT skills. Now that my own children are older, I feel I have more time to give to this area.
I have not used One note. I can see the value in using it. Particularly to organise my plans and lessons.
The Immersive Reader looks like a very valuable tool to use for struggling readers or children struggling with fluency. I an see that the children I teach with additional needs would like to hear themselves read and it may be an incentive for reading at certain times of the day. The disadvantage however is that many of the children become extremely distracted with any device as they see it as a tool to use You Tube or gaming apps that they have at home.
As behaviour can be a big factor in the classroom, introducing new systems can be challenging for staff and pupils. I can see a lot of good uses for using this but it will also take time to implement.
As I am working in a Primary school I have not used Teams before. Throughout periods of Lockdown our school used both SeeSaw and Google Classroom. My secondary school children were also using Teams in their school settings. One of the challenges within a school is finding the time to become familiar with all platforms in a meaningful way. I can see that there are many benefits of Teams but I feel I would need a lot more time to get to know how to use it correctly.
I am currently working in a special class with very young children. As my at home communication is with the parents only, it very much depends on each individual household, and how they interact with each platform.
I have found that staff have found it very challenging to move to various platforms depending on their teaching assignment. Often if team teaching there would be an expectation to use a specific platform which can add a lot of pressure to an already demanding day.
This has been my first introduction to Microsoft 365. I had not used Sway before and found it quite easy to use. While I feel I will still need more training in this area I can see how the templates would be helpful for the children to use Sway to create their own work.
Working in a Special Class I communicate with parents daily. Sway would be a nice way to send home class news or newsletters. I think it would be helpful for parents to click on links for services they may need to access.
Using Croke Park hours to help staff navigate would be a good opportunity for our staff to build on what they are currently using.
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Digital Technology</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Digital Technology within my current classroom setting can be somewhat of a challenge to implement and use effectively.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>While there are many benefits to some, there are definite difficulties that arise within an ASD special class.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Many of the children become extremely distracted or over stimulated when technology is used.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>Particularly if visuals or sound is being used with some but not all, which regularly happens.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>For this reason, I sometimes use the IWB or videos as a whole group lesson or as a reward.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Individual use of laptops or Ipads is also often held for special times of the day or as a choice activity.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>What I have found to be beneficial is using Technology to work on emotions or feelings, or also as a visual to stories I read in class.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>It is particularly helpful if I can find a song or activities based on stories we are reading.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>SSE</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Checklists and Interviews are regularly used in my classroom for Self evaluation.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>I will try to record a student interviews as I think the children I teach may enjoy seeing themselves talking to the teacher.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>It would be a great way for them to remember their goals and achievements also.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Personal Growth</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>My own ICT skills are something that I certainly need to improve.</p>
<p class=”MsoNormal”>Working with very young children and children with additional needs doesn’t always allow me to practice my skills.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>While I do see the value in Digital Technology, I have also seen a deterioration in young children’s eye contact, speech and communication, and fine motor skills.<span style=”mso-spacerun: yes;”> </span>Many children no longer have hard copy books in their homes and for these reasons I am sometimes hesitant to spend too much time using technology within the classroom.</p>
