Blog Journal 8

Adaptive technologies can be used to support those trying to learn because they make learning more fun and understanding for students of all grade levels. I believe that smart boards are a great resource to get students, especially with disabilities engaged. They can also keep the gifted students busy instead of just working with pen and paper. One type of software are word prediction technologies. They can help those with disabilities predict what they are going to "say" after just entering one word. Many students who are disabled have difficulties typing so this software is a great one. Some challenges that would arise using a technology like this one is the cost to the school for the classrooms and the training for the teachers to implement them in the classrooms. 

Powerpoint is great to engage students learning in the classroom. Powerpoints can be represented through the different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. For remembering, the ability to show students charts and diagrams on smartboards, using Powerpoint is a great resource, especially for visual learners. It allows students to see what they are trying to comprehend instead of just hearing it. For comprehension, an educator could create little mini "quizzes" about the lesson. For example, a teacher could create a few questions about the lesson and have the questions appear with a "command" button whenever you choose. For applying, teachers could show a video related to the lesson and ask how what they are applying relates to the lesson. This allows students to "dig deeper" and really try to engage in the subjects they are being taught. Analyzing is probably the best taxonomy for learning. Powerpoints are great for analyzing lessons. An educator just simply has to make slides about the topics and go in depth and detail in all the slides about the lesson. Synthesizing in a powerpoint is simply just putting the pieces together. To synthesize throughout a powerpoint presentation, one would just have to breakdown a topic and explain it in full detail. Lastly, evaluating in a powerpoint would be to have students critically think about the lesson/topics discussed. During the presentation of material, teachers can create questions in the slides to keep students focused, engaged, and interested. 

Technology, especially in education is always developing. New technologies and tools are constantly being "bettered" and created. Many companies are always seeking and creating new tools to facilitate teaching for educators. Creating lesson plans, and especially teaching them, is not easy. These tools are created to help educators and even students in learning. These technologies can also be very fun for students. They are learning while at the same time working with technological devices that are interactive. To be able to keep up with advancing technology and see what is out there, there is website called "The Techy Teacher," which gives a list of different technologies and softwares for classrooms. They even mention they keep the website up-to-date as more things are created.