Prior to starting this class, I thought I had a lot of experience with technology. After all, I own an iphone, Mac Book, and Kindle. All of these devices are a part of my daily life. However, this weeks readings made me realize that I am nowhere near as tech savvy as I thought. RSS feeds and Wiki’s are something that I have never used, because they always seemed unnecessary.
My current classroom is a pre-k inclusion class of eight students. Five students have hearing impairments and wear hearing aids or Baha Implants. The Baha Implant is a device that allows sound to be conducted through the ear bone, rather than the middle ear. Hearing aids simply amplify sounds and are worn in the ear. The classroom also has a sound amplification device that requires the teacher to wear a microphone. At the beginning of every day, a teacher checks the Baha or hearing aid of each student. If the devices are not working properly, they are cleaned or sent out for repair. Since this a pre-K classroom, there are no computers in the classroom. Teaching staff has a separate room with computers for lesson planning and personal use.
My technology professional development needs require familiarization with the audio aides used by all my students. Since this is my first few weeks of teaching children with hearing loss, my knowledge of assistant technology is minimal. Once I better understand the assistive technology, I will be able to address issues of UDL and other instructional technologies.
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