Teacher Resources

Teacher Resources

                Well I want to teach in special education so it was a little difficult to decided which sources to use and how I would use them.  I will use a program like power point so that I can come up with more visuals for my students.  I also believe that I could make it more interactive, and more fun to look at than just a worksheet.  I watched a video called Life After Death Power point performed by comedian Don McMillian, in this video he points out certain things on what you shouldn’t do on a power point.  He said, “having too much motion or bullet points can be distracting, also that having contrasting colors will not make a good presentation, and that if you have to many words on the page you will lose the interest of the audience.”  I totally agree with all the points he had in this video and it will help me think about it more when I go to make a power point for my students.  A lot of times in special education classrooms they have a thing called morning meeting or circle time, I think this would be a great time to use the power point, when we are going over the days of the week and the weather and colors and shapes.  Using the power point, I can put links on the pages that would allow me to show videos that go along with the topic of the page.  I am really excited about using this resource for my student.

                Another resource that I believe will be good for my student is creating games for the classroom.  I know there are apps that help you create games and I can get my students to help me make a game for them, but I also like the idea of different board games.  I do believe that we don’t have to use technology for everything even though it is becoming more and more common.  In the article called Games in the classroom by Chris Clark he talks about another series of articles by Anastasia Salter in which she discusses different things involving games in the classroom.  “Part 3 is about ways faculty and staff can make their own games.”  I am very interested in finding different ways to get my students involved in their learning and I think this would be a great way to do so.  If I can get them to focus for a little bit to help me make a game they can play would be awesome.  I think it would want them to play it more because they had the opportunity to help make it.  I know that this might be very challenging but well worth it in the end.  I also believe that I can find board games that would go along with things my students would be learning and sometime the more hands on it is the better they pay attention.

                The last resource that I think would work for my classroom in using a tablet for teaching.  I know there are many different apps these days that would help my children learn and it would also help them learn how to use this kind of technology.  In the article called Seven Award-winning education apps by Chris Clark it talks about different apps that I think I could maybe use in my classroom also.  I could use the “science app- virtual frog dissection, the art app called Brushes, and the creativity app called storyboard.”  The art app would encourage my kids to be artistic and give them an outlet too.  I think it would be cool to have a lesson where we talk about a subject and then I tell them to use the app to draw me a picture of what they learned.  I think it would be a good way to see what they got out of the lesson while they are having fun.  I believe I could also use the story board app in the same kind of way, it would be a way for them to be creative and a way to show me how them interpreted the lesson.  I could also use the science one because I think it would be interesting and would show them how frogs look on the inside without having the mess in my classroom.  I think app and using tablets for education will be a great tool for me if I can get apps that pertain to my student’s lessons. 

                I want to accomplish many things with these teacher sources.  I plan to come up with ideas for the power point to get my kids more involved in their learning.  I want to find games that will teach my kids what they need to learn so that we can have fun while learning.  Also using tablets for education purposes is going to be a great tool for my kids.  I know with working with special education students right now, I can get a vision on how my students now would use these tools if I was the teacher, and it is helping me get ideas with what I want to do when I have my own classroom.  I know it will be a difficult thing at first to incorporate these resources in my classroom but I truly believe that when I do, they will be very beneficial to my students. I plan for my students to enjoy it when I use these resources but also learn a great deal while I am implementing them.  I am excited for the things that will come and to be able to use these resources to see my children grow and learn in a positive way.

Work Cited

Vimeo, “Life After Death PowerPoint” performed by: Don McMillian, retrieved on September 28, 2017 from https://vimeo.com/6204213

University of Notre Dame, “Games in the Classroom” by Chris Clark, retrieved on September 28, 2017 from https://ltlatnd.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/games-in-the-classroom/

University of Notre Dame, “Seven Award-Winning Education Apps” by Chris Clark, retrieved September 28, 2017 from https://ltlatnd.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/seven-award-winning-education-apps/