Chiara Nakashian: Why We Need to Teach 21st...(Post #5)

I have a student in my class who is labeled on his IEP as being "mentally retarded," a dated and insensitive title. He does have cognitive delays, however Walter is 100% educable and often has deeper ideas and questions than his peers. Regardless, Walter lacks certain basic skills that often make him feel inferior to his classmates, one of these skills is reading. Fortunately, I recently came across a stack of Leap Frogs that weren't being used in my school and took them. When Walter saw the Leap Frog, he instantly knew what to do--where to put the cartridge, where to put the book, how to turn it on, where to place the pen, etc. Without asking me for any assistance, Walter set himself up and started reading! This is a student who often tells me during reading, "Just give me F, I can't read, I don't care." But on this day, I walked up to Walter and asked him to explain to me what he was doing. He stopped, looked up at me, slightly annoyed, and said, "I'm reading." It was exciting and heartwarming--Walter was reading!

This article by Bob Regan made me think of this experience, specifically because of brief mention of the benefits of technology for children with special needs. The tactile aspect of using different technologies--such as Smart Boards and Leap Frogs--has proven to be incredible in my classroom. In addition, the students are just so excited to use technology that the mere presence of the Smart Board excites them and gets them motivated to learn.

Another key point in this article is Regan's reference to John Dewey. He states that "Learning by doing was a core theme of John Dewey’s work. It is as important today as it was in his day. We don’t want to teach our students about science, we want them to become scientists." Thanks to technology, learning through experience can be brought to an entirely new level. Today, students can literally experience the world through a computer screen, and certainly should. Of course, this does not mean that real life experiences should be replaced in full by virtual experiences, however the interent is there to allow students to experience the parts of the world that they would have otherwise not been able to experience. For students like Walter, the internet and other technologies can bring the world to him.