JoLynn's+technology+issues


 * __Higher Order Thinking__**

It is important to get your students to a level of higher order thinking skills. Technology can be a very useful way of supporting higher order thinking skills. Using technology can be an important aspect of learning how to think above and beyond the usual. Higher order thinking is having the ability to think more than what the obvious states. It helps students expand their prior knowledge and to build onto what they already know. When looking through different websites one that I found that was very helpful was the 25 awesome Virtual Learning Experiences. On that site they have a link that is 7 wonders panoramas. It allows you to look at the place in a 360 degree view. This is very interesting. In order to help students with higher order thinking you can have them pick a wonder and view the tour of it. Then you can have them pretend that they are a person that lived there and have them write a story about living there and what it is like. They can be specific and tell you what they eat and what they like to do. They could also tell you what obstacles they have to face on a day to day basis.


 * __Affirming Diversity__**

Technology can be used to affirm diversity in a number of different ways. One way of affirming diversity in the classroom would include presenting material in a number of different ways. Another way to affirm diversity is to celebrate diversity everyday in the classroom. By doing this, it shows students that everyone is important and everyone is worth something to the class. I think that one website that shows diversity very well is a site from PBS. It affirms diversity by having you imagine that you are someone for a while. It is a game that teaches you how important other cultures and people are. It asks how you would survive as another person for a day. It celebrates all the different diversities and different cultures.


 * __Technology that supports Special Education students__**

There are a lot of different technologies that you would be able to use in a Special education classroom that would be very beneficial for the students. Useful websites would be a very important part of the classroom. Websites that help students explore sensory and different ways to learn are the best ones for Special education. Using spell check and the thesaurus are also great ways to support learning. This would help them see the correct spelling or word and be able to recognize that the next time they see it. One site that I found that would support learning is the Living Voices site. This site would be helpful for students that could not see or that could not read very well. It is an interactive site that allows you to click on different historical figures and listen to their stories and about their lives.