Blog Journal 7

The idea of using Twitter as an educational tool was pretty new to me. I think it is a tool for teachers to communicate with their class maybe if they teach a old grade. For young children, many don't have access or permission to have twitter and parents may not want to create an account either for seeing what the teacher tweets but using it for highschoolers could be beneficial seeing as they already have social media accounts and use Twitter. Personally, I keep forgetting that Twitter participation is a something we are supposed to be doing just because I'm not a frequent twitter user on my personal account either. I have the app, but always forget I have it. I think there are some benefits to using Twitter like seeing articles and news posted by accounts or being able to see what is "trending" in the social media world. I also think its a good way to get announcements to older students and make sure they have their notifications on so they don't miss the announcement tweet. I so far haven't experienced any problems with twitter besides I keep forgetting to use it. It it pretty easy to search stuff, like or retweet and use in general.


I really enjoyed the Web Design Assignment. I used Wix.com as the platform the create my website and it was quite fun. It didn't really feel like an activity to be doing solely for a grade but something that would actually help me in my future career. Wix.com was very user friendly and had so many options for stuff that you could change about your web page. You could either select a template or start completely from scratch but I think they have really good templates that are aesthetically pleasing and give good ideas for your own website. I really like the way my website turned out and I think it is easy to navigate around. I learned about the website and all the way you can customize it and I think it will be very helpful in the future when creating my own teacher website, if I don't use the one made for the assignment. 

Assistive and adaptive technologies are adaptive devices, programs and tools that enable people with physical or learning disabilities to be able to perform the same tasks or assignments at the same level as those who don't have them. They help people work around their disabilities and be included in the same activities as everyone else. During my time in elementary school and some middle school, there were two students in my class that had visual disabilities. One student was completely blind and had been since birth and the other could see a little bit when things were close up and his vision was actually improving. The two were best friends until one had to move but before that they were inseparable. During elementary school they had quite a few resources available for them to make sure they were getting the same education and treatment. One was the use of books printed in braille and they also used braille printers to type/write assignments. Another huge resource provided for them was a personal mentor/assistant. She was hired by the school and was with them all the time, as guide when walking, she typed their books in braille and helped them with everything. She had her own office and sometimes would work with them separate from the rest of the class. I think the use of braille books and printer and their personal mentor, they were at the level of the rest of the class and succeeded. I think having a child in my classroom with an disability will make things more difficult but I will be committed to finding the best assistive technologies and programs for them to make sure they are included and at the same level as the rest of the class.