"How Educators And Special Needs Students Are Using iPads In The Classroom”

http://www.howtolearn.com/2012/04/how-educators-and-special-needs-students-are-using-ipads-in-the-classroom

For my technology article review I chose “How Educators And Special Needs Students Are Using iPads In The Classroom” from HowToLearn.com by Mari Jane Williamsast year my school went one-to-one with iPads for grades five through twelve.  Being that we were one of the first schools in our area to do this many of our teachers felt very overwhelmed.  This article spoke of several schools throughout the country and how they are using the iPad to better education for special needs students.  From video interviews with scholars to being able to video chat teachers during their plan periods, the interactive tablets are greatly enhancing the initiative of students.

Even though this article was focusing on meeting the demands of special needs students, I found two reasons how this article could aid me in my classroom next year.  First, the assistance that the special needs students are receiving from the iPads could be very beneficial to other students as well.  The article talked about how iPads have increased a teacher’s capability to give instant feedback to their students, an attribute that all students I am sure would love.  Secondly, over the last few years more and more special needs students are being infused into the regular classroom.  Some educators are relying more and more on paraeducators for assistance.  iPads are allowing teachers to lessen their dependency on paras by increasing the capability to provide more direct instruction to all students, but most especially the special needs student, who will often silence their need for clarity due to a less than positive social stigma.