Philosophy of Education

Current Ideas about using technology in the room as a Special

Education Teacher

The point of any teaching aid, device, or technology is to further

advance the education of the students and to facilitate the expression
of ideas in an educational setting. In this light, teachers should aim to
deliver their wealth of knowledge and expertise in a manner that is
conducive to their particular student population. Technology then,
should be used to assist students in a positive way with their academic
endeavors and should be up to the particular class of students as to
whether or not technology would be a medium that would be best
suited for learning. It is essential as educators to remember that the
main objective of teaching is not to create an unnecessarily difficult
trail to a first class education, but rather to educate students in a way
that they will be able to engage themselves in and ultimately become
productive members of society.

What theory/ies are guiding this philosophy?

My guiding philosophy is derived from a highly successful basketball

coach by the name of Phil Jackson, who utilizes the triangle offensive
philosophyto guide his teams. The triangle offense, although is
certainly complex and has a steeper learning curve for players, has
very intuitive principles. However, the essence of the entire offense
can be summarized into one phrase, which is to follow the path of least
resistance. The offense is almost completely predicated on the ability
of players to “take what the defense gives you” and utilize the open
angles or paths for which to pass the ball through. Similarly, my
philosophy is not to attempt to force learning but rather to let the
student articulate and demonstrate his/her way of learning. The idea is
that the students will know their best individual way to learn, and as a
teacher, my goal is simply to “take what they give me” and educate
them through that medium. The goal of course is to make education
as efficient for these students as possible. If technology is the
appropriate medium through which the particular group of students
wishes to be educated, then there is no reason that a teacher should
do anything on the contrary.

What purpose does the technology serve?

The main purpose of technology is to enhance the learning capabilities

of the student and to provide a medium through which the learning
process can flourish. If I realize that my students are very involved with
their technology (examples would include: Ipods, powerpoint, excel,
word, video, podcasts, and youtube) either through observation, and
conversation, I would be led to believe that they enjoy using
technology and Iwould explore it as an avenue to educating them.

How do you ensure technology use for all students?

To me the best way to ensure that everyone will be able to use

technology, would be to have different groups use different media or
project types. For example, if we were doing a math project I might
have one group do it with just calculators and write answers on the
board. Then I might have another group work with each other on a
more experiment type learning activity and then present the results in
an artistic form, and then for the final group I may have them use a
computer program. Ideally, I would like to rotate these week to week
to ensure that everyone gets a chance with the different aspects.

How can/does technology support learning needs for diverse learners?

Every individual has their own learning style. In Special Education,

many times technology such as powerpointsfor really visual learners,
or hearing aids for the partially deaf can go along way to improving the
learning capacity of these individuals. I would also argue that in some
cases individuals can almost be completely dependant on technology.
Sometimes in Special Education, students are put there because they
do not respond well to the traditional methods. In this light, technology
may be encouraged. Actually, my brother (a high school student with
cerebral palsy) has a pen that when placed over a word, will be said
out loud to him and give him the definition. This is great because it
helps him with one of his most difficult challenges which is reading
comprehension.

How will you evaluate if the use of technology is effective?

Effectiveness for me means that the students have learned just as

much if not more than they would have had theydone the project
without technology. So the typical assessments as far as effectiveness
should be considered, such as tests, projects and quizzes. However, I
would take into account the enjoyment and the overall ease with which
thestudents learned the material. I think once you know your students
you can feel it out and use surveys as a type of data collection. If they
enjoy working with the technology I don’t see why it should not be
implemented in the classroom. As they say in basketball, you keep
going to something until the other team figures out how to stop it, if
the technology is helping the students keep doing it.