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Charlotte Edwards Haymaker

I am pursuing a degree in Special Education.

My goal for using my special education master’s degree is to apply the knowledge toward getting my special education teaching credential and then move forward to special education administration eventually, after some more higher education of course. I currently work as a health instructional aide in a public school district. I usually am paired with moderate/severe violent emotionally disturbed kiddos, and I love my job.

Learning is all about technology these days and without knowledge of the new things that are being used we would be holding our students back. I am the first to accept that I am not the most diverse in the way of technology use in general. Being that I am usually with moderate/severe students, everyday has been about surviving the meltdown. Maybe with better understanding of the CLOs this year will be more about learning and less about surviving. The more experience you have in the field of teaching and less in surviving makes you more marketable in this field. As for effectiveness in practice goes, I really believe that no child fits the cookie cutter mold that education wants us to put them in. Our exceptional students especially. So having more ways to help change these kids’ lives and education is the thing that makes me feel like this will make me a more effective teacher in the future.

My understanding of the final project is that we are to assume the role of an educator (likely my choice) or a community center representative to plan and present an event for the community to better understand the need for use of technology in the classroom and community centers. This must include plans to allow the community to interact with the different technologies you think should be in the classroom and community centers as well as demonstration plans for those that are not interactive. The goal is to help the community understand what is being used in the classrooms and community centers and why. Being that it has been a while since I have been in a community center and am in a classroom every day I will likely choose the role of the educator. I am excited to learn about different technologies that are being used now. As I mentioned before, I am not exactly the most technologically savvy, so this is going to be a great research project for me. My concern is that I won’t quite understand the different uses of the different available technologies. I don’t currently use my phone to its full potential. Anything I learn from this course will further my knowledge of technology and will be used in my career now and in the future., Network of Trainers