I hearby do solemnly vow....

When I teach how to effectively use technology, I become excited. The students learn new ways to make their lives easier while acquiring the essential skills to be successful within the work place. I can admit that while I am preparing to teach these classes, I often omit to make the necessary accommodations for students who may have visual or audio disabilities for example, including more audio within my PPT, or increasing font sizes to an ex-large fonts. This is inexcuseable.

That's going to change! The relevance of improving my lectures and presentations has greatly enhanced since this morning. Today, I was developing a communication strategy using Proloquo2go on an augmentative alternative communication device (AKA - making the Ipod Touch talk using Proloquo2go). Any type of communication strategy does take planning and proper preparation, and for someone who has NEVER done this before, moving through the motions at such a slow pace can feel a bit tedious. Therefore, I am very grateful for my elementary/middle school classmates (teachers) who so graciously welcomed me to the world of teaching kids with learning disabilities. Without them I'm afraid I would be completely lost. Of course, I would be totally lost; I'm a technology teacher who gets wrapped up in her own world of teaching adults, who never (well, not very often) stops to think about all those adult learners with learning disabilities.
Today, we created (with a few simple touches) a text to speak device that will allow for many doors of communication to open for our student - "Charlie".
For example, Charlie will be able to effectively 'converse' with anyone he comes in contact with while he's at home, or at the hospital for one of his frequent visits, or while he's just hangin' out with his buddies in an efficient (and very cool) manner. It was a creative plan and easy to prepare on the Touch... so why don't we do this sort of thing more often in the college system???? I can honestly say, that I'm a bit embarrassed as an educator. So...I solemnly vow to revamp my instructional strategies and technological methodologies to meet the needs of all learners within my classroom by providing well planned learning opportunities (which may include assistive technology tools) that are pain free, stress free, cost free, also where successful learning outcomes are attainable and completely STUDENT-CENTERED. Thanks Charlie!