Journal # 3

Social Justice, Choice or Necessity by Colleen Swain and David Edyburn is a great article in that it explores inequities in technologies available to students. Interestingly enough, the inequities often seemingly lie not in socio-economic standards, but simply in that teachers have total choice and control in regards to if they are going to implement technology (and if so, to what degree) in their classroom. I respect and agree with this finding, as I recently worked in a school with a "gray" staff that was largely uneducated about technology. This is a school that is actually in a higher-income suburban area that competes with very "techie" schools nearby. I couldn't help but recognize and have concern for the fact that these students were not being exposed to and working with various computer applications regularly.

As an Assistive Technology Practitioner, I really respect and am very pleased about how Assistive Technology can be a tremendous help and support to students (and all people) with disabilites. The authors gave the example of how literacy software can help to "erase" social inequitiy for a student with a reading disability. I agree completely (eventhough I don't fully love the "erase" phrase) as I have witnessed very intelligent children, who, despite significant intervention, cannot read participate in high-level, grade level curriculum by utilizing screen reading. As a teacher I will always strive for social justice, in any situation I may be working in. Technology is one more very important arena, in which educators need to strive to consider students' needs when we are teaching.

Question 1: How can I help colleagues "buy into" the fact that technology really must be incorporated into the curriculum? This article is a great place to start! By demonstrating statistics to fellow educators such as 80% percent of skilled workers will need to be technology-literate is of great significance, and certainly should be considered by all educators. Very often, I think people do not become more computer savvy because of fear--of the unknown, of feeling foolish, etc. It isn't really about our insecurities, though, as it is about doing the right thing by the students we are working with.

Question 2: What are "real world" applications of technologies that I would teach students to use? I would teach, and would want to help students become proficient in various Microsoft applications such as Word, Publisher, Power Point, Excel, Outlook; become comfortable using the Internet to search for information, goods and services; use varoius educational materials and software and more. Helping students have access to technology as early as possible, and keeping technology a regular, steady facet of their education is as important as applications they actually work with.