One Software that can be used as a support for a student with special educational needs

 Night ZooKeeper

Description: This is an online game where kids can be creative with writing, grammar, and vocab. 

Cost: $5.00 per month

Purchased: online at nightzookeeper.com

Used: To build better writing and vocab with the help of a friendly creature the student can create to take through the games with them. They can make pictures which each of the activities too. 

One Software (program, app, website)

 ABCmouse

Description: ABC mouse is an online learning tool that covers many subjects and teachers and students can interact. It's a fun way to learn while earning "tickets" to help advance your games.

Cost: $24.99 per month

Purchased: Online at ABCmouse.com

Used: To educate the students in a fun interactive way that can be used to focus on a certain subject they are working on, or struggling with. 

One Hardware that can be used as a support for a student with special educational needs

Apple  I PAD (6th Gen)

Description: An interactive learning tool that can be used for all aged students that can hold many resources and be very flexible with assignments. Can also hold lots of data. 

Cost: $205.00 (depending on how many gigabytes (32GB)

Purchased: Walmart (but it can also be purchases in many other places. 

Used: This item can be used to help kids learn new materials by playing learning games, using google classroom, or even for brain breaks. 

One Hardware that can be used with teaching students within your major (special education)

 Wobble Chair 

Description: This is a chair that is helpful to use in Special Education classrooms. It helps fidgety kids that like to be moving around. They are able to move around while still staying focused. This allows students to comfortably move. It has a soft cushion unlike many chairs in school. It also has a rubber bottom to keep children from slipping.

Cost: On amazon this chair costs $66.99.

Purchased: This item and many others like it can be purchased on Amazon. 

Use: This item will be used to comfortably distract the children while they can still focus on the curriculum. It benefits so the children can get there wiggles out while in one spot. 

Blog Post 1: Introduction

     My Name is Madison Ledbetter. I am from St. Louis, Missouri. I chose to become a Special Education teacher. I chose this because growing up the special needs community was a big part of my life. I did many soccer camps with special needs kids ranging from about 4-12 year olds where we played and taught them about soccer. In high school I participated in Special Olympics which was very rewarding to help them and see them succeed. I also helped with a church program for special needs adults once a month. It was lunch and games. So I have worked with all ages. I think I want to teach high school aged kids. A unique thing about myself is that I have a twin but I am almost 7 hours older then her and we broke a hospital record with how far apart we were born. 

    As a child I used lots of technology. In School we had Crome books that we would use in class. The classrooms also had SMART boards. I also had an iPod and iPad which I would use frequently for game and watching YouTube videos. All the YouTube videos I watched taught me a lot about doing hair. Now I do all my roommates and friends hair. I also had a Wii that me and my sisters would play games on. 

    Today I have a MacBook and I use it for school. It has taught me the different types of computers and how they work differently. I also have an Apple Watch that had given me a new way that is easier to communicate with people. Technology has also given me a simple way to email and communicate with my teachers. Also with covid it has helped me take online classes to continue my schooling. 

    In this class I hope to learn new things about technology. For example this Blog website is new to me and I hope to learn fun and creative things to do on it. I also hope to learn about the best kinds of technology to use as a teacher. Also what will be more beneficial to my students and their learning. 

    Within my first five years of teaching I think technology will be extremely advanced. I don't think that their will be many, if any handouts. I think everything will be through google classroom. I also think instead of snow days we will just have zoom classes since everyone has gotten very familiar with that. Also if the child is sick they can join the class virtually from home. A couple years down the line I feel some school could totally go virtual and there would be nothing in person which sadly would require less teachers. In my opinion I don't think that would be the best option though because hands on helps a lot of kids learn. It's crazy to think what technology has advanced to and how much more it could continue to advance.