VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

vste18

VSTE 18 Keynote with Sarah Thomas

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At the 2018 Conference, VSTE was proud to welcome Sarah Thomas as our Keynote speaker. Sarah is a Regional Technology Coordinator in Prince George’s (Maryland) County Public Schools and a long-time VSTE member. She is the founder of the #EduMatch movement, a grassroots project that empowers educators to make global connections across common areas of interest.

Sarah regularly presents at events around the world and was a 2017 recipient of the ISTE Making IT Happen award. She is also is also a Google Certified Innovator, Google Education Trainer, and a national advisor for the Future Ready Instructional Coaches Strand.

In her keynote presentation, Sarah challenged us to look backwards as a way to look ahead.

The present is a gift, the past has passed, and the future is what is to come.  Let's time travel and reminisce on our first days of teaching.  What has changed?  What lessons might we learn from our past, and how might this inform our future?  Take a trip with Sarah Thomas on this magical journey that discusses the power of reflection and community, edtech trends over the years, and...fanny packs?

Sarah is active on Twitter as @sarahdateechur, and is the co-host of the Tweet & Talk podcast.

VSTE 18: Assistive Technology – My Early Christmas Gift

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With telescopic precision, Matt Newton used his VSTE 2018 session as a platform to spotlight one of many Assistive Technology Resources: Read and Write.  As a matter of fact, it was the only presentation which specifically focused on accommodations and modifications for the special education population.

Matt prefaced that he is not a representative for Google Read & Write.  He is a T/TAC coordinator who has witnessed the powerful benefits of the Read & Write extension.  In a matter of 60 minutes,  Matt expressed how the awesomeness of this tool could have lasting effects for students who struggle with reading comprehension.  This app is designed to help struggling readers grasp the content.  This is not to say that Read & Write is the “That’s It. That’s All Folks” app for struggling students.

As educators, we know we have to find what works best for our students.  I remember one student who was given an iPad as an accommodation.  The thing is…he didn’t like the iPad!  Regardless of its function or the number of apps which were downloaded on his iPad, he just refused to use it.

As Matt alluded to in his session, the best Assistive Technology in the world is the one that the student is comfortable with and enjoys using it.

Success is gained when teaching and learning become enjoyable and not dreadful.  So, if you have not done so already, check out Read & Write.  Your students just might thank you for it.  And if they don’t, it’s all good. There’s a galaxy of Assistive Technology just waiting to be discovered.

Matt Newton is a Technology Coordinator in the Training and Technical Assistance Center (T/TAC) at Virginia Tech. His VSTE presentation is here and more resources are linked from his conference presentation page.

This post was written by Nicci Doud, a Special Education Teacher for Prince William County.