Blog Post 6 - Technology for Struggling Students

I thought that for this post I'd discuss some of the ways technology can be used for struggling students.  Some will be based on my own experiences, though I'll also be leaning on the research of others to provide some information on possible uses I haven't yet adopted in my own classroom.  Gabrielle Young notes that "In comparison to other interventions, assistive technology may have a significant effect in helping students with disabilities progress towards the goals outlined on their Individual Education Plans." (Young, 2008).

Literacy

According to Fleischman at Research Matters, research has shown that experiencing text bimodally (both visually and aurally) has positive effects on readers - both strong and struggling (Lewandowski & Montali, 1996).  When you add in features like highlighting text as it is read, students' attention is further held, thus improving retention.  I've personally witnessed the benefits of such programs in both home and school contexts.  One of my daughters struggles with reading, and I've found that apps like Khan Academy Kids and Epic allow her to find enjoyment in reading, while receiving the little boosts she needs to stay focused and retain what she's learning.  In my classroom, talk-to-text technology has been extremely useful for my students who struggle with idea generation, spelling, and fine motor skills.  It allowed one of my students this past year to move from non-writer to writing three- or four-sentence paragraphs!

Learning reinforcement at home - COVID forced us to become familiar with distance learning, and programs like Prodigy Math, Epic! Books, and the Google Tools suite became lifesavers.  But even post-COVID I find myself using technology to reinforce learning at home, particularly for my struggling students.  Whether it's communicating with parents via email or Zoom/Google Meets, recommending youtube videos that reinforce what we've been learning in math, or sharing documents and websites with parents and students, technology has definitely created another bridge between home and school.

Opportunity to Shine - This might seem like a strange one, and it's definitely a two-edged sword... but often my struggling students have a lot of expertise when it comes to technology.  A lot of the time I'm wrestling with them and their parents to lessen phone-use and tear their kids away from screens at home.  And yet I've found that these students get a great self-esteem boost when they're able to rescue me from some tech failure or complication.

Gameification - Many of my struggling students have their learning enhanced through the use of games - although this is also a murky area that requires some forethought.  Writers who struggle with written output often perform better on Kahoot quizzes than written.  Prodigy and Xtra Math provide focus and incentive for those reluctant to practice math with other more traditional methods.  "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and Jeopardy-style online review games grab students who might otherwise be zoning out...

The following are other tools I've used or I'm interested in exploring for their potential benefits to struggling readers include:

* online blogging and virtual self-reflection

* Google slides for students who struggle with written output

* FlipGrid - allows students to create video responses to teacher or peer prompts.  

* Video Book Talks - for students who struggle with public speaking;

References:

Fleischman, S. (n.d.). Research matters / technology to help struggling students. ASCD. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/technology-to-help-struggling-students

Young, G. (2018, May 4). Assistive technology for students with learning disabilities. LD@school. Retrieved July 28, 2022, from https://www.ldatschool.ca/assistive-technology/