My Students Are a Resource

I am currently in my first semester of student teaching, and am navigating all of the challenges that go with this learning process. Lesson planning, grading, resources, and classroom management are all things that you never really learn until you actually do them. I’m doing them!
Managing the classroom is actually easier than I thought it would be, because I have found wonderful resources.
The first resource is people. I have given my students jobs to help me with things like materials distribution, writing on the whiteboard, jotting down notes, etc.. I have seen this used effectively in other classrooms and I know that it is an excellent opportunity for the students to practice responsibility. I would give my students jobs, even if I did not have a disability. Some students do not want the responsibility, and I do not force it on them. However, other students specifically request to have a job. Often, they don’t care what the job is. They just want the opportunity to help. I would have expected that from lower elementary students, but these are high school sophomores.
I have explained my condition to them, but only so they understand the times that I refuse to do something. The student jobs are rewarded with payment in candy. It is a small token (one piece per week) but it is a gesture to show that I do not take their assistance for granted. When a student volunteers to have a job, they are usually volunteering for the entire week, and will receive a piece of candy, a pen, a hacky sack, or a toy at the end of the week.
One of the most valuable student jobs is that of audiovisual. This student sits at the computer at the front of the room, and functions as my hands at the computer during class. They open up my lesson plan that I have posted to a website, so I can review it periodically. They open up my PowerPoint presentation, and follow my cues to advance slides as I lecture.
I am able to walk around the room, and very quickly they tune in to my subtle cues to advance slides. This gives me a great deal of freedom to stay in close proximity with the entire classroom.
I do not have any of my assistive software or hardware at school, so I am unable to do any computer work in the classroom. This has been a challenge, as I have yet to find a system that is portable on a daily basis. Hauling my laptop, foot mouse and headset with all of the accompanying cables is a physical hardship I endure periodically, but cannot do on a daily or weekly basis.
I’m still exploring assistive technologies, looking for the perfect combination of portability and accessibility. I will soon be using the new MacSpeech Dictate, which allows for Bluetooth. This will be a big improvement over the 6 foot cable and the partially dismantled Logitech headset I use now. Most headsets come with speakers, which is particularly bulky, especially when I never need speakers in dictation. All I need is a microphone, the smaller the better.