This is me.....

I am a student in the College of Education at the University of South Alabama studying to become a collaborative special education teacher at middle or high school levels.
I am originally from Scotland and moved to Alabama to work at Camp ASSCA adapting activities for people with special needs in 1994. I have spent the past ten years working and traveling while putting my wife through school, and now have the opportunity to pursue a life long goal of becoming a special education teacher.
As a mature student that has been exposed to many cultures and views, I hope to expand the knowledge of students and develop a relationship with the community I work in. Having the ability to use and incorporate technology into my classroom will help me adapt instruction to suit the needs of every student. My goal is to focus on each child's ability and not there disability by making my classroom as universal and as enjoyable as possible. Below are some of the technology tools that I hope to incorporate into my lesson plan allowing students to connect with parents and the community.

Streaming allows access to any event and improves learning.

Streaming is a way to record an event using a web cam or video camera. Parents, children, or anyone needing or wanting access to what is happening in their child's school can view specific days or events at the discretion of the teacher. Privacy is an important aspect to streaming and teacher's can allow access to anyone they choose or no-one.
This means that you can send parents positive feedback on what their child is doing and build trust and encouragement between schools and homes. Trust and encouragement are vital in a students success and will also help prevent Due Process hearings; streaming also serves well for I.E.P. meetings because you can have visual conformation of the child's ability, and prevent unneeded paper work or example testing to be performed. Streaming helps ensure that appropriate education is realistic and helps negate any disputes.

As a teacher streaming allows me to critique my lesson and the way I performed so that I can make adjustments and improve over a much shorter time. Feedback is a important part of developing professionally as a teacher and applications like Ustream allows secure free ways to receive daily feedback.
Schools benefit from having basketball games and any other activities streamed live onto the school web page for free. This might allow parents with disabilities, or that are at work, to view their child's performance.