High School Subbing

So today I subbed for the first time in a high school and I got to have a basic look at what technology they had at that level. This was in the same district as the middle school I subbed in, so I wasn't really surprised when there wasn't a huge difference in tech use in the classroom but some of the things they had were interesting. One of the student teachers (also a Grad Student from this school) used her laptop to make interesting power points of her lessons instead of just using a marker board and I think that having questions and answers flashing on the board helped the kids engage a little bit. I was a special ed aid today so I didn't get a great chance to see how the bigger classrooms were run but I saw that some of the kids came to class with small typewriter devices. I didn't get a chance to look up close but I think that would be a good idea for kids who's handwriting is illegible or someone who needs to have things more organized but can't afford an actual laptop. Next time I go into that school I am going to find out how they determine who gets to use those and how it exactly works.

Another observation that I had both subbing days was that I really enjoyed the small class sizes because you can reach the students more and have the attitude of the lecture or lesson match the personalities of the kids. It is just easier to specialize to specific needs with smaller groups. This leads me to wonder whether I should specialize in just History or do Special Ed along with it. A question that I hope I can figure out soon...