Posted by Amanda Kenuam on Thu, Jun 10, 2010
Many high school students have either graduated in the past few weeks or will be graduating in the coming weeks. Traditionally, students would join the work force or attend college to further their education. However, with the current state of the economy, many of these students will have a more difficult time both in pursuing future educational goals and also attaining summer or full-time jobs. This is also very true for special needs students. As these students head off into the ‘real world' there are basic technology skills that all students, especially students with special needs, should have in their arsenal of skills.
Online Banking
Many of our day-to-day tasks are now managed through the Internet. Recent graduates should be familiar with navigating these sites. Utilizing online banking is a popular trend due to ease, convenience and accessibility 24/7. Many account practices including deposits, transfers, loans, bill paying, and budgeting can all be done through bank websites. This is also more convenient as it can be done from home.
Individuals can also manage many of their bills online. Most services, including power, cable, water, car insurance, and credit card bills can be paid online. Students should become familiar with accessing these different types of sites and to manage their financial assets and liabilities online. Students should also be aware of various scams that they may receive through spam that ask for personal information that can then be used for fraud and identity theft.
Email
Students should create an email address and be taught how to correspond via email. This can be for both personal and professional purposes. Students should learn proper letter formatting including a salutation, message, and closing for formal emails. Students should also be familiar with the various features of email including how to send email to multiple people, adding or downloading attachments, subject headings, and spell check.
Email is a popular way to send resumes and cover letters to potential employers. Proper spelling, grammar, and formatting would help a recent graduate to gain an advantage over other applicants. Students should also be taught about timeliness of email. They do not have to continuously check and respond to email, but questions and follow-ups should be responded to in a timely manner.
Job Hunting
Traditionally, job hunting meant looking through the classified ads or hitting the pavement to see who was hiring. Today, most companies will post their job openings either through a job search site or the direct website for the company. Students should be familiar with using, searching through, and submitting applications through the top career websites like Career Builder, Monster, and HotJobs.
Job Related Technology
Many students just out of high school may be getting either summer, part-time, or full-time jobs in retail stores or restaurants. While many may not think of retail stores or restaurants as involving technology, that is not the case in the marketplace. It would benefit special needs students to have prior experience with cash registers, credit card machine, and food service preparation before applying for jobs that may need those skills. Volunteering would be one way that students could gain these skills. Special needs students may not be able to learn as quickly as expected by employers or co-workers and having prior experience would help to reduce anxiety that can be caused by learning something new and complex. In the restaurant industry, technology is also used in the kitchen to store and prepare food. Almost any job that you can think of these days will have some connection or needed use of technology.
Lesson Plans for ‘Living' Computer Skills
Here are some lesson plans to use when teaching the skills discussed above. If you have any great lesson plans on these topics, please feel free to comment!
1.
"You're an Adult Now!" WebQuest
2.
Using Technology for Communication for Deaf Students
3.
Computer Literacy
4.
Lesson Plans for resume writing, job searches, accounting, career planning, and money management
-Article by Laura Ketcham
Free Teacher Resources | Special Education by MangoMon
Posted by Lauren Grossberg on Tue, Jun 08, 2010
Money and finance can sometimes be a difficult topic for some people. For students with special needs, it is important to practice terms that center around this topic. From cashing checks from a job to spending the right amount of money in a store, knowing the meaning and names of these banking terms are essential. Learning such vocabulary terms will prepare students for the real world and the tasks that involve them, like paying for items and savings. Interactive flashcards give students the chance to practice terms while having fun. MangoMon
offers a range of vocational and occupational flashcards. These free flashcards offer a fun and unique way of learning important information.
Banking and Finance
By hearing and seeing banking and finance terms, students can practice and learn the words. Words that describe money are important for students to learn because many of they will be using some of them every day. They might use these terms in future careers or everyday shopping.
Each word in the set has the word, a picture of the term, audio pronunciation and example sentences. These words are helpful in preparing students with samples of what they might be talking about when paying for items, shopping, depositing or withdrawing money and other banking tasks.
These terms are great for helping students remember and learn the names of banking and finance terms. There are ten vocabulary terms in this set. Words like check, credit card and statement are some of the examples of words in this set.
Special needs students and ESL learners will find success in using these flashcards. The ability to hear the words and see them being used in a real example with pictures allows them to form a picture in their head of what the term looks like. Arrow keys allow students to go back and forth between terms for additional review.
The combined elements in these cards give students a better understanding of the words. Resources like these flashcards are always a helpful addition to any learning system for students with special needs. Integrating technology into learning will also prepare students for the future.
Free Teacher Resources | Special Education by MangoMon