Keeping Up with AT

As I go through my teaching journey, I learn that all students have different capabilities and needs; and all teachers must attend to and take actions for students to attain better academic achievement and learning. Students without disabilities and their counterparts truly learn differently. So modifications and accommodations are essential and vital in lesson planning. With the fast pace technological advancement, it is significant that teachers must be updated and knowledgeable of the different changes that occur in such devices. Therefore, they must also keep up with the variety of assistive technology available for students with disabilities. The video entitled “Enabling Dreams” (2005) is such a great resource for me as an aspiring teacher to be aware of the certain issues and recommendations revolving in educating special education students.

            Teachers must always formulate a lesson plan that includes opportunities for students with disabilities to be successful participants in the classroom. For instance, cooperative learning groups during an activity are crucial in enhancing their communication, collaboration, and social interaction skills. Incorporating technology in the students assigned tasks is an important feature that is included in a lesson plan. As Susanna Martini in the “Enabling Dreams” video (2005) states that the utilization of voice activation software from a computer enables her to accomplish her written assignments. Elementary students who could not speak, use assistive technology called the Dynavox Maestro, which consists of description of a given graphic presented. With the use of a laptop, Vishal Saraiya is able to type, print, and search information for academic purposes. Another important part of a lesson plan is the analysis of the learners. This portion identifies and describes the students based on their cultural background, age, gender, disability, and learning styles. Knowing these elements provides a substantial support for teachers in assimilating and accommodating a lesson that fits and meets each students needs. As the narrator suggests in the “Enabling Dreams” video (2005), “the first task is to determine the best way for the child to access a device.” Once students are able to find the device they are most comfortable with, they may easily progress and learn actively.

            The first step in creating or designing a revised activity to include students with disabilities is to read and ensure that their Individualized Education Program (IEP) is rigorous and complete as possible. Morrison, G.S. (2009) mentions “IEP specifies what will be done for the child, how and when it will be done, and by whom it will be done” (p.148). Therefore, this permits teachers to start modifying the activity and make it suitable for their needs. The following step is the collection of information whether through online research or consultation from fellow teachers about what unique and interesting activity special education students may enjoy and learn from. Application of the gathered information to the newly revised activity attests whether they successfully or fail to obtain understanding from the activity.

            To assess the appropriateness of the revised activities for the inclusion of students with disabilities, I will revisit the set goals of the students’ IEP profiles. I think this is the most effective way of measuring as to whether the activity made for these students is relevant or irrelevant to their academics and personal life because the goals are specifically jotted down. A summative assessment through reflection writing would be another method to use in evaluating the suitability of the designed activities. In this reflection, students will be asked to give feedback about the activity itself, its relation to real life application, and if it narrows or broadens their knowledge about the topic of the day. An evaluation or rubric in considering the appropriateness of the revised activities is compulsory because it explicitly states the targets to be met.

            Actually, I have observed two resource rooms several semesters ago. The first resource room I have observed was a math class in high school. Frankly, I was really disappointed on the teacher because she only gave one worksheet for the entire class time. She never stood up nor checked most of the students’ progress. However, there was a time that he helped a male student in doing his work by using blocks. For instance, the problem is 2+5 = 7. She first brought out two blocks of the same color and another five blocks of a different color. This enabled the student to grasp the mathematical operation and finish his work in a faster manner because of its real life application and visual demonstration. Perhaps if I were to redesign the method used by the teacher, I would draw a face of a person with a certain number of teeth. For instance, the total number of teeth the person has is 15. However, the person had to go to the dentist and remove three teeth for excessively eating chocolates. I would shade three teeth and then count the not shaded teeth to get the final answer. This is a better and more fun demonstration of a mathematical operation.

            The second resource room I observed was in an elementary school.  I somehow did not like the way the teacher managed her class because she was kind of talking to her students in a sarcastic way when they were asking her questions. Additionally, while the students were doing their task, she was mostly on her cellular phone instead of focusing primarily and continuously monitoring her students. On the brighter side, she has used new ways in creating activities for her students. She used Pinterest in obtaining unique ideas for making the activities more engaging. For example, in language arts, she had her students make a figure that looked like a wheel of fortune in formulating compound words. Additional, they also had pictures that symbolized the words being described in their notebooks. She motivated them to make these graphic organizers colorful as much as they wanted. Saeed, Sitwat and Zyngier, David (2012) stated that, “Motivation is seen as a pre-requisite of and a necessary element for student engagement and learning” (p.252). As they were pasting these images on their notebook, they were positively commenting on each other’s work. I was looking at their facial expression as they were doing these assignments; and they had big smiles. I would definitely adopt these activities when I become a teacher.

            The use of assistive technology made learning for students with disabilities more meaningful and comprehensible. According to Adebisi, Rufus Olanrewaju, Liman, Nalado Abubakar, and Longpoe, Particia Kwalzoom (2015) mentioned that, “the use of computer and other technologies, as extended to children with learning disabilities, have benefited and enhanced lives and given many children with learning disabilities options of intervening in their various educational and cognitive problems” (p.14). Susanna Martini in the video (2005) testified by saying that “AT is the major foundation of my life.” Teachers should not stop in keeping up with technological advancement, searching and knowing how to operate different available assistive technology for students, and devising strategies that students could relate to both educational and real life practices.

References

Abedisi, R.O., Liman, N.A., & Longpoe, P.K. (2015). Using assistive technology in teaching children with learning disabilities in the 21^st century. Journal of Education and Practice, 6(4), 14-20.

Morrison, G. S. (2009). Teaching diverse learners II: Academically diverse learners in today’s classroom. Teaching in America (pp. 143-181). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Merill

Saeed, S. & Zyngier, D. (2012). How motivation influences student engagement: A qualitative case study. Journal of Education and Learning, 1(2), 252-267.

The George Lucas Educational Foundation. (2005). Assistive-technology: Enabling dreams [video file]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/assistive-technology-enabling-dreams-video

A Learning Experience in My Multimedia Lesson Plan

I have once used the ASSURE lesson plan format from another education class. So I was already familiar with the features of this layout. However, I had a difficult time assembling and putting together my ideas during the creation process of my multimedia cereal lesson plan because I was unsure and undecided as to which content area I could incorporate it with. Stating our objectives individually in class provided a better understanding about the requirements in making my multimedia lesson plan. Furthermore, setting up meetings with some of my classmates was such a great help in generating well-improved thoughts for this project. As a produce, I entitled my lesson as, “Be smart, Eat well” and tied it along with language arts.

Creating a lesson plan demands a lot of effort and time to ensure that all students’ needs are accommodated. Kubilinskiene, Svetlana and Dagiene, Valentina (2010) state that, “A lesson plan is an auxiliary teacher’s work for preparing, organizing, and conducting a lesson” (p. 217). Hence, a well-developed lesson plan will enable a teacher to deliver his or her lesson to students in a smoother manner. If I were to create a similar lesson plan to the same group of students, I would include more rules during their cooperative learning groups. Students being placed in a group together will involve more participation if they are assigned with specific duty and responsibility. Since there are mostly four students in a group, members will decide as to who will be the note taker, the Infogram editor, the computer handler, and the researcher. To reassure that the student with mild autism and the English Language Learner are progressing, they will be assigned to work with the researcher because this will enable them to practice their speaking and communication skills. Instead of using PowerPoint in the end, I would rather use Emaze presentation tool because it has better looking and more enticing templates students could use for their presentation. Because there are lesser tabs for editing in Emaze, students will be able to easily navigate it and use their time wisely in enhancing their final piece.

I would use the same materials for creating a similar lesson plan to the same group of students because the different technological devices used will broaden their ability to utilize these tools not only for games and entertainment, but for academic purposes as well. The activities will be applied similarly because they allow students to practice their speaking, listening, and writing skills. Their speaking and listening skills are tested in brainstorming about the information or data inputted in their presentation. Their writing skill is practiced during the note taking process and word choice formation during their presentation.

Based on the lesson plan I made, I could tie this to a health class by asking students to write down their most favorite fruit juice brand. Students will still be in cooperative learning groups. Each student will bring his or her most favorite fruit juice in class. They will write down their salt, fat, and sugar content individually. However, for this lesson, they will be assigned with a different duty and responsibility. For instance, the student who was the computer handler in the previous lesson will become the Infogram editor. This allows the students to be explorers because they get to have a new task. Furthermore, communication, interaction, and learning are enhanced because they get advises from the student who has had their current position. As Taqi, Hanan A. and Al-Nouh, Nowreyah A. (2014) suggest, “cooperative learning result in better achievement than individualistic learning” (p. 53). 

The information gathered from the evaluation is used to assess each student’s mastery of the lesson’s objectives. Once I have all the graded evaluation forms of the students, I will then take notes about the areas students had difficulty in meeting with. For example, one group’s bar graph is not organized. For future instruction, I will show and explain further to students the proper way of using the Infogram application. Another way is to print out handouts with graphics and notes on how to operate Infogram correctly. The evaluation is tied to my lesson objectives by setting them as my criteria in judging the students’ competency in using these tools effectively and efficiently. Students can earn 25 points if their bar graph consists of the salt, fat, and sugar content of the cereal being advertised compared to the other cereals. Students can acquire a maximum of 20 points if their healthiest cereal advertisement contains 5-10 slides. 

An important element of teaching that was not mandatory included in the ASSURE lesson plan is the insertion of the Common Core standards. I would include these standards to guarantee students that the teacher is aware, knowledgeable of, and following the standards required in teaching. Furthermore, I would incorporate an anticipatory set in my lesson to get the students started. This is a good way to get students involved and easily relate the activity to the upcoming lesson.

Perhaps, an article about the cereal misconceptions will better educate and make good decision making in the students food choices. Another resource that would further enhance the lesson is to teach students to incorporate voiceover and music using garage band in their presentation because this will permit them to use another technological tool. In case they do not finish their work on time, students will be taught to create a Gmail account for each group. This application allows them to save their unfinished work in draft or make a drive so they can make revision without meeting up personally.

To make the lesson plan more challenging, I will have each group create a bar graph using a spreadsheet instead of just updating a pre-made bar graph in Infogram. Another way is to have each group include the mean and median of the three cereals in their presentation to find out the average salt, fat, and sugar content that their body absorbs every time they eat these cereals. Lastly, students will be asked to create a persuasive quote for consumers to buy their cereal by creating a banner using Microsoft Word.

Creating a multimedia lesson plan is a great way to practice the teacher’s skills in keeping track with the advancing technology. This was a challenging task in the beginning, but turned out to be a great learning experience because I, as an aspiring teacher, have to really think through and formulate activities students could relate to in order to keep them enthusiastic and interested in the lesson. The students can easily access this type of lesson plan as long as they are given the URL account, which is a good way to save papers.

References

Kubilinskiene, S. & Dagiene, V. (2010). Technology-based lesson plans: Preparation and description. Informatics in Education, 9(2), 217-228.

Taqi, H.A. & Al-Nouh, N.A. (2014). Effect of group work on EFL students’ attitudes and learning in higher education. Journal of Education and Learning, 3(2), 52-65.