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