I liked how the article stated that an online environment is a great equalizer for students with disabilities. It makes perfect sense but wasn't something I'd thought of in those terms before.
We have a fairly large special education population in my school. These students are usually paired with other students so that they can help each other. There is an ICT teacher and/or paras who travel with these students to help differentiate instruction.
I would like to try incorporating some assistive technology (closed captioning or screen readers) and see how well it works in the library.
I found an article "How Do You Teach a Student with Disabilities Online" especially practical and informative as I finally could distinguish between modifications and differentiation. The article clear identifies and offers samples of accommodations, modifications, and differentiation. I do teach a special ed self-contained class twice a week, and after reading the article, I prepared my lessons keeping in mind the differences between modification and differentiation.
I regularly use technology with special ed class, and especially embedded sound helps students follow the narrator by looking at the and listening. I monitor my students' online reading through the myon.com. Students have head phones, and they read online books along with a narrator. I see improvement!
The article "How Do You Teach a Student with Disabilities Online" was very thought provoking. Some schools are multi-faceted with regards to accessibility, but most schools are not on that level yet. Faculty across the city are becoming more prepared to educate students with disabilities using Web 2.0 tools. This Ed Tech Leaders Online report explores how to design schools and school academic programs/classes to make them more accessible to all types of users by using simple Web 2.0 tools. After all The Common Core State Standards articulate very clearly that students with disabilities under the IDEA must be challenged to excel within the general curriculum and be prepared for success in their post-school lives. This report includes several suggested models of differentiation and accommodations which leans to inclusive alternative non-traditional models.
When preparing my library lessons I always must take inconsideration my student population and that's where true collaboration with the content area teacher and the paraprofessionals is extremely important. I rely heavily on them so that I can assure that my print and non-print resources are efficient.
I always use technology along with print rich resources with my students of all level. I use online GALE databases that support varying lexile and reading levels. As well as using multi-sensory approaches to the content area library lesson.
Student at my school love reading anime/manga/comic books. I would love to be able to use the WEB 2.0 tool Toondoo (www.toondoo.com) which further students language skills. The students can create their own comics. They are required to provide words to be inserted into the story. When the story is completed students can share it with classmates, family and friends.
In my school students come to the library to learn research skills and how to use the online databases. I show them databases that provide various levels of text complexity; have read aloud feature, and translate articles. The Worldbookonline is very popular and heavily used. We also use newsela.com, the program that allows readers to choose text on comfortable for them reading level. I also see that our special needs students like to play online games or play online chess in the library. They like using computers and feel more comfortable with them than with print text. The article made me realized the specific differences between modification, accommodation, and differentiation. I truly believe that online learning can provide the most flexibility in those three aspects of instruction and help teacher plan it.
I liked how the article stated that an online environment is a great equalizer for students with disabilities. It makes perfect sense but wasn't something I'd thought of in those terms before.
ReplyDeleteWe have a fairly large special education population in my school. These students are usually paired with other students so that they can help each other. There is an ICT teacher and/or paras who travel with these students to help differentiate instruction.
I would like to try incorporating some assistive technology (closed captioning or screen readers) and see how well it works in the library.
Kelly Jeffcoat
I found an article "How Do You Teach a Student with Disabilities Online" especially practical and informative as I finally could distinguish between modifications and differentiation. The article clear identifies and offers samples of accommodations, modifications, and differentiation. I do teach a special ed self-contained class twice a week, and after reading the article, I prepared my lessons keeping in mind the differences between modification and differentiation.
ReplyDeleteI regularly use technology with special ed class, and especially embedded sound helps students follow the narrator by looking at the and listening. I monitor my students' online reading through the myon.com. Students have head phones, and they read online books along with a narrator. I see improvement!
The article "How Do You Teach a Student with Disabilities Online" was very thought provoking. Some schools are multi-faceted with regards to accessibility, but most schools are not on that level yet. Faculty across the city are becoming more prepared to educate students with disabilities using Web 2.0 tools. This Ed Tech Leaders Online report explores how to design schools and school academic programs/classes to make them more accessible to all types of users by using simple Web 2.0 tools. After all The Common Core State Standards articulate very clearly that students with disabilities under the IDEA must be challenged to excel within the general curriculum and be prepared for success in their post-school lives. This report includes several suggested models of differentiation and accommodations which leans to inclusive alternative non-traditional models.
ReplyDeleteWhen preparing my library lessons I always must take inconsideration my student population and that's where true collaboration with the content area teacher and the paraprofessionals is extremely important. I rely heavily on them so that I can assure that my print and non-print resources are efficient.
I always use technology along with print rich resources with my students of all level. I use online GALE databases that support varying lexile and reading levels. As well as using multi-sensory approaches to the content area library lesson.
Student at my school love reading anime/manga/comic books. I would love to be able to use the WEB 2.0 tool Toondoo (www.toondoo.com) which further students language skills. The students can create their own comics. They are required to provide words to be inserted into the story. When the story is completed students can share it with classmates, family and friends.
In my school students come to the library to learn research skills and how to use the online databases. I show them databases that provide various levels of text complexity; have read aloud feature, and translate articles. The Worldbookonline is very popular and heavily used. We also use newsela.com, the program that allows readers to choose text on comfortable for them reading level. I also see that our special needs students like to play online games or play online chess in the library. They like using computers and feel more comfortable with them than with print text. The article made me realized the specific differences between modification, accommodation, and differentiation. I truly believe that online learning can provide the most flexibility in those three aspects of instruction and help teacher plan it.
ReplyDelete