Assisstive Technology, Module 5

1. What one thing did you learn, and what will you do differently as a result?

My training has always focused on cognitive disabilities: this course helped open my eyes to the variety of other disabilities, and the countless possibilities for assistance that exist. I will strive to change my teaching style to be more inclusive: even though I do not currently have any students with physical disabilities, I need to reconsider things like classroom arrangement now.

Because of this class, I have begun looking for ways to incorporate literature about disabilities into my classroom. In January, my 7th graders will spend a month learning about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, reading "Miracle Worker", and practicing sign language.

I also want to incorporate the book list for my 8th graders, and have them read and respond to a text which presents a main character with a disability. I have to look more closely at my lesson plans to find a way this fits in, but I liked the "READ IT" lesson posted in this module.

All in all, this has been an eye opening, positive experience for me.

Assistive Tech, Module Four

The links on netiquette this week were basically things that seemed like common sense to me, although I was surprised at the frequency of the recommendation to utilize smileys and emoticons. I guess it's because I view email on par with letter communication, and for me, internet correspondences are more formal and it would not be appropriate to use emoticons or abbreviations. I think I will share the information with my students, and when I am in a media center, netiquette will be the first thing I teach my student users.

As far as etiquette and awareness goes towards interacting with persons with disabilities, I feel fairly confident. I did well on the quiz, since the biggest thing to remember is the "person first" philosophy, which I try to apply in my interactions with all people. It was a bit of a wake up call to see the comment against distracting aide dogs without their owners' permission: that's not something I've thought about before, and I am one of those people who will coo over a cute dog when I encounter it on the street. I need to be more aware of this in general, I suppose, and check with the owners first (whether the owner has a disability or not!)


I wanted to mention a few of the websites I have found that deal with assistive tech:

VISUAL

This link has a really great visual (heart-shaped) for understanding assistive technology and the circular nature of advocacy and assistive tech.


FAMILIES

This site provides a guide to families to help them understand and implement assistive technology for a loved one. While the site is mostly text based(making it hard to read for long stretches), there is a lot of information provided.

Assistive Tech, Module Three

I have been focusing my work on voice recognition software and hardware, and a thought just occurred to me. These tools would be doubly useful (and justifiable in purchasing) since they can aide students who are both permanently and temporarily disabled. What I mean is this: there are students who will constantly need the help that voice recognition software presents, and then there are students who may only need it once in their education, after breaking an arm. With athletics and just general kid-ness, many of my students come to school temporarily unable to write due to a fracture. As a Language Arts teacher, this can be frustrating, but if my school made the purchase of assistive tech such as voice recognition software, my students could utilize this when temporarily incapacitated.

EBooks are another great example of assistive tech that is not only useful to learners with some form of disability. Access to classic ebooks allows students to read via school computer, even if they do not have computer access at home. This is useful because an ebook can not be "Lost", so students will not have to remember to return library books, sometimes depriving their classmates of the same text. My students are about to read "A Christmas Carol", and I have found a full text eversion of the novel that I am going to ask that they read at home, to further enhance our in-class reading and discussions.

There are so many ways to apply assistive technology in ways that help all learners! It's really amazing what is available: such a far cry from my own childhood when the internet was still a novelty.

Assistive Tech, Module One

In my educational training, the focus on students with disabilities was much more centered around cognitive impairments, so this week's module has opened some interesting areas for me. For example, I am intrigued by the "Braille is Beautiful" teaching resource sold by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). It would be really interesting to tie in a unit on Braille for my Language Arts students with the use of the play "The Miracle Worker." Currently, I do not have any students who are blind, but this would be a good awareness raising activity for all my students. Something to think about and ask my department head if there is money to purchase the kit!

In the broader world, I found JAN (the Job Accommodation Network)to be an amazing resource, one which I am surprised I have never heard of. JAN exists to help not only persons with disabilities but employers as well, and I was impressed with the training they could offer a potential employer to increase the hiring of people with disabilities. This would be a wonderful resource in high schools, for the guidance counselors to navigate and make available to any students they may serve who would benefit from it. This site would be useful for special education educators at all levels, as well.

I am excited about the AT modules, because I have felt a bit unstable in my training to serve my students with disabilities in the best way, so these modules should provide me with a better understanding and some ideas to incorporate into my classroom.