As a future educator, I had learned that one of the challenges
teachers may face is the need to accommodate every student’s learning needs. A
typical classroom always consists of a diverse group of learners—students who
have different backgrounds, learning styles, and need different accommodations,
particularly for students with disabilities. In the classroom, it is important
for the environment to be readily equipped with various tools and devices as
well as lesson plans and activities that provide opportunities for students
with disabilities to be successful participants. Such accommodations are vital
for creating equal learning opportunities for students with disabilities.
In the
video Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams, it demonstrates different ways on how to modify a
lesson plan to include the participation of students with disabilities.
As a future educator,
it is possible that I will also have students with disabilities in my classroom, so it is important that I am readily prepared with lesson plans and activities
to address my students’ learning needs. In order to design an activity to
include students with disabilities, I would follow the “Accommodation Model”
that was created by the National Science Foundation. According to the National
Science Foundation (2012), there are four questions involved in the model: What
does the task or assignment require? What physical, sensory, and cognitive
skills are needed? What components of the task require accommodation? What
accommodation options exist? The first step involves a break down of all the
components of the experiment, assignment, or exercise. To accommodate a student
with a disability, I would need to think about the specific settings, tools,
skills, and tasks that are required at each step. By analyzing and evaluating
the task thoroughly, I would be able to determine how best to fully and
effectively include a student with a specific disability. The second step would
be to match the tasks required to the skills needed to successfully complete
the project. This leads to step three, which is to determine what
accommodations may be required or how the learning experience might be altered
to make it more accessible. I would also need to determine how best to make an
accommodation to create an inclusive environment for a student with a
disability. Lastly, in step four, now that the tasks that need accommodations
have been determined, I would need to identify what resources exist for
providing the needed accommodation(s). The student may have some good ideas;
however, this is a time when other staff and professionals may have expertise
in specific areas and be called on to provide input.
It is essential for the
activities to be created with a universal design for learning, which according
to Picard (2015), is a “method of designing course materials, content, and
instruction to benefit all learners.” Instead of adapting or retrofitting a course
to a specific audience, the universal design emphasizes environments that are
accessible to everyone regardless of ability. Therefore, universally-designed
activities should serve as appropriate activities for the inclusion of students
with disabilities, taking into consideration that they are capable of
participating in any activity.
Watching
the video reminded me of one of my classmates in high school who also became a
good friend of mine. I had him for my AP Literature class in which there was a
lot of reading involved in every lesson. Being told that my classmate was
visually impaired, I would’ve thought that he’d have a hard time reading the
PowerPoint presentations, watching videos, and reading the texts placed on his
desk. However, he was able to read everything we were reading through the use
of assistive technology, particularly the “Visiobook. Through the Visiobook,
In
conclusion, it’s important to keep in mind that the assistive technology’s role
is to assist the student’s learning. It is still the task of the teacher
to provide good instruction, but assistive technology can be used in addition
to well-designed instruction. Through the use of these devices in classroom
activities, it can help the student to be more self-confident and work more
independently.
References
Ellis, K. (2005, February 2). How Assistive Technology Enables Dreams.
Retrieved October
27, 2016, from
https://www.edutopia.org/assistive-technology-enabling-dreams-video.
Foundation, N. S. (2012). MESA Curriculum Addendum: How to Fully Include
Students with
Disabilities. Retrieved October 27, 2016, from
http://www.washington.edu/doit/programs/accessstem/accommodations/mesa-
curriculum-supplement-how-fully-include-students-0.
Picard, D. (2015). Teaching Students with Disabilities. Retrieved October
27, 2016, from
https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/disabilities/.
