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Thinking about my current class ASC with students working within 3rd and 4th class curriculum. I can identify a range of numeracy and literacy resources shown during this course.
For maths, I enjoyed exploring the Top Marks and IR Primary games. I find interactive games fantastic, especially to recap prior learning and for mental starters. It is ideal in my setting as children enjoy coming up to the interactive board to select their answer, with minimal support needed. I have used Kahoot before, but I have never used it as an assessment tool to quiz subject knowledge before, this will be incredibly useful for the children who have fine motor difficulties as well as those children in my class who feel highly anxious during ‘written’ assessments.
For English, immersive reader will benefit all the children in my class, for those who struggle with reading but also for those who struggle to keep focus. I enjoyed exploring the dictation and read aloud function as this will support the children in my class for longer writing tasks and will work hand in hand with the typing programme that they complete already in class. All the above takes into consideration recommendations from the Inclusive Framework as these programmes and activities promote the inclusion of all students with special needs.Thinking about my current class ASC with students working within the 3rd and 4th class curriculum. I can identify a range of numeracy and literacy resources shown during this course.
For maths, I enjoyed exploring the Top Marks and IR Primary games. I find interactive games fantastic, especially to recap prior learning and for mental starters. It is ideal in my setting as children enjoy coming up to the interactive board to select their answer, with minimal support needed. I have used Kahoot before, but I have never used it as an assessment tool to quiz subject knowledge before, this will be incredibly useful for the children who have fine motor difficulties as well as those children in my class who feel highly anxious during ‘written’ assessments.
For English, immersive reader will benefit all the children in my class, for those who struggle with reading but also for those who struggle to keep focus. I enjoyed exploring the dictation and read aloud function as this will support the children in my class for longer writing tasks and will work hand in hand with the typing programme that they complete already in class. All the above takes into consideration recommendations from the Inclusive Framework as these programmes and activities promote the inclusion of all students with special needs.The SETT model is extremely beneficial in my setting as I it keeps everyone who works with the child up to date with strategies and approaches (Mainstream class teacher, SET and my SNA team). Student A is a child who was in my class last year, is an avid reader and is working at age related expectations as confirmed from her Drumcondra testing as well as teacher assessments in class. When she integrates for English however, keeping up with the rest of the class can prove difficult. There are a few reasons why this is the case including, difficulty maintaining concentration, finding it difficult to understand information shared on the board and her motor skills difficulties in particular the formation and speed of her handwriting. Using the SETT model to help us as a team include strategies and resources for this student will have a positive impact.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JxIApM1ycNovar5JqOZwte43X5xH3DkyV2M_DEAQo1w/edit
I found this process beneficial as it made me really think about Student A’s current barriers. As student A gets older and becoming more self-conscious, I was thinking about was she can use these supports in an independent way and still complete tasks similar to her peers. A way I had not thought of before was how the mainstream class teacher can use immersive reader for whole class teaching in a way that would ensure Student A could access the material and maintain concentration. I am happy that I will be able to share this first draft of the SETT model with my team when I return to work, and we can adapt and amend where needed. I also feel that this is important to share with the student and her parents so that usage of the ipad at home and using these functions can help her with school related tasks at home as well as school.
Part 1: Within my current setting genre writing is often an area where the children in my class lack confidence due comparing their work with others in their class. This is where I feel that I would use the Microsoft Word dictate function. This allows the child to focus on important skills linked to the genre of writing instead of their motor skills (handwriting) and spelling errors getting in the way. I would also make sure that I had the zoom function activated so that the child can review their work without any issues. I would also encourage children to select a user-friendly font (e.g. Arial or Verdana) as well as ensuring that font spacing is set up correctly, adapting to the student’s preference. Editing and checking for errors has always been a difficulty for my students. To support students with this I would ask them to select review and read aloud function so that they could listen back to their written composition and make changes where necessary.
Part 2: The principles of Cosan reflects thy we are lifelong learns simply by the way they are divided up; Personal-professional, Individual- professional, Formal- Informal and School- based- External. These are all intertwined within our day to day working in our settings. When I think about the reason why I have enrolled in this course, the main reason is for the children that I currently teach. In order to meet their needs and to ensure that real inclusion is happening in my classroom I must educate and up skill myself. This question has made me reflect further about the article included in this course by Dylan Wiliam called “How do we prepare students for a world we cannot imagine?” William describes teaching as a “a complex craft that one lifetime is not enough to master it.” This is a statement I agree with, and I believe that an ongoing commitment of completing CPD is the best way to ensure we are supporting the students within our care.This module was extremely helpful as it has given me the opportunity to learn and try different software tools within the equipment that we already have available in my setting.
To begin the Microsoft Accessibility display settings will be used to help two children with motor skills difficulty- in particular the mouse pointer.
Immersive Reader is a tool that I quite honestly didn’t know anything about! This again will be incredibly useful within my setting. I feel that it will greatly benefit children who integrate with their mainstream class for English. This tool will help them to access the appropriate content in a learning style that suits them. The dictate in word function is another tool that I feel I will be using with my students next year. It will help them to get their thoughts down on paper and increase their confidence in this area, as the writing and spelling element is often the biggest obstacle for them.Part 1
Working in an Autism class I see the huge benefit of using assistive technologies. I will discuss further in part 2 but the SETT model is of great importance within my setting. It has allowed us to work with the individual child and their families to choose the appropriate type and level of assistive technology through a strengths based approach. I have seen first hand how this has increased confidence and independence for my students as well as allowing for more inclusion opportunities with their peers in their mainstream setting.
When looking at the standards from the Digital Learning framework, one standard that jumps out at me is within the Learner Experiences section and states that ‘Pupils reflect on their progress as learners and develop a sense of ownership of and responsibility for their learning.’ Due to motor skills difficulties students in the past relied on adult support, however assistive technology has allowed for independence in this area. I have witnessed the pride that they express when they show me completed tasks. Another standard that I explored was ‘Pupils grow as learners through respectful interactions and experiences that are challenging and supportive.’ I choose this standard as I have been able to have many meaningful conversations with students in my class through their assistive technology device. This has allowed us to identify how they are feeling and what they need at that time. Additionally, this technology has allowed us to gain meaningful data from assessments and therefore has informed my planning where I now create more precise and challenging work for my students.Part 2
Within my setting I have found the SETT model a great help, especially as someone who wouldn’t feel confident within the areas of assistive technology. Working in conjunction with other professionals, we were able to use the model with great success. Looking at information of the student from support files, staff, families and other professionals we identified their strengths throughout the curriculum, we discussed the environment both at school and at home, discussing any issues we could foresee. We then outlined how the technology would be used for tasks to enhance their learning opportunities and identified the tools that could be used to meet these needs. I feel that using the SETT model provided a framework to have meaningful conversations with the individuals and others which helped us to identify assistive technology that would be most beneficial for the child.
