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The group of students I am considering are boys in third class. This is the area I spend most of my time supporting in school. These boys have a few specific difficulties , some are dyslexic, some have DCD and some boys are awaiting formal assessment but we try and provide them with the supports we anticipate they may need going forward.
In terms of being able to organise ideas I found OneNote incredible for being able to document ideas- to vary how ideas are recorded and even visually to be very pleasing. Mindmapper app is also a nice alternative that I would enjoy trialing with the boys when discussing new concepts and themes and to then be able to print and refer back to our mind map or read it using Narrator or Immersive reader with Lens.
I have been using dictate since this year and really enjoyed the freedom it afforded us to be able to focus on the content of the children’s responses rather than persisting through tricky handwriting challenges. While it doesn’t address the handwriting it allows me to tackle that specifically in bespoke lessons while literacy lessons I can focus on the quality of response and thought with the boys now. Using Immersive Reader will be excellent to extend that as we will be able to review and reflect on our own writing in a fun and creative way. Even things like being able to highlight nouns, adjectives etc will make word study more interactive and accessible for them.
Our school is working on becoming more digitally compliant and literate. We’re still in our infancy but open to change and willing to learn to do best by our students. I have been using Seesaw accounts in LS to document the boys work and to create a strong Home – school connection. We have found this really helpful in making the parents feel involved and up to date in how the boys are progressing. I think that combining Seesaw with some of the AT shown in this course would be a great combo to highlight to parents the positive difference AT will have for their boys and how we are using it in school to allow them to do so at home. This could enhance storytime at home for many families and for some of the boys to continue to work on projects or passion pieces that they enjoy adding to. It is certainly something I feel strongly about having done this course and a point I will be recommending to our SEN co-ordinator and principal to update our digital policy/plan.
I really like the structure and the specificity of the SETT model. While I am still slower than I’d like to be in thinking about tasks and how to break them into their composite skills – it is forcing me to really identify individual skills and needs which will be of huge benefit for the students I work with. In an SET setting you can tailor the learning experience easier than that of a classroom teacher as you have less students to account for for certain lessons/ instruction times. Using the SETT as a framework you can pace instruction at a more specific pace, alter where you give the instruction, how you do so, with which supports which will allow me to best support the students’ learning. Tailoring how the student presents their work can allow you to showcase a broad range of assessments. You can do audio recordings of work, use text to speech or speech to text , drawings or present an MCQ quiz and use immersive reader to work through the questions.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15CNMqb5686cBIBGfGs7kRaPjmBOvQCL_RrNmsxHKZ-M/edit?usp=sharing
This is a SETT plan for a student with dyslexia in second class learning about Birds and nature
One area that I spend a lot of time supporting children in-class with is word problems and multi-step problems in Maths lessons. Be it an information overload, a lack of difference in how the content is presented or a difficulty with text and comprehension I find that the Maths itself isn’t beyond the children but accessing the information overwhelms them. Microsoft Lens and Immersive reader paired together would be an incredible tool for me moving forward. We could isolate text, slow the reading down – processing the information aurally rather than it being written and either draw pictures to help us or jot down notes. Teaching the children to be able to use this tool would promote learner autonomy and take from their need and dependence on adult intervention and as a result boost their confidence.
I believe that most teachers are lifelong learners. They must be to remain effective in delivering lessons. How children play, develop and interact with information for learning and for leisure is changing every few years. In order to meet the children in our classrooms where they are we must diversify how we teach, present, assess and connect with the students. Cosán states that it supports innovative approaches to learning within teaching. Having online courses such as this which provide clear access and tutorials in vital tools for our most vulnerable students embodies that principle for me.
I was really impressed by the tools available. I had never used immersive reader before and it is far better than any other app or product I tried in the past. The fact it can be used in word and powerpoint would be very helpful to allow children with auditory or language difficulties access the notes being presented. When I work in some classes teachers often have information on the screen and flick through the slides. I have access to a tablet or notebook most of the time so with enough pre-planning I could download the presentation and read through the information at a tailored speed and ensure comprehension of the content.
I was particularly impressed that immersive reader could be used in an internet browser. This would open up so many opportunities for students to be able to comprehend new information and contribute to KWL charts, to small group mind maps or to a OneNote presentation. I have groups in second and third class in mind. There are boys I work with who share the same interests and enthusiasm as their peers but their challenges with literacy and focus makes traditional “research” and reading for facts very challenging for them when doing projects. I looked up owls on NatGeoKids there to check how easily it could be done and it is definitely a skill and tool I will look to implement from September. This tool will give back independence to children who currently heavily rely on my help or that of the classroom teacher and hopefully integrate them more meaningfully in projects and other group work.
Assistive Technology, when used correctly opens up limitless possibilities for our students – particularly those who would have struggled with accessibility issues or lacked independence in terms of being able to access the curricular content in the classroom. How effective AT can be comes down to the understanding of the teacher to the needs of their students and range and availability of tools. Therefore, like with many elements of teaching having a positive relationship with your students underpins the effectiveness here. Building those positive relationships coupled with a commitment to maintain a current understanding of best practice will ensure that when planning in your school that the most effective and appropriate AT tools are being used and invested in.
What I liked about the SETT model was the student-centred focus. It stresses the importance of meeting the students where they are, we’re building on their strengths and then being flexible and inclusive to recognise where and how they work best.
The SETT table or graph in the case study was very helpful. When identifying the student’s needs it really broke the activity down so that the AT used was for a specific purpose while also retaining a challenge to the task. The AT wasn’t “doing” the work but assisting the student in meeting the learning outcomes like their peers.
A standard from the Digital learning framework that stood out to me as being particularly important was 2.1 in the learner experiences domain. That students are engaging purposefully in meaningful learning experiences. It can be easy to hand over too much of the teaching/learning to ICT with the advances in Youtube and video tutorials. However, we have a professional obligation to use technology to enhance the learning opportunities for students not to replace no-tech options. As well as this we must use AT to open up opportunities for students who would not have been able to access the curriculum to the same degree without help. Be it screen magnification, text alteration, text to speech or google translate for EAL students. We have the opportunity to make our classrooms fully inclusive with the correct understanding of how to apply AT for individual students across the curriculum.