Universal Access
The idea of Universal Access has become a very important issue in today's schools. Because of the increased pressure on schools to increase inclusion of special education students into regular classrooms, it is now even more important for teachers to accomodate the variety of student abilities that will be incorporated into your classroom.
When looking at the readings, I really was impressed with the Thinking Reader program(Curriculum Access in the Digital Age) and the impact that it could have in reading and language arts classes. I know that a majority of my students that have learning disabilites have a disability in one of the processes involved in reading. I can see were this could really benefit a student and also give them some added confidence. My school continues to rely heavily on print media for teaching of students, and while digital versions of texts would dramatically help many of the children who could benefit from this, it always isn't feasible in the classroom due to a lack of funds and equipment. Another limiting factor for many of our students is that they come from a poorer background with little parental involvement. We could spend all the time in the world on helping the students but if the parents cannot help reinforce these practices at the home, it will never probably catch on.
While I have no students with visual or audio disabilities, I found it really intriguing how many new programs and products are available to help them in learning materials and information that are being taught in the classroom. In many cases with students with disabilities, they just want to be seen as normal. If any of these products and programs can help them lead a relatively normal life, then I see no reason why we should take the time to incorporate these ideas into our classrooms. Some people may not want to put in the effort to help one student insead of the 20-25 other students in the classroom, but if it can bring in a new way for students to learn, it could very easily help the others students in the class learn more effectively.
In terms of how I am trying to ensure that my technological resources are going to be universally accessible to all students, I am sure that this will be an ongoing process. I may add visual elements for a student who has problems seeing or reading, but if my verbal cues cannot be heard by a student who is deaf, I will have to make some changes. I guess you can never fully have a project be accessible to all, but if you don't put in the effort to at least try, you are really failing your job as an educator. This class has provided me with many valuable resources that will be useful not only now but also into the future. I will continue to work on incorporating new ideas into my teaching style so children of all learning abilities will be able to succeed in my classroom.
When looking at the readings, I really was impressed with the Thinking Reader program(Curriculum Access in the Digital Age) and the impact that it could have in reading and language arts classes. I know that a majority of my students that have learning disabilites have a disability in one of the processes involved in reading. I can see were this could really benefit a student and also give them some added confidence. My school continues to rely heavily on print media for teaching of students, and while digital versions of texts would dramatically help many of the children who could benefit from this, it always isn't feasible in the classroom due to a lack of funds and equipment. Another limiting factor for many of our students is that they come from a poorer background with little parental involvement. We could spend all the time in the world on helping the students but if the parents cannot help reinforce these practices at the home, it will never probably catch on.
While I have no students with visual or audio disabilities, I found it really intriguing how many new programs and products are available to help them in learning materials and information that are being taught in the classroom. In many cases with students with disabilities, they just want to be seen as normal. If any of these products and programs can help them lead a relatively normal life, then I see no reason why we should take the time to incorporate these ideas into our classrooms. Some people may not want to put in the effort to help one student insead of the 20-25 other students in the classroom, but if it can bring in a new way for students to learn, it could very easily help the others students in the class learn more effectively.
In terms of how I am trying to ensure that my technological resources are going to be universally accessible to all students, I am sure that this will be an ongoing process. I may add visual elements for a student who has problems seeing or reading, but if my verbal cues cannot be heard by a student who is deaf, I will have to make some changes. I guess you can never fully have a project be accessible to all, but if you don't put in the effort to at least try, you are really failing your job as an educator. This class has provided me with many valuable resources that will be useful not only now but also into the future. I will continue to work on incorporating new ideas into my teaching style so children of all learning abilities will be able to succeed in my classroom.
posted by Nick Hartz at
1:30 PM
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