My Three Main Takeaways From Class # 2

# 1.  Through Your Child's Eyes

In this activity we were able to become familiar with the website: 

https://www.understood.org/
During this activity we took part in a simulation where we pretended to have a specific disability. We were given choices of common disabilities seen within most classrooms, ie. writing issues, reading issues, attention issues, math issues and organization issues. I chose attention issues because I feel this is becoming more prevalent in today's classrooms and in my own classroom this is an issue that a few students have to deal with everyday.

My simulation activity involved me matching up animals with their habitats. It was not a difficult task on its own but in the simulation there were classroom noises and distractions added so I became quite distracted myself while completing the task. I was able to walk in the shoes of a student who experienced attention issues. It helped me develop a true understanding of how the student feels. Once the simulation was over I listened to a little girl who has attention issues as she shares her feelings on how students in her class often make fun of her because they say she is "always in lala land" or "spacing out". She talks about supports she finds helpful, like, walks, doodling, fidget tools, etc. At the end of the simulation there is also an expert that provides some strategies and analogies for the disability that were quite helpful and practical.

Along with simulations, this website offers lots of support to families, educators and young adults who struggle with learning disabilities. It offers lots of relevant topics for UDL and is a great reference guide for defining disabilities and providing actual case studies of people with a specific disablity. There is also a youtube channel that you can subscribe to for free:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbXMoF3-74hj2lhLCIp3C-A

I feel as educators, it is so important that we are aware of the challenges that students with disabilities face on a daily basis. Our support needs to be customized to meet the exact needs of a student.
This is one of the best resources I have learned about in recent years! I will definitely be using Understood in the future!

In addtion to understood.org we also had the opportunity to take part in another simulation activity on the website:  visionsimulations.com
On this website we were able to experience what it feels like to have different types of vision difficulties, such as, blurry vision, ghosting, glared vision, halos, starbursting, loss of content, visual snow, trails and blue field phenomena. I was unaware of all the names of vision issues that people can have! This website touched close to home for me because my father is living with some degenerative vision problems. This has affected his daily life in many ways! He is no longer as independent as he wants to be. He can't drive at night or read or go watch hockey games, etc. I know that he finds all these losses very difficult. I will definitely try some of the apps for vision with him. Maybe they will give him back some independence!

#2. Book Creator
Book Creator is a simple tool for creating awesome digital books for all grade levels You can create your own teaching resources or have your students take the reins. It is an interactive and collaborative tool. You can combine text, images, audio and video. It provides accessibility to all learners.

During our second class we were all given the opportunity to present our eBooks. The topic for all our books was to define ten assistive technology terms. We worked in groups to collaborate our ideas and to become familiar with this online tool. I really enjoyed how original everyone's books were and it was very helpful for remembering and understanding the terms. During this assignment I learned a lot about bookcreator by just trial and error but there are also many youtube videos available to help guide a new user.   

Here is one example: https://youtu.be/p2gfERXWtCQ 

There are many ways to use Book Creator in your Classroom. 

The following are some examples:

1. About Me Books                               

2. Science Experiments                         

3. Musical eBooks                                 

4. Create Comic Books                          

5. Retell Your Favourite Stories             

6. Teach Math                                        

7. Photo Books                                       

8. Poetry Books                                      

9. Portfolios                                             

10. Interactive Word Games
11. Write a story
12. Teach Phonics
13. Teach a Language
14. Teach Procedures and Routines
15. ABC Books
16. Research Projects
17. Teach Direct Speech
18. Identify Shapes
19. Use as a Presentation Tool
20. Make Adventure Books

# 3. Apps to Narrow the Gaps

During our second class we discussed compensatory strategies which are simply ways to use our strengths to compensate for our weaknesses. Many of these apps do just that! They can enhance a students strengths and provide help/assistance with their weaknesses. They make learning more accessible for all students!



The following are some of the apps/tools we learned about:

            
1. https://newsela.com/
Provides schools with up to date, accessible content that supports every learner. On this app you can match current news to each students reading level. The following video will give you some examples of how it can be used in your classroom.      

           
2. https://tarheelreader.org/
Tar Heel Reader is a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple ports. You can also write your own books using pictures from the huge collection at Flickr or pictures you upload.

3. Snapverter

This an add-on for Read and Write for google that converts printed documents and inaccessible digital files into readable PDF files for easy sharing and reading aloud in Google Drive. I use google drive everyday and I did not know about this wonderful tool before our class.

4. https://www.voicedream.com/
This is the world's most accessible reading tool. It has advanced text to speech and can be taylored to suit every reading style from completely auditory to completely visual or a combination of both.

              

5. Apple Device Features
On any Apple device there are features designed to help people with disabilities use technology more easily. Some of these features include:

1. Text-to-Speech - Can read text out loud for people with limited vision.

2. Speech-Recognition - Allows users with limited mobility to control their device.

3. Invert Colors - Changes the display values to create more contrast for vision impairment.

4. Magnifier - Turns your devices camera into a magnifying glass for vision difficulties.

5. Larger Text Sizes - Can make your text bigger and easier to see.

6. Zoom - To see larger text or images at any time. Double tap with three fingers or drag three fingers around the screen to see better.

7. Siri - Gives the user the ability to use voice commands to control calls, send messages, google searches. Wonderful for Physical Disabilities!

8. Guided Access - Allows you to lock in one app and set a timer. This one is my favorite!
        

     

6. Reading Remediation Apps
I loved our sharing session on Reading Remediation apps. It's always great when teachers get the opportunity to share resources. Unfortunately, because of our busy schedules we often don't do this enough and are usually caught "reinventing the wheel"!

Overall, I am learning so much about technology and how it can help me teach in this course. After twenty years of teaching, I was unaware that all of this technology existed! I am so excited to use many of these apps/tools with my students. Especially now during these Covid times when all of our teaching is virtual!