Accessibility in Education

 Welcome Back Friends!

Happy October! Part of me is saying WOW it's already Wednesday... and the other part of me is saying WOW it's only Wednesday. I hope your week is going well. I'm looking forward to a long weekend to get caught up on grading, planning, and yes homework. As many of you know, I'm a first year teacher and sometimes it feels like I am drowning, but I am also seeing A LOT of successes so far in my career. I cannot believe it is already week 6 of my EDU 776 course through Dominican. Only 3 more classes to go after this to get my master's in Elementary Education. YAY! I'm already thinking of what courses I'll take next... I need to hold that thought and focus on one day at a time. Lets dive in to this weeks topic. 

Universal Design for Learning

"Research shows that the way people learn is as unique as their fingerprint." This quote is from a YouTube video discussing UDL. This statement is so very true and one I feel needs to be referred to more often. No two people learn exactly the same way which can be difficult for educators at times when planning and designing lesson plans. Education in America brings many diverse populations and each student brings a different background. Often times there are many barriers that can have a negative effect on educational purposes. If a teacher focuses on the elements of UDL, they can better serve each individual in the classroom. The three principles are representation, engagement, and action/expression. 

Photo Creds: Carleton.edu

Accessibility in my Classroom using UDL

I am constantly planning for engaging lessons that prompt every student to gain information in different ways. I use many multimedia platforms in my classroom. Almost every lesson I teach I have some type of visual aide representation. This may vary for each subject, but I enjoy starting a lesson by using a short video to engage my student sin a new topic or build off a prior topic. For example, today in class I was teaching multiplication arrays.  I began the lesson by showing a video introducing arrays and follow it up with a fun song about arrays. This got my students moving and singing while comprehending the new concept. As an educator with my English as Second Language (ESL) endorsements, I provide many visuals to my entire class. This especially helps my EL students, but also supports my students that learn in a visual way. Building off of this specific lesson from today, I am providing my students with several different ways to express their learning. My students completed their assignment on Google Classroom that had lots of visual arrays while solving multiplication problems. However, they were also given white boards and dry erase markers to write down the repeated addition to solve for big numbers. Tomorrow, my students will have a hands-on activity to create arrays using cheerios. I am excited for this lesson tomorrow to really see my students understanding the content and curriculum with a deeper understanding while being engaged. To explore and learn more about UDL read this article! I believe educator's have many advantages nowadays with having access to technology devices for students. This has created more engaging lessons and can support diverse students in so many great ways! Below I have included an infographic I designed for Chromebooks. I choose Chromebook accessibilities because these are what we use at my school. To find out more about Chromebook accessibility features watch this video and explore on Google's website!

Photo Credit: Author

Additional:

There are so many resources to use when it comes to technology. As a third grade teacher, I am constantly placing audio into digital assignments for my students. This allows my students to become more independent to complete work on their own. The audio is an option for my EL students and students with IEPs or 504s. I often give audio access to all of my class, but give my students the option to listen to it or read on their own. At this early of an age, I think it is promotes more comprehension for my students to listen and follow the words on their screens. Another way I use technology in my class is by assigning videos that have questions embedded in Edpuzzle. This is engaging and shares if the student are paying attention to the video for new information. A great website I use is Flip.com this allows my students to record themselves reading and have a self-assessment to track their fluency. Other websites such as Freckle or Prodigy allow my students to work on individual levels. These platforms help with differentiation in the classroom while have game-based learning.