Topic: How do you deal with students with special needs? [Special needs, Digital Divide, E-Portfolios]

Date: Week 13

 

Objectives:

Students will:

•      Identify technological tools and resources available to assist students with special needs.

•      Define and give examples of “assistive technologies.”

•      Define “digital divide.”

 

NETS-T Standards:

 

2A. Teachers design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.

2C. Teachers identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them for accuracy and suitability.

2D. Teachers plan for the management of technology resources within the context of learning activities.

2E. Teachers plan strategies to manage student learning in a technology-enhanced environment.

3A. Teachers facilitate technology-enhanced experiences that address content standards and student technology standards.

3B. Teachers use technology to support learner-centered strategies that address the diverse needs of students.

3C. Teachers apply technology to develop students’ higher-order thinking skills and creativity.

3D. Teachers manage student learning activities in a technology-enhanced environment.

5C. Teachers apply technology to increase productivity.

5D. Teachers use technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, parents, and the larger community in order to nurture student learning.

6A. Teachers model and teach legal and ethical practice related to technology use.

6B. Teachers apply technology resources to enable and empower learners with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities.

6C. Teachers identify and use technology resources that affirm diversity.

6E. Teachers facilitate equitable access to technology resources for all students.

 

Materials:

•      One teacher computer with lecture slides, web access, student-made PowerPoint slides, assistive technology video, Transmit, and Netscape Composer

•      List of daily objectives and outline

•      Copies of sponge activity case study descriptions (1 per group of 3)

•      Timer

•      Presentation evaluation forms (2 per student)

•      A basket for collecting evaluation forms

•      Envelopes for collecting evaluation forms (1 per student)

•      Copies of grading rubric for E-Portfolio

•      Copies of the group brainstorming activity case study (1 per student)

•      Attendance sheet

•      List of presentation order (remaining students)

•      Extra copies of last week’s handouts

•      Water

•      Graded assignments to return

•      Cookies for break time

•      Note: Pick up parking permits for speakers

 

Procedures:

 

Before students arrive, write the names and order of the presenters on the board (use the list from the previous week). Ensure all students who did not present their lesson plans have the opportunity this week.

 

Return graded papers.

 

4:00 Sponge Activity: Case Study Unit Planning (20 minutes)

 

Have students get into groups of three. Provide each group with a description of the following case study:

 

“You have a student in your seventh grade U.S. history class with an individualized educational plan (IEP) because of her learning disability. She has a visual perceptual disability making it difficult for her to read and write text. Though she is unable to read and write coherently, she is cognitively able to fully participate in your class. This week you are studying the Great Depression. As part of your unit plan, you will have students read parts of The Grapes of Wrath for homework. You will also have your students interview a person who lived through the Depression and write a report about their findings. How will you use technology to modify these tasks to enable her participation?”

 

Allow groups 10 minutes to discuss their responses, then have all students congregate in the group area of the classroom to report their solutions. Announce that students have just planned individualized instruction for a child with special needs, an activity that special educators do on a daily basis.

 

4:20 Opening (15 minutes)

 

1.     Review objectives from previous week and ensure there are no questions.

o      Present a lesson in front of a classroom of students.

o      Evaluate lessons and teacher presentations.

o      Describe elements of an e-portfolio and suggest designs for displaying those elements.

o      Display elementary level usage of web authoring software.

o      Publish HTML documents to the World Wide Web.

 

2.     Announce daily outline.

3.     Announce daily objectives.

4.     Administrative updates

•      Speaker in class for next two weeks

•      Only two class sessions remaining

•      Grading

•      Make-up work

 

5.     Phi Delta Kappa Report (Allow those students who participated in the Phi Delta Kappa meeting report on their experiences and what they learned.)

 

4:35 Lecture: Using Technology to Teach Students with Special Needs (30 minutes)

 

Describe the various special education and Section 504 categories.

Explain students’ rights to free and public education in the least restrictive environment with individualized educational plans.

Describe common educational structures used for addressing students’ special needs within CCSD.

Identify laws relating to technology availability for individuals with handicapping conditions, and demonstrate use of compliance testing Internet-based tools (e.g., Bobby).

Provide examples of how technologies can enable students with disabilities to learn efficiently within mainstreamed or specialized environments. Include a discussion of universal access features available within systems software.

 

5:05 Video: Assistive Technology (25 minutes)

 

Show the video on assistive technology designed by the UNLV Department of Special Education.

 

5:30 Group Work: Technological Accommodations (15 minutes)

 

Have students get into groups of four and select one individual to record their responses and one to report their responses. The group will brainstorm ideas relating the following case:

“You are an intermediate level (grades 3 to 5) resource room teacher. Twenty percent of your time is spent in a cooperative/consultative (C/C) role that is split between assisting in a fourth grade math class and consulting teachers who have fully mainstreamed special education students. All students receiving your C/C services are either mildly or moderately learning disabled. The remainder of your time is spent in the resource room where you service eleven students with learning disabilities (two are severe), two with emotional handicaps, and four who are severely mentally challenged (MCS). Your MCS students are normally in a specialized program, but are spending two hours per week in your resource room to provide them a simulated mainstreaming opportunity.

Brainstorm ideas for how you will integrate technology into your instruction.”

The recorder will maintain a copy of the responses to use for reporting following the break.

5:45 Break (5 minutes)

 

5:50 Group Sharing: Technological Accommodations (10 minutes)

 

Have students move to the front of the classroom and ask each group’s recorder to describe their best five ideas. Note that a group cannot repeat an idea once it’s been stated by a previous group.

6:00 Lecture: Digital Divide (15 minutes)

Define the “digital divide” and identify student groups most affected by this discrepancy.

Identify methods of increasing resource availability to students without access.

 

6:15 Lesson Plan II Presentations (10 minutes)

 

Have any remaining students complete their lesson plan II presentations. As with the previous weeks, allow all students the opportunity to comment on the presentations and lessons in writing and give these responses to the presenter in a sealed envelope.

 

6:25 Closing (5 minutes)

 

1.     Review daily outline and objectives.

2.     Tell students about the reading for next week (“Top 10 Smart Technologies for Schools”) and note that this is the final reading for this semester.

3.     Hand out and review the requirements for the E-Portfolio Grading Rubric.

4.     Tell students they are being released early so they can seek help on their e-portfolio. Explain that I will re-demonstrate use of Netscape Composer and Transmit for anyone wanting a review, and I will remain in the classroom following the demonstration to assist students having specific questions. Request students remain in the classroom working on their e-portfolios, asking questions of one another and assisting each other as needed.