Enabling Dreams in Middle School Science

I had set up a lesson plan that required students to find key vocabulary terms, answer questions and draw a diagram of the life of a star. One of my students was using assistive technology by means of a laptop computer. It did take him a while to type out the words, but when it came to drawing the diagrams, that was the quickest part of the assignment he would finish. This student also had a speech impairment, but was of average intelligence, so all I had to do was provide brief guided practice and he was able to work independently. I began to reflect on the amount of time it would take him to do the written part of the assignment, and believed that he would benefit more if he spent more time analyzing the diagram he drew.
I revised my lesson plans to include the drawing of diagrams on paper and in the computer as modifications for students with special needs. Then I could improve my method of assessment by doing a few things like asking questions orally, or uploading the quiz into the laptop for him to complete electronically. That way, the student with difficulty in motor skills can communicate their answers verbally or the student that had access to the computer can be given extended time to complete a quiz at home, or be given a simplified version of the test.
Some ideas that I have for activities that promote inclusion with assistive technology is to allow students in the special education program to use computers to increase their desire to learn. These students will be able to do their assignments electronically then will get to play educational games as a reward for completing the assignment. It works as an incentive and as reinforcement for the lesson just taught. Sheryl Burgstahler, Director of DO-IT University of Washington said that, “even if there is a lot of technology available for people with disabilities it isn’t implemented that much in our school systems today.” The reason being is that many people who work with disabilities often aren’t aware of the technology that is available for them, and technology is not always included in the planning process. The steps that I took to allow for revised activities was to salvage working computers from around the school so that my students can have access to technology. I can now also provide those in the SPED program the experience of seeing the advantages of learning by using a computer.
The lesson plan template that has been given to us at the school level has included a section for modifications so that we keep in mind those with special needs. If we want to provide equal learning opportunities to each student, then we need to also determine the best way for the child with special needs to access their information. George Rehmet, a teacher from Redwood Heights Elementary School can say from experience that, “ If we provide them the tools at an early age then they will be better prepared and down the road they can spend their later years focusing on content material in the curriculum,” than trying to figure out how to use such tools. The criteria I would use to assess for the appropriateness of the revised activities for the inclusion of disabled students is to examine their capabilities, learning climate, and the time needed to do an activity. Then we can ask ourselves what can we foresee in their capabilities to help them perform a task? Will it create an inviting atmosphere or an intimidating one in front of other classmates? How much time should they spend on a certain task, and would certain tasks take longer than necessary before learning begins?
As teachers, we have a greater responsibility that would in turn provide us an advantage when finding assistive technology that may be available to our students with special needs. We should be able determine the use of technology based on the level of disability because that may be the tool they can learn from the most. Most of my students in the special education program have learning disabilities which I may have considered less severe disabilities in the past, but after watching the video, I realized that they are the most eligible for assistive technology in the classroom, and would benefit tremendously if using the computer for learning was part of their daily activity.