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Access to technology

Accessibility to electronics and technology can be difficult for some. I feel like often people forget that when planning on using technology in a classroom. Not every school has access to a class set of technology and sometimes rely on at home technology to complete work. Especially in the older grades. This could be a problem with accessibility in the lesson and may need alternative options or modifications. I think something teachers could do at the beginning of the year is send home a paper for parents to fill out information about their child and they could include ask if students have access to a computer or device at home. This can be beneficial for teachers to know if they are planning on having students work on assignments and projects at home with technology. If they do not have easy access to technology the teacher can make alternative plans for the students to try and get them access to a computer to use at home. This can help as well if schools do not have the resources for a full class set of technology.

Colours

After todays class I realized that an accessibility practice that I often miss or don’t think about is colour accessibility. I’m usually pretty conscious about the colour makers I use on the white board making sure that it’s a colour that I know most students can see but I forget that it also applies when using technology. Sometimes it is out of your control when using a resource that does not belong to you but maybe that means you have to have to find another resource or create your own that can be more accessible to your class as a whole.

Why do you think many digital accessibility practices aren’t more well-known or commonly used?

I think maybe cause there isn’t much advertisement out there for how to make things more accessible with technology. Perhaps people already assume that technology is designed to be accessible. Which is not the case but I think when people think of technology and what’s out there and the common saying that “everything is at your fingertips” we forget that may not be the case for everyone. For some people more effort needs to be put in for it to be accessible to them. 

Reflect on why teaching with stories can catch the attention of learners and make it easier for them to recall information embedded in stories.

I think a lot of students from an early age hopefully have been told stories either orally or pictorally. I think being able to connect the concept to a story is great as an introduction to the topic. Stories could work for most school grades but I think especially with the younger grades it is one of the most efficient ways to get them engaged with the topic and help them recall the information. There are so many stories out there and there is a story for everything. 

In my practicum I introduced all topics with a story. I even taught a unit on matter and found non fiction stories that were designed for their age group and used examples of different concepts of matter by using materials and objects that the students would understand. Visuals for introducing concepts and recalling information are amazing as well, especially with stories. When it’s a fictional story I find that the students are able to connect to the characters and maybe even the challenges or feelings that the characters are having in the story. I feel as if non fiction is a little harder to integrate into classroom stories and not as easy for students to engage in but after trialing it a few times especially with the younger grades it can be beneficial and build engagement. It helps with variety as well as you could start with a story that could benefit one student’s learning and then move on to another activity or method of teaching to support other students’ learning. In my practicum I found it beneficial for me to read the stories to the students myself but I also found it helpful to find a good read aloud on Youtube to switch it up with the students and help with engagement. Sometimes just introducing a new voice to read the story builds engagement and interest.

Do we need to reimagine education?

In the movie we watched today in class one of the parents said that they found it unusual to hear that the teacher doesn’t sit in front of the class and the students are not sitting down being lectured to the whole class. I think that’s a newer approach that should be implemented into a students day in school. I’m a firm believer that students should be up and moving around and doing as many hands-on activities as possible. In my practicum in a grade 1 / 2 class I taught a variety of subjects from writing, math, gym, socials, and science. Within these subjects I designed lesson plans to have the students moving around the classroom and having different experiences each class to cater to every student in the classroom.

I agree that students having a choice in school should be practiced more as in later teen years and adulthood it’s a bit shocking to suddenly have to be on your own and not have the confidence to trust yourself in these decision making. I find that there is a lack of choice given to students and even in the earlier elementary years there should be choice given to students. I feel like people think that students can’t make their own decisions no matter how young or old they are but that’s just cause they aren’t able to demonstrate that they are very capable and in fact would be more invested in their learning if they felt like they had a say.

I noticed that in the movie they said at the beginning that teachers only sign one year contracts which makes me think that there could be a lot of rotation of teachers coming and going from the school. When I was in grade 8 my teacher started project based learning with my class and two other classes and we rotated between the three teachers and blended subjects together. This was a pilot project for my school and teachers and I felt like because it was newer that it did not go as well as they thought it would and us as students weren’t set up for success as well as they wanted us to be. I definitely see how it can be successful when it is more established and from watching the movie I did see how it impacted some of the students for the better and helped them grow their confidence when the learning feels like it’s in their own hands.

Why is Privacy important in our classrooms?

To protect the students in our classrooms. Students spend a lot of their childhood in classrooms and it important to uphold their privacy in the schools just as it is important to do for them in their daily life at home. There is so much out there nowadays with technology and social media that it would be very creepy for some random person to observe photos of students in the classroom. No one should have information on the children except for the parents and guardians of that student. If a teacher or someone in the school were to post about students in their class using names and/or faces it may allow for people who are not a part of the school community to view information on students. That could become a serious issue if there is a parent or someone in the family who is not allowed to be in the students life.

It helps foster a safe environment for students where they can build trust with their teachers and the school community. Judgement is a huge fear for students that can be found in students of all ages. If teachers and schools are not following the privacy practices in place to protect the children it allows room for people to judge when things such as test results/assessment records being public. Asking questions is so important to a students learning and they are not comfortable doing that if they don’t have a safe space to do that in. If all of their questions discussed with their teachers, admins in the school, or other safe adults were to be made public and not confidential some students may feel exposed and uncomfortable. This may lead them to never ask questions again. We want to avoid stuff like this among other things by respecting privacy in the classrooms.