There are many ways for teachers to design lessons for every student with different abilities. When planning activities or assignments, teachers should first consider the goals of each student because they may have different ways of approaching tasks. One way to consider including the special needs students would be to provide multiple alternatives to an activity. In "Teaching Students with Special Needs" (2007) an anonymous author states, "When necessary, plan to repeat instructions or offer information in both written and verbal formats. Again, it is vitally necessary that learning disabled children utilize as many of their sensory modalities as possible" (para. 4). For example, if it were to be a written assignment to write simple sentences, the student could recite the words and read them. Teachers could also use manipulatives such as cards of words or pictures to assist the student to formulate the sentences. Another example would be that some students may not be able to merely listen to the instructions; they may need a demonstration or visual instruction of the assignment. From experience, when I went to a school to observe a classroom with students of special needs, one of their methods of learning was using their iPads. Using the iPad can enhance the students’ technology skills and it can also be used to help them with basic skills. Some basic skills that are within apps would be reading, writing, or math. One of the applications they used in the class that I observed is called First Words Animals. This app introduces new words, letters, and sounds. The teacher recommended this app for the parents and the child to play at home as well as in school. It is best to give the student hands-on activities in order for them to understand and engage in what they are learning.
First Words Animals app available on iOS, Android, Google Play
A way to assess a student with special needs is to list down goals they need to reach every week. This can be used to evaluate their progress at the end of the week and to see if they have met each goal. For instance, at the beginning of the week, the student may only be able to perform 20% accuracy and by the end of the week, the student can improve to 80%. Each task will be divided so that the student can participate and it will not be overwhelming for the child to complete. Students will also have the opportunity to share what they did and the teacher will often track their progress to see if the students understand the content.
The important part of teaching is to consider that all students have the ability to work towards the same objectives, but in different ways. Therefore, every lesson plan should accommodate all learning styles and disabilities in order for students to complete and understand the lesson. In the video, “STEM and People with Disabilities” (2015), students with disabilities were able to practice skills that helped them prepare and fulfill their dream career in the STEM fields. One of the college students in the video has a very meticulous job where she creates DNA libraries for sequencing and is successful at her job although she is legally blind. Being blind did not stop her from completing each task because each experiment was hands-on. This student is considered a kinesthetic learner because she benefitted from hands-on practices that the labs and lectures provided for her. Students with disabilities benefit from practice, and educators work to accommodate them and help them become more independent in what they do.
References
The DOIT Center (Producer). (2015, April 20). STEM and People with Disabilities [YouTube video].
Since technology and the Internet make such a big impact on education, it is important to teach students the guidelines for safe online use. Learning about digital safety that deals with cyberbullying, sexting, hacking, etc. are very fundamental for everyone to learn because it will protect us, especially students, from online predators. Ensuring that students are having fun, while practicing online safety is something that teachers should be mindful of. My group and I presented on the topic of Digital Safety and Privacy. To complete this presentation, we used Google Docs to input all of our information while using the chat room and comment feature that is provided in the Google application. We have been utilizing this web conferencing tool because of how it gives the opportunity for the work to be shared amongst my whole group, it is efficient for all group members to work on our own time, and the chat or comment section is available in between the time we are working.
In this document, we researched and inputted excellent points about kid online safety and how to keep personal information (passwords, locations, or personal photos and videos) protected from being exposed anywhere online. All subjects on Internet safety should be talked about because they are all important. One important thing to teach the children would be the guidelines for safe online use. According to medical doctor, Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph (2018), author of "Internet Safety", states basic guidelines for online safety:
Follow the family rules, and those set by the Internet service provider.
Never post or trade personal pictures.
Never reveal personal information, such as [an]address, [a]phone number, orschool name or location.
Use only a screen name and don't share passwords (other than with parents).
Never agree to get together in person with anyone met online without parent approval and/or supervision.
Never respond to a threatening email, message, post, or text.
Always tell a parent or other trusted adult about any communication or conversation that was scary or hurtful. (para. 7)
The guidelines will help protect children from online predators while parents and guardians enforce them. They should also be aware of the risks while being online. One risk that everyone should know is that nothing online can be deleted. Whatever is posted and shared online will be nearly impossible to delete later. For example, the individual posted an explicit image online and deletes it later. The individual is applying for a job and it so happens that someone who viewed that post could possibly screen capture that image for future reference; the post can have that person's job in jeopardy.
To incorporate digital safety into the classroom, the method I would use to teach topics like this would be the same method we did for this presentation project. The topic of the lesson that is being taught wouldbe digital safety. Firstly, I will give the lesson about online safety before any activity or project and let students do creative projects on each topic I would assign to them. Examples of creative projects would be making a skit, PowerPoint presentation, poster-board, video project, drawing, etc. Another option would be to let them read stories, play online games, or watch videos that incorporate safety online. There is an educational website called, NetSmartz, that allows students to be educated about online safety. The overview of the website, NetSmartz (2019), states, "It provides age-appropriate videos and activities to help teach children [to] be safer online with the goal of helping children to become more aware of potential online risks and empowering them to help prevent victimization by making safer choices on- and offline" (para. 2). The website's features and information are programmed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Therefore, in my opinion, this makes the website appropriate for student users. This method of teaching is what I suggest we do for these class projects- a creative assignment. We can present the information in any way and considering it is a technology class, the project should require some form of technology use.
People of all ages use technology and the Internet for many reasons such as communication and research-to explore what is happening with peoples' lives and the rest of the world. We use the Internet for all positive attributes, however, we should be aware that there are many risks that may occur while exploring the online world. With technology evolving daily, teaching digital safety is more important than ever. Knowing the importance of online safety will help protect ourselves and children, most especially, who have access online every single day from any dangerous actions performed online.
Reference
Ben-Joseph, E.P. (2018, April). Internet safety. Kids health from Nemours. Retrieved from
