6/29/2021
Topic:
Tools And Strategies
Melissa Lenee Simonsen
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Describe at least one way you have used technology to meet the needs of a student with a disability in your classroom. Be sure to identify or describe the specific technology and the student's disability. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
Due to Covid 19 this past school year, I taught face to face and online. I have been at the same school for 5 years, and I immediately recognized that several of my students that had IEPs showed up in the general Zoom meetings and did not come to the brick and mortar school. These were students that I previously worked with one-on-one when I did push-in services to the self-contained courses. The general education would be too fast-paced and would cause frustration for this group of students. Several (3) of the students were non-verbal, and they were on the autism spectrum. When I had them at the school, I used many cues with my hands, and I demonstrated what they needed to do many times.
I wanted to use the technology to my advantage. I used the break out rooms and placed work timers in the appropriate rooms as they loved the "countdown" as I had limited time when I was in school with them. In addition, I created my own You Tube videos to share my lessons. Some of the videos were fast-paced, and some moved slower. Each video showed the same process several times. I made sure that I showed myself in the video as the children already knew me. I was able to give the parents my links so that students could access the videos when I was not online and take as much time as they needed to complete the course work. I also included links to music that was appropriate for the lesson. For example, we completed a lesson on showing emotion in art. We discussed the use of color and line. I added links to intense music, to happy-go-lucky music, etc. My students enjoyed making the connections. Many of the parents told me that art time was the best time of the day for their children. 
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6/29/2021
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Melissa Lenee Simonsen
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Think of a student with a disability you have now, or have had in the past. Identify their disability. Describe the way in which their disability affected their learning. Describe at least one or more ways you successfully accommodated or modified instruction for this student. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
I have a 1st grade student the has an IEP due to his social/emotional responses to classroom situations. If he does not feel like he is doing his work correctly, he will throw chairs, cuss, or act out in other ways in the classroom. This has affected his learning as he doesn't complete his work in most classes. Luckily, I have a flexible curriculum in the elementary visual arts, and he can show me that he understands the concepts I am teaching in more than one way. I have created a safe space for him in my room where he can draw how he is feeling. In addition, I practiced some de-escalation techniques with him including breathing and "taking a walk" in the back of the room. As soon as he "feels the power" of taking control of his own environment, he will generally come back to the lesson. I work with my 3rd graders on critiquing versus criticizing. However, this 1st grader is ahead of the game in my class as being his own worst critic is what often causes an emotional breakdown. I have created rubrics for him to follow and check off. This bit of organization helps him. Then, he critiques his work and makes changes. I have worked with him on using pencil first and on light pressure for drawing in order to erase.  |