The B.E.S.T. Is Yet To Come!: AT & UDL Newsletter

Committed to Excellence in Education:

Welcome Back!

Before we navigate through this exciting year full of learning and community building, it’s essential to look ahead at how we can best serve students. After much time spent quarantining and distance learning, one of the best ways to ensure academic stability and success is taking each day at a time.

The easiest and most effective methods to ease into this new year is to pay attention, listen to student and parents’ needs and concerns, and plan ahead. Remember to keep things light and enjoyable where possible, as this is where the best learning environments bloom. As educators, we have the power to set the pace, encouraging students to excel and reach their full potential.

Although many things have changed with regards to in-person teaching and classes, it is imperative that we follow the state’s COVID-19 pandemic guidelines. Safety is the goal, not only for yourself but for everyone’s overall wellbeing.

We’re wishing you a wonderful academic year ahead, filled with ease, new knowledge, and success. Lead by example in the classroom, and lend a helping hand where you can on the path of knowing.

Here’s to a great first semester as we try to navigate all things new, including ways to implement the B.E.S.T. Standards.

Florida's B.E.S.T. Standards:

Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking

Both ELA and math curricula are expected to be updated and completed by the 2023 school year. So, how can we support our students?

With the goal being independence, the new standards encourage students to practice, demonstrate, and extend their learning of what has already been taught in previous years, with teacher assistance and independently.

The ELA standards provide targeted pathways for effective instruction in foundational skills, knowledge, and curricula to support literacy and reading comprehension. The standards, which you can read about below, are divided into four strands: Foundations, Reading, Communication, and Vocabulary

With regard to math, the new standards are broken down into three categories: simplicity, practicality, and specificity. Examinations will no longer deduct points as long as the answer is correct, placing less stress on mastering multiple strategies. Additionally, skills and concepts will be more balanced in an attempt to keep struggling students from falling behind.

B.E.S.T. Student Support & Accessible Educational Materials

When something is accessible, it's easy to reach and simple to use. As educators, we must ensure that all students with print disabilities have the opportunity to perceive the information contained in educational materials. It is essential for educators to be cognizant of how accessible are the tools and teaching/learning materials that they are using and asking their students to use. Providing students with options in what tools or formats that they can use is just the first step. Accessible versions of educational materials may be the difference between learning barriers and learning opportunities (National Center on Accessible Educational Materials).

When selecting educational materials it is important to provide students with a wide range of options for how they engage in the learning activity along with accessible devices and digital content. Many websites and other learning materials offer the following customization features:

The use of text-to-speech under appropriate circumstances may be preferred by learners with strong auditory processing skills.

Video with captions provides a text track of the audio, resulting in an additional way for all learners to perceive and understand language, vocabulary, and context.

Accessible documents and web pages have consistent layouts and adjustable controls for text size and color contrast, providing a predictable and intuitive experience that can also be customized according to individual needs.

Speech recognition, which may be a necessity for some students but an efficient alternative for others, is an option for controlling and navigating information on some computers, tablets, smartphones, and even smart home devices.

Visual alternatives to audio-only cues, such as screen flashes or icon displays, are necessary for students who are deaf or hard of hearing but optional for learners who prefer visual over audio outputs.

Many accessible ebooks have on-demand dictionaries, study skill features, and bookmarking tools that make reading and study more efficient for all learners.

These examples demonstrate why accessible digital materials and technologies are fundamental to the design and customization of curricula for varied needs and preferences (National Center on Accessible Educational Materials).

Flexibility opens doors to learning without compromising the content. If an IEP team determines that a student is in need of a specific format to acquire the curricula, then it requires all educators teaching that student to make reasonable efforts to provide accessible instructional materials (AEM) without delay.

Visit the AIM Center

Explore the AT & UDL Loan Library for Accessible Educational Materials

Neo Smartpen Smart Class Kit

The NeoSmart pen Smart Class Kit is designed to capture instruction for quick and easy video creation. Are you creating your own content and videos for your students to learn? The NeoSmart Pen Smart Class Kit is designed to do this in quick and easy steps using your mobile device.

Learn More: SmartPen

Notability

Notability combines handwriting, photos, and typing in a single note to bring student projects to life. It allows students to utilize a wide range of note-taking and sketching tools to capture every detail. Students can also add and annotate PDFs.

Learn More: Notability

Resource Padlet: Integrating Assistive Technology Into The B.E.S.T. Standards

PS/RtI created a series of sessions designed to support effective implementation of the B.E.S.T. Standards within an MTSS and focuses on how educators can integrate instructional and assistive technology to promote a Universal Educational environment within that aligns with the B.E.S.T. Standards. Below you will find resources on integrating technology into the new standards to nurture, develop and engage all students’ abilities to acquire the knowledge and skills reflected in the B.E.S.T. Standards. Our goal is to leave educators with an understanding of Universal Education to promote learning for all students within their environment.

Thinkific Course on Integrating Technology into the B.E.S.T. Standards

Foundations Strand

The Foundations Strand has been adapted to meet the needs of the traditional beginning reader and expanded to include remediation for secondary students who are not yet proficient readers. Instruction should emphasize the five essential early literacy skills: Phonological Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension.

Foundations Resource Padlet

Reading Strand

The Reading Strand is divided into three standards: reading prose and poetry, reading informational text, and reading across genres. For all Reading standards, when evaluating text complexity to determine if a text is appropriate to the grade level, quantitative, qualitative, and

student-centered demands should be considered together.

Reading Resources Padlet

Communication Strand

The Communication Strand is divided into five standards: communicating through writing, communicating orally, following conventions, researching, and creating and collaborating. Meet all communication standards by addressing all writing types and narrative techniques while promoting research and conversation.

Communication's Resource Padlet

Vocabulary Strand

The Vocabulary Strand is comprised of one standard: finding meaning. Vocabulary is a building block of knowledge and essential to a thorough understanding of text. The goal is to develop academic and domain-specific vocabulary through reading, and speaking and listening vocabulary through constructive conversations about texts.

Vocabulary Resource Padlet

TLC Presents: PASSPORT TO LEARNING!

Passport to Learning

To provide a system of high-quality standards-based professional learning to state, district, and school staff personnel, the PS/RtI Technology Project in collaboration with ATIA, the Access Project, FIMC-VI, and RMTC-DHH, wants you to embark on a journey to increase your knowledge and skills in the areas of AT, AEM, and UDL.These unique passport destinations provide a network of professional learning communities where participants support and share their learning, knowledge, and skills to build capacity. We are excited to welcome ALL Florida Educators & Therapists to apply for their passports!

6 New Fall destinations Launched in September!