Built-in assistive technology in instructional technology tools |
The use of both assistive and instructional technology is considered a high leverage practice to support the education of students with disabilities (McLeskey et al., 2018). As divisions have shifted to remote instruction, many divisions have acquired 1:1 electronic devices for their students. The devices, considered instructional technology, range from Windows laptops to Chromebooks and more.
As educators, it is important to be aware of the readily available assistive technology tools already built into these devices. These tools are available to all students, with or without disabilities. Let’s explore a few of the accessibility features that you may find on your students’ devices below.
Windows 10 Computer Accessibility Tools
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Immersive Reader: Immersive Reader is a free text to speech tool built into Microsoft Word. You can access it in Word by clicking on View ✇ Immersive Reader. The Read Aloud tool can be helpful to all students in revising their written work or accessing text. Immersive Reader includes several settings to adjust: page color, text spacing, syllable highlighting, and column width adjustment.
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Word Prediction: Word prediction is a tool turned on in the computer’s settings that is built into Windows 10 and can be used in any screen with text. When a student starts typing, a box will appear that provides suggestions on words the student may be about to type. These suggestions can help students who have difficulty with spelling or who need assistance with potentially increasing their typing speed.
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Speech to Text: Microsoft Word also has a built-in speech to text feature that can be used if a student has a microphone. This feature can be helpful for students who have difficulty with typing or who need a break from typing. You can access it in Word by clicking the “Dictate” button in the “Home” menu.
Chromebook Accessibility Tools
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Text to Speech: There are two tools that are built into Chromebooks that your students can use for text to speech. They are Select to Speak and ChromeVox and can be found in the accessibility settings.
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Mouse and Touchpad adjustments: It can take time for some students to learn how to operate the touchpad on the laptops. Adjusting several settings in the accessibility settings menu can help. It is possible to decrease the touchpad speed, increase the size of the mouse cursor, and highlight the mouse cursor with a blue circle.
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Speech to Text: Chromebooks also have a built-in speech to text feature called dictation. You can find dictation by going to Settings ✇ Accessibility ✇ Manage Accessibility Features ✇ Enable dictation. This allows the student to use the microphone to type in any text field in the Chromebook.
Resource
Reference
McLeskey, J., Maheady, L., Billingsley, B., Brownell, M., & Lewis, T. (2018). High leverage practices for inclusive classrooms. New York: Routledge.
For more information, contact Shelley Jewell (jewellsr@vcu.edu), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU.
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Using book clubs to promote collaboration in the virtual setting |
Although many things have changed this year as we spent at least some time in the virtual setting, one thing that hasn’t changed is students’ need to interact and collaborate on instructional tasks. Children are social beings by nature and need to connect with others and their work. As educators, we recognize this need and create as many opportunities as we can for students, even in the virtual classroom, to collaborate. In The Distance Learning Playbook, Fisher, Frey, and Hattie (2020) identify classroom discussion as having a powerful effect size of .82. They suggest that creating book clubs for students can allow them to interact with one another, collaborate, and take control of their learning. Below are a few tips to get started with your book clubs:
- Allow the students the opportunity to choose the group in which they want to participate in. By providing the expectations for the book club and allowing students to pick their group, students are more likely to engage in learning.
- Create an environment where students feel comfortable with one another. This goal can be accomplished with icebreaker activities and allowing students to participate in a variety of ways such as using Google Slides, drawing pictures, or creating a video response.
- Provide guiding questions that move students beyond the text and promote conversations. For example: “In what ways are you similar or different to this character?” “How would you react if you were in the setting of this book?” “What choice would you have made if you were that character?”
In addition, Fisher, Frey, and Hattie (2020) suggest including a reflective piece to allow students to recall their conversations and to think about how they can grow as a reader and team member:
- What was our best discussion this week? Why?
- What was the hardest discussion we had? Why?
- How will we use what we learned about our best discussion and our hardest discussion to improve next week?
Resources
Reference
Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Hattie, J. (2020). Distance learning playbook, grades k-12: Teaching for engagement and impact in any setting. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
For more information, contact Joel Fravel (jwfravel@vcu.edu), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU.
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The importance of diversity and equity within early childhood classroom libraries |
“Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through in imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror” (Bishop, 1990, p.1).
Creating a classroom that fosters a climate of equity and diversity is essential to the development and well being of young children. As early childhood educators, establishing a robust classroom library is a way we can celebrate the uniqueness and strengths of each child. Literacy experiences for young children can be intentionally built into many of the commonly occurring routines of a preschool classroom (Dennis et al., 2012). Children develop a deeper appreciation for reading and the wonder of books when they see themselves represented, resulting in them becoming proficient and empowered readers.
Diversity does not only refer to race and ethnicity. It is honoring a child’s linguistic and religious differences, varying levels of intellectual and physical ability, and differences in socio-economic status and sexual orientation (Garces-Bacsal, 2020). Fostering a diverse environment through books allows children to build community and belonging within shared experiences. Children who identify themselves in picture books gain an appreciation for others whose lives differ from their own. Furthermore, sensitive discussion of and critical responses to diverse picture books are found to positively influence a child’s social and emotional learning competencies, apart from increasing a child’s cultural knowledge and serving as a catalyst for social justice (Garces-Bacsal, 2020).
Key considerations for selecting multicultural literature (Dennis et al., 2012):
- How are characters outside the mainstream culture represented?
- Does the story depict significant and specific cultural information? Is it accurate?
- Which characters in the story hold the power? How is that power used?
- How is language used to represent people of a particular group?
- How does the illustrator use artistic elements to create images of characters or events?
- Whose voices are heard? Whose voices are missing?
- What are the consequences of certain behaviors? What behaviors are rewarded or punished?
As early childhood educators, we have a responsibility to create opportunities for children to explore, learn and rejoice in the wonder of diversity through books.
Below are additional resources that support diversity and equity practices for establishing early childhood classroom libraries.
Resources
Khalfaoui, A., García-Carrión, R., & Villardón-Gallego, L. (2021). A systematic review of the literature on aspects affecting positive classroom climate in multicultural early childhood education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 49(1), 71–81.
Lalvani, P., & Bacon, J. (2019). Rethinking “we are all special”: Anti-ableism curricula in early childhood classrooms. Young Exceptional Children, 22(2), 87–100.
References
Dennis, L., Lynch, S., & Stockall, N. (2012). Planning literacy environments for diverse preschoolers. Young Exceptional Children, 15(3), 3–19.
Garces-Bacsal, R. M. (2020). Diverse books for diverse children: Building an early childhood diverse booklist for social and emotional learning. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 0(0), 1-30.
For more information, contact Adrienne Quarles-Smith (quarrelssmiad@vcu.edu), Program Specialist, T/TAC at VCU.
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