Access It All!

Accessibility in Education

Each individual student has unique needs that are required for them to be successful. This is why it is important for educators to incorporate accessibility within the classroom in order for all students to participate. Accessibility helps focus on meeting the needs of diverse students. An effective strategy to accomplish an accessible classroom would be the UDL Framework. According to Indiana University Bloomington, "The UDL Framework encourages educators to provide multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression". This shows how important it is for educators to provide effective instruction since there are many components that are tagged along with a lesson. Students need to be able to given the resources that are necessary in order to be successful. Individual differences deserve a focus of attention especially since these characteristics are particular to each and every student. With technology becoming a large part of classrooms all over the world, it is cruel that students are aware of the assistance that comes with it particularly students with special needs. Another beneficial source is the "Dos and Don'ts on Designing for Accessibility". This blog starts off with different types of posters for certain special needs and what to do compared what not to do. It is extremely interesting to see how a teacher presents information could be negatively received by a specific type of student. This is certainly tips that all teachers should consider when making their presentations that connect to a lesson. Educators need to be aware of the students within their classrooms as well as their individual needs. Students need to be able to grow, but that is only possible if they are given the right access. 

Am I Accessible?

I believe that I'm quick to adapt to the different needs that are in my classroom. I don't really think about all the needs that are possible until I have a student with that need. This is where I will research different strategies and suggestions to help support this individual student. I have a student this year who has a vision impairment. She struggles to see, and when she is unable to her head begins to shake. This becomes very difficult for her to read aloud and present. Together, her and I have been learning the different accessibility features on her Chromebook. Sometimes I struggle to think about how different my computer screen looks compared to hers since I've never worked with a Chromebook. I would like to get better at being aware of any bumps that come along when having her work on her device. I have used technology in various ways to support her vision impairment by finding texts at bigger sizes, recording her presentations, and providing audio books to help her read independently. There is definitely a lot that I have to learn about her Chromebook in order to provide her with all the resources that would help her be successful. It can be a challenge since her need is unique and specific. I haven't had a student before with this type of vision impairment, so I hope to learn more about how I can help her to overcome obstacles that come her way. 

I chose to do a infographic on five accessibility features on Chromebooks in order to further benefit my student. The fact I was able to combine work and school was time well spent. I used Canva to create my infographic. My students had just created an infographic on cooperation and conflict on either Jamestown or Plymouth. It was interesting to see how they used the website compared to myself. I use Canva on a daily basis for my instructional slides, classroom posters, making videos, and creating worksheets. 

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The five different accessibility features were chosen based on the daily struggles that my students faces when using a Chromebook. The Full Screen Magnifier would help definitely help my student zoom in at any point in time. There have been a few Google Docs that have been difficult to read, so with this first feature she can magnify any part of it to her convenience. The Large Mouse Cursor has the benefit of detecting where the mouse is quicker as well being able to track its movement since it is set to a larger size. This would help my student find the cursor without putting her face very close to the screen. The Browser Size would have the same impact since she would be able to increase the size of any website. She would be able to look at all the different parts of a website that she wasn't able to before. The Highlight Mouse Cursor could be used to help guide her when reading on her Chromebook since she has been using her reader ruler on her screen. The last accessibility feature would be text-to-speech which would decrease the shaking of her head since she doesn't have to be afraid that she won't see a word. The text-to-speech would allow her to hear all the different letters to make sure that she isn't reading a word incorrectly because of a missed letter. All five of these accessibility features would improve my student's needs which would help her overcome the obstacles she faces with technology.

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