Goodbye, Limits. Hello, Possibilities! -- Assistive Technology and Differentiation in the Classroom

     I had no idea that the definition of assistive technology (AT) was so far-reaching -- that there are so many options for helping people overcome difficulties so that they can learn and live their best lives. I was surprised that I depend so much on assistive technology because of the arthritis in my hands and because I am very severely nearsighted. I use pens that are easy to grip when my arthritis flares up. I am constantly zooming in on text on-screen. If it weren't for that seemingly little thing, being able to zoom in, my face would need to be awkwardly close to the screen. And if I was a child in a classroom, I would probably feel self-conscious for needing to lean so close to the screen. 

    I appreciate how low-tech assistive technology can be as well. For example, if a student is having trouble focusing on reading a paragraph, using a slip of paper to block out everything except for the sentence the student is currently reading can make the paragraph seem less intimidating. It's easier to focus on one sentence at a time. 

    One benefit of the low-tech aspect of some AT comes from the potential embarrassment a student may feel about needing AT. A piece of paper can go under the radar and the student doesn't appear to be using any sort of assistance when reading the paragraph. However, ideally, in my classroom, I would make sure there was no shame in using assistive technology. I would share my experiences using it. It just wouldn't be a big deal, even though helping students achieve their educational goals is a big deal. 

    A commonality I found among the AT I read about was empathy. People empathized with vision impaired individuals and invented the amazing Orcam My Eye2, which is small enough to attach to someone's glasses and yet it has so much power because it enables them to read or helps with facial recognition. A beautiful moment that I've seen shared on YouTube is when a baby first experiences what it's like to see through glasses. The glasses are carefully placed on the baby's face and then a huge smile spreads. No words needed. To be able to see, the moment when vision improves, is profound and points to the enormous impact assistive technology has in empowering people to experience the whole wonderful sensory menu the world has to offer. 

    Assistive technology seems like an optimistic field. And a field in which people are at their best -- helping each other. A man with Parkinson's disease was having trouble taking his medicine because the pills were so small that his trembling hands really struggled getting a hold of them. Taking his medicine was super stressful and stress can exacerbate Parkinson's symptoms. The man posted a video of him struggling to take his pills. The Internet then did something beautiful.  

    Someone with graphic design experience saw the man's video and sketched out a prototype pill bottle that would enable the man to take his pills without worrying about holding the tiny items. But this graphic designer didn't have a 3-d printer to make the bottle. Someone else did, however. Lots of people. The initial design was faulty, but people worked together to fix the problems. The design is still evolving, but it is now usable. And because it's a community driven project, the bottles are not for profit. Here's an article about this story. 

    To me, the heart of being a teacher is being a helper. Learning about assistive technology has been inspiring. I also love how project-based lessons turn out to be so helpful to students with special needs, students with ADHD, or second language learners (SLL), and even gifted students. I love how projects open up opportunities for kids to participate that normally wouldn't be able to do so. For example, how SLL can use visual art to communicate, or how special education students can access relevant alternative assessment through acting out learned material. The key to projects working is that they are focused on teaching specific content and that students are assessed throughout the project. Also, according to Tomlinson's principles of differentiation, successful class projects feature "flexible grouping" and "teachers guide the exploration." 

    About gifted students, I had never thought of how adding extra work was sort of shortchanging them of truly engaging learning opportunities. I wrote a lesson plan and I listed as a differentiation that gifted students could do extra research on a topic. Now, after reading through this module, I realize how cursory that differentiation is. In order to really amp up a lesson for gifted students, I would need to focus on content, process, and product -- offering different ways for students to engage with the content, different "sense-making activities or processes" through which students can make knowledge their own, and a variety of ways to demonstrate what they've learned. These are matters that deserve careful, deep thought. And it's important to look at my students, to, as one article mentioned, pre-assess their needs, and to check to see if they've already mastered content. 

    Paying attention to students' needs is key here. Whether it's finding the right AT to help a reader focus or planning smart scaffolding that builds students up and then lets them fly, the teacher has such a crucial role. I am in the classroom with these people. And I am lucky enough to get to know all my differently wonderful future students. Being in such close proximity with students will give me insight into their needs and how I can best intervene to help them overcome whatever issues they're facing so they can engage with and enjoy school. I want to create moments for my students that are like those moments when the babies get their first pair of glasses -- when they realize limitations are melting away and possibilities are blooming. 

    

    

Chosen, Bespoke, and Connected: Benefits of Digital Student-Centered Assessments

As I've been engaging in my studies, I've been thinking about student-centered assessments, specifically  assessments that engage students because they have more choice in how they participate, assessments that allow for differentiation, and assessments that enable teachers to provide timely feedback. 

This Old House of Wonders: How Bloom's Bones Support the Acquisition of 21st Century Skills

Bloom's Taxonomy, introduced in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, has seen some changes. 

It's a model that has morphed from a pyramid into an orange into an upside-down pyramid into cogs revolving in a system of meaning-making in which lower-order skills such as remembering are not looked down on in favor of higher order skills such as creating. 

In addition to changes to its physical form, Bloom's has weathered changes to its content as well. In its initial version, the terms within the pyramid were nouns: knowledge was at the base, then came comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and at the top -- evaluation. In 2001, Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl presented a new version in which verbs replaced nouns, so as to stress the fact that learning is an active rather than passive endeavor. This shift is illustrated below. 

from Leslie Owen Wilson's "The Second Principle" <https://thesecondprinciple.com/essential-teaching-skills/blooms-taxonomy-revised/>

Impact of Content Standards and Educational Technology Frameworks on Grades 9-12 Safe and Ethical Use Case Study Unit

     I've recently learned that I can use standards (the "what" to teach) and educational technology frameworks (the "how" to teach) to mold and implement my lesson plans.

    For example, the Alabama Digital Literacy and Computer Science (DLCS) standards for grades 9-12 indicate that students in this grade range should be able to "identify, demonstrate, and apply personal safe use of digital devices," as well as "recognize and demonstrate age-appropriate responsible use of digital devices and resources as outlined in school/district rules" (46). These standards of safe and ethical online behavior, as well as the safe-use standards set forth by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), (guidelines which greatly informed the creation of the Alabama DLCS standards), inspired me. I decided that I could implement a unique lesson on being a responsible citizen of a digital culture. 

    In this lesson, I could teach students about the safe and ethical use of digital devices by having them explore case studies that I created in advance. In each case study, a sample-student would make problematic safety and ethical-use choices. These choices could include actions such as those mentioned in the Alabama DLCS standards. For example, actions could include neglecting to protect a personal device from malware, engaging in cyberbullying, stealing and misrepresenting ownership of intellectual property, or being careless with their digital identity (Alabama DLCS 48). I would use my creative writing experience to create compelling and varied case studies. 

    I would present the case studies using a digital storytelling tool such as Storybird. After students read their respective case studies on Storybird, I would ask them to predict consequences of the problematic behaviors. To come up with their predictions, students would use the Internet to research safe-use policies and examples of real-world legal actions brought against individuals engaging in these misdeeds. 

    Next, students would create digital consequence-narratives. The narratives would begin with brainstorming with pen and paper, move to being shared on Google Docs, and culminate with the production of Storybird books. This way students wouldn't be overwhelmed, as the assignment is broken into parts that build upon each other. 

    During the process of making their Storybird books, students would participate in an in-class and a Zoom workshop during which students would provide constructive criticism on drafts. I would also set up a Q&A Google Doc to further encourage collaboration.

    Subsequently, this lesson would address the DLCS standards of the global collaborator. Students would, for example, "utilize a variety of digital tools to create digital artifacts across content areas" (49). These tools would include Storybird, Google Docs, and Zoom, along with others I have yet to determine. 

    The TPACK educational technology framework model shows that by using overlapping layers of pedagogical, content, and technological knowledge in planning instruction, teachers are guided to use technology in ways that enhance their lessons. 

    I learned from TPACK that it's best to have my goals and standards in mind before I incorporate technology. When coming up with my Safe and Ethical Use Case Study Unit, I first was just reading through the Alabama DLCS standards for grades 9-12. I started creating the unit by considering what I am required to cover in my classes. I then realized I could incorporate Storybird and creative writing to teach my students about the importance of safe and ethical online behavior in a way that would go beyond having them read a document and take a quiz, which is a relevant course of action in some cases, but not when teaching dense material about responsible online behavior. 

    The SAMR educational technology framework model provides another useful planning tool. Using the hierarchies and questions set forth by the model, I could make sure I was using technology for the right reasons. 

    The SAMR model asks teachers to consider the role of technology in a unit or lesson. Technology could serve as, following along with the SAMR acronym, substitution, augmentation, modification or redefinition. It is a hierarchical model which shows at what point technology moves from enhancing to transforming learning, that point being above augmentation, into modification, and ideally redefinition, when the lesson is transformed by the technology used. 

    However, SAMR does not negate the importance of the seemingly surface level stages of substitution and augmentation. Like with Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Objectives in which the more rudimentary skills such as memorization build upon each other to reach higher order skills such as creation, the levels in the SAMR model can build upon one another too, so that educators and students are able to evolve and learn at a sustainable pace. 

    The TECH educational technology framework model explores the question of what would happen if the SAMR model focused on the people in the classrooms in place of objectives alone. The hierarchy in this model builds from teacher-centered activities to activities that involve students, with students even playing a role in creating lessons.

    SAMR and TECH provide frameworks with which I can better evaluate the usefulness of Storybird. Does Storybird serve merely as a substitution for writing a narrative on a piece of paper? Or does it, ideally, transform the unit so that it inspires higher order thinking? Perhaps, a more transformative digital storytelling platform is available. 

    The TECH model reminds me to check that my Safe and Ethical Use Case Study Unit gives students room to make choices and take ownership of their learning. I could give them the opportunity to choose which case studies they respond to, and if it's grade-level appropriate, allow them to choose a suitable presentation platform, rather than everyone using Storybird. 

    Another educational technology framework to consider when planning a lesson or unit is that of PRIMM, which focuses on teaching computer programming. PRIMM breaks down programming into manageable steps that lead to students creating their own programs. I could use PRIMM with students if I expanded my unit to require them to write a program that would serve as an effective way to convey their consequence-narratives. This way, they would be empowered to create on yet another level, which I find exciting. 

    In order for my Safe and Ethical Use Case Study Unit to work best, I would need to keep these standards and technology integration frameworks in mind as I engage in rigorous preparation, including becoming as expert-as-possible in the safe and ethical use policies I want my students to learn. I need to first educate myself before attempting to plan ways to educate my students. 

    I'm excited to see how much is out there with regard to standards being stated explicitly. The DLCS, ISTE, and Alabama Course of Study Standards for English Language Arts all work together to help me figure out what I need to teach. And that is no small task. I'm also encouraged by the support offered by the educational technology frameworks of TPACK, SAMR, TECH, and PRIMM. It's inspiring how these models build upon each other and create new ways of thinking about teaching with technology.