Student Guide Corner

Do you ever wonder what it's like to struggle with reading, spelling or writing? When I was visiting my daughter in Greece a few years ago while she spent a semester studying abroad, I had the chance to experience what it may be like for students who struggle with reading. It had been many years since I had studied the Greek language as part of my heritage, and although I remembered the names of the letters, the sounds of the letters were not automatic. One syllable words were fairly easy; multi-syllabic words were painfully slow and difficult. It struck me that this may be what it's like for students who finding decoding challenging. Fluency and comprehension were out of the question. I believe it's important to understand the struggles our students experience. Is it possible to put ourselves in the shoes of our students, even for a brief time? Trying to read an unfamiliar language, especially when it looks completely different ("It's all Greek to me!") is on...

It's easier than ever to learn about Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Check these out - 1. A new Universal Design for Learning YouTube Channel 2. Two online instructional modules about UDL available here and described here: These two online modules introduce the theory, principles and application of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to teacher candidates and in-service teachers. They provide higher education faculty with a multimedia, interactive online-learning environment that can be embedded in instructional methods courses. They are designed to be flexible enough to be used as part of an online, hybrid or face-to-face course. Please share this information with your colleagues.

One of my dreams is to work myself out of a job as an assistive technology consultant. Today, I came one step closer to realizing that dream. Allow me to explain. Last week, I offered a two hour workshop to a team of special educators. We talked about assistive technology consideration, guiding principles for technology integration, universal design for learning and free technology resources to support struggling learners. They had a chance to explore the Free Technology Toolkit Wiki . At the conclusion of the workshop, they were given an assignment to identify at least one resource to support their students, use it and then report back when we met again. We reconvened today and our follow-up workshop started with small group discussions. Educators shared what worked and what didn't (because we know there are always obstacles). They heard each others ideas and got excited hearing how some of the tools effectively reached learners in new ways. A student who hated to write and typi...

Jennifer Dorman (@cliotech) twittered about a resource she discovered today, which sounded intriguing. After spending a few minutes exploring it, I realized I had to share this cool, free online, interactive tool with my readers. Word Magnets is simple to use and perfect for Touch Monitors or Interactive WhiteBoards. How does it work and what does it do? Word Magnets will take a piece of text and break it into individual magnets which can be moved around the screen, resized, removed, colour coded, grouped, sorted and so on. New magnets can also be added at any point. You've probably used the low tech version - magnetic letters or words on your refrigerator. Try the new tech version with your students. There's an auditory cue every time you move, add or change the color of a word. Some students will benefit from the multisensory cues Word Magnet provides. Here are some ideas to get you started in your inclusive elementary classroom. 1. Let your students take daily attend...