Technology Tuesday

This week’s Technology Tuesday comes to you from Suzanne Phillips, the newest Communication Teacher at Imagine!’s Longmont CORE/Labor Source hub. She gives a great example of how technology is being used in her classes to help overcome the challenges that arise when teaching a class of students who have a wide range of abilities and communication methods. Thanks Suzanne – we look forward to hearing more!

Suzanne Phillips

There is a challenge that presents itself to every teacher at CORE/Labor Source. Every day we ask ourselves, “How can I be sure that today’s lesson will reach ALL of my students?” In any given classroom there may be a combination of students with complete hearing loss, students with impaired vision, students who are completely non-verbal, etc. As teachers we must create activities and lesson plans that actively engage every individual…but how can we accomplish this?

Innovative classroom technology makes this possible. Take for example Longmont CORE’s Thursday morning Communication Class. This class includes three non-verbal students that use communication devices and one partially verbal student who does not use a communication device. Playing a game of Hangman with this class is very different than playing a traditional game of Hangman! As the students take turns choosing a letter, it looks something like this:

• One student who is proficient with her communication device will decide on a specific letter, highlight that letter on the screen of her communication device and use her head to press a switch that is connected to her communication device. The device will then announce this letter out loud.
• Two other students in the class who use communication devices will choose one of the following groups of letters: A-I, J-R or S-Z. They choose a group of letters by pressing a head switch that is connected to their communication device. Staff then connects an All-Turn-It Spinner to their head switch, the student presses their head switch and the spinner’s arrow will turn and then eventually land on a letter within the group of letters that the student had previously indicated.
• The fourth student who is partially verbal is given a laminated letter board and an expo marker. This student will circle a letter on the letter board and staff will encourage her to say this letter out loud.

Having the technology to facilitate a class like this is crucial. By putting these adaptations to use, the teacher can help students with very different communication methods achieve similar goals within one classroom activity. As we continue to develop more specific adaptations for our students, they in turn have greater opportunities to achieve their goals. Stay tuned to see what we’re doing in our classrooms next!