I started blogging when I was doing some Moocs online some years ago.
I am still blogging about education and the use of technology in my job.
I am a life-long learner and love doing what I do.
Some more hours to wait for and we will enter the new Year: I wish all the best to educators worldwide and their students. It is going to be a new year with plenty of challenges!
Be ready to work together and to learn from the others and with the others!
Module 4 Mooc about Supporting Special Education Needs
This is my post about the presentation of the Mooc which I finished in November.
I submitted the slide with is a picture of the learning space where I would like to work.
It should be a place for the gifted students, for the less able ones and a place where learners love spending their time.
This learning experience made me think and reflect about the importante of learning spaces in our schools: we do need to create special areas which deal with the needs of everyone.
Open spaces and the use of technology can also help us while dealing with the peculiarities of the different learners we have in our classes.
I used an online tool for creating images of the place and then I also created the video:
The Mooc took place last autumn and I was busy online while doing my course for preparing students who need to take Cambridge IGCSE exams in my school. I had to catch up but I chose to do it as more and more our schools are coping with Special Education Needs. The platform that provided the Mooc was Schooleducationgateway, an important website where European educators can have access to free resources and Professional Development.
The aim of the Mooc were clear and I really wanted to learn together with other educators.
These ideas were specified in the first Module:
Understanding the need for inclusive classrooms
Identifying some practical tips and tricks to make your classroom more inclusive
Making connections to fellow educators who are in a similar situation to yourself
Learning from the experiences of educators around Europe
Understanding the variety of special educational needs
Considering inclusion as a human right
Developing a plan towards inclusive education in your own context
Key ideas were presented in the Mooc: acessibility and inclusion
" Accessibilityrefers to providing systems and solutions to optimise access in content, methods and environment. In learning environments,accessibility meansdesigning learning experiences without barriers that allow all students to achieve the main pedagogical objectives. Why is accessibility important? One of the main arguments is that accessibility benefits everyone and not just a single segment of society, providing easy and various ways to access information, materials and environments. Captions for audio and video, for instance, don’t just help hearing-impaired people. They can be beneficial for anyone who doesn’t speak or understand the language of the presenter being spoken. This is the premise on which you should approach many of the activities explored on this course. Whenever you improve the accessibility of your teaching, it is not only for the support of those students who have been identified to have a special need; rather, it is supporting the learning of all your students. That’s why, later on in the course, we explore the process of the “universal design”, which should be incorporated in every design process of creating products, services, environments or learning experiences for all people.
And what about inclusion? In education, inclusive education is defined by UNESCO as a process of addressing and responding to the diverse needs of all learners by increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, reducing exclusion within and from education. Inclusion is also a right and not a privilege. It is every person’s right to bring out their unique strengths by participating in our society and to appreciate the beauty of diversity. According to UNESCO (2017), inclusion is a mindset that involves valuing the presence, participation and achievement of all learners regardless of their contexts and personal characteristics and recognising the benefits of student diversity."
Definition of Special Needs
In special education, there is a wide range of disability levels to consider and some of them are quite tricky to recognise and support. Furthermore, special education encompasses not only the individuals with learning disabilities but also the gifted and talented students.
INCLUSION AS A HUMAN RIGHT
For teachers and school administrators, this convention means that they have to be committed in respecting and accommodating diversity and, more practically, creating learning environments where all students can meaningfully participate, contribute, and learn.
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION
The aim of inclusive education is to respond to the learning needs of all children, whatever their needs are. Inclusive education does not only have pedagogical benefits, by addressing the learning differences of all students and confronting them with various learning styles, but also social benefits, as it leads the children to become citizens who are open and tolerant and can live in peace and harmony with each other. Obviously, inclusive education requires teacher training..
Learn different strategies for accommodating the learning of students with special needs
Reflect about own practice and beliefs
Identify main elements of the inclusive classroom
Prepare an inclusive classroom design
Review inclusive classroom designs of other course peers
Make connections to other course participants
DYSLEXIA
Dyslexia is more common than many people think, considering that almost 10% of the world's population has dyslexia traits. MEMORY TECHNIQUES
Multi-sensory approach
A student's perspective
AUTISM Autism spectrum disorders are characterised by social-interaction difficulties, communication challenges and a tendency to repetitive behaviours. Symptoms vary widely across these core areas.
ADHD Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a mental condition characterized by problems related to paying attention, excessive activity or difficulty controlling behaviour which is not appropriate for a person’s age.
GIFTEDNESS
The definition of giftedness has not been universally decided. According to Heller (2000), giftedness is an individual potential of abilities for excellent performance.
However, there are also some students who are exceptional in two ways: they are gifted and they have special needs. That is why they are called “twice-exceptional” learners.
"I am gifted"
OUR FINAL ACTIVITY- TO BE ASSESSED BY PEERS
In this final peer-to-peer activity, you have the opportunity to imagine the inclusive classroom of your dreams. You can either find a colleague to work with for the final task, or do it by yourself. You are free to choose who you would like to work with. You can have a look at theforum posts in Module 1, to see who shares similarities with you (similar kind of students, teaching the same subject) or from whom you would like to learn in particular. You can use the forum to contact each other and to set up a new thread to collaborate. If you prefer, you can also decide to collaborate outside the platform, e.g. via Facebook, Skype or a shared online document.
The inclusive classroom of your dreams can be a graphical representation or described in text format (15-20 lines) or even better, both. You are highly encouraged to use visual elements. Hand sketches, cardboard models or 3D design models are all available options and you can use LEGO, SketchUp, Minecraft, HomeByMe or just pen and paper.
Use the following questions as a guide on what to address and then unleash your creativity!
Guiding questions:
What could the learning space look like?
What needs do my students have?
How can I facilitate the learning of all my students?
What are the important physical features?
What support would you place in your learning environment for SEN students?
What digital technologies would you use?
How adaptable and flexible is my learning space?
How accessible will learning be in my learning environment?
Will it facilitate various types of teaching methodologies?
What is your vision for the inclusive classroom of your dreams? When you have designed and described your classroom, please submit your work in the next section. Make sure to read the instructions carefully.
As I am a secondary school teacher in Italy and I am not working with young students I had to focus on what my students need to spend their time well while they are at school. Some have problems with dislexia or have difficulties in spending hours sitting at their desks. My ideal school is a school where everybody finds a place which is interesting and they can have fun. In my next post you will find my activity. Here is the place I have created online by using the tool HOMEBYME.
It is the Eve of Xmas and we are all going to celebrate this day among our best friends and our famiy .
In Italy it is time for making dinner now: we are all eating together and sharing presents.
Religious families will also go to church to celebrate the Birth of Jesus.
In the next days I will update my blog and I will add new posts about this year and my learning experiences online.
I have learnt a lot thanks to the learning opportunities offered by some European platforms and some American ones.
I will have to reflect online and continue working on my CPD. It is time to rethink about my way of working and change and modify what went wrong. Yes, I am aware that teaching requires a lot of strategies and what we learn while reading is different from what happens in classes.
Teaching foreign languages requires a lot of passion and we do need to rely on the best of technologies to help our leaners learn better.
I wish you all the best for the Xmas holidays and I do hope that next year will bring more happiness and peace all over the world.
Looking forward to Santa Claus and his presents for the many children who are in need. This is my great wish for them: they should all have access to education and live in peace
