Weekly Reflection #7 – Accessibility and Inclusion

Week of March 13th

This week, our topic of the week was a focus on accessibility, and how technology can be used to support diverse learning needs to encourage a more inclusive classroom. This is a really important topic, and it was interesting to learn about the various resources out there.

To begin, we discussed ARC-BC, or the Accessible Resource Center for British Columbia. ARC provides digital alternatives to print resources. This includes textbooks, novels, and other learning materials that are print. We had an opportunity to take a look at the website, but unfortunately were unable to explore the resources directly as it required a sign up process restricted to school district employees. I would have loved to explore the resources and seen the various digitized materials. One thing I appreciate is that teachers are able to request material to become digital if it is not available, but I am curious how long the process would take before it is an ARC resource. Check out ARC here: https://www.arc-bc.org/information/

Next, we learned about SET-BC, an outreach program sanctioned by the BC Ministry of Education that provides resources (assistive technologies, training for educators, other resources) to both learners and teachers to ensure that all students have the chance to learn in a supported and inclusive classroom. SET-BC provides training and consultation for educators, schools, and even school districts. Awesome! I am curious how quickly their response rate is to an educator seeking support. See here to check out the website: https://www.setbc.org/about-us/

Lastly, we browsed through the FocusedEd resources: the K-12 Evaluated Resource Collection. This is an extensive collection that provides guidance on print and digital resources for educators and ensures that the resources align to current curriculum. I really appreciate this, as it can be tedious to search for resources that are appropriate to a. what you want to teach, and b. appropriate for school. Each resource has categories that explore things like general content, social considerations, etc. This is a great way for teachers to filter through content with guidance. I would have loved to explore this more by myself, but a school district email is required to access the content! I am excited to receive my temporary SD email once I begin my practicum…

Speaking of practicum, I had the chance to meet my mentor teacher and the students in the classroom today! It was a wonderful experience, and I feel a lot less anxious now that I have had a chance to connect with some people at my placement! A moment stood out while I was here, and I thought it fit in well for our topic this week. We were discussing math, as it is one of the subjects we are planning on teaching, and our mentor teacher mentioned IXL. IXL is a great online learning tool for both math and LA, and we were encouraged to use this tool in our teachings. What stood out to me, though, is that all of the students have been taught how to use the chrome books in ways that ensure accessibility for all, as each student is highly competent in using immersive readers, dictation, text-to-speech, etc. I am so excited to start my practicum, and really look forward to seeing accessible practices in action!