April Sibley

I was amazed to find out that there are many apps available to provide accommodations and modification assistance! This seems like a very good option for students in this day and age since everyone always has their phone in their hand. Identifying apps that are compatible with my lessons and content is something that I would like to implement! I especially like the idea of a text to speech app. A lot of students do not have the attention span that is compatible with reading long passages or copious amounts of notes.

It was surprising to learn that approximately 20% of people have some type of learning disability. That is 1 in 5 which means that in my family of 5 one of us has some type of learning disability! The biggest takeaway for me is the advocacy part. I didn't realize that post secondary education is considered optional therefore any accommodation or modification plans are not required. Preparing my students to be able to advocate for themselves will be something that I will have to make sure that I teach my students how to do so that they know the proper… >>>

This module really walked through the different types of learning disabilities and how they affect cognitive behavior. Too often the students are dismissed as lazy and not attentive to their work, when in actuality, that may be dealing with some type of learning disorder. It was also interesting to learn that a lot of the learning disabilities also co-exist with ADHD. This makes it even more challenging, although not impossible, to come up with a plan to help the students that are affected.

I have learned that the reading process is progressive and in order to move to the next step, the foundations of the previous steps are critical to master. A student that has a learning disability has trouble with each of the steps and can easily become overwhelmed with trying to progress. I was also shocked to learn that 10% of the population has some form of a learning disability. Going forward, I now know more about what the learning disabilities are and am better prepared to identify a possible accommodation to help that student, even if they do not have… >>>

It was an interesting fact that guessers tend to pick "True" 50% of the time. By not only changing the wording, but also requiring the students to provide a quick explanation as to why they picked either True or False, I will be able to better check for mastery and can provide more tailored feedback to their answers.

I have learned that asking "Does this make sense?" or "Are there any questions?" are ineffective ways to identify student mastery. I am guilty of asking these types of questions and will now ask the students the questions that they should be asking me to generate responses and gauge to see if they have reached mastery.

Are you all experiencing the students using AI for the most simple of tasks when it comes to assignments? Do you find them using it more than they should? How do you mitigate or at least limit the use of AI? Do you impose a penalty to their work if it is determined that they used AI to complete a given assignment?

I have learned that giving the students the ability to make many choices is actually beneficial to them. Going forward I will look for ways to incorporate choices for the students so that they are able to feel empowered to be in charge of their learning.

I have come to learn that by "planning with the end in mind" is a principle that I should follow to ensure that my unit plan is as engaging as possible for the students.