Class #2 Take Aways

Our second class was just as interactive and informative as class # 1.  Here are some takeaways from that class.

1.  Understood.org - Through Your Child's Eyes

Understood.org is a site that helps parents and teachers access information needed to help them understand their children/students with learning and attention issues. 

Through Your Child's Eyes is an option you can choose on this site.  Here you will find simulations and videos to help us experience what reading, writing, attention, math and organization issues might look like.  

To begin, you must choose a grade level and then the area the child is struggling with.  Each simulation starts with a video of a student telling you about his/her issue and how it may affect them.  Second, we are faced with an activity that we have to complete that helps us understand what the child is experiencing.  Then we have an expert who offers an explanation and possible strategies.

I love this site!  It is a real eye-opener for teachers.  To experience first hand what our students may be experiencing in the classroom gives the situations a totally different perspective for us.  I especially like how the simulations include any age.  It's one thing to read about learning and attention issues, but this site takes it to another level where we can actually see these issues "through your child's eyes."

2.  The second takeaway from our class was the list of apps we created for remedial reading.  The extensive list of apps was generated in google slides, so it's something that we will have access to and a resource that I am sure in this technological age, I will reflect on quite often.   

 

3.  My third takeaway from this class was the visual simulator.  It may be difficult to imagine what a student with a visual impairment sees as they move around the classroom.  Seenow is a visual simulator that demonstrates what the student may be experiencing.  Within this simulator, you can choose from 3 visual impairments: cataracts, glaucoma and retinopathy.  To try this simulator, follow these steps:

1.  Go to https://simulator.seenow.org/ (it's better to use a smartphone to get the full experience).  

2.  Click "Let's Go" or "Allow Access"

3.  Click on "No thanks, I'll join later"

4.  Choose the visual impairment

5.  You can also change the severity of the condition

In the past, I have a student with a severe visual impairment in my classroom.  She would work with her itinerant weekly.  During one class, the itinerant brought in special glasses that the students could try so that they could experience precisely what the student could see.  It was truly amazing how the students reacted.  I think that with permission from the student and their family, this could be an excellent resource to use in the classroom to help gain a better understanding of visual impairments.