Math & AT project underway - in-class sessions: West Glen J.P.S. spotlight

The AT team's Math and Assistive Technology project, "I have Assistive Technology in my classroom, how do I use it in Math?" is well underway. With one Learning Community session completed, each of the special education project teachers have been matched up with members of the itinerant teacher team for the job-embedded professional learning opportunities of co-planning and co-teaching. Some of these in-class sessions have taken place.

At West Glen Junior Public School, special education teacher Nicole Barnes and itinerant teacher Valia Reinsalu co-planned a lesson to support Barnes' students consolidate concepts about money amounts.
To start, the group reviewed and revisited concepts about money that they know on the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB)- the Minds On part of the lesson. Students worked on identifying images of coins and their amounts as well as creating money amount using different combinations of coins.

Students were assigned specific interactive whiteboard files based on their grade level and money concepts they are learning. Students used the netbook and file to complete a math problem and further explore money concepts. (Tools used at the start of the lesson were the same ones students were required to use on their own using individualized files.)
It was the first time Ms. Barnes' class used the IWB tools to solve the problem on an individual file and computer. Ms Barnes' incorporated many sound files for students to use to as auditory prompts to support comprehension of instructions as well as reinforce coin names and amounts.

Students worked individually or in pairs.

An example of one student's solution to the "Buying lunch" problem.

Ms. Barnes' shares a money video with students following the consolidation and summarizing of the lesson.

 

One of the main goals of the Math & AT project is for classroom teachers to try a lesson while embedding AT in order to deepen their support of students in Mathematics. Through the project, teachers will learn various strategies and features of assistive software tools in software programs and/or the use interactive whiteboard peripherals to support special education students. The project also aims to create networking opportunities for special education teachers through our Learning Communities model.