Case+Study+Critique

__CASE__ Jackie Jones, a regular education classroom teacher, is extremely excited about the new language arts unit that she is preparing to teach her third grade students. Her class is beginning to study the "land down under", and she is developing an author study of an Australian born author, Mem Fox, to enhance the integrated instruction in her room. Jackie has a student with severe learning disabilities, Steven, and she wants to make sure that she makes Mem Fox and Australia come alive for him. Steven has lots of difficulty with language processing, and motivating him to read and write is her greatest challenge of the year. In an attempt to increase her success, she scheduled a meeting with the school reading specialist to brainstorm ideas for making the most of the unit for all of the kids, but particularly Steven. Upon the completion of their planning session, they make plans for incorporating a student created iMovie presentation, WebQuest, audio taped books, and graphic organizers to maximize interest for all of the kids and increase productivity and success for Steven. ([|source])

__CHALLENGE__ Steven does not like to read and it is hard to motivate him. He has servere learning disabilities which makes it difficult for him to express himself. As the unit is about reading about an Australian author, Steven might haven even more difficulties to motivate himself.

__SOLUTION__ Instead of just reading, the teacher decides to use a variety of tools to access the content. Steven does not like to read so he has the chance to listen to an audio taped book. With this she integrates the aspects of Universal Design. The text is represented in several ways like written text and audio (multiple forms of representation). Additionally, tools like graphic organizers serve as a multiple form of expression. The students, especially Steven, do not only read and obsorb the text - thez are productive!

__TECHNOLOGY__ To make all this happen, Jackie Jones uses a lot of low- and hightech. In the case description iMovie presentations, WebQuests and audio taped books are mentioned. But there are other types of technologies that help to create a motivating enviroment. Blogs and wikispaces can help, for example, to write down thoughts and feelings while reading. Students get more involved in the process (multiple forms of expression).