AT Week 3: Empower, Prepare, Engage

The main focus of the AT (Assistive Technology) Series this week was identifying resources which engage students in learning materials. Engaging students multiple times and through a variety of lenses - text, video, pictures. We received some great examples through Twitter - QR Codes, Student Blogs, Kahoot.it, all tools that can be differentiated and inclusive for students.

To engage students we need to empower them and spike their curiosity. Offering choices and giving students a certain degree of control over their learning. Students need to achieve success and build upon on each little success to become empowered learners.

Engagement needs hooks - wonder questions, interesting pictures, tapping into students’ life experiences and motivating them to want to investigate further. Learning needs to be authentic, interesting and connect students to each other, engaging them deeply in key learning areas.

We can’t engage or empower unless we plan. As teachers we need to identify the barriers to learning in the curriculum and create learning strategies that move around, through, or take different paths to achieve learning outcomes for all students.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the AT Series Week 3.

Looking forward to Week 4 - Creating

What opportunities, tools and resources do we make accessible for students to create / produce and demonstrate their learning?

At Series Week 4

References
Jarod Bormann and his Flipped Classroom website for the image http://linkis.com/jardo3.wix.com/1QruC
Edutopia Creating the Conditions for Student Motivation