Reflection One

As I have started working on this project, I have thought about what will be useful to another second grade teacher and the families of their students. I want to make sure that I am investing time looking into the appropriate resources for not only remote learning but for writing. My hope for when this project is finished is that I can use it for my own teaching purposes, but also to share with my coworkers or other educators. I think that the materials that I have found so far are easily read by families of students and a good quick read for busy educators who might be working quickly to change from in-person to remote. I knew right away that I wanted to create a project about remote learning for writing because I struggled so much teaching that last year. I could not see what students were doing when I asked them to independently write. I had to decide which students I would work with first. Would it be the student physically in front of me asking for help or the student virtually in front of me on my computer screen? I had to engage the students at home who could not see my heart map I drew on the whiteboard to inspire writing in the style of Cynthia Rylant. After reflection on how that all went, I knew that writing would be my focus for the next school year and for this project.

Reflection Two

Now that I am wrapping up my project, I have had some life changes in my career. Rather than teaching second-grade general education this upcoming school year, I will be teaching second-grade and third-grade special education. While I am not sure of my students' abilities yet, I think about how I could make these lessons accessible for students with disabilities to complete in remote learning. My thoughts are will they be able to use Google Docs or even be able to type. I think that the best option to make sure that this is accessible to all students is including their parents. I thought that Google Docs can be printed as well and students can handwrite their work instead of typing. The screencast and use of visuals will help students with learning disabilities be able to complete writing work without having reading impacting their ability to complete the assignment. As for writing, students with learning disabilities can also use the read and write function on their chromebook and talk to text feature to complete their writing without the pressure of making sure they are spelling correctly or if their sentences make sense. The lists and the heart map parts of the writing process allow students to use their other talents to help their writing. I would love for these lessons to allow more independence for students with disabilities. They would not need as much adult assistance to complete their work and they can take pride in their work knowing that they did it all on their own.