Integrating Assistive Technology into the Classroom: Instructional Planning
Instructional planning refers to the “what and how” of teaching and development of lesson plans. Lesson plans are the daily description of the educational activities that students will perform. For students with disabilities to access the curriculum, AT concepts and adaptations must be included. To integrate AT adaptations into lesson plans consider the following questions presented by Bryant and Bryant (2003).
NOTE: The following questions should be answered based on the AT evaluation process. See Module 5 for a review of Adaptations Framework and SETT Model.
- What are the student's annual IEP goals in each content area?
- What are the student's short-term IEP goals in each content area?
- How will instruction be delivered in a way that each student can benefit?
- What teaching techniques will be used?
- How will AT adaptations be incorporated into lesson plans?
- What AT adaptations are available?
- How can these adaptations be integrated into the instructional activities?
- Do I know how to use the adaptation?
- Are computer access devices needed? (See Module 4).
- Is the physical classroom space (desks, seating assignments, position of materials, pathways) properly set-up for this or any type of accommodation?
- Do I know how to evaluate the effectiveness of the adaptation?
- How is the lesson going to be evaluated?
Exploring these questions will help the teacher understand how to integrate AT into his/her instructional planning to best benefit students that may need these accommodations. Again, these adaptations can be anything from simple highlighters or pencil grips to more sophisticated instructional software. Answering the questions above will help incorporate any of these types of technology into the lesson plans.