My students need black and colored ink as a resource to create work templates, print picture symbols for communication, and photographs to document student achievement.
My students have a lot to say, but they do not use spoken words. They require individualized materials, picture symbols, and photo documentation of their successes to share their message with the world. Printer ink is a necessity to allow my students to share their voice with the world.
My classroom consists of a group of five to eight year olds with vision impairments.
Several of the students have hearing loss and all the students have additional disabilities. Each student brings unique abilities to the classroom. The classroom is in its third year as a pilot classroom in New York City public schools, designed to meet the needs of students with combined vision and hearing loss by implementing unique learning experiences and teaching strategies to develop fundamental concepts to promote multi-sensory communication.
My Project
Classroom learning for my students takes the form of hands on, interactive experiences to help develop concrete concepts. To create opportunities for success, I use individualized printed materials for my students. Several students use picture symbols to communicate their wants and needs as well as ideas. This concrete form of communication is an important stepping stone to access higher levels of communication. As my students' vocabulary grows, their need for individualized communication systems grows with it. To make sure the students have content-specific picture symbols and a dynamic vocabulary, I print sets of symbols daily. While picture symbols are appropriate for my students with vision impairments, my students who are blind require a different approach. Photograph documentation is a key component to monitoring progress and recording successes for these students. Printer ink is a necessary resource to enable, capture, and document student learning in my classroom.
Your support will enable me to capture the growth and development of a unique set of learners, whose multi-sensory approach to education requires photographs and individualized printed materials to facilitate an effective hands-on approach to education.
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