Accessibility in Education

Accessibility in Education

What does accessibility in education look like? Making sure all students are able to learn in a safe and productive environment creates equal opportunity for success. Accessibility in education may look like closed captions (CC) on informational videos, ramps and elevators to reach different areas in the building, or bluetooth keyboards for iPads. With educational materials and technologies being accessible, educational professionals are allowing the same information, interactions, and services to be enjoyed and participated in by all students.

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It is so important for all students to have access to content in order to allow for success in their education career. By having content and materials accessible in the classroom, all students are able to learn in a variety of formats, even if there is no diagnosed disability. Accessibility lends itself to have all students explore content from multiple ways; like a teacher reading a book aloud, watching a read-aloud in video form with subtitles, a brail version of the book, and an audio version of the book. This allows students to explore the same material in many ways as well as stop the stigma that any version is better than the next since all forms are accessible to the classroom and a useful tool of the learning experience.

My Experience with Accessibility

As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, I have taught the past seven years at a constructivist school in downtown Chicago. Having constructivist roots lends itself to content and materials available to students in a variety of ways. Although we do not have a Special Education program, there are some ways that my school and classroom as accessible to all.

• School accessibility
• Wheelchair accessible throughout the entire school
• American Sign Language (ASL) signing in large assembles
• Multitude of seating options including standing desks, sensory chairs, and adjustable tables
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework for all grades
• Partnership with aides, accommodations, and disabilities to the best of ability
• Partnership with All Belong
• Classroom accessibility
• Subtitles/CC on all videos
• Books in hard copy, digital read-alouds, and audio versions
• ASL simple phrases taught
• Versatile seating options 
• UDL lessons and units
• Partnership with aides, accommodations, and disabilities to the best of ability

A Closer Look

The above lists are what my school has accommodated for the benefit of student's learning and overall experience of school. However, I have my own ways of making learning accessible to the students in my classroom. Being a kindergarten teacher, it is important to be teaching content in a multitude of ways by nature. Many students cannot read fluently which means the way I am presenting content has to be creative and engaging; making sense outside of written language. As I become a more seasoned teacher and have learning from my mistakes and have become more productive with my creative lesson planning. Below are some ways I make learning accessible in my classroom:

• Informational texts in variety of reading levels
• Content being presented through texts, videos with subtitles, audio books, and songs
• Teaching letters with with name, their sound, and ASL
• Stations that teach the same content in multiple ways
• Addition may be taught by building number sentences with legos, creating number sentences with playing cards, and doing number sentences with a teacher
• Sight words may be taught by going through picture books and spying new sight words with a magnify glass, playing a sight word game, and reading simple sentences with sight words
• Making most learning connect to a sensory form like fine-arts, dance, sports, or music

These are some areas that I excel in but, of course, there is always room to grow! My biggest area of growth would be using the resources available to me to their fullest extent. As I researched accessibility in education, I started to learn how so many technologies have accommodations built into them. My students have a 2:1 ratio for iPads in the classroom and are almost always used with a partner or in a group setting. During my research, I compiled ways an iPad has built-in accessibilities and created an infographic to share some of my findings.

There are more than five ways to include all learning styles, but these are some I thought would be most relevant and most useful in my own classroom. After my research, I have added these accessibilities to technologies or have them as an option that students can ask for.

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Additionally, there is an extensive library of apps that make learning accessible to all students. Below is a list of classroom apps that have accessibility features:

• ABCmouse
• Adventure Academy
• BrainPOP
• Code
• Flip
• GoNoodle
• Google Workspace
• Kahoot!
• Khan Academy
• Learning A-Z
• Minecraft (Education Edition)
• Padlet
• Pear Deck
• Prodigy
• Stem Minds
• Youtube
• Zoom

Finally, there are a handful of technologies that can be downloaded to create more accessibility for all students like Seeing AI, Web Captioner, Bookshare, Veed.io, and so many more!

Share with Me!

As I reflect on how far I have come with making learning fun and accessible to all students I am proud of what I can do for my students. However, I know I have a long way to go in order to make my classroom an enjoyable and productive learning space. Were you able to connect to any ways I make educational materials accessible to my students? Do you have any ideas about how I or my school could be doing more?