BCEdAccess Reflection

This was by far my favorite guest speaker that we have had. Having been an EA for 5 years before deciding to start back over at school, inclusion and access to education for all students is very near and dear to my heart. I hope to specialize in special education or become an IST eventually, so for that reason I found myself very engaged in this presentation.

I thought the start of her presentation was a really clever way of showing how some students (and their parents) may feel in the school system. Unfortunately, I have personally experienced some examples of this during my time working as an EA. I’ve been in classrooms with teachers who do not like interruptions and therefore would only allow certain students to be in the classroom at set times (non instruction times), and have had to (along with other EA’s and the school based team members) advocate for those students to get what they needed. It is my opinion that particular example is a very old school way of teaching, and as more teachers head into retirement and newer ones begin, that will hopefully be less common of an occurrence.

I really loved her slide #15 that referenced where to start when faced with a student with different needs, particularly the one about asking the student. This is so important in my opinion, and what better way to get students to buy into you and the process than by showing them that you value their understanding of how they best learn.

I found I wanted more information about the specific tech that is available. It would have been cool to go over a few different devices that are most commonly used, however I know that tech for students with different needs can be very personalized, and that there are SO many options that maybe it is to hard to dive into in an hour period. At the school I worked at alone, there were several different personalized tech devices that each person using needed specific training in order to support students with. I know that my personal experiences are a drop in the bucket, having spent the majority of my work at 1 school, so I am really excited to continue learning through classes at Uvic, and practicums in various schools.