Practical Access Podcast
Dr. Lisa Dieker, a professor at the University of Kansas in the Department of Special Education, and Dr. Rebecca Hines, a professor at the University of Central Florida in the College of Community Innovation and Education, have worked with schools and parents across the country. Dr. Dieker directs a center in the Achievement and Assessment Institute call Flexible Learning through Innovations in Technology in Education (FLITE) and Dr. Hines directs several doctoral grants and the teacher preparation program. In this podcast, they take a fun and informal look at "practical" solutions from teachers, parents, and people with disabilities. The approach in this podcast is to provide fast, flexible thinking about "real" life problems. This podcast is not about the "legal" approach but their best advice from personal and professional experience.
Practical Access Podcast
S4 E4: Curriculum Assistance
Today, Drs. Rebecca Hines and Lisa Dieker are back at it again answering questions from our listeners. Need tips for supporting middle school students remotely? Tune in to today's episode for more information on involving students, websites with resources, and much more!
Don't forget we are still accepting questions from teachers to ask problems they would like some renewal ideas on. We look forward to receiving your questions on our Google Phone (407) 900- 9305, Facebook (Practical Access), Twitter (@AccessPractical), or Instagram (@Practical_Access).
Welcome to practical access I'm Lisa Dieker
Rebecca Hines:And I'm Rebecca Hines. And Lisa, I think today's question deals with Middle School, which is my favorite. We
Lisa Dieker:both have a hankering for those teenage years. Think
Rebecca Hines:about the draw. Good enough. So don't tell me what our question is. And let's see what we can offer. All right, here's
Lisa Dieker:a question from our listener. Thanks for calling. Remember 407-900-9305?
Unknown:My question was for middle school level. And while I was just looking for strategies to engage and support students, but modify curriculum remotely, thank you.
Lisa Dieker:Great question.
Rebecca Hines:She's looking at me, so I guess I'm the one who's gonna answer first. So this is a great question. And that's a tough, it's a tough question. At any grade level, no doubt about it. At the risk of sounding overly simplistic, I'm going to go with the same thing that I say in a lot of different ways, which is real world experiences. So let's set aside for a moment. Some prepackaged
Lisa Dieker:Yeah. And it's interesting, because, you know, I not only completely agree with that, but I think if you're kind of lost where to find those resources, I always like to remind because I find many of our teachers, Gen Ed and special ed alike. Don't know that every state has access points. And so you can look at your state standard curriculum, and they will give you a point of access
Rebecca Hines:And you mentioned flipgrid. And that is definitely one tool we can use. I would say, if you haven't already, this is the time to start working with kids on modified curriculum, on using video tools because they may very well need added training in doing any of this and I think it is time well invested. So if they can get their hands on a phone. Obviously, they have access to an iPad
Lisa Dieker:Yeah. And then I would just say, you know, right now there's a COVID-19 resources. But I'll tell you the one that I love the most, this question, if you haven't ever visited the National Center on intensive intervention, they actually did a whole COVID response section on supporting students with intensive needs. And not only do they give you ideas, but they actually give you
Rebecca Hines:I think that's really important is to make sure that the kids have access to the tools they need, even if it's small scale and seems like something everybody would have in their house. To that end, I think my final thought is we as special educators, those of us who are in special ed, I think we need to kind of take the lead on this. Nobody's necessarily thinking about our kids on
Lisa Dieker:So I think the message is we need to be the pushers. In a good way, but to push those things out there. And I love that idea, Becky, that that you know again, you're always really good to say come with the solution, not the problem. And I think that's really where we're at. So again, if you have ideas to share, don't be shy and putting them on Facebook or tweeting them out on our