Animated Step-by-Steps were initially designed to provide a
vehicle for infusing a greater literacy component into recipes,
crafts, songs, poems and science projects. When symbols were added they had the
additional benefit of creating a forum for exposing students with special needs
to the symbol set being used on their communication device. In keeping with
this original dual intent, I just posted about 50 symbol-supported Animated
Step-by-Steps (everything so far … except the obvious seasonal files which will
be converted by Fall).
My first installment of symbol-supported files uses SymbolStix, a symbol set used
extensively in the field of Augmentative and Alternative Communication and used
in the Unique Learning Curriculum
offered by n2y. It is hoped that the
Animated Step-by-Steps will prove to be a great additional resource for
educators vested in using this curriculum with their students with special
needs.
As mentioned in a previous post (04-06-15) I’ve opted to
have the symbols for each page automatically appear AFTER the animations for that page are complete.
This strategy is primarily designed to
avoid having the symbols ‘steal attention’ from an emphasis on literacy. Intuitively this makes sense as it allows you
to focus on the literacy and
comprehension components first … then allows you to review what you just
read and saw using the symbol supports,
e.g., “Now let’s re-read the page using our picture symbols.” This layered approach is reflective of Universal Design for Learning and has the additional benefit of minimizing ‘visual overload’ (an aspect that
is sometimes overlooked in the design of educational materials)
Here's hoping the addition of symbol-supported versions of the Animated Step-by-Steps will greatly enhance your ability to provide differentiated instruction in the classroom.
... 'til the next post
© 2015 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.
canadiangoosse@gmail.com
