Some time ago, IDK ran a piece about making picture diaries for natural language development and keeping weekly diaries to teach literacy.
Parents and teachers at some schools send home-school books back and forth with a child who’s deaf, to keep a log of what’s learned in classes.
Blogs can actually become a substitute for home-school books if community links are strong and both parties are comfortable with internet tools.
For older children, video tools and blogs are one way to document class work (maybe captioned) for sharing with others.
How blogs can benefit children with hearing issues:
- Story-telling (pictures, text & video to tell a story as wished)
- Language development (recalling experiences, trips, holidays)
- Photos (an online slide show with labels, to discuss past topics)
- Homework (clarifying new/current topics, adding background detail)
- Completing assignments and/or relaying teaching detail visually
- Logging detail for reference, feedback or comments at a later date
- Hosting information virtually, for access from home or school
- Easy contact between parents & teachers (classroom or resource)
- Optional interfacing with whiteboards for classroom discussions
Blogs are effective teaching tools as students drive their learning in an engaged manner, experiential teaching is practised & topics are accessible. Visual learning is also facilitated as the students’ thinking is made visible.
The challenge for teachers is to integrate digital tools into the daily routine – but that is another topic in itself.
