Multicatigorical visual aids for classroom

It’s a commendable goal. A classroom that would meet the needs of all students, though, couldn’t happen through visual aids alone, of course and I have to say I’ve also long been skeptical that children acutally use those visual aids in classrooms.

Every day I write my homework on the board, same place, same time. To know the homework all a child has to do is come in and look at the same spot on the board in front of the room. Yet some of my 5th graders still come up to me and ask what the homework is. After more than 6 months, some of them still don’t remember to just …look up… at the board which is why I’m not sure how often or how much students actually …look up… and use the visual aids in a classroom.

It’s also true that some kids with reading issues or visual processing issues can’t look up at the visual aids without hopelessly losing their place in the paper they were working on.

If it were me, the posters I’d have around the room would be those that brighten the room and express the upbeat tone you want in your classroom. There are posters that speak to the strength of all people such as Howard Gardner’s ideas espouse and others that speak to the many different ways to learn. I think those kind of posters might be as helpful in creating the inclusive classroom you want as anything else.

All of your students will be fortunate to have a teacher like you who clearly goes out of her way to have her classroom be something special.

Have you tried having the child put both thumbs up in front of themselves and the left one looks like a “b” and the right one looks like a “d”….”b” comes first in the alphabet so the one on the left is a “b”…

Another variation on this is to have them put the same finger positions against each other to form a “bed”. “b” is the left hand position, and “d” is the right hand position. That one helped my younger son remember when nothing else had.

Karen