Read and Write by Texthelp

I am yet to teach a student who is overjoyed to be singled out for their differences and openly welcome interventions in front of the whole class. It maybe because I teach FE. My learners want to join in with their peers first and they worry about the additional support they may need second. The skill of the teacher is to provide timely and meaningful support to the student with additional needs in a quiet purposeful manner. I'm not saying I run covert operations in class and there are secret side conversations happening. That would be an awful environment for the rest of the class! No, what I do is provide the extra resource or support to the learner and say, "that's for you to look at when we do... " that additional resource could be a Chrome book because the learner needs formula prediction on Equatio mathspace. It could be a dictionary of English to their home language. It could be a blank comic strip template to help them visualise and structure their answers. It could be a completed comic book template of the lesson sequencing my planned activities so they know what to expect and when. It could be a set of headphones so they can listen to white noise to help them focus. It can and should always be what the learner needs to help them achieve in my lesson. If it doesn't help then deal with the barrier they are facing it isn't relevant.

Most learners in my classroom have only recently had a diagnosis of additional learning needs. I teach FE, which includes adults who have returned to study post 40 who suddenly discover they have an attention disorder or dyslexia or a variety of needs. It is such a common occurrence that exam access arrangements expressions of need begin in September and have a deadline of January to allow for thorough assessment before the March deadline. Last year in a class of 14, 8 adult learners required exam access arrangements. This later in adult life diagnosis means my learners are even less inclined to be seen as different or needing something extra to help them but if the support is relevant to their need, in my experience, they are willing to give it a go.

I was overjoyed when we got Read and Write from Texthelp (this is not a paid for post nor is it an ad) we had a customisable solution to give everyone a fighting chance to overcome their barriers to learning with one click. I am aware other products exist but none in my opinion have the wide range of features I will tall about. Imagine a lady in her 60s. Proud grandma whose grandson is starting high school. She returns to study GCSE maths so that she can help him with his studies and achieve a qualification she never passed. Imagine through discussion with me that we discover she struggles to read and stay focused when using a screen. We hop on a chrome book and use the screen masking feature on the Read and Write toolbar. But that's not the end. Later she discloses she's stopped using it, when I ask why, she is overwhelmed by the buttons on the bar. I am crushed. Quickly I hop onto data desk and personalise her bar with her input. We end up with just 5 buttons all relevant and personal to her. She is back on track.

Just because we find an amazing tool doesn't mean it does the job for us. We wouldn't buy the same textbook for every class and not direct students to certain chapters or pages. We can't leave Read and Write to do it all. It does a lot of the heavy lifting, but we need to help. We need to personalise the experience for our learners to make the additional support relevant, which is where the data desk feature come in. The beauty of Read and Write is that it is there whenever a learner needs it. They don't need to ask. We are providing a meaningful and timely support that helps overcome barriers to learning. SJ

Being Personal and Staying Connected

We are now firmly in the new world. Distance learning and remote working are the new normal. We are used to video calls for meetings and lessons. That morning coffee shop visit has become a distant memory. We can't remember the code to the car park at work. We have become closer to our family in Canada as they join the group family video call on a Wednesday. This is us now.

But what about that morning coffee shop visit? Why did we do it every day for so many years? Yes the coffee was good but there was something else. We were with people. Whether we walked as a team to get coffee together or we sat on our own people watching for 5 minutes whilst they made our brew we were with people. 

We still see people, we see a lot more of some people! Managers that were floating in the higher floors of our building are all of a sudden available and interested in what we do. Why? Because they have the time. Meetings have become more efficient, we are working smarter but most importantly of all our managers are seeking that personal connection too.

The power of being personal was easy to underestimate before. We probably thought we went for our morning coffee because we liked the coffee. We maybe didn't notice the interactions we made with people on our walk there and back as well as in the coffee shop.

How do we be personal now? I don't mean joining a call, I mean being personal. Being personal is about putting that personal touch on things, making things yours, letting someone else almost feel your presence. If someone is going through a tough time we would maybe tell them it will be alright, offer guidance and maybe a hug. Having that conversation virtually will maybe use the same words but a very different experience as we are not there in person. We are not being personal.

We give feedback on work regularly. We have adapted to the new world and we add comments to documents. But we can be personal in this. We could add a voice note instead of typing comments. We can use our own speak, make the author know we have personally read their work. A tool like Read and Write or Kaizena has a voice note feature, or simply recording your voice and inserting the file will have the same effect, you will have been personal.

Our new challenge in the new normal now we have accepted our new way of working is to seek opportunities to be personal. SJ