Tool #10 Check the teacher/school website

10 - Check the teacher/school website

Information

We are living in a time with unprecedented access to information. Students and Parents need to check information posted by the school and individual teachers a regular basis. 

School

Schools post everything from the lunch menu to 

information about curriculum and district wide student achievement. 

Younger Learners

In the younger grades teachers post class events and upcoming projects. As students reach middle and high school, notes, examples of how to do math problems, links to .sites relevant to topics of study and interactive wikis are part of what is available via the web. 

Many Options

Many times hearing announcements over the loud speaker is extremely difficult for students with hearing loss. Checking the website on a daily basis ensures that the audition for the play or going on a ski trip isn't missed!! 

Web links from a teacher are checked for quality and accuracy .. When a student does a "google search" they MUST learn to not believe everything in writing!  With so much information ( good and bad) on the internet, students must be taught to read with a 

much more critical/ analytical approach! 

Phase 1

Young students need to be taught how to access a school/ teacher website. Concepts such as bookmarks, urls, drop-down menu and search are vocabulary words the young child will be mastering. 

Phase 2

Middle school students are pretty savvy using technology.  At this point students need to' not only be accessing the school website and their teacher's websites they should be 

checking their grades on line. 

Students are shifting away from Parents and Teachers telling them how they are doing and what to do towards more independence. They must take on ownership and more responsibility for their learning. 

Phase 3

Junior High students are continuously being prepared for what's to come in high school. Teachers post grades, notes from lectures, calendars and links to sites about topics being covered in class. Some teachers have students involved in wilds or other interactive discussion via the web. 

Information about sports, clubs and activities are also found on the school website. 

By Junior High Students should be comfortable with and regularly accessing the above mentioned information. 

All this visual communication makes all the information being auditorily presented accessible for the student with hearing loss!!