ALEX Learning Activity

In conjunction with reading Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, students will explore the world of assistive technologies and how they are impacting our world today. Students will begin by using EdWordle and create a piece of word art to show their understanding of the main character in the book. They will then explore how assistive technologies influenced our understanding of the main character through reading an informational article about assistive technologies. 

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will define assistive technologies.

Students will state reasons they may be needed.

Students will determine the characterization of fictional characters.

Students will cite textual evidence to support analysis.

As a reflection of reading Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, students will be instructed to create a word cloud (https://edwordle.net/) of at least 20 words that they would use to describe the protagonist, Melody. (For example, they could describe her as strong, brave, smart, etc).

Once they create their word cloud, as part of an informal presentation of their learning, the teacher could have students share their three favorite words to describe Melody and find a specific page, passage, or quote from the book that explains why they chose these particular words.

Then, the teacher will instruct the students to read the following article about Stephen Hawking and assistive technologies (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/stephen-hawking-as-accidental-ambassador-for-assistive-technologies/) having the students answer the following questions individually or with a partner on a separate sheet of paper:

1. How are Stephen Hawking and Melody similar?

2. How are Stephen Hawking and Melody different?

3. If Stephen Hawking or Melody did not have Speech Generated Devices (SGDs), how would their lives be different?

4. What has the book and this article taught you about assistive technologies? What are some examples of assistive technologies and why are they needed?

Once the students have read the article and answered the questions, the teacher will instruct the students to look back on their Wordle creations and highlight the words they used to describe Melody that they wouldn't have known about her without her speech-generating device.

As a reflection of this activity, the students could share any of the following: how many words they highlighted, what words they highlighted and why, or even what they learned from this experience.

-Teacher observations/notes

-Students' word cloud creations

-Reflection questions from the article

-Student presentation/discussion

Students must be actively reading or have already completed reading Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper.

Students will need access to a computer or device to create a word cloud and a printer to print them out. 

The teacher will need to print out the article or share the link with students beforehand.

If there is no access to computers/technology, the teacher could show the students a Wordle, and have them create one by hand.