Inclusive classroom materials
How do you make classroom materials more inclusive and accessible to everyone?
We asked Cecilie Mackinnon of Down's Syndrome Scotland for her top tips and found out more about the making of her Peoples in the Past resources.
When you consider Cecilie Mackinnon's CV, it soon becomes clear how she has ended up as the creator of a series of outstanding inclusive classroom resources.
Before taking up her current part-time post as education liaison officer with Down's Syndrome Scotland in 1997, Cecilie had worked for approximately 15 years as a primary school teacher, latterly with children who had significant learning difficulties.
But she had originally trained as a calligrapher at the Glasgow School of Art, and then spent five years as a commercial artist, followed by a spell at home after her children were born.
Along the way, she also gained a post-graduate diploma in Learning Support, trained with the Down's Syndrome Education Trust and had taken to computer technology like the proverbial duck to water.
So when the Scottish Executive announced that funding was available for innovative projects that would help in the education of children with special needs, it seemed like an ideal opportunity for someone with Cecilie Mackinnon's unique mix of skills and experience.
I told Karen Watchman, the Director of Down's Syndrome Scotland, that I wanted to produce a set of inclusive learning and teaching materials for pupils with DS (Down's Syndrome) and she said: 'Go for it'.
I came up with the idea because as I had begun travelling around Scotland holding in-service training sessions for mainstream schools that had pupils with DS, I became increasingly aware of the lack of suitable classroom resources geared to special needs. Commercial companies aren't interested in publishing them because there isn't a big demand. They want to sell 100 copies of something to a school, not two or three.
But teachers are under enough pressure to provide for mainstream pupils, let alone take care of individual special needs. I think they need as much support in this as possible.
Cecilie Mackinnon, Down's Syndrome Scotland
The award that DS Scotland subsequently received from the Scottish Executive allowed Cecilie to design and produce classroom materials that would be usable, not just by children with DS but children with similar significant learning difficulties.
The proposal I put forward was for three People in the Past resources covering the Vikings, the Stone Age and Celtic culture in the Iron Age which are topics that are normally undertaken in the 5 to 14 curriculum.
Although the materials Cecilie has produced deal with all the usual sub-topics such as food, clothing, housing and technology, these inclusive classroom resources feature a greater number of visuals; shorter, less complex sentences and simpler language and a truly awe inspiring amount of worksheets and related activities.
Generally speaking, pupils with DS need more repetition and reinforcement than their peers, so worksheets and activities are essential but they must be varied because otherwise boredom and de-motivation set in. I had to come up with methods of doing the same thing - but in a different way.
Hence, each topic includes its own 'matching' exercises; circling 'yes' and 'no', filling in the missing word etc. as well as card games, colouring in, map reading and even dressing paper dolls. There are also sections on language development featuring a variety of illustrated phrase and sentence-making activities.
Pupils with DS and other learning difficulties often have a strong visual awareness and good visual learning skills so illustrations - and lots of them - are another essential component of inclusive classroom materials.
Top tips on how to make inclusive classroom materials:
Do:
- keep worksheets simple with not too many things on one page
- use short sentences
- use simple words and familiar language
- break down all tasks into small steps.
Avoid:
- cluttered worksheets with pictures and words all over the place
- ambiguous language e.g. 'The camel caravans travelled the silk road'
- handwritten text/instructions.
Many of the images that appear in Cecilie's People in the Past were drawn by her - including the luscious purple grapes and super-fresh cauliflower on the Stone Age lotto cards. During the three-year project, she spent days on the internet and became an expert at HyperStudio stacks and PowerPoint presentations, both of which feature in the series.
Although People in the Past has been conceived as a CD-ROM - with all three topics contained on one disc - several hundred full colour, glossy booklets, of the CD-ROM materials, were printed for the official launch. Not surprisingly, these were quickly snapped up and there are no plans for a second printing. But the free CD-ROM will continue to be available, on demand, from Down's Syndrome Scotland.
The booklets, along with related material such as worksheets and activities, are designed to be accessed and printed from the CD-ROM, using either a Mac or PC. Some pupils will be able to get a good grasp of the topic straight from the computer screen.
Downloadable resources
The Peoples in the Past The Celts and The Vikings PowerPoint resources are available to download from Learning and Teaching Scotland's 5-14 Online.
Feedback from teachers about the series has been very positive, with some saying they were the best resources - even for pupils without learning difficulties - they had ever seen. One teacher even asked if they had done the Romans!
Peoples in the Past has been designed as an exemplar of what pupils with DS need and the idea is that the materials can be adapted by teachers to suit individual requirements and other topics.
Down's Syndrome Scotland has received funding from the Scottish Executive for another three-year project for which Cecilie will be creating CD-ROMs covering numeracy, literacy and early years education.
Down's Syndrome Scotland works to change public attitudes and help create the conditions in which people with Down's Syndrome can enjoy a good quality of life in the heart of their communities.
Down's Syndrome Scotland
158/160 Balgreen Road
Edinburgh EH11 3AU
Tel: 0131 313 4225
E-mail: info@dsscotland.org.uk
Website: www.dsscotland.org.uk
Original text by Deedee Cuddihy. Deedee is a freelance journalist based in Glasgow.