Seton Hill University

Sed 729 75

Dr. T

October 9, 2021
 Making the classroom more inclusive for learning

Lawn care maintenance is something that mostly everyone must do from the Spring

until the fall. In an average year the regular homeowner may have to cut their lawn close to 30

times. That’s not to mention if you fertilize your lawn or even water your lawn. Some people

have hired professionals to do the lawn work for them. However, what if the individual that

owns the property may be blind or have slighted vision? They should be able to do this on their

own. There is technology out there that allows for a beacon to be installed on a lawn mower,

this beacon goes off when the blind or visually impaired to a tree or hole. The Universal Design

for Learning or (UDL) can help these individuals to a certain point. However, it will be up to

them to get to know their lawn or garden.

To make the classroom more inclusive for a blind individual to learn how to do lawn

maintenance is by using the UDL checklist and finding what works best. If the individual is

visually slighted, then I would use Checkpoint 3.4 - Maximize transfer and generalization. I

would ask if the individual had any prior knowledge of doing lawn maintenance prior to joining

the class. If so, I would ask what they know and may have done on their own and try to

capitalize on their own experiences. This would give me as the instructor a better

understanding of what their strengths and weaknesses are and will allow myself to create an

assignment where all the students would be able to participate in.

Secondly, I would use Checkpoint 1.3 - Offer alternatives for visual information. I would

have to describe accurate descriptions of how the blind individual would be able to maintain his

or her lawn. I would also have them listen to a training video on how to maintain their lawn.
Secondly for students that have not seen before I would use checkpoint 4.1 - Vary the methods

for response and navigation and bring in different types of tools from them to feel, ex. Shovels,

seed spreaders etc. I would also bring in different fertilizing and let them feel the texture of the

difference between mushroom manure and straw.

Lastly, I would use Checkpoint 9.1 - Promote expectations and beliefs that optimize

motivation. With this checkpoint each student will be provided a mentor or coach. This would

be a huge benefit for students that may be blind or visually impaired, but also it would be an

advantage for students who are not blind. By having a coach or mentor the blind student can

have along with other students can go to this individual for support. The mentor would be able

to give the blind student a more hands on experience when doing lawn maintenance. They

could also teach the blind student how what the yard feels like when it is fully established. They

can even come up with a program on how to fertilize and water their lawn.

There are many things that a teacher can do to make the classroom a more positive

and inclusive learning environment for the blind or visually impaired. According to Wild and

Koehler (2017) you must identify six responsibilities of teachers in supporting students in

general education class. The two that I believe in the most is being provided guidance to the

teachers on how to include students with visual impairments in class. The second is providing

adapted materials and methods. I don’t feel that I would really have to make that many

modifications to the classroom if I am aware that I would have a blind student in the classroom.

I know that I would have to be more verbal I would also make sure that the correct materials

would be available for the blind student such as having a Braille book for them to follow along

in. I would make sure that instead of having handwritten comments, I would negotiate
alternative feedback mechanisms with the student. Lastly, I would give extra time for

examinations, and even offer take home exams for all students.
 Reference

Wild, T., Koehler, K. (2017). Science. In Holbrook, M. C., Kamei-Hannan, C., McCarthy, T. (Eds.),
Foundations of education: Volume II. Instructional strategies for teaching children and youths with
visual impairments (3rd ed., pp. 449–478). New York, NY: AFB Press