Diversity

In moving from school to school while working as an Assistive Technology Specialist, it

is easy to see there is a disparity of resources which exists in the schools of my county. However,
this is no different than any other part of the country. Resources are not always allocated
equitably, regardless of where you live. Although is not intentional, this problem seems to be
most prevalent where people are the most likely to tolerate it and least likely to speak out against
it.
In the schools of socio-economically diverse students, where the English Language
Learner (ELL) population seems to be the largest, there seems to be a noticeable difference in
technology resources for these culturally diverse students. Despite the richness of language,
diversity, and cultural experiences that they could bring to the learning environment; without
equitable technology resources available, the achievement of these students falls behind their
peers in many standard test scores. Many of the standard technology tools on Cobb County
School District website contain a wealth of resources for the classroom teacher, if he or she is
aware of how easy it was to integrate these scaffolds to into daily instruction to support their
students in the learning process.
This is a list of some of the standard tools that are discussed with teachers so they can be
used as best practice for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for all students, but the supports
are especially helpful to ELLs, Students with Disabilities (SWD), and students in the Early
Intervention Program (EIP), at various grade levels from Kindergarten through High School.
Word- Provides a read aloud feature for SWD, ELLs, and EIP students. This will allow
teachers to encourage typing on the computer; students can self-edit their work when the
written work is read back. This feature can also reinforce auditory comprehension with
SWD and ELLs.
Natural Reader-A web based screen reading tool for ELLs, SWD, and EIP.
PDF Reader-A reading tool embedded in PDF reader that will read documents for ELLs,
SWD, EIP.
Tumblebook Cloud- Provides a collection of read-along books, ebooks, graphic novels,
audio books, and educational videos for elementary students, ELLs, SWD, EIP.
Tumblebook Junior-Provides fiction and nonfiction books, puzzles, read-along books,
games, and a television show to help students (ELL, SWD, EIP) learn how to read.
Pebble Go Social Science-This read aloud site provides students (ELL, SWD, EIP) with
information on different subjects in the social sciences including government, holidays,
families, and culture.
Pebble Go Animals-This read aloud site provides students (ELL, SWD, EIP) with
information on the body, habitat, food, and life cycle of different animals including frogs,
sparrows, puffer fish, and manatees.
Pebble Go Earth-This read aloud site provides students(ELL, SWD, EIP) with
information on different subjects in the earth sciences and space studies including
ecosystems, water, the solar system, the seasons, and clouds.
Pebble Go Biographies-This read aloud site provides students (ELL, SWD, EIP) with
biographies of people from around the world including Frida Kahlo, Jacques Cartier,
Francis Scott Key, Crazy Horse, Sandra Day O'Connor, Cesar Chavez, and Charles
Darwin.
Book Flix-This read aloud site provides a collection of fiction and nonfiction interactive
books for students (ELL, SWD, EIP) in grades Preschool through Kindergarten.