Student Contributor: S.Morfin
Displaying a visual schedule in the classroom helps students see what comes next in their daily routines to avoid confusion. It provides an easy structure and helps students transition better from one activity to another.
The tool should be placed where all students can easy see it and understand it. You can use pictures instead of words, making it easier for younger students to follow along. This tool promotes organization and help students independence grow. One student who struggles a bit more in school has his own personal visual schedule that is on his desk and he gets to take off each picture and put it on the back when he is finished with each task or activity. This seems to help him every much because every day he sees his schedule and knows he must start with his morning folder. Although he is the only one in the class who has a visual schedule I believe all students could benefit from this.
I believe a visual schedule is a preventative tool because it helps students avoid confusion and distributions in the classroom. When students are provided with a schedule that has clear pictures, students have a better time understanding what will come next and also reduce worries. I also chose the collaborative theory for this tool because a visual schedule is creates a sense of collaboration and community among students. When all the students can easily access and understand the schedule, it promotes collaboration. Students understand they are on the same page and helps students to work together to follow the schedule and transition when needed.
More Information –
Tool Source: I got this idea from my mentor teacher. She does this specifically with one student who has struggled in school.
Grade level- K, 19 students, urban: This tool was very easy to use because we started this at the beginning of the school year. Originally, we had a whiteboard with the important information about what the schedule would look like that day in the form of a paragraph. This would be read at the beginning of the class, and most students could remember what specials were happening that day. The downside of this was students were still asking numerous questions about what was happening next. Implementing this visual schedule has given the students the autonomy to look for themselves instead of asking the teacher every second of the day. We go over the schedule in the morning as a class and have it at the front of the room for them to look at throughout the day. Another plus my mentor made sure to include was the pictures that go along with the activity so students can easily connect that to certain words if they are not reading quite yet. This is also very helpful for ELL students to get to see pictures that are accompanied by what they are hearing/experiencing. I think the only adjustment I would make my schedule more colorful and bigger for the students to see from across the room.