SpeEdChange: Toolbelt Theory for Everyone

Christy Tucker's personal annotations on this page

Christyinsdesign bookmarked on 2008-12-02 tools education accessibility assistivetechnology learnercontrol

Ira Socol's "Toolbelt Theory," the idea that we all need tools to help us survive in the the world, and every individual needs a different set of tools. The is a broader idea than just accessibility; it's about giving all learners control of their own tools to find what works best for them.

How will your students communicate when they leave school? How will they gather information? How will they say what they need to say?
The thing about toolbelts though, is that no two people ever really need the same one.
So the trick to tool use is to learn to evaluate tasks and environments and your skills and the tools themselves as they change and determine what works best for you. I call this the "TEST" - Task - Environment - Skills - Tools, a specifically ordered reframing of Joy Zabala's "SETT" protocol. A specifically ordered reframing designed for self-determination.
And on top of this, the tools most schools are devoted to are antiques which serve few functions anywhere outside of school. It is as if you were learning to build homes but were allowed to use only tools invented before 1940. You'd be close to unemployable when you finished that training.
The only way to allow students to assemble this essential toolbelt for information and communication is to to throw open your classroom and let the world in. How will your students know which calendar works for them - the one on their phone, Google Calendar with SMS appointment texting, Microsoft Outlook, or any of a dozen paper systems unless you allow them to try them out?

This link has been bookmarked by 28 people . It was first bookmarked on 06 Jul 2008, by Alice Barr.

15 Nov 09

Sheri Lenzo
13 Nov 09

Susan Diehl
- the tools most schools are devoted to are antiques which serve few functions anywhere outside of school. It is as if you were learning to build homes but were allowed to use only tools invented before 1940. You'd be close to unemployable when you finished that training.
  - Susan Diehl on 2009-11-13
    
    So very true. The Rip Van winkle Story!
- the one on their phone, Google Calendar with SMS appointment texting, Microsoft Outlook, or any of a dozen paper systems unless you allow them to try them out?
- 2 more annotations...
- - Again, how will they know?
  - So their students graduate not knowing how to fill out a job application. They graduate not knowing how to access library resources online. They graduate not knowing how to stay on schedule, or how to listen to their own writing if no one is around to help them edit, or how to send an appropriate text from their phone to an employer or professor if they are running late, or how to collaborate with other writers on a Google Document, or how to most effectively use spellcheck and auto-correct in Microsoft Word, or even - and I see this every day - how to search online for a job or a university course.
    Susan Diehl on 2009-11-13
    
    So true. So frustrating. Why do we see this so often?
13 Oct 09

Andrea Antonson
This blog is dedicated to the future of education for all the different students in democratic societies. The blogs include important topics for students and teachers to be aware of.

diigo education special education blog
23 Sep 09

Jason Buell
udl
15 Sep 09

Amy Ambelang
This is a blog entry that really hit home for me while I was doing research for an adaptability paper. It goes into detail about how everyone is born with a "tool belt" and that our life experiences, knowledge, classroom experiences, and technological tools are the "tools" that we fill it with. If certain students have very few of the other categories, we need to provide huge support with technological tools that they can use to remain on track with their peers. This article also provides examples of how we as educators can do that.

special education technology teaching
17 Aug 09

karen Janowski
- Tools matter though. They are the most basic thing about being human.
  
  We are many things - human beings - but above all we are tool users.
- The thing about toolbelts though, is that no two people ever really need the same one
07 Aug 09

Matt Townsley
04 Aug 09

monika hardy
tools education web2.0tools accessibility theory toolbelt writing speedchange
19 Jul 09

Karen Szymusiak
23 Jun 09

Shelly Blake-Plock
education
- So they don't want to teach about tools. The tools they know are gone, chucked to the curb with the card catalogues and 8-track players.
  - Shelly Blake-Plock on 2009-06-23
    
    Fear of tools on account of fear of obsolecence. Fair enough.
- They began all the same, and ended up as radically different collections of tools
  - Shelly Blake-Plock on 2009-06-23
    
    This is the paradigm of social media in a nutshell.
- 5 more annotations...
- - Imagine needing a book but being unable to use a map in order to find the library
  - the tools most schools are devoted to are antiques which serve few functions anywhere outside of school
  - This is not a matter of success in school. This is a matter of human survival.
  - School is about school. It is hardly ever about anything else.
  - Now all those education leaders can probably quote that old saying, "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for the rest of his life." So I wonder, why won't we teach our students how to fish? And why won't we help them to learn the best way for each of them to fish?
    Shelly Blake-Plock on 2009-06-23
    
    But what about when the shift makes it so that there aren't any fish anymore? What's the value in the teaching?
    
    Susan Diehl on 2009-11-13
    
    There will always be fish. They just might look like sharks!
09 May 09

Jeremy Brown
17 Apr 09

Cheryl Lykowski
web2.0tools toolbelt special_education
09 Mar 09

Mallory Burton
Great analysis of tools and several great quotes:
he tools they know are gone, chucked to the curb with the card catalogues and 8-track players. The tools which are essential now - the tools which are essential everywhere outside of a school building - are outside of their realm of knowledge. This is why school today is so divorced from any reality.
And on top of this, the tools most schools are devoted to are antiques which serve few functions anywhere outside of school. It is as if you were learning to build homes but were allowed to use only tools invented before 1940. You'd be close to unemployable when you finished that training.

tools AT udl
04 Mar 09

koroghcm us
Thought provoking blog post about tools and giving students a chance to try out multiple tools to find the ones that are best for them. Relates that idea to assistive technology and special needs. Points out how inequality gap is getting larger with the infusion of technology in society.

accessibility assistive technology tools web 2.0 21st century skills
11 Feb 09

Chris Harkness
Emphasis on the "each" in everyone

education technology tools blog sped writing
10 Feb 09

Chris Sharples
Toolbelt Theory tools education
06 Jan 09

Patrick Black
blog toolbelt theory tools ideas students education
- I call this the "TEST" - Task - Environment - Skills - Tools, a specifically ordered reframing of Joy Zabala's "SETT" protocol.
- The only way to allow students to assemble this essential toolbelt for information and communication is to to throw open your classroom and let the world in.
- 1 more annotations...
- - ight speech recognition help? Or typing on a smartphone keyboard with iTap word prediction? That would have been too much to suggest. The school district had just built a massive brand new high school. All the bells and whistles, yet, number of accessible computers in the district? Zero. Zero, despite three meeting I'd had with the school superintendent, two days spent with district's large tech staff, and meetings with special education teachers and school psychologists and social workers. Zero. They simply do not care.
02 Dec 08

Christy Tucker
Ira Socol's "Toolbelt Theory," the idea that we all need tools to help us survive in the the world, and every individual needs a different set of tools. The is a broader idea than just accessibility; it's about giving all learners control of their own tools to find what works best for them.

tools education accessibility assistivetechnology learnercontrol
- How will your students communicate when they leave school? How will they gather information? How will they say what they need to say?
- The thing about toolbelts though, is that no two people ever really need the same one.
- 3 more annotations...
- - So the trick to tool use is to learn to evaluate tasks and environments and your skills and the tools themselves as they change and determine what works best for you. I call this the "TEST" - Task - Environment - Skills - Tools, a specifically ordered reframing of Joy Zabala's "SETT" protocol. A specifically ordered reframing designed for self-determination.
  - And on top of this, the tools most schools are devoted to are antiques which serve few functions anywhere outside of school. It is as if you were learning to build homes but were allowed to use only tools invented before 1940. You'd be close to unemployable when you finished that training.
  - The only way to allow students to assemble this essential toolbelt for information and communication is to to throw open your classroom and let the world in. How will your students know which calendar works for them - the one on their phone, Google Calendar with SMS appointment texting, Microsoft Outlook, or any of a dozen paper systems unless you allow them to try them out?
15 Sep 08

Linda Wilson
A well-written and easy to read "tool" analogy that then moves on into unapologetic criticism of how we teach with concrete examples about preparing kids for life. Very high-incidence and UDL approach. Great reading for teachers who are struggling with the "what" of software, but not getting the "why."

article udl
22 Jul 08

jennifer fano
tools assistive_technology
21 Jul 08

Patrick Higgins
Great article on the "toolbelts" we give to our students.

specialeducation writing tools 21stCenturyschools
Shelley Paul
_NOW
Jennifer Wagner
web2.0tools
Jen Wagner
web2.0tools
susan carter morgan
tools
15 Jul 08

lindsey Barlow
thedigitalbackpack
14 Jul 08

Marie Coleman
tools
06 Jul 08

Alice Barr
How will your students communicate when they leave school? How will they gather information? How will they say what they need to say?

web2.0tools highschool