As the first week in my new school year comes to a close I have to reflect on what I have learned the last 8 weeks and how I am using it in the classroom. When I first laid eyes on my little freshmen I was very excited! Not only do I get to have the pleasure of getting to know them and teaching them but I can do it in such a way that I feel I am really making a difference. My teaching practices have been altered since then end of last year. I now view the students as puzzles for me to figure out. What are their readiness levels, what interests them and what learning profiles lurk beneath those brand new clothes? My first job is to get to know these fresh-babies as I call them. Tomlinson points out that the better we know our students and all their proclivities, the better we will be able to engage and motivate them to learn (Laureate, 2009b). I have already given my classes the reading and interest inventories. Aside from that though I have talked to them and watched them, their behavior speaks louder than inventories. I have identified my very reluctant readers, my can’t keep quiet kids, the tapping feet and hands kids, the please show me what it looks like kids and all this will lead to better instruction on my part.
Some big concepts with regards to my students this past course was learning about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI). Universal Design for Learning emphasized breaking down educational barriers (Center for Applied Special Technology, 2009b). This idea prompted me to look at different aspects of instruction and ask myself if there were components to my teaching that were allowing barriers to exist. Rose and Meyer (2002) state that everyone deserves access to learning and I know it is my job to provide this access. I now think of delivering content using multiple ways and allowing the students to show their learning in multiple ways and finally keeping them interested and motivated using multiple avenues. My increased knowledge of DI is also incorporated into my schema of what makes up my students. It, too, has me contemplating how I can effectively deliver content, how the students can process the material in different ways and finally how the students can demonstrate learning in a way that respects their different learning styles.
I know that I cannot attend to all the students’ differences by myself and this is where technology plays a very important part. Technology is flexible. The options for attending to the vast array of teenagers that I see every day are amazing with technology. As an educator, you almost feel giddy when you find out about a new tool, link or application. I started my day on Monday by introducing myself, via the glog that I made, to my students. They were amazed. On Tuesday I thought, hey, let me show the students how easy it was to make and together, the students and I, made a glog about their class. I let each period contribute something to the poster. By the end of the day I had jazz music, a Bob Marley quote, and really cool text formatting describing the class. To say it was a hit would be an understatement. I could not have accomplished this endeavor prior to EDUC-6714D-2!! I also plan on using a few things that I gleaned from the Differentiation Station social network that I was a part of. The teachers that contributed to the resources on this site came up with some pretty cool tools. Some of these are:
a spelling site, a vocabulary site , a site to recommend books for my students, a site for really good graphic organizers and lastly, a site to generate flash cards to study with . These are the resources that I have designated to use as a part of my instructional practice today to better reach my students. One more new tool I want to mention is a site that facilitates creating a digital book. I have my students craft stories as a regular part of my curriculum and now they can turn these into digital stories. This is a very good thing.
With the many ways to be flexible using technology it is incumbent on me to not inundate my students or myself with too many new strategies, tools, or applications. Tomlinson (2009b) promotes growing slowly. I will heed this advice because I do not want to use technology just for the sake of using it; I want it to be purposeful and meaningful so that the students are met where they are and as they are to increase learning and break down educational barriers. This will be an exciting year indeed. As a side note, I want to share that it is my intention to communicate effective instructional practices I have gleaned from this course with my colleagues. Let’s reach those students!
Ruth Crawford
Resources:
Center for Applied Special Technology. (2009). UDL guidelines, version 1.0. Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.orgaboutudl/udlguidelines.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009b). Introduction to differentiated instruction. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.
Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/
Thursday, August 19, 2010
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