On our last day together we have decided to focus on promoting multiple means of representation from students in our classrooms. There are so many wonderful and engaging options out there for our students, but as a group, we decided to focus on images and wikis.
Here are our resources for the day. Make sure to add them to your Delicious bookmarks.
We’re going to revisit Twitter today. Twitter is just one of the many ways to network with educators.
There are several things to consider before you dive into using Twitter though:
Look at the image of the “Networked Teacher”. What other tools appeal to you to communicate, collaborate and share resources with fellow educators? Share or Tweet your comment.
Lisa Parisi, is a 5th grade teacher in Long Island. After years of both good and bad experiences in working in a co-teaching situation, she has compiled her 4 rules for a successful inclusive classroom. Is there anything that you would add to this list? Would you take anything away? Please comment here.
Though all the districts we are working with in New Jersey will benefit from watching this video, I thought that it would make for great conversation when we meet on May 27. Please leave your comment below.
Sometimes we need to go back to the beginning and review the WHY behind the tools and concepts we are using to help our students. We have spent hours looking at the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines and talking about the UDL Framework.
Today we are going to refocus ourselves on the Three Brain Networks. We’re going to redefine the Recognition, Strategic and Affective Networks and how you can customize your lessons to provide multiple alternatives for your students. We’ll be working on this as a group, but you can do this activity independently here.
This past September, we embarked on a professional development journey designed to help us think more creatively and deeply to build skills utilizing flexible, digital media to engage all learners and promote learning in the classroom. We have identified tools designed to engage learners in the various content areas. We have also explored tools to promote collaboration with students, colleagues, and parents. Along the way, we have used surveys to understand how colleagues and students use technology with the goal to turnkey information and invite other teachers to join us on the journey.
The question that remains to be asked is, “How has UDL changed your job?”
Read Anita’s blog post and then share your thoughts on Anita’s blog and on our UDL blog. Let’s celebrate how far we have come and how much we have grown.
We have to acknowledge that we don’t always have all the technology at our fingertips that we’d like to have. We know much of it is on the way, or listed on a purchase order somewhere, but until it is in our classrooms and installed correctly, how are we going to begin using all the methods that we’ve learned to use with our students?
Today we’re going to talk about a typical classroom with three computers and how to utilize those few computers and still attain the goal of multiple methods of representation from our students. We’re also going to work on improving a lesson that uses many UDL strategies in a direct instruction format. By working together to embed more of the elements of the UDL Framework, we can reach more of our students through our successful lessons.
Here are some of the resources we’ll be using today:
http://math247.pbwiki.com/FrontPage
http://thinkingblocks.com/
As we work together to increase our UDL activity database, we are going to continue to use Delicious to remain organized. The more familiar we are with the strategies we can use to remove the barriers that keep our students from meeting their learning objectives, the more likely we are going to be to determine what type of tool or material will help them in the classroom or at home. But if we don’t remain organized and familiar with the tools we review and feel comfortable with, we won’t be able to make them available to our students so that they can experience success.
Some of the resources we’re going to use today are:
Special Education Technology
http://www.setbc.org/setinfo/bcudl/resources.html
Thinking UDL
http://anitas.edublogs.org/
The BC UDL Learning Object Repository
http://setbc.ca/BCUDL/
Congratulations! You made it through our first day of UDL training. I hope you are excited about UDL and minimizing barriers and maximizing your students’ learning through flexibility. Please read How Can UDL Help ESL students? on Amanda’s ESL Blog. Over the next few weeks we will be focusing on providing multiple, flexible, methods of presentation to support recognition learning. Check out Nik’s Learning Technology Blog to get inspired! It is full of great tips, resources and teaching materials to help ESL teachers use new technology. Have fun!
We are going to spend some time today talking about how to manage your UDL classroom with all the choices you are making available and the technology you now have to maintain. Two questions to keep in mind as you peruse the resources are: Which techniques have worked for you in the past? and 2. Which techniques have backfired?
Here is a list of resources that we are going to review to help us establish some guidelines that we will use as a group.
Learners with Laptops
http://learnerswithlaptops.wikispaces.com/Technology+and+Classroom+Management
Classroom Management in Irving Independent School District
http://www.irvingisd.net/one2one/classroom_management.htm
Classroom Management: Strategies That Work
http://www.theteachersguide.com/ClassManagement.htm
