As we became engaged in our EDUC 6714 resources, with our colleagues, and into the discovery of UDL; I found a solid philosophy for instruction that I feel I can stand behind and communicate to others. Over the years, many trends or buzz words have been identified in the field of education, some stay, most don’t. Universal Design for Learning is an approach that, in my opinion, is timeless and can be an asset to students in any classroom. Since UDL is an instructional approach that opens learning opportunities for all students, (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009c), all educators can find benefit in differentiating student learning according to readiness, interest, or learning profiles. Each teacher who reflects on their instructional lessons and is open to improvement can see that there are ways within their own classroom to modify curriculum for their specific students in either the product, process, or content that they are teaching. I, for example plan to look at my current and upcoming lessons and take more time to focus on what student interest and readiness is for the topic. I often begin the year pre-assessing my students and then, as the year continues, have moved on to the thought that they must have acquired the building blocks of knowledge they need for the next lab, from engaging in the previous labs. This idea is not only untrue but also very narrow minded for me to not address multiple style learners, and to access the prior background knowledge or lack of knowledge that my students actually have.
One of the resources from my Differentiation Station Group that I will be using in my classroom is www.surveymonkey.com. This tool is a quick way for which I can tailor my pre-assessments, interest surveys, or lesson reflections. In using this tool to create more open communication between my students and myself, I hope to be able to know them better and therefore make better decisions regarding their instruction. I also have high hopes of setting up an investigative or focus group of students in my Lion Time period so that I can gain real feedback for some of the tools such as http://www.word2word.com/, www.naturalreaders.com, http://www.techsmith.com/, that I would like to integrate into classroom lessons. Planning to include technology in my classroom and instructional process and to differentiate within each lesson, will allow me to engage my students in respectful and meaningful tasks, flexible grouping, a sense of community, and a consistent system of assessment (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009a). I hope to make learning through technology fun, and to create opportunities where students actively produce and contribute to their classroom, reaching a level of personal experience with the content, and a level of connection with the real-world on a more global level, (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009b).
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Program Fourteen: Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology [DVD]. Introduction to differentiated instruction. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Program One: Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology [DVD]. Introduction: Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009c). Program Twelve: Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology [DVD]. Universal design for learning. Baltimore, MD: Author.
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