5364 Week 5 Final Reflection

This week we are to reflect upon our UDL lesson and book builder assignment. I think I was stuck in a rut with the UDL lesson builder.  I don’t think I totally understood the process.  I think I did a good job building the lesson and understanding the lesson and how it would work and what standards it would meet.  I don’t think I showed how the modifications affected the networks.  I know that my grade reflected that because it wasn’t there.  I do understand the importance of the networks and in making the assignment a success.  The lesson template was very easy to use and it helped organize the lesson. It was easy to paste information in and I think it would benefit any teacher.  I will definitely be sharing it with other teachers.

The bookbuilder lesson was a little tougher. It definitely wasn’t as easy to use as I thought it would be.  I thought it would be easier and I didn’t leave enough time to fully utilize its potential.  One of the things I do remember clearly is that there weren’t any graphics and it would be easier to use if there were.  It would be much easier than having to download them and rename them. If you didn’t have any technology in your background it would be more difficult to understand how to do it. I think with a little practice and some good thoughtful ideas this would be a great tool.  I looked at some of the samples and was really impressed. I do think if they had more tutorials in bookbuilder it would be another advantage to using it. I was able to grasp the technical concepts and therefore was able to get through the lesson successfully, but think I need to spend more time in it to be more successful. 

5364 Week 5 Web Conference Reflection

I am so glad I listened to the week 5 web conference.  First we went over week 3 and 4 questions.  It seemed that everyone had a pretty good grasp of what they were doing with their assignment. When we started talking about week 5, it got a little confusing. To me it was very confusing looking at the assignment document and reading the rubric.  They were both different. In the conference, we finally got clarified that we didn’t need to create a new UDL lesson but a reflection of our current UDL lesson and book. 

Ms. Abernathy clarified at the end that we were to follow the rubric and do the reflection on the UDL lesson and book that we created in week 3.  I think it was very clear on the instructions and the amount of points that would be awarded for this week.

This has been an interesting class and I think I learned a lot of things. I actually think it was probably one of the more difficult courses for me. I hope I will be able to take everything that I have learned and be able to grow as an educator.

5364 Week 5 Reading Reflection

In our reading this week, I continued to think about assessments. I found this quote “And using Web 2.0 tools the educators might also devise an interesting, authentic, and appropriate summative evaluation for the unit.” Web 2.0: New tools, new schools. This is an interesting quote because it makes for a way to assess the lesson as the lesson occurs which is important in the learning process. If you don’t have a way to assess the lesson the way you are told to teach it, why do the lesson.  Sometimes the testing is not fair to the students because it doesn’t follow the way the students are taught.  I think if the teacher can create the assessment with the lesson, then it’s going to be truer to the student when they take the assessment thus improving the validity. 

In today’s day and age, assessment is so critical and we have to equip our students with the right tools to pass these assessment.  Technology is key to doing that and we need to utilize our whole bucket of Web 2.0 tools whenever possible.

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 168-176.

Week 4 Web Conference Reflection

Week 4 Web Conference Reflection

Can't believe it's already week 4, but also glad it's week 4.  This class has been a tremendous amount of work, but it's been a great learning experience. We discussed about helping each other and collaborating.  Which is great because collaborating is a huge part of what we are doing. We discussed about doing one book as a team or doing one book individually.  Our team each created one because we didn't realize it was designed as a team.  Our team has been doing a great job of working together and talking about what we have heard in the web conferences and applying it to our group project.  One thing she talked about was making sure we shared everything with her so she could see our work.  She strongly stressed the working together and sharing with each other because that is the whole idea of the courses.  She said we would need to have 5-8 technology activities for the professional development.  After listening to this, I decided to go and do a tutorial about embedding the book lesson on the page. 

She talked about giving everyone editing privileges which we had already done, but something that came up was group ownership.  I went back and made us all group owners of the site so that we could all make site layout changes. All of our team members have been contributing so that has been good.  We have a group that really works well together. 

Week 4 Reading Reflection

In our reading this week, I was thinking about assessments and how all students are not the same and how can we assess properly knowing this.  I was reading Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age and came across the following statement:  "Generally, educators have interpreted "fairness" to mean that assessments are uniform in format and administered in a standardized fashion.  The same test is given in exactly the same way and under the same conditions for each learner. In some situations, and for some purposes, standardized administration is indeed appropriate, particularly if the format and circumstance of the test exactly match the requirements of a future task."

This is so true.  We have been worrying about our testing scenarios all being the same, but the truth is some kids learn differently than others and with our technology resources we have already found many ways to overcome the learning differences so that all students can excel. We need to embrace technology and find better ways of assessing and helping students excel in their learning environment. We as educators have a responsibility to make sure all of our kids are succeeding to the best of their ability and the best way to do this is to find ways to enhance their learning utilizing technology whenever possible.


Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning, Chapter 7, Rose, D., & Mayer, A. (2002),http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/chapter7_3.cfm

UDL Lesson and Book Builder

UDL Book Builder - Click HERE

CAST’s UDL Lesson Builder

 

Lesson Overview

Title:	Who is Your Inspiration
Author:	Annette Reband
Subject:	Reading/Language Arts/Technology Applications
Grade Level(s):	6-8
Duration:	5 days
Subject Area:	Reading/Writing
Unit Description:	Students will: Explore different important figure heads in society Compose questions to generate research information Research using different technology available Write to learn more about a persons characteristics, likes, and dislikes, and important events Learn how to cite sources Compile a summary report to draw conclusions Use google drive to create document Learn how to use text and graphical features in google drive
Lesson Description for Day:	Students will research their favorite person and compile a summary report with relevant information including pictures.
State Standards:	(4) Writing/Inquiry/Research: The student uses writing as a tool for learning. The student is expected to: (A)  use writing to formulate questions, refine topics, and clarify ideas; (B) use writing to discover, organize, and support what is known and what needs to be learned about a topic; (C) compile information from primary and secondary sources in systematic ways using available technology; (D) represent information in a variety of ways such as graphics, conceptual maps, and learning logs; (E) use writing as a study tool to clarify and remember information; (G)  analyze strategies that writers in different fields use to compose. (8)  Reading/variety of texts . The student reads extensively and intensively for different purposes and in varied sources, including American literature. The student is expected to: (B)  read in varied sources such as diaries, journals, textbooks, maps, newspapers, letters, speeches, memoranda, electronic texts, and other media; (12)  Reading/analysis/evaluation . The student reads critically to evaluate texts and the authority of sources. The student is expected to: (A)  analyze the characteristics of clearly written texts, including the patterns of organization, syntax, and word choice; (B)  evaluate the credibility of information sources, including how the writer's motivation may affect that credibility; (13)  Reading/inquiry/research . The student reads in order to research self-selected and assigned topics. The student is expected to: (A)  generate relevant, interesting, and researchable questions; (B)  locate appropriate print and non-print information using text and technical resources, including databases and the Internet; (C)  use text organizers such as overviews, headings, and graphic features to locate and categorize information; (E)  draw conclusions from information gathered. (21)  Viewing/representing/production. The student produces visual representations that communicate with others. The student is expected to: (B)  use a variety of forms and technologies such as videos, photographs, and web pages to communicate specific messages; (C)  use a range of techniques to plan and create a media text and reflect critically on the work produced; ISTE Technology Standards (1)  Creativity and innovation. Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology a.    Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes b.    Create original works as a means of personal or group expression (2)   Communication and Collaboration. Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. a. Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media b.    Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats (3)   Research and Information Fluency Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate,       and use information            a. Plan strategies to guide inquiry            b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize,            and ethically use information from a variety of            sources and media            c. Evaluate and select information sources and                 digital tools based on the appropriateness to              specific tasks            d. Process data and report results

Goals

Unit Goals:	Students will: Draw upon previous experience to research topic Correctly indentify major characteristics/events of a person Recognize proper writing techniques Recognize using technology properly to create report Use google drive to create document Learn how to use text and graphical features in google drive
Lesson Goals:	Students will: Learn about researching Learn about writing techniques Learn how to cite sources Learn how to use technology to create report

Methods

Anticipatory Set:	Share the lesson goals with the students Share a sample report Show how to use the technology properly to research and to write Brainstorm ideas for important features of report Who does your “inspiration” remind you of? Have you ever seen your inspiration in person? Why is this person your inspiration?
Introduce and Model New Knowledge:	Share a students computer screen with the class so they can show their work. Work in pairs to get simple ideas of project pages for report set up. Encourage class to participate in discussions about their inspiration.
Provide Guided Practice:	Have students go online to website to see basic research project developed so they can see finished product that is expected. They will see the types of information, pictures and work that they should be looking for.
Provide Independent Practice:	Students will have opportunity to collaborate online with fellow students. Students will research and type their paper. Then they will share their screen when finished to display their report. Students will use google drive to be able to work on project outside of class.

 

Assessment

Formative/Ongoing Assessment:	Evaluate each students individual work Participation in classroom discussions Correctly explain how they went about researching inspiration Correctly explain how to use google drive to save work
Summative/End Of Lesson Assessment:	As part of final project, students will use google drive to share report with teacher.

Materials

Teacher website

Research websites

Computer

Google Drive Account

Online spell check

Online dictionary/thesaurus

UDL Lesson and Book Builder Reflection

It was interesting using the lesson builder program.  I actually had fun doing it.  It was a lot of work, but it helped me understand some things about creating lessons and I enjoyed doing it.  It was a little time consuming to do it, but I think I did a good job.  I tried to make it a fun assignment and one of the great things was in looking at all the standards and making sure I accomplished them with the lesson.

It was great talking to my team members as well.  It was interesting to listen to their likes and dislikes of the program and how they went about creating their lesson and their book.

Book builder was kind of cool.  I would love to be able to spend more time on it and use it in the future.  I already have another idea for it.

I definitely think I will try to use both of them again in the future and will share them with others to help make their jobs simpler.

EDLD 5364 Week 3 Reading Reflection

This week I am learning about UDL. It is a set of principles for developing curriculum that will help all types of students learn. It allows you to create goals, methods, materials and assessments that work for all of your students not just an all in one cookie cutter type of instruction. It has flexible ways that can be customized to different learning styles.

In the reading, Center for Applied Special Technology: UDL Book Builder, it says “Individuals bring a huge variety of skills, needs, and interests to learning.” This is so true because every student in our classroom isn’t going to fit into the same mold.  They are going to have different internal and external influences that will change their learning styles.  I think it’s important that we try to find as many ways as we can to equip all of our students with the lessons they need to not only get through their classes but to get ahead in life.  They spend the majority of their time with their teachers and most of the time we best see “how” they learn and we know that every student doesn’t have the same motivations to learn so we have to find ways to make it work for each of them as best we can.  UDL breaks it down to the “what, how and why of learning”. We group what we see, hear and read.  It’s how we organize our ideas and then the why we get motivated to do the learning.  It’s an intriguing approach to learning.

 Center for Applied Special Technology: UDL Book Builder, Cast.org (2009) http://bookbuilder.cast.org

EDLD 5364 Week 2 Web Conference Reflection

In the week 2 web conference that I listened to discussed how week 1 and 2 were already busy and how the reminder of the class was going to be even busier. She said week 5 was going to be tough and to provide feedback in terms of standards. She said the comments will help the class improve. Ms. Abernathy talked about how important doing the reflections is for us.

Docs to go was talked about as an app that was used. It's a word processor and some of the visually impaired are using it and the group thought that was kind of interesting. They do have office for the iPad now. They do use dropbox in conjunction with docs to go.  I think it's pretty interesting all of the things we are able to do with ipads now.  Ms. Abernathy mentioned how co-ops are getting pretty popular now.

We discussed what wiki meant in our assignments and agreed it was our google site and our blogs.

We talked about the group reflection for week three and how it should be a conversation of how the week went.  We will add it to our google doc as a separate page from our planning doc.

EDLD 5364 Teaching with Technology

The saying goes "you get what you pay for".  That's so true with traditional teaching vs. teaching with technology. In this week’s reading from (Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Student Learning), it says “Instilling flexibility into methods and materials maximizes learning opportunities not only for students with identified disabilities, but for all students. We need to capitalize on teaching all students to their maximum potential.  Each student learns differently and we can’t put them into the cookie cutter mold of using a textbook and teaching traditionally. 

We need to have different ways for different students and reach out and find out which way each student needs to learn and get them what they need to learn best. There can’t be a stagnant learning environment.  The same old, same old isn’t cutting it anymore.  Once we get out of the cookie cutter mold of learning and branch out and use every piece of technology at our disposal to reach each student we will truly be maximizing our learning capabilities.

Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Student Learning, Chapter 1, Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/

EDLD 5364 Week 1 Teaching with Technology Reflectio

In week one of Teaching with Technology I learned about constructivism.  This is what is considered to be a learning and personal experience. Learners bring their prior knowledge, experience and beliefs to a learning situation. Our learning experiences are the basic foundation that we bring to the situation. It enhances and enforces how and what we learn. Constructivism shows how learning is internally controlled. It also discusses that our knowledge is constructed through tools, resources, experiences and contexts.

When we think about using technology in the classroom and how a learner brings their internal experiences then I think this is a great tool for students and why as we go through the century why students are learning earlier and earlier.  If you put a cell phone in a 8 year olds hand for any length of time, they begin to gain knowledge and experience of using technology.  Now send them to school and the teacher has an iPad for them to use, then this new tool already fits in with the learners existing understanding and they can process and move forward without much help.  This is discussed in Learning as a Personal Event A Brief Introduction to Constructivism. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, (1999).

In the book, How People Learn, Brain, Mind, Experience and School, Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000), it provides information about bringing real-world problems into the classroom by connecting student with working scientists. In these partnerships, students collect data used to understand global issues.  Some companies support student researchers and use the internet to interact.  The technology advances we have in our classrooms today is making a huge impact on what we are able to do with not only society but also the knowledge our learners are able to gain from these experiences. 

EDLD 5364 Week 1 Web Conference Reflection

I think participating in the web conferences are very beneficial.  Unfortunately with my schedule of work and kids, I usually have to listen to the recorded version.  It’s still beneficial because there are sometimes things mentioned, that we wouldn’t otherwise know.  I also think it’s a place to collaborate and learn about others.  Because I do the recorded ones, I don’t work with too many other than those in my group, but I have learned about others by listening to the recorded version and it’s good to know that others are thinking the same questions that I am thinking.