Reflection for 10/11

I think I am going to keep this one short as I have rambled on for long enough about each of this week’s articles.

I do think that I have a better idea about what UD is and how it works to help all kids access an education that is appropriate for their strengths and needs. I am totally on board with what is suggested by the article authors. I do see a lot of potential roadblocks on our way to making this happen for our kids – but I think it’s a matter of when not if we will overcome these obstacles (sooner would be much better!).

As I was reading this week and sitting in class last Thursday, I kept thinking about my language arts curriculum. For background: I have been teaching at GNG for 6 years. I’ve always taught SS, but have switched between teaching math and teaching LA. Last year, I taught math, this year LA. I think switching my focus from time-to-time gives me an interesting vantage point. When teaching math, we use the Connected Math Program. It is very straightforward. All the math teachers at our grade level use the program and we deliver a pretty consistent math experience at our grade level.

In LA, we do have a reading program (HOLT), a spelling program, and a set of learning objectives for writing and grammar. Unlike in math where the outcomes are clear, in LA, I feel like I am planning specific lessons for my students that do not always tie into what we did yesterday – or what we are going to do tomorrow. I have standards and goals to teach by and a cohort of colleagues who plan with me, but I still feel disjointed and “overly goaled” (which leads to me feeling focus-less). I am hoping that in this course we can plan a unit with reasonable learning outcomes, purpose, scaffolding, and an obvious course of lessons. In this way, I hope my students will be able to see where we are going and where we have come from. I think using UD will allow me to tailor each learning experience to each student – providing them with choices, individualized learning, and academic progress.

On a lighter note, I love the NoteTaker software. I’ve asked our curriculum coordinator to see if we can purchase it for 6th grade teacher laptops. I think our hand-me-down student laptops would be too expensive to outfit, especially since they are technologically on-their-way-out. Karen said she will look into it – and we are very optimistic.

I am also loving the text reader on this laptop. I have been using it to help me proofread my entries for the blog. This is great because I have a real difficulty picking up typos on the screen.

Overall, interesting week. I am looking forward to starting out unit on Thursday in class.

(Cynthia – Please let me know if I am not “meeting standards” on these reflections. I want to make sure that I am on track.)

Article: Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age

Article 1: How do I incorporate universal design in my learning objectives?

Rose, D. & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal Design for Learning. Chapter 5: Using UDL to set clear goals. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved September 14, 2007, from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/chapter5.cfm

This chapter discusses the relationship between standards and student diversity in goal setting. Rose and Meyer suggest that the best standards are those that teach students how to learn instead of focusing on specific skills or knowledge. I agree with them completely on this front. I often feel our MLRs are too specific and limit teachers. I have noticed that the revised MLRs (I’ve looked mostly at social studies) are a little more broad and a little less fact-oriented. Hopefully, these changes will help teachers and students focus on the process of learning instead of specific information-driven goals.

I was very interested to read about the idea of brain networks. I studied psychology in college and was very interested in cognition. I am sure we looked at the idea of networks – but its been awhile and new findings have come out to support and flesh-out the network model. Teaching to one or more of the three networks (recognition, affective, and strategic) offers teachers the chance to tap into different realms of understanding with each unit and lesson. I see that determining which standard hooks up with each network may be a challenge. Crafting learning experiences to fit these networks may also be hard to do at first. The technology (E-Trekker) in this article would certainly be a helpful tool to get teachers started teaching to the networks and writing appropriate goals to meet the needs of all learners.

I think I am guilty of writing what Rose and Meyer call “fuzzy goals”. In fact, in conferences this week, I will probably be tempted to write some of these. It is a real challenge to write practical, research-based goals for 44 kids that we will be able to address and meet in a mere 8 or 9 months. Our district picked up the NWEA assessment program last year. This does help in goal setting as it identifies areas of strength and weakness for each student. That gets us started (keeping in mind that this is only one measure). However, the next steps of selecting a goal’s purpose and planning learning engagements is hard to do when every kid’s goals are so varied. A program like E-Trekker would be very helpful to organize this information and keep teachers and students on track for goal attainment.

In the end, I love what this article proposes for teaching and learning. I do see some areas that would need reform in order to do what Rose and Meyer propose…

1. We need more time. For planning. For training. With our students.

2. We need more technology to make this a manageable protocol.

3. We need school administration, teachers, parents, and students to buy in.

4. We need standards based on teaching kids to understand – not just be able to learn specific facts and/or skills.

I think we can do this. I think we will be doing this in the future. I hope our curriculum unit will be able to work toward these ends. We need to start writing goals that motivate kids – rather than sit unattended in a portfolio.

Article: Universal Design Principles

Article 4: “What is Universal Design?”

Bob Topping of Sheridan College on Universal Design Principles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbZXGz_tiVU

Mr. Topping says that UD is really a way of thinking. It is considering the different disabilities in the population and taking those disabilities into account when designing spaces and experiences. He also says there are 7 principles and a set of guidelines for each that is used. He also mentions that UD is just not for architecture, but rather is for designing anything – to make things more “usable” (including curriculum design). It is really interesting that a movement that seems to have started with physical space planning has had such far-reaching implications in our world (both the larger one and the educational realm).

Just a side note – It has been really interesting to try and figure a way to run the Youtube videos at home. My Mac will not support the Quicktime to run the videos (either it won’t or I can’t figure out how to make it do so) – and my blog service is not supported by Youtube to embed the movies into the entries. Anyways, because of all this, I am sitting in front of my PC and my laptop trying to view the info on one, and type in the other. I keep attempting to use my PC mouse for my Mac. I guess I could use some UD here to make this experience a little more user-friendly.

Article:3D Dummy Modeler

Article 3: 3D Dummy Modeler

YouTube: 3D Dummy Modeler http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpzwM7KAwg4

This is a really cool idea. Looks like perhaps Asia (I assume Japan?) is ahead of us in technology development and UD. At least I assume this because the computer program for the digital dummy seems to be written in characters, not letters. What a cool idea though! I can definitely see applications for this dummy in UD, fashion, safety measures, and even areas like furniture design and architecture. Science is really coming a long way! I can imagine limitless possibilities for technology like this in our world. Hopefully, it will find its way into the hands of those who build schools and other public buildings.

Article: Universal Toliet

Article 2 on “What is Universal Design?”

YouTube: Universal Toilet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLQjThaINi8

This was a short movie! Very interesting though. It so interesting to think about how I never really considered how difficult it would be to be a person with disabilities in our world. I have seen handicapped restrooms and understood the need for extra space to maneuver – but never really thought about the fact that extra space alone doesn’t solve the problem. This video really made me think about how easy it would be to make the world more accessible – without as much as even changing the “bathroom” experience for a person without a disability. I’m sure this is a metaphor for what we can do in our classrooms to make learning possible for all. And, I think that toliet looks pretty cool, too.:)

Article: UD: Accessibility for all learners

Good Morning!

I plan to use this space to write some quick notes about each of the articles we have been assigned this week in order to keep track of my thoughts and categorize information for my use on our unit.

This one comes from the four selections under: “What is Universal Design?”

Curry, C. (2003, October). Universal design: Accessibility for all learners. Educational Leadership, 61(2), 55-60.
Available online: http://www.mdihs.u98.k12.me.us/UDD/files/curry1.htm

I appreciate the way this article started with an example and revisited it throughout the the more-technical aspects of the piece. I love the way that the kids in the sample classroom had many choices in their learning, technology at their fingertips, and the opportunity to find means of learning that were best suited to each student.

I noticed in this article that Ms. Goldberg (the teacher in the example) employs many of the same teaching tools we use in our lower-tech classrooms. She started her lesson with a brainstorm using concept mapping technology. We usually begin a new unit with a KWL or a low-tech whiteboard webbing of ideas. A few years ago (before NCLB), I was able to create units with my students choosing what they wanted to study, the means used to study the content, and the details of the product. My students really enjoyed having this much input in their own learning. (I was also able to meet many learning benchmarks and standards.) Ms. Goldberg is able to do a similar process of unit planning with one other important consideration – technology. It seems that access to the technology makes the unit easier to implement, carry out, and assess.

I also am really impressed at the technology employed to aid students with disabilities. There have also been huge changes in simple technology – like the AlphaSmart. I had a student use one of these devices six years ago. It has come a long way in that time! For an affordable and simple device, it now has many features and options that would make learning and reporting more accessible for many students.

I am just amazed at how UD is able to provide the “same rigorous, progressive, and thoughtful curriculum for all students”. As it appears in the article, these ends are achievable if a teacher is open to change and innovation, and a class is trained and ready to implement technology in learning endeavors.

A couple lingering questions…

1. What does training look like for the kids in how to use the technology?

2. Is there a technology support staff available? (I ask this because I often struggle to solve the word processing woes of my 22 kids at once – and they are all using the same program.)

3. What is the best route to attain these high-tech teaching tools? How does one fund-raise to buy the technology? Also, how does one gain enough training to be able to troubleshoot all the programs/hardware?

4. How do we get air conditioning at our school?!?

Overall, a very interesting and thought-provoking article. I really like the way that UD is able to “minimize the need for individual accomodations”. Looking forward to learning more about the “how to implement” with UD.