Universal Design for Learning

As I look at my class and the uniqueness of the students I see how and why Universal Design for Learning is and can make a huge difference in the learning of my students.  There was a process I had to go through to see and understand what difference it makes in the learning of students,  including myself.

The first question I had to ask myself was "What is UDL?"  I found one site called CAST that explains with great illustration (my way of learning) and a great video.  From this site I came up with the answer to my first question.  Universal Design for Learning is a set of three principles that gives every student (no matter what level or age) an equal opportunity to learn in the same classroom.  From a teacher perspective, in college we were always taught it is important to be flexible, this still holds true for our own classrooms and should be looked in our lessons and curriculum as we pass students on a get new classes each year.  UDL At A Glance really helped me to better understand UDL.  Please take time to follow the link and watch or listen which ever you prefer.

Next I had to ask myself "Why?"  The CAST site again had a wonderful illustration like those found below.  They state that the way we learn is as unique as our fingerprints or DNA.  Something to think about.

May people may think of special education students when they think of changing our classrooms for a students.  The more I have learned about Universal Design for Learning the more I realize that we are all "Special" students and learn best in different ways.  One educator I have talk to who has a special education students has says many times in discussions if you look hard we are all on a spectrum!  The more I read the more it makes sense.  

We as teacher must teach for ALL of our students to the best of our abilities!  In our classrooms we should have 3 basic kinds of flexibility for our students to ensure their success.  One being multiple format and media to present the information.  This could come in many forms such as illustration, audio, video, pictures, diagrams, descriptions, books, texts, ect.  The second would be multiple strategies to engage and motivate students.  This could be individual, group work, computer sites, ipad apps, books, videos, art, music anything that interest the students.  The third is multiple ways for students to demonstrate the learning.  Students may write a report, illustrate a book, illustrate a design , use a program to show learning on the computer, use drama,  the list can go on and on.  You have to be creative  and willing to explore.

Now that I know about Universal Design for Learning I wanted take a lesson which I have taught in my classroom of kindergarteners before.  What Hatches?  I used the CAST Lesson Builder to help guide me in creating a flexible UDL friendly lesson.  I hope this lesson will help me reach more learners more effectively in my own classroom.

TPACK-HOW?

TPACK to me is somewhat of a confusing processes.  I understand the importance of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge as a teacher, it is more of become the teacher who incorporates then all effectively in my classroom.  It seems as though that for each content area you teach, as a kindergarten teacher that would be everything, you need to explore and find this balance.  I feel as though I personally have the pedagogy and content knowledge I need to benefit my students learning I think the harder part if to use technology to enhance the lesson I am teaching and not to just have technology to have it.  I have found some interesting blogs and resources from the web that I think can help not only myself but an teacher.  On the http://llcurious.wordpress.com/tag/tpck/ blog that I came across while looking on the web about TPACK, she talks about how the process should lie outside the realm of TPACK.  The process you use to teach is always happening in PK sphere of TPACK is where you are able to change the process to to be an effective teacher.  Outside of TPACK is your daily routine and practice.  I would love to see if others understood this differently, Do you?

Found on http://llcurious.wordpress.com/tag/tpck/

 I see myself as a teacher who is in the PK part of the TPACK framework but I am working to add the T to my PACK.  I want to be an effective teacher for the 21st century learner.  I have found many good resources that I believe have great ideas of how to repurpose and use technology effectively to enhance content learning in my room.  One of these is Digital Kindergarten.  This blog talks about how to integrate technology effectively into Early Childhood Classrooms.  I had thought about creating a wiki space for my kindergartners to be able to navigate the computers and stay where I wanted them to stay but this site talks about symbaloo.  You are able to set this as a homepage with site appropriate for your kids and even for certain topics or units.  There are also great app resources for iPads and a great resource for teachers to look at their teaching in the Blooms Taxonomy with Technology.  Another resource I will be using is 21st Century Tools.  In my masters class we have been talking about repurposing technology for the classroom.  This website gives many ideas for all grade levels on technology tools that could be used in education effectively.  Many of the article I read  talked about teacher needing training on how to use the technology and that teachers need professional development to learn how to use technology effectively.
One of the pieces of technology I was wanting to use in my room was the wiki.  The website Web Tool 4 U 2 Use gave great ways to use wikis in classrooms effectively.  I haven't been through the whole site but the resources from this site are great so far.  One other area I wanted to add was showing parents what we do in our classroom through the picture I take in a private way.  There is link on this site for this too!  Hoping I can check it out soon.  I am hoping by using these sites I will be able to move closer to adding the T to my PACK and become a more effective teacher.

Getting Started

I am excited to get started with a new blog to share my teaching experiences and resources.  I am currently working on my master in Educational Technology at the University of Northern Iowa and many of the members of my cohort have great blogs.  I hope I am able to find time to keep up on this along with the other things in my school and home life.  In the next six weeks I should do well as I am laid up from having surgery so the computer is my line to the outside world. 

My hope is that if you are reading my blogs you are finding item that will help you in your educational life.  There will be many different areas to look at from Kindergarten to Technology Integration throughout a K-12 classroom. 

I will be working over the next few days to link the great blogs I follow to my blog.

Please enjoy!!!