Reflection

Throughout my most recent grad school course, Reaching & Engaging All Learners Through Technology, we have been participating in on-line groups to discuss resources we have found and how we plan to use them. My group consists of 4 people, although only 3 were active for most of the course, and we used FaceBook to post, share, and discuss our resources and thoughts. I found this immensely helpful and look forward to continuing to stay in contact with these colleagues after we have completed our class. I plan to use many of the resources we discussed, including several to help me create surveys at the beginning of the year to get to know my students. Every teacher should know how technology can be used to foster students' success (Bray, Brown, & Green , 2004. Knowing the students on an individual basis and knowing their interests will make it easier to address their needs. I also plan to use a site I found called bubbl (www.bubbl.us). This is a site for brainstorming and creating concept maps and I think the students will find it much more interesting than doing the same assignment on paper. I also plan to use a game called Cell Craft (http://www.maxgames.com/play/cellcraft.html) to give my students a different way to learn the parts of the cell. I think this will appeal to most students since it is formatted as a video game, but is teaching them vocabulary and definitions as they play.

I plan to make several immediate adjustments to my teaching as a result of my learning throughout this course. I now understand DI and UDL much better and realize what an important role they play in the classroom. I plan to use the UDL guidelines to help over come barriers that are present in my current curriculum (Center for Applied Special Technology, 2009). UDL can help me create lessons that meet the needs of all of my students and give each of them every opportunity for success. I also plan to differentiate my lessons by keeping the main ideas the same, but allowing for different levels of complexity (Laureate, 2009a). This will allow all students to learn the required material, but at their own pace. I would also like to integrate as much technology as possible into my lessons. Most students find using technology engaging and will often be more likely to complete assignments that involve some type of technology, rather than just typical book work. Technology use is important to students and has become an expectation of both parents and future employers (Laureate, 2009b). I plan to immediately begin using more technology in my lessons, even if I have to start out small and build in more as I go along.

As an educator, it is my responsibility to ensure that students acquire all the skills necessary to succeed when they are done with school. I feel like this course helped me get one step closer to ensuring that I am meeting all of my students' needs.

References:

Bray, M., Brown, A., & Green, T.D. (2004). Technology and the diverse learner: A guide to classroom practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

Center for Applied Special Technology. (2009). UDL guidelines, version 1.0. Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009a). Differentiating instructional elements. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009b). Managing the differentiated classroom. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author

www.bubbl.us Retrieved on October 30, 2010

http://www.maxgames.com/play/cellcraft.html Retrieved on October 30, 2010