Tell Me About It!

Wow, what a great class!  I have enjoyed having the opportunity to use social networking as more than just something that ends up wasting my time!  (Facebook usually is an intellectual drain on my brain…)  The group site we developed and posted to was such an unexpected pleasure.  I expected to find my resources, post them, and then really not find much else that would relate to my subject area.  Was I pleasantly surprised!  When I began really looking at the sites we had amassed, I was bowled over by the depth and breadth of the resources.  It is literally a ‘one-stop shopping’ place for Universal Design and Differentiated Instruction and many of the sites have information I can use in my technology lab.  I have copied and pasted the links to a document that I will organize and cull through before creating links that suit my classroom situation.  Thanks, guys!

When working with my students, I am much more in tune with the differences I see in them.  Instead of trying to find a work-around to get them to the next step, I find myself taking a moment to instead set up the information in a format that suits their learning style so that they can be just as successful as my other students.  Learning about UDL and DI has given me a mindset that allows me to quickly and efficiently create these new learning situations and this is something that I am surprised about.  Having taught for all these years, it would seem that I would struggle with the changes but they were taught so thoroughly by Drs. Tomlinson, Smith and Throne that I have a good understanding of the principles and tenants so therefore can easily implement them on a moment’s notice.  Of course, having the appropriate technology (text-to-speech programs, full Internet access at our fingertips, graphics programs, etc.) also is a huge help to me being able to so easily accommodate the changes.  I can’t discount the ease that this allows in my lab.

As Dr. Tomlinson said, students are not a “matched set” and it is our “mindset” that sets up the successful implementation of DI in the classroom (Laureate Education, Inc. 2009).  Her common sense approach to teaching, learning and assessment has made all the difference to me this class.  The supportive technology ideas given by Drs. Smith and Throne have then been the conduit by which we have learned how to implement the basic ideas.  Well done!

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

Hmmmm….. as we have worked through our GAME plan, choosing NETS-T standards on which to focus and hone our skills, how have we fared? I can attest to the growth I have experienced. How might our students use this same process to focus on, chart and then assess their progression in meeting their own standards for technology integration and understanding, the NETS-S?

I have found, through my many years in education, we all overestimate our mastery of any new subject and believe we know far more than we actually do. Having our students take a look at the goals of NETS-S and realistically rate themselves would be an eye-opening experience for them. As the teacher, I would have to give them examples and rewordings of the standards as many of my students wouldn’t understand the verbiage used on the site. Once we had discussed the best-case-scenario for technology integration, we could then take a couple of the most pressing standards and create action plans that could address these. The students would have a really great time doing this as they are so excited any time they get to learn a new technology tool. Then we could begin our action phase.

As to the monitoring phase of the GAME plan, I believe that we would do this collectively as at the middle school level, students wouldn’t be able to do this on their own initially. I think as we progressed through the phase, they could be given more autonomy over their own monitoring and assessment. To finalize their GAME plan, the evaluation phase could be a problem-based lesson or another type of authentic project that could effectively demonstrate their acceptable completion for meeting the goal.