Reflection on Learning in EDUC 6714

Teachers today know that “one size fits all” is not true in the classroom, where students vary in readiness, interests, and learning profile (Laureate Education, 2009c). Further, because of differences in their brain networks, students will benefit from various methods of representation, expression, and engagement (Laureate Education, 2009a). With these differences in mind, teachers need to plan flexible lessons, offering options for content, process, product, affect, and learning environment to help all students effectively learn and demonstrate their learning (Laureate Education, 2009b).

As Tomlinson (Laureate Education, 2009d) notes, differentiated instruction (DI) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) require careful lesson planning. Many resources are available to assist teachers in implementing DI and UDL, but teachers do not have the time to explore every option. However, the differentiation station my colleagues and I created on Facebook lists examples of digital resources that we have summarized and evaluated. Thus, when we need a tool to facilitate learning for a group of students, we can turn to the differentiation station. The station, which is a public Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=154189104598721&v=app_2373072738, has four categories: surveys and inventories, UDL information, DI tools and strategies, and additional resources. Among those suggested by my colleagues, one resource I expect to use soon is Toondoo, which helps students create cartoons and books; this tool can help differentiate by process or product. The Dare to Differentiate wiki will be a valuable resource for a wide variety of tools. A source that I recommended on the differentiation station, and which I have already used (see the example below), is http://edu.glogster.com/; this site lets teachers or students created interactive posters that can include multimedia elements to appeal to different learning profiles.

As a result of EDUC 6714, I plan to use more pre-assessment to customize instruction (Tomlinson, 2008), and technology, such as online student surveys, will help me do this. After creating two sample surveys as class projects, I will be able to quickly make new surveys to learn more about student readiness and interest before we begin new units.

Further, I am using online resources more to offer individualized options to my seventh graders, especially the interactive writing tools at the Read Write Think website, http://www.readwritethink.org/. These tools scaffold student writing for a variety of activities, including business letters, poems, and various types of essays. While some students do not need this help, it is valuable to others in meeting the writing objectives.

I also offered my students the option of creating a website as their assessment following the novel unit we just completed. Four students selected this option; one added additional features to his site, including a blog, and was delighted when many other seventh graders visited his blog to comment on the novel.

Students have never been completely alike, but today’s learners are more diverse than ever. To accommodate this variety and promote learning for all, technology can be a valuable tool; it provides options that would not be possible with traditional methods and engages learners accustomed to functioning in the digital age.

References

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

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

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

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

Tomlinson, C. (2008). Learning to love assessment. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 8–13. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Trying Glogster

Okay, this is really cool if I can just imbed the link correctly. I just discovered Glogster, which lets you create an interactive "poster." It's all sorts of multimedia possibilities, all in a single location. I'm going to try it with a lesson on poetic devices for my seventh graders. this is my first attempt, so it won't be perfect, but I can imagine a lot of possibilities.

Reflections on my GAME Plan

           I began my GAME (Goal, Action plan, Monitor, Evaluate) plan almost two months ago. Based on the plan for self-directed learning suggested by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009), my plan originally called for me to find more opportunities for my students to do authentic writing using digital technologies. I am happy to report that I have already made significant progress in that area. For example, my summer school students are currently involved in online discussions about our class novel and short stories. Although the school district blocks most blogs, we have this opportunity through a site called My Big Campus. This site allows us to hold online discussions that we can share with other schools that subscribe to My Big Campus, or we can limit the discussions to our own school district.

            A major advantage of online discussions is that they are so engaging to students. Yesterday, for example, my students requested an opportunity to respond to the day’s reading in their novel; students do not often request opportunities to respond to literature in a typical classroom discussion. In addition, my students tend to think more deeply when they post online responses, rather than talking only about what is on the surface. As Cennamo notes (Laureate Education, 2009), online environments tend to promote creative and critical thinking.

            My students will also be creating a wiki to show what they have learned in summer school. One important audience will be their families, but another will be the teacher for the second half of summer school, since I am teaching only the first half. The new teacher will be able to look at the wiki to see exactly what students learned during the first weeks of the class. Others who may wish to view the wiki include the guidance department and administration.

            Based on the first part of my game plan, I expect to continue the online discussion and wiki during the school year, and will add a class web page with the students doing much of the routine updating. In addition, I will be using the lesson plans I created in EDUC 6713 to increase online writing by students.

            I have adjusted the second part of my GAME plan. While I still plan to eventually arrange video conferencing, the hardware and software requirements both create problems at the classroom level; the hardware for including the entire classroom is expensive, and Skype is not available at school. Therefore I plan to first focus on helping my students learn video creation. I have arranged with our technology department to have Movie Maker installed on some of the computers at school, and video cameras are available in the IMC. I have used video editing programs in the past, but that was several years ago, so I will need to develop a new GAME plan to become more proficient with video editing.

            Nearly every unit that I teach can include at least one of the technologies we learned in EDUC 6713. All I need to do now is match the content with the most appropriate technology and help the students develop their own GAME plans, and I can hardly wait to begin.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: a standards-based approach.  (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Cennamo, K., presenter. Promoting creative thinking with technology. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Author.