In this assignment, we were asked to use the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines to assess a lesson plan we created at the start of our class. My lesson, a goal-directed instructional design plan, was developed for the second and third grade students I teach in a multi-age classroom. My students are just getting started with using technology and there was a need to teach them how to use child-friendly search engines for finding material on the Internet.
As I was originally developing this lesson, I tried to focus on the different learning styles and special needs of my students and the things that would be necessary for each of them to successfully complete the assignment given within the lesson. This was a procedure that we were taught in my teacher education classes so I was very comfortable in this process. Although my lesson was not perfect, I was very pleased with the results shown after using the UDL Guidelines. Basically, I needed to remember to build in more choices in how students could respond to their experiences during this lesson and build in ways to help students complete their search of information for those students with low reading levels.
I think working with these types of guidelines is very important for teachers to be familiar with so they remember to address how all students within their classrooms will successfully learn the material being taught them.
You are welcome to view this revised lesson and I encourage you to add your comments and ideas for making this an even better lesson. We are just getting technology into our school so I have not had the opportunity to work with a whole class of students on computers at the same time and what problems may arise. I appreciate any feedback you may have.
Click on this link to view the UDL Guidelines on this lesson
Click on this link to view my lesson
Monday, May 30, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
CEP 811 Evaluation of Learning Material in MERLOT
A review of Elapsed Time StAIR Tutorial
This resource is an interactive tutorial demonstrating the use of a T chart strategy for figuring out elapsed time. It is directed towards second and third grade math students who have been working on basic elapsed time problems and are moving on to more complex problems involving several hours and an odd amount of minutes. This resource caught my eye because I am currently teaching this topic in my math class AND I wanted more exposure to a Stand-Alone Instructional Resource. Although it is labeled as a tutorial, it also has a bit of Skill and Drill added in. The creator did a nice job of "hooking" me into the lesson with it's interesting and colorful background. It started with easy directions on how to navigate through the lesson, a review of what elapsed time is, and then some practice problems. The actual tutorial was a YouTube video that was imbedded into it which demonstrated the T chart strategy which, I have to admit, I've never seen before and thought it was a significant technique I plan to teach tomorrow in math class! I can see using this resource next year with my second graders when we finally have our student laptops. In the meantime, I can teach the strategy being taught on my classroom whiteboard.
Quality of Content:
I felt that the content covered in this resource was relevant for the age group it was directed towards and the discipline intended. It can easily be implemented into any math class as a station students could visit and then return to a classroom assignment or as a whole class experience using a SMARTBoard.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool:
This resource seems to be intended for use during the "applying the curriculum to new problems" or more complex problems on elapsed time because it reviews what elapsed time is and has the student do some practice problems. It then takes you to the tutorial to show a new strategy that can be used and can be especially helpful with complex elapsed time problems. After completing the tutorial, students should be able to utilize the T chart strategy to write each elapsed hour and then move on to the minutes column. In the minutes column, students count by 5 minute increments and then 1 minute increments until they reach the new time. It is a very efficient strategy that can easily be understood by all students and because it has the student practice this new technique, they can try it out to see if they understand it before leaving the computer station. Students can easily continue practicing this new strategy with a follow-up worksheet that can be completed at their desks and turned in for assessment by the teacher.
Ease of Use:
This resource was fairly easy to navigate through. It gives clear directions at the beginning on how to use the buttons. The opening page caught my eye immediately with a pleasantly colorful background which was simple, yet interesting. Students are directed to use the forward arrow to move on to each page, a home button the user can use to go back and hear the material again, and an easy click on the answer procedure with a response built into the program. The material is attractively presented on each page and doesn't over stimulate the user with lots of animations, noises, and other things that can be distracting to a young student. The one problem I had while using this tutorial was once I closed out of the YouTube video, I was not taken back to the program. After playing with it a while, I realized the program had been minimized and I needed to click on it to resume the resource. I liked how students were able to interact with the material and practice a variety of elapsed time problems that increasingly got more difficult. Overall, I would give it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
This resource is an interactive tutorial demonstrating the use of a T chart strategy for figuring out elapsed time. It is directed towards second and third grade math students who have been working on basic elapsed time problems and are moving on to more complex problems involving several hours and an odd amount of minutes. This resource caught my eye because I am currently teaching this topic in my math class AND I wanted more exposure to a Stand-Alone Instructional Resource. Although it is labeled as a tutorial, it also has a bit of Skill and Drill added in. The creator did a nice job of "hooking" me into the lesson with it's interesting and colorful background. It started with easy directions on how to navigate through the lesson, a review of what elapsed time is, and then some practice problems. The actual tutorial was a YouTube video that was imbedded into it which demonstrated the T chart strategy which, I have to admit, I've never seen before and thought it was a significant technique I plan to teach tomorrow in math class! I can see using this resource next year with my second graders when we finally have our student laptops. In the meantime, I can teach the strategy being taught on my classroom whiteboard.
Quality of Content:
I felt that the content covered in this resource was relevant for the age group it was directed towards and the discipline intended. It can easily be implemented into any math class as a station students could visit and then return to a classroom assignment or as a whole class experience using a SMARTBoard.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching-Learning Tool:
This resource seems to be intended for use during the "applying the curriculum to new problems" or more complex problems on elapsed time because it reviews what elapsed time is and has the student do some practice problems. It then takes you to the tutorial to show a new strategy that can be used and can be especially helpful with complex elapsed time problems. After completing the tutorial, students should be able to utilize the T chart strategy to write each elapsed hour and then move on to the minutes column. In the minutes column, students count by 5 minute increments and then 1 minute increments until they reach the new time. It is a very efficient strategy that can easily be understood by all students and because it has the student practice this new technique, they can try it out to see if they understand it before leaving the computer station. Students can easily continue practicing this new strategy with a follow-up worksheet that can be completed at their desks and turned in for assessment by the teacher.
Ease of Use:
This resource was fairly easy to navigate through. It gives clear directions at the beginning on how to use the buttons. The opening page caught my eye immediately with a pleasantly colorful background which was simple, yet interesting. Students are directed to use the forward arrow to move on to each page, a home button the user can use to go back and hear the material again, and an easy click on the answer procedure with a response built into the program. The material is attractively presented on each page and doesn't over stimulate the user with lots of animations, noises, and other things that can be distracting to a young student. The one problem I had while using this tutorial was once I closed out of the YouTube video, I was not taken back to the program. After playing with it a while, I realized the program had been minimized and I needed to click on it to resume the resource. I liked how students were able to interact with the material and practice a variety of elapsed time problems that increasingly got more difficult. Overall, I would give it 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Personal Learning Reflection
Having now completed CEP810, I look back and reflect on all the fantastic things I have learned. It has been an incredible journey and learning experience. Although it was not without enduring a lot of stress, I can say that I am very pleased with the growth that I have made during these 8 short weeks.
Coming into this course I thought I had a decent knowledge of how to integrate technology into my classroom but soon discovered that I didn't know much at all when one looks at the whole scope of where technology has taken us. My stress level skyrocketed on the first day of class as I became overwhelmed with the terms and tools we would be using. I can now say, however, that I know what web 2.0 is, what wikis and blogs are, and what an RSS Reader is and how to use feeds. I also know how to bookmark, utilizing and developing a Google Calendar for its educational uses, how to present material using Prezi, and how to do a screen dump and why we might do one. I am able to use cloud computing to collaborate on projects with others, tools I can use to increase productivity in my personal and professional life, and even how to keep my computer running smoothly and efficiently. But one particular thing has had a profound impact on me more than anything else. While researching SMARTBoards for our SIG Project, I became suddenly aware of the fact that my students are not the same type of students that I was educated to teach and I just finished my teacher education classes a mere six years ago. These 21st century students come from the digital world and need more than I have been able to give them to keep them motivated and engaged in our classroom lessons. Our school is so behind in its technology development both for the purpose of teaching with and as a learning tool for students.
I can confidently say I have learned a great deal and have made amazing growth in my technological abilities and am looking forward to continuing this growth through the required courses I will be taking here at Michigan State to acquire my NP Endorsement. I also feel I am at a comfortable place where I can help my school research and make educational decisions on what types of technology would make the greatest impact for our school community's particular needs and budget constraints and will continue to advocate, collaborate, and share the tools I've learned and how we can implement them into our teaching practices.
The Internet is such a profound tool to use within the classroom. Next year, with the promise of some new laptops my students will have access to once or twice a week, I look forward to teaching them how to research material on the Internet and safe citizenship in the process. My mind is busy working to find ways to implement the limited technology we have into my classroom and equipping my second and third graders with some of the life skills they will need to learn to be competitive in this digital world they will be working in. I believe that technology has a place in the classroom. It is definitely a tool that can be used to help ensure that educators are meeting the various learning styles of our students and it's applications can help to motivate and engage our students with learning.
Of all the projects we did, I feel the SIG project was one piece that exemplifies good teaching with technology. It utilized a variety of tools and practices that can be used with our students. The reason I chose this over all the others is because it was a group project in which we each had to research our own material, bookmarked the resources we found useful, wrote our own piece and collaborated online with the rest of our group members to put together the final project as a wiki. Then we utilized Prezi to develop a format for summarizing and presenting the project to our audience. This project had so many different aspects of technology use to it that it ranked highest for me as an exemplary example of teaching in the 21st century.
Technology and the Internet are a big part of our world now and they're not going away. Rather, they will continue to evolve and no one knows where they will take us. I am busy planning ways in which to integrate the limited resources of technology I have available to me and creating lessons to develop my students' skills for using this incredible and powerful tool.
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