After viewing some video examples of UDL on the HIAT homepage, I feel that I could incorporate the Frayer Model in my class by having students use this model to review living things and the characteristics of living things.
I agree I have been trying to add technology into my class room for the last several years, but I am also impressed with the low tech and how it fits in with the UDL as well.
I greatly appreciate what HIAT provides us and the opportunity to share materials. I only wish that I had more time to go through all the great ideas. It would be great if each month, an e-mail could be sent out of these wonderfully made materials by specific age/grade level to our outlook. I'm sure others may disagree because it's another e-mail, but for me, time saving to have materials and ideas sent to me. Can I be on the mailing list? :)
Seeing the possibilities online definitely helps us to see how we might use it in our own classrooms. I would love to see what people are doing at the Elementary level.
I agree. I specifically looked for examples appropriate for the primary grades but in the short time to browse, I didn't find ideas to use. I've been trying to provide choices whenever possible so I am more aware of using that strategy with young learners.
Not only would it be more helpful to see UDL being used in the Elemetary grades, but also used in other content areas, not just math, science, social studies & reading/writing.
I really liked that one example where the teacher offered the choices for the project as selections on a menu. I think that is a great way to present the choices for the students.
I personally found the menu a bit confusing. The main course is usually more substantial than an appetizer or a dessert, so I would wonder if the main course choices were harder or more time consuming than the other types of choices. I did like that the teacher offered her students so many choices. Offering students choices would certainly be something I could implement in my classroom right away.
I like the flexible menu options too. As a media specialist, it's great to see how students present their final products in so many different ways using various formats and technologies. Students are much more engaged and have better outcomes.
One of my questions about 'choice' is related to assessment. I agree that having a choice can be motivating for students, but the up-front preparation and thought that needs to go into ensuring comparable 'assessable' outcomes seems daunting.
There are so many great resources on the CAST website we explored in class ( http://www.cast.org/udl/ ). Two great resources I found through the website is Search Cube ( http://www.search-cube.com/ ), a search engine that creates an interactive visual representation of any item you search. The other site I liked was Simple English Wikipedia ( http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page ), which has simplified articles designed for English language learners or struggling readers.
Search Cube is pretty awesome! I've used Simple English Wikipedia in classroom and it is a good resource for quick background information, especially for those students with reading difficulties.
The CAST website was great, i enjoyed having the time to look through it and find some but I'm sure not all of the resources. I particularly liked the http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/ link. I found a lot of great resources that I plan to use in the classroom. This site was a one stop place that had links for reading, math, writing, multimedia, audio books, graphic organizers, study skills....
Nancy, as a media specialist I liked the convenient "one-stop-shop" access to the "Technology Toolkit for UDL in All Classrooms" from the CAST website as well. I am currently doing a project with the 5th Grade related to people who played a role in the Revolutionary War. The Research, Multimedia, and Storytelling tools will all be great resources to use to give the students choices in how they communicate their learning in this project.
The UDL Toolkit is great and has tons of resources! One of my favorite blogs is "Free Technology for Teachers" (http://www.freetech4teachers.com/). Not about UDL specifically, but great as a source for online tools and resources, many of which can be applied to the UDL framework.
I like the Technology Toolkit for UDL in All Classrooms on the CAST website as well, especially "Watch/Listen CCProse," "Multimedia and Digital Storytelling Tools," and "Online Books, Poems, Short Stories - Read Print Library." I will share the sites with my middle school students and staff.
I really enjoyed going through the CAST website in class. After the introduction to the website, I couldn't wait to get back to my school to share of this resource with my team and other staff members.
Since the class I've been exploring the videos and websites. I've found a lot of interesting resources that I think teachers in my school would find useful. I started to put together a resource list of websites that the teachers could use when planning their lessons. I thought that the sample lesson plans on the HIAT website would be helpful for teachers to see how they might plan using UDL strategies. I also thought that the UDL Tool Finder on the HIAT website (http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/hiat/toolfinder/) would be extremely useful for teachers just getting started with UDL.
I learned a lot of powerful inspirational tools, new technology, and new skills that make learning easier to all students with or without disabilities.
The website is very useful and provides many opportunities for students to share what they have learned. I am hoping that the new curriculum that is currently being rolled out will offer many of the same experiences for students.
I missed the first class, but have watched the video on the book club that was on youtube. I was most impressed with the statement by Dr. Starr of "No one size fits all...knowing your your children and what motivates them is what is important." This really speaks to me as it is my philosphy of teaching in my classroom. I always try to present things in different ways to different students, using their strengths to build stepping stones to help them achieve.
The idea that struck me the most was having a bank of Netbooks with earphone splitters so that students could choose to listen/read along or read from the textbook. I could see that working well in an inclusion class where students are ostracized for having something different.
I would have never thought about this until I read your post, but being in the class on Mon night I thought it was refreshing to have the headphones and be able to look at what I wanted / needed to look at at my own pace. I didnt even know I was getting involved in UDL!
Being a special educator and teaching in an inclusive setting, I make an effort to make sure that certain individuals out of the group are not pointed out to need extra support. Teaching with UDL in mind is a great way to make sure ALL students can learn in various ways and settings. With or without disabilities, we all learn in different ways.
As a teacher at Rosa Parks Middle School, I am lucky to work alongside teachers who have been implementing UDL for over a year. I am a member of the UDL Committee, and all of us involved have been motivated by UDL and the possibilities for improving our students’ achievement.
I find that UDL has helped me re-evaluate my planning, and I am constantly looking for more flexible ways to present concepts and have students show me what they know. Students love having choices and the ability to take true ownership of how they learn.
One of my interests is finding ways to integrate technology into the classroom. Where in the past I integrated technology primarily as a way to engage students, now I consider first and foremost how technology can help reduce barriers to student learning.
I was very impressed by the pictures of the handicap accessible ramps in the new building and also the fabricated ramps in the old buildings. I have never heard it put as "Necessity for few, and good for all." To me this describes UDL in its entirety.
I agree with you. I feel like every year, I struggle with how I can teach my students to express their thoughts better by writing BCRs. Although I think being able to write is an important skill, I recognize that this is very difficult for some of my students. I would really like to be able to come up with a way to allow them to demonstrate their knowledge of the content in a way that is most comfortable to them.
During our first class, I began to see the relationship of UDL to the new Elementary Curriculum 2.0. I would be curious to know more about how the curriculum developers see the relationship - its intended impact on students? its impact on teachers?
I recently found myself really thinking about UDL as it relates to the finished product of a project where the teacher with whom I am working had made the finished product utilizing a Powerpoint presentation last year and we decided to do it again this year. A teacher new to the team whose son had a recent assignment where he had to create a glog as the finished product made the statement that Powerpoints are "old technology" and that we should try the glog format. What's "old" to one student may be "new" to another or something where they want to stretch their skills. That got me thinking about the whole choices concept to address different learning styles but also how that impacts the assessment piece. As someone new to the mindset of UDL, assessment with so many options might seem overwhelming.
I was describing the Science Citation Index to my daughter (from back in the days before internet) which was a print volume and allowed you to find articles that had 2 key words you were looking for. She said it sounded simpler than doing Google searches. . . old technology wins again. She also pointed out that it was more hands-on and graphic - I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate something like that in my class, to help the kids strengthen their on-line searching skills.
I really enjoyed watching the clip where the Reading teacher presented different options for the prompt "How setting affect events." The idea of giving them choices instead of a BCR or essay fomat is something I want to give a shot in my reading classes. -Maria Cosio
Tumblebooks,PebbleGo, Natural Readers(Software) are great resources for all users of all ages. These resources provide tools that helps kids focus on reading. All readers can folllow along with the narration to hear how the sentences sound so that they can build oral reading. All readers or learners can benefit a lot from using this database and software so that children will be able to learn multiple languages. Kurzweil 3000 provides a wide range of study skills that both teachers and students can use. Teachers can create pre-reading materials, study guides and test questions for students. Practicing using these tools will increase their performance at all levels.
The use of the promethean board in recent years has allowed me to present information in many ways: pictures, video, diagrams, models. As a middle school math teacher, I'm always looking for new and different ways I can present my lessons so that all types of learners can access my curriculum more effectively. One concern I have (as most teachers do with our curriculuar demands), is how can I be more flexibile in my presentations in order to support diverse learning styles without it taking too much time?
This weekend I attended an Adapted Art seminar. And though there were not a lot of examples of how technology can be incorporated into the elemetary art classroom, I was able to see how art supplies (marker, paint brush, scissors)can be modified for more independent art production amongst diverse students. Also giving students the choice of alternitive positioning (where they want to produce their artwork) made learning more independent for all students.
Last week I was able to utitize text to speech and/or images to support instruction and learning in my classroom during as lesson to a group of Math 6 students-I was showing a Brain Pop (as I often do to complement my lesson), and one of my ESOL level 1 students said to me, "show the letters". I didn't realize what he meant initially, but he was referring to Closed Captioned (CC). The video was about the Coordinate Plane, which involves a large amount of Algebra vocabulary. This was part of MSA review, and we had already discussed this earlier in the year, which he struggled with. While watching the video however, he seemed to have a much greater understanding of the concepts discussed. I was thrilled that he showed me this feature!
The visual learning is very powerful. Kidspiration, WordQ2, and Clicker 5 are visual and educational tools available to all students or learners. These programs enhance and enable students to develop strong thinking skills, organize and expand their ideas into written expression. Students can create maps, diagrams, and webs. They will be able to read and write independently.
This class has been remarkable and of tremendous benefit to me, specially the various software applications(kurzweil, Inspiration, Kidspiration,Natural Reader, Clicker, WordQ2) that I had never knew existed before are now within my purview and intend to utilize them as and when necessary.
This is my first comment
ReplyDeleteI am overwhelmed by the amount of strategies that are available to use in the classroom. I can use the Promethean board for my health and PE classes.
DeleteAfter viewing some video examples of UDL on the HIAT homepage, I feel that I could incorporate the Frayer Model in my class by having students use this model to review living things and the characteristics of living things.
ReplyDeleteUDL/HIAT web opens my mind to help and review or plan how use technology tools to support student learning. The online resources are very useful.
ReplyDeleteI agree I have been trying to add technology into my class room for the last several years, but I am also impressed with the low tech and how it fits in with the UDL as well.
DeleteI greatly appreciate what HIAT provides us and the opportunity to share materials. I only wish that I had more time to go through all the great ideas. It would be great if each month, an e-mail could be sent out of these wonderfully made materials by specific age/grade level to our outlook. I'm sure others may disagree because it's another e-mail, but for me, time saving to have materials and ideas sent to me. Can I be on the mailing list? :)
DeleteSeeing the possibilities online definitely helps us to see how we might use it in our own classrooms. I would love to see what people are doing at the Elementary level.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I specifically looked for examples appropriate for the primary grades but in the short time to browse, I didn't find ideas to use. I've been trying to provide choices whenever possible so I am more aware of using that strategy with young learners.
DeleteFrom Wendy:
DeletePrior to taking this course, I was under the impression that UDL met using assistive technology
Not only would it be more helpful to see UDL being used in the Elemetary grades, but also used in other content areas, not just math, science, social studies & reading/writing.
DeleteI really liked that one example where the teacher offered the choices for the project as selections on a menu. I think that is a great way to present the choices for the students.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Students can learn better when they pick their own learning method or have choices with their learning.
DeleteI personally found the menu a bit confusing. The main course is usually more substantial than an appetizer or a dessert, so I would wonder if the main course choices were harder or more time consuming than the other types of choices. I did like that the teacher offered her students so many choices. Offering students choices would certainly be something I could implement in my classroom right away.
DeleteYou could also set up the menu so that the students have to choose one appetizer, one main course, and one dessert. Depending on what the project is.
DeleteThat would make much more sense to me. Great idea!
DeleteI like the flexible menu options too. As a media specialist, it's great to see how students present their final products in so many different ways using various formats and technologies. Students are much more engaged and have better outcomes.
DeleteOne of my questions about 'choice' is related to assessment. I agree that having a choice can be motivating for students, but the up-front preparation and thought that needs to go into ensuring comparable 'assessable' outcomes seems daunting.
DeleteI just read this, Carolyn after posting a similar concern a few posts below. The assessment piece with choices does seem like a challenge.
DeleteThere are so many great resources on the CAST website we explored in class ( http://www.cast.org/udl/ ). Two great resources I found through the website is Search Cube ( http://www.search-cube.com/ ), a search engine that creates an interactive visual representation of any item you search. The other site I liked was Simple English Wikipedia ( http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page ), which has simplified articles designed for English language learners or struggling readers.
ReplyDeleteSearch Cube is pretty awesome! I've used Simple English Wikipedia in classroom and it is a good resource for quick background information, especially for those students with reading difficulties.
DeleteThe CAST website was great, i enjoyed having the time to look through it and find some but I'm sure not all of the resources. I particularly liked the http://udltechtoolkit.wikispaces.com/ link. I found a lot of great resources that I plan to use in the classroom. This site was a one stop place that had links for reading, math, writing, multimedia, audio books, graphic organizers, study skills....
ReplyDeleteNancy, as a media specialist I liked the convenient "one-stop-shop" access to the "Technology Toolkit for UDL in All Classrooms" from the CAST website as well. I am currently doing a project with the 5th Grade related to people who played a role in the Revolutionary War. The Research, Multimedia, and Storytelling tools will all be great resources to use to give the students choices in how they communicate their learning in this project.
DeleteThe UDL Toolkit is great and has tons of resources! One of my favorite blogs is "Free Technology for Teachers" (http://www.freetech4teachers.com/). Not about UDL specifically, but great as a source for online tools and resources, many of which can be applied to the UDL framework.
DeleteI like the Technology Toolkit for UDL in All Classrooms on the CAST website as well, especially "Watch/Listen CCProse," "Multimedia and Digital Storytelling Tools," and "Online Books, Poems, Short Stories - Read Print Library." I will share the sites with my middle school students and staff.
DeleteI really enjoyed going through the CAST website in class. After the introduction to the website, I couldn't wait to get back to my school to share of this resource with my team and other staff members.
DeleteSince the class, I've been working with someone from HIAT. It's enlightening to know of all the additional resources and the complexity of the issues.
ReplyDeleteSince the class I've been exploring the videos and websites. I've found a lot of interesting resources that I think teachers in my school would find useful. I started to put together a resource list of websites that the teachers could use when planning their lessons. I thought that the sample lesson plans on the HIAT website would be helpful for teachers to see how they might plan using UDL strategies. I also thought that the UDL Tool Finder on the HIAT website (http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/hiat/toolfinder/) would be extremely useful for teachers just getting started with UDL.
ReplyDeleteI learned a lot of powerful inspirational tools, new technology, and new skills that make learning easier to all students with or without disabilities.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely a good refresher on some of the possibilities. I need to give my students more choices -- ones that they'll find exciting.
DeleteThe website is very useful and provides many opportunities for students to share what they have learned. I am hoping that the new curriculum that is currently being rolled out will offer many of the same experiences for students.
DeleteI missed the first class, but have watched the video on the book club that was on youtube. I was most impressed with the statement by Dr. Starr of "No one size fits all...knowing your your children and what motivates them is what is important." This really speaks to me as it is my philosphy of teaching in my classroom. I always try to present things in different ways to different students, using their strengths to build stepping stones to help them achieve.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that struck me the most was having a bank of Netbooks with earphone splitters so that students could choose to listen/read along or read from the textbook. I could see that working well in an inclusion class where students are ostracized for having something different.
ReplyDeleteI would have never thought about this until I read your post, but being in the class on Mon night I thought it was refreshing to have the headphones and be able to look at what I wanted / needed to look at at my own pace. I didnt even know I was getting involved in UDL!
DeleteBeing a special educator and teaching in an inclusive setting, I make an effort to make sure that certain individuals out of the group are not pointed out to need extra support. Teaching with UDL in mind is a great way to make sure ALL students can learn in various ways and settings. With or without disabilities, we all learn in different ways.
DeleteAs a teacher at Rosa Parks Middle School, I am lucky to work alongside teachers who have been implementing UDL for over a year. I am a member of the UDL Committee, and all of us involved have been motivated by UDL and the possibilities for improving our students’ achievement.
ReplyDeleteI find that UDL has helped me re-evaluate my planning, and I am constantly looking for more flexible ways to present concepts and have students show me what they know. Students love having choices and the ability to take true ownership of how they learn.
One of my interests is finding ways to integrate technology into the classroom. Where in the past I integrated technology primarily as a way to engage students, now I consider first and foremost how technology can help reduce barriers to student learning.
I was very impressed by the pictures of the handicap accessible ramps in the new building and also the fabricated ramps in the old buildings. I have never heard it put as "Necessity for few, and good for all." To me this describes UDL in its entirety.
ReplyDeleteI liked that quote also. It made me reevaluate some of my lessons this past week to make sure that I am making them "good for all" of my students.
DeleteI like the idea of changing our approach to written responses - BCRs really don't teach the kids to write better, as near as I can tell.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I feel like every year, I struggle with how I can teach my students to express their thoughts better by writing BCRs. Although I think being able to write is an important skill, I recognize that this is very difficult for some of my students. I would really like to be able to come up with a way to allow them to demonstrate their knowledge of the content in a way that is most comfortable to them.
DeleteDuring our first class, I began to see the relationship of UDL to the new Elementary Curriculum 2.0. I would be curious to know more about how the curriculum developers see the relationship - its intended impact on students? its impact on teachers?
ReplyDeleteI recently found myself really thinking about UDL as it relates to the finished product of a project where the teacher with whom I am working had made the finished product utilizing a Powerpoint presentation last year and we decided to do it again this year. A teacher new to the team whose son had a recent assignment where he had to create a glog as the finished product made the statement that Powerpoints are "old technology" and that we should try the glog format. What's "old" to one student may be "new" to another or something where they want to stretch their skills. That got me thinking about the whole choices concept to address different learning styles but also how that impacts the assessment piece. As someone new to the mindset of UDL, assessment with so many options might seem overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteI was describing the Science Citation Index to my daughter (from back in the days before internet) which was a print volume and allowed you to find articles that had 2 key words you were looking for. She said it sounded simpler than doing Google searches. . . old technology wins again. She also pointed out that it was more hands-on and graphic - I'm trying to think of a way to incorporate something like that in my class, to help the kids strengthen their on-line searching skills.
DeleteI really enjoyed watching the clip where the Reading teacher presented different options for the prompt "How setting affect events." The idea of giving them choices instead of a BCR or essay fomat is something I want to give a shot in my reading classes.
ReplyDelete-Maria Cosio
Tumblebooks,PebbleGo, Natural Readers(Software) are great resources for all users of all ages. These resources provide tools that helps kids focus on reading. All readers can folllow along with the narration to hear how the sentences sound so that they can build oral reading. All readers or learners can benefit a lot from using this database and software so that children will be able to learn multiple languages. Kurzweil 3000 provides a wide range of study skills that both teachers and students can use. Teachers can create pre-reading materials, study guides and test questions for students. Practicing using these tools will increase their performance at all levels.
ReplyDeleteThe use of the promethean board in recent years has allowed me to present information in many ways: pictures, video, diagrams, models. As a middle school math teacher, I'm always looking for new and different ways I can present my lessons so that all types of learners can access my curriculum more effectively. One concern I have (as most teachers do with our curriculuar demands), is how can I be more flexibile in my presentations in order to support diverse learning styles without it taking too much time?
ReplyDeleteThis weekend I attended an Adapted Art seminar. And though there were not a lot of examples of how technology can be incorporated into the elemetary art classroom, I was able to see how art supplies (marker, paint brush, scissors)can be modified for more independent art production amongst diverse students. Also giving students the choice of alternitive positioning (where they want to produce their artwork) made learning more independent for all students.
ReplyDeleteLast week I was able to utitize text to speech and/or images to support instruction and learning in my classroom during as lesson to a group of Math 6 students-I was showing a Brain Pop (as I often do to complement my lesson), and one of my ESOL level 1 students said to me, "show the letters". I didn't realize what he meant initially, but he was referring to Closed Captioned (CC). The video was about the Coordinate Plane, which involves a large amount of Algebra vocabulary. This was part of MSA review, and we had already discussed this earlier in the year, which he struggled with. While watching the video however, he seemed to have a much greater understanding of the concepts discussed. I was thrilled that he showed me this feature!
ReplyDeleteThe visual learning is very powerful. Kidspiration, WordQ2, and Clicker 5 are visual and educational tools available to all students or learners. These programs enhance and enable students to develop strong thinking skills, organize and expand their ideas into written expression. Students can create maps, diagrams, and webs. They will be able to read and write independently.
ReplyDeleteThis class has been remarkable and of tremendous benefit to me, specially the various software applications(kurzweil, Inspiration, Kidspiration,Natural Reader, Clicker, WordQ2) that I had never knew existed before are now within my purview and intend to utilize them as and when necessary.
ReplyDelete