According to the Universal Design for Learning on the CAST website, the way people learn is as unique as the design on their fingertips. For teachers, this means we need to have curriculum designed to meet this diversity. This type of learning minimizes barriers and maximizes learning for all students. Technology really lends itself to the UDL in the classroom. The first principle of UDL is Representation. This means presenting content in multiple medias, and providing varied support to students. I can use technology to activate background knowledge and support vocabulary through graphics, videos, or other tools. The second principle is Action and Expression. This includes providing models, feedback, and support for students. This also means allowing them to show what they learned in a variety of ways. Technology is an excellent way to make this happen with something like a google slide presentation. The last principle of UDL is Engagement. To engage students, they need to have choices that fuel their interests and autonomy, which will in turn grow their perseverance because they are excited about what they are learning. Technology will provide students with a quick way to access content about what they are choosing to study. Our ALPS program for our district has great online resources for students to explore, getting to choose what they want to know more about. The site also provides the framework for the students to organize what they are learning. This site is a great example of tehnology fueling engagement in the classroom.
The PDF we looked at entitled, Ready For Rigor: A Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching listed powerful ways that students can process information. As the teacher, I need to be providing appropriate challenges in order to stimulate brain growth to increase intellective capacity. This can be done in a variety of ways. Connecting new content to culturally relevant examples can be done seamlessly through technology. Technology allows students to get access to content in a quick and effective way. Teaching students how to access and use technology ensures that students from all backgrounds and income levels have an equal access to the digital world. It is a powerful way to build background knowledge for students. This helps to level the academic playing field by allowing students to learn more about a topic, even if they have not been able to experience it. Two of the online math programs that my students do are individualized to each child. They are called Sumdog and Prodigy. After a placement test, these programs place the child at the appropriate level that is challenging, yet still independent for that child. They do these programs during math rotations. This is an example of the individualized support technology can give to one group of students, while I am working with another group of students in a small group setting (my small group time is when I engage with small groups of students in discussions about what they are reading, use math manipulatives to uncover a new concept, or simply provide extra intervention or enrichment). Using formative assessments and feedback is another component of Culturally Responsive Teaching. Again, technology helps address this. Our Language Arts program that our district has adopted has an online component where students take their assessments. I grade these assessments online, and I am provided with a quick data analysis of where that child is in relation to the Common Core Standard, in relation to other students in the district, and in relation to other students in the class. Our Bridges program allows us to plug in student’s test scores into a spread sheet and look at how they are improving in individual standards. Both of these feedback tools are helpful to me as a teacher, and to my students. In the presentation, How Tech Is Changing Childhood. technology and its impact on children is discussed. The timeline of technology shows how ingrained it has become in our culture. An important topic in this article was digital citizenship. Digital citizenship is something we discuss each year at our school, and in my classroom. In order for students to use online programs, research, and create, they must make sure they are being safe citizens on the internet. This requires teaching them the tools to successfully and safely access content online. These are the many reasons for how technology can help meet students’ individual learning needs. I feel it is important to state that technology is a wonderful and excellent tool, but that is exactly what it is-a tool. It is not a substitute to teaching, rather a tool to support it.
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Jennifer PerkinsTouro Student, Master's in Innovative Learning Archives
November 2018
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