Universal Design for Learning Presentation

Summer Adventures in Technology Integration

I am working at our local community center in a 6-week summer day camp program. Our themes are sustainable, green, and healthful living. The 40 students are mostly ESL, and at risk for summer learning loss. They have project-based classes in cooking, yoga, community mapping, art, theater, and even gardening. All the while the students are improving their English literacy and math skills--the learning is hidden in all the fun! They take a trip to local organic farms twice a week, working on the farm in different areas each visit. They learn where their food comes from, bring it back to the cafeteria, and prepare it into delicious snacks. My job is to give them some basic digital literacy skills.Today, I integrated technology with a yoga instructor and a group of 2nd and 3rd graders. They had to type in a URL, pick a kids yoga pose from the site and demonstrate it for their friends and the yoga instructor. Then we took pictures of each pose for the kids to create a book or poster of thei...

Teaching 21st Century Skills

I recently visited http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ . I found a lot of resources regarding what skills students should be taught in order to succeed in the 21st century. There were also several states listed that have initiatives to implement policies and standards that will ensure students are presented with opportunities to learn these skills. I liked the recent news events of businesses partnering with schools to help further the students' education, but I was disappointed that there were not more states or businesses listed. I was also looking for suggestions as to how to implement teaching these skills in my class, and did not find them. Did anyone else find good ideas here?

Reaching and Engaging All Learners through Technology-Week 8 Reflection

I have enjoyed this class. I appreciate the practicality of the classes at Walden. I can use the material in my classes right away, if I choose. In this class, I was part of a NING, which allowed collaboration and sharing of resources. I appreciated my classmates input, and will continue to use those resources. I learned more of the teacher's responsibility in the classroom. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) are more than just "buzz words." In this class, I learned that they are a way of thinking about the material that I present, and how the students learn that material, and even how the students demonstrate their learning of the material I have presented. UDL allows all students access to the curriculum, standards, and objectives through a variety of materials and methods. DI challenges the teacher to learn her students and present the material in a way that he/she finds interesting and learns best. UDL and DI are not difficult...

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