Chapters 6 & 8

My initial impression of chapter 6 was that it would be really cool to attend a early 20th century school, like the one in Little House on the Prairie. But anyways, I really agreed with the notion of learning centers infusing "teaching practices that have been called "culturally responsive," "culturally appropriate," "culturally compatible," and "culturally relevant." Because I think that understanding the culture of the classroom and the students is one of the most aspects of pedagogical proficiency. In addition, community centered learning environments are just as important, because teachers need to know where their students come from and what the true essence of the neighborhood is.

Chapter 8 reaffirmed some conclusions that I had already made in this class. Specifically the idea, that creating a UDL environment in one's classroom was contingent on the support of the schools administration. As such, an effective technological infrastructure and support system is also needed, as well as teacher training and support.
Because, theoretically a teacher could implement a UDL approach without this support, in the same manner that Michelle Pfeiffer or Hilary Swank saved minority students from a doomed fate, but in reality the notion of doing this on your own, is as realistic as those movies.

Chapter 6 UDL

I really enjoyed reading this chapter because it was well organized and highlighted key points that made a lot of sense to me. For instance, I was in total agreement with the authors statement that "recognition networks need exposure to multiple examples. By seeing, hearing, smelling, or touching many instances of a pattern, recognition networks can extract the critical features that define that pattern and identify new instances that share those features. Thus, exposure to multiple examples supports bottom-up recognition processes." This idea also applies to the manner in which students express what they have learned. As such, UDL needs to be implemented in these situations because as the article states "another essential part of teaching a strategic skill is providing learners with chances to demonstrate that skill. Demonstration challenges learners to consolidate and apply all parts of the process. It also elicits feedback from a broader audience...In this way, demonstrating skills and knowledge can factor powerfully into motivation, helping learners experience the "why" of learning."
Furthermore, the chapter also pointed out how multimedia needs to used in order to make individualized approaches to teaching feasible, and I completely agree with that statement and point of view because of what I have experienced in this class. Using multimedia in the classroom really does facilitate a complete UDL approach.

Chapter 4: What is UDL for learning

Seriously, what is Universal Design for Learning? It makes perfect sense, but I find it very complicated to totally comprehend in a practical sense. To be more specific, how does one make a total UDL environment? In a sense, and quoting directly from the chapter "UDL opens the door for rethinking how we teach". I am not inferring that this is a bad thing, but rather an extremely challenging task. As such, UDL seems like its a state of mind(LOL)and in all honesty, I think its a leap in the right direction, somewhat revolutionary and cool. The chapter used really good analogies and classroom scenarios to illustrate what UDL is all about, hopefully, I'll be a master at it one day.

Summary of Techies MacArthur and Edyburn articles

The TC Techies interpretation of the MacArthur and Edyburn Article’s was extremely insightful and examined the benefits and drawbacks of assistive technology and compensatory assistive technology vs. remediation.
In general the group agreed as Kimberly Simon pointed out, “there is merit in using assistive technology even in situations where it is being used as compensation. Any disagreements with in the group came up regarding how often the technology should be used, and whether it was truly beneficial when many students were not learning their target skills.
The majority of the group believed that there should not be a greater emphasis on either assitive technology as compensation or remediation. Rather, most members pointed out the benefits and weaknesses of both approaches, and for the most part, concluded that a mixture of both would be the most effective approach.
I have also included some interesting thoughts that I thought I should share.
Marielle wrote that “maybe remediation will be more effective for a student with a learning disability; the student may not need a certain technology to get by in school, that it is not their only way to function in a classroom. Rather, interventions with remediation will work better; by using alternative teaching strategies”.
And Kristen Schwarz added, “Technology…should be used to reinforce regular instruction. These computer technologies can help children practice skills that they learn in the classroom, but I do not think that they should be used to teach actual skills. But, of course, every student is different and if you are at the end of the road with a student (you've tried all other options) then, trying something is better then doing nothing.
Overall, everyone in the group made great points and it was a really interesting discussion.

Alternate format

In all honesty, I wasn't impressed with the Kerzweil program. I found it very sterile and not very user friendly. However, I really don't know too much about the program and it's capabilities, therefore my initial impressions are probably not that important.

This is The End....

Greetings and Salutations,

I have seen the 'low tech' light! My original idea for my final UDL project involved making a video, and then using a portable DVD player to show my student a more concise picture of what the instruction was. However, while I was making the video at my house, I had an epiphany, a revelation, on how to make my instructions easier, more fall proof, and lastly, low tech.

Initial Idea for Final Step

Initial Set of Instructions.

PEC Board

Step.11- Turn on water & rinse vegetables for 10 seconds while moving colander from side to side. (This is the written set of instructions that I follow on my task analysis sheet when assessing his performance).

Step.11 (which student uses)- Digital picture still (about size of matchbook) depicting a colander filled with salad, running under water. However, because it is a still photograph, it cannot show the desired action of moving the colander from side to side.

PEC of Step.11

New Set of Instruction.

Step .11- Place vegetables in "Expanding Colander" and rinse for 10 seconds.

Why?- Because this takes all the problems out of the equation. The design of an expanding colander ensures that all of the vegetables will be saturated with water. In addition, the student will no longer experience difficulties manipulating the colander under the water.

New PEC of Step.11
Picture of 'low tech' Colander

UDL part 2

In the first part of my UDL assignment I discussed a specific step in a task that one of my students could not master. It involved not being able to decipher a PEC that was intended to instruct a student to move a colander filled with salad from side to side under running water.
My steps that I would implement to help the student master this task would be:
1. Create a PEC of a play button found on the many portable DVD players in the school, and placing the PEC in the corresponding spot of his PEC board of how to make a salad.
2. Shoot a video on a camcorder from a first person point of view of moving a colander side to side under running water for 10 seconds. This video clip would also contain a person off camera counting to ten and saying "side to side" while the colander was under water.
3. Placing a portable player DVD player on the window sill that is directly behind the sink, and having the DVD cued to the point where when he presses the play button the segment that I recorded starts playing.
The reason I chose this UDL approach is because it taps into the auditory and visual aspects of his brain. The still photo of a PEC did not represent a clear enough instruction of what he was supposed to do and for how long. On the other hand, the video will present a concise instruction or protocol of what to do and for how long.