Sunday, June 26, 2011

Reflection on EDUC 6714--DI, UDL, and Technology

         “Grow slowly—but grow,” (Tomlinson, 1999, p. 97). This quote from Tomlinson’s 1999 book, Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, resonated with me. My teaching had grown a bit stale with regards to differentiated instruction. I was one of the teachers that Tomlinson (Laureate, 2009b) referred to, a teacher that could talk about differentiation, make it sound good, know the philosophy and thoughts behind it. I could even take it a step further and give the students choice in in their learning. But I stalled there. It took this course to give me the needed jump start. It is now time for me to step up and use what I’ve learned about differentiated instruction and what we’ve shared in our Differentiation Station discussions, as well as continue with my learning about Universal Design for Learning.
         As willing as I am to take responsibility for my lack differentiation in more aspects of my instructions, I will also add that until this course, I did not have all of the information I needed in order to differentiate well. I understood that I could differentiate the levels of texts we were reading, I gave my students choice in writing topics, even choice of audiences and genres. But I did not know the extent that I could differentiate: content, process, product, affect, learning environment, and according to readiness, interest, and learning profiles (Laureate, 2009a). Now that I am equipped with this information, I have no choice but to use it to grow and change my instruction.
         I do have the tendency to grasp on to something and want to change everything right away, right now. I think it is good that I have approximately six weeks to continue to process this information. Tomlinson also cautions teachers to take differentiation one step at a time, to think it through, and to plan it out well (1999). As I reflect on past lessons and units, I see that although my intentions were lofty, they fell short of their potential because I did not plan it out as completely as I should and could have.  I hope to bring my knowledge to, at the very least, my grade level English department. We already design common assessments, and we plan collaboratively. If I can effectively share what I have learned with them, we can all strengthen our instruction by differentiating, and we can design our lessons together, each differentiating parts of the lessons.
         Some things that will make differentiation of all aspects of instruction less daunting are the resources that my group shared in our Differentiation Station social media group. Before I get into the resources themselves, I would like to comment on the group itself. This group felt much less structured and gave us a greater sense of control and autonomy as compared to our discussion boards. This showed me how useful such a space for my students would be. Although each week were given a task or a topic to share with each other in our group, it appeared to me that we felt much more free to elaborate on the parts that interested us, stray a little bit from the official topic in our replies to one another, but still learn what we need to each week. It is my Differentiation Station group that prompted me to explore Diigo more fully, and it ended up being my biggest and greatest discovery of our class.
            In addition, the Differentiation Station group led me to some awesome resources that I know I will keep returning to. For differentiated instruction alone, some of the best resources we found were  Everything DI, Differentiation Central, and Dare to Differentiate. These three resources contain tools, resources, general support, lesson ideas, and much more to help teachers of all contents differentiate their instruction. Not only did we share great resources for differentiation, but we also shared some great technology tools and sites, as well: Audioboo, Twitter Live BindersEdu Glogster, Storify, and  Diigo (not to mention further discussion about Voice Thread). These are just the websites and technology applications that I have been able to explore and that I plan to use next year in my classes as I differentiate more effectively. Twitter and Diigo alone have helped me define areas of professional development and have helped me shape where I need to go with that development.         
Where I need to do some further learning is with UDL, Universal Design for Learning. I understand the principles behind it, and understand the three learning networks: the recognition network, strategic network, and affective network (CAST, 2011). I understand providing different avenues for students in all three networks in order to break down barriers students bring to class. I understand that the avenues I create will help not only the students that need them because they have a specific issue, but also the students that do not necessarily need them. (As in they do not have an IEP, for example, but will benefit anyway from UDL.) What I cannot verbalize right now is how differentiation and UDL are different. I do know that there is an entire philosophy and belief system that underscores differentiated instruction. UDL is based on the belief that all learners be allowed access to the curriculum, but it seems it is the actual design and putting into place the pieces of the lessons that are universally designed. That is defining the word with itself. I need to study it more. In the end, it may not be that important to distinguish, but I will not feel I have a grasp on UDL until I can explain why it is not synonymous with differentiated instruction.
            This course provided me with answers that I had been looking for regarding differentiated of instruction. It provided me with support to back the beliefs I have held for many years.  It provided me with resources and ideas to use immediately in my instruction. It provided me with ideas for technology use, both for me and for the students. It provided me with direction for further study, and with questions that I still need answers to. It also provided me with colleagues that are interested in learning and growing more with me. Most of all this course provided me with a fire to improve my instruction even more than any of the courses have. It provided me with an impetus, a place to start the improvements. It also provided me with a command, to “Grow slowly—but grow”!



References
Center for Applied Special Technology. (2009) UDL guidelines, version 1.0. Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Differentiating instructional elements. [Video file]. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore, MD: Author
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Managing the differentiated classroom [Video file]. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore, MD: Author
Tomlinson, C. (1999). Differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. 
Retrieved from the Walden Library ebrary.