1. After reading the shared beliefs that guide the Learning for All document, what are some general thoughts and/or questions that immediately come to mind? Why?

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     After reading the shared beliefs in Learning for All, I took notice to this line in the text,

“All students learn best when instruction, resources, and the learning environment are well suited to their particular strengths, interests, needs, and stage of readiness. Like the School Effectiveness Framework (SEF), this guide focuses on ways in which teachers and/or teams of educators can plan and provide the kind of assessment and instruction that enables all students to learn best. Three elements – personalization, precision, and professional learning – are critical to the process.”

I think that it is important that the education system is united and has the same shared beliefs. Without this, then no real change can happen. I also think that it is important that education begin to focus on the individual students rather than looking at then as a group. Each student and person learns differently, brings their own life experiences and has strengths that they can contribute. If learning does not happen that compliments these unique traits, then there will be missed opportunities to help all students succeed. When considering some questions, a first one that comes to mind is what can we do as teachers to foster change, and how can we begin to change our own ideas surrounding learning? I think that a lot of us have grown up in schools where individual needs were not met and standardization was the norm. It is hard to change the idea that this is the way learning must be and teachers need to reflect on what they need to do to change.

 

2. How are UDL and DI related? How are they different?

 

     UDL or universal design for learning is about making the environment already set up for all kinds of leaners and people before they even enter the space, or are known to be entering the space. When I think of UDL I think of spaces in society such as wheelchair ramps or doors with handles. The space is something accessible for all and does not exclude people coming in with something like a physical disability. UDL in classrooms is much like this, but it creates a learning environment that everyone can access and does not exclude those who learn in a different way. DI or differentiated instruction is about providing students with different avenues to learning. An example of this would be providing a visual chart along with a video and a print out of written information. This way, all kinds of learners are able to access content and learn. UDL and DI are similar in the sense that they both are about meeting the unique needs of learners and providing accessibility. What makes them different is that UDL is about having the differentiation already set up before students enter the classroom and DI is about looking at the present needs of students and making changes based off of students needs.

 

3. After reading Chapter 2, what area(s) are still a little fuzzy for you?  What will YOU do to seek clarification?

 

     Chapter 2 discusses the need for narrowing the achievement gap with students. By using UDL and DI classrooms can help students succeed and learn. An area that is still a little fuzzy for me is how can I set up my classroom environment and learning environment right away to be universal? I feel as though it is something that will come with experience and having a better understanding of what I need to have a universal classroom. I also wonder where things such as standardized testing fit into this concept. There are some times in a student’s life where they are not able to learn collaboratively and they have to show learning through a test. I want to know what I can do to help student success with this process.  To seek clarification, I want to implement DI and UDL in my own practicum classrooms to see what I can do as an educator. I want to also have discussions with peers and other teachers about what they do. Lastly, I want to continue to seek professional development on this topic so that I can continue to improve.

 

4. How will you apply what you learned in Chapter 2 in your long-term planning?

 

     When considering my long –term planning, I want to make sure that I have thought about the accommodations I can make to lessons and provide choice for students in how they present their learning. I want to be able to list options in how information is presented. I also want to give students lots of opportunity to work collaboratively.

 

5. How will you apply what you learned in Chapter 3 in your long-term planning?

 

     When considering my long – term planning, I want to think about the student profiles of my class before designing the differentiation and lesson types. It is important to provide opportunities in the beginning of learning to allow students to show what they already know about topics and give them chances to have discussions about what they know so that I can move the learning forward. Diagnostic assessments will be important in designing the lessons going forward.

 

6. How will you apply what you learned in Chapter 4 in your long-term planning?

 

When considering my long – term planning, I want to make it a priority to know my students. This is the most important thing that I can do in the learning process. Developing class profiles will give me a sense of what engages students, what their strengths are and what I can do to foster growth. Addressing IEP’s in my long – term plan is one way in which I can do this since I would be able to accommodate for those students needs. Knowing the entire classes learning styles will also help since I can then create lessons that are more artistic, kinesthetic or even written depending on the students.