EDPC 610 Foundations II Diversity, Learning, and Technology

Day 1: 1.        I will begin the lesson by gathering all my students onto the discussion carpet. When they get there they will see a table with paper bags on it. I will tell them that there is a mystery item in each of these bags and they will have to guess what it is. I will give them hints by describing the item. For example: Inside my paper bag is something that it is red, it is round, it’s very yummy, it’s healthy. I will do this until my students are able to guess what is in my mystery bag (an apple!). I will do this again with the next bag and item. For the last one I will chose one of my students to come up and take a look into the last bag and have him be the one to describe what’s inside it. 2.        After I do this interactive activity, I will ask my students to repeat to me some of the description words they remember me saying about the items in the bag. I will create a list of the words they come up with on t...

https://nceo.umn.edu/docs/OnlinePubs/Martha_Thurlow-Meeting_the_Needs_of_Special_Education_Students.pdf I really enjoyed reading this article on strategies of meeting the needs of special education students. This is a topic that is a very big interest to me because I teach a class of students who need special support and intervention due to their learning disabilities. I think that the article did an amazing job discussing all of the aspects of how to design lessons in a way that students with special needs or learning difficulties can still gain and learn just like their classmates who are not struggling like they are.  I feel that this is a very important topic to be addressed to all teachers or future teachers because no matter what class there is always a student (or more!) that has some sort of needs that are different than their classmates. It is crucial that the teachers know of strategies and ways to help these students have the most successful school years as possi...

CAST’s UDL LESSON BUILDER Lesson Overview Title: Doubles! Author: Tova Weissman Subject: Math Grade Level(s): Grade 1 Duration: 2 days Subject Area : Addition Unit Description: This unit teaches the students how to add their doubles. This is a very important skill for all children to know because once they know their double they can use that strategy to help them when it comes to adding other numbers as well.  Lesson Description for Day: The teacher will show the students a video with a song all about adding doubles. The students will learn the song by listening to it several times. The teacher will also teach the students motions to the song to make it more exciting and fun. The students will also engage in some activities that involve practicing adding their doubles. These activities will take about 2 days to complete.  ...

This article discusses the tools that can be used to help English Language Learners adjust into our classrooms. Technology is a great way to have these students gain skills and learn the new language. Using technology to enhance instructions for ELL's by having the students watch videos, listen to audio recordings etc.... can be a much more effective way to reach their needs. One example of a technology tool that can be extremely helpful for an ELL is a smartboard.Many times students who are not familiar with the English language have a difficult time copying the notes from the board quick enough before the lesson is over. With a smartboard, the teacher can save the notes she wrote and print them out separately for the students who take a longer time to write notes. Smartboard can also have pictures and graphics so that ELL's can have a visual aid to help them comprehend the lesson. Another tool that is great for ELL's is social networking with their classmates, for exa...

How do you differentiate the content and process? Based on chapters 11 and 12 and the video, there are many ways to differentiate in both content and process. Content is the actual material that is being taught, and process is how the material is given over. Both of these requirements can be met by providing the students with various ways that they can complete a specific task. Giving the students choices allows them to decide exactly how they would like to display their knowledge, and gives them a chance to show what they know in a way that they are comfortable and confident. We need to provide our students with options so that they can have the opportunity to express what they know. It is important that the material ( content)  of every lesson is given over ( process) in a way that each child in the class can achieve the best possible.

UDL  is an approach that helps teachers design their lessons in a way that can meet the needs of each diverse learner. Since every class is diverse somehow it is important that we create a curriculum that accommodates all learners. UDL helps our curriculum to be flexible so that all of our lessons work for each student. It is important that a teacher knows her goals, and then based on the goals she needs to look at what the barriers are that make it difficult to reach her goals. One way that the teacher can design her lesson so that she can reach her goals for her students is by giving them choices. Every child enjoys different things and gets engaged from different types of activities, therefore it is important to give the students the option of how they want to complete the specific task. The lesson on the life cycle of butterflies is a perfect example of a lesson that includes UDL. The lesson involved a lot of class discussion and student engagement which makes each child feel...