Teaching with Technology - Week 2 Reflection

After this week’s readings and videos, a significant quote made an impression on my focus for this week.  I realized that my daily routine of planning to meet the objectives for a multiple range of student abilities and needs is what my job (and passion) is really about.  Sometimes I ask myself why I became a teacher, but after the readings and watching the videos, I remembered I have a passion for motivating learning and success whether it be an elementary student in my language arts classroom or a teacher in my district desiring to expand her knowledge of technology.   

“What knowledge and skills do I want my students to have at the end of this lesson or unit?” (Pitler 2007).  This is a question I ask myself multiple times a day when planning my lessons in my Fifth Grade Language Arts classroom.  Pitler states that a teacher must set objectives and understand standards that the students are responsible for learning.  Because a teacher must be flexible, the Universal Design for Learning or UDL allows for the teacher to be ready to customize learning using flexible tools, teaching methods and assessments.  The online videos from this week describe how to address varying learning styles and levels using a UDL.  Again the teacher must ask what do I want my student (and/or teachers) to learn, and then use the technology resources available to modify and adjust the objectives for each student to meet their individual needs (Lessonbuilder.cast.org). 

Lessonbuilder.cast.org (nd). Principles of Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

Lessonbuilder.cast.org. (nd). Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Chapters 1, 15-38.