Action Plan
This course embodies the UDL principal which led me to a deeper understanding of why it is so important to offer students an educational experience that adheres to this. I, like many of you, have participated in a number of workshops, Pro-D, and courses in my career. Some were definitely enlightening and thought provoking, however, many others fell short and were dull, boring and not at all relevant. Unfortunately, quite often I'd find myself disengaged as I watched the clock counting the minutes or days until it was over. Thankfully, this course was not at all dull, boring or irrelevant, quite the opposite. Paul presented this course with UDL in mind. There were multiple forms of representation and expression. As well, the course had a lot of flexibility and choice as far as time management, presentation format and creative design, which left me engaged and wanting more. This course deepened my understanding of UDL by demonstrating how engaged I can be if offered a course in this framework. Too often a lot of the courses I have taken did not follow such a flexible and engaging framework and thus I lost interest and enthusiasm. Being a learner myself helped to fully understand the merits of a UDL framework.
What Have I Learned In Regard to My Learning Style and UDL?
I have always known that I am a stronger visual learner than auditory and this course definitely solidified that. I also realized how much of a kinaesthetic learner I am and how I, like most students, learn best when immersed in my learning. I thoroughly enjoyed trying many of the programs and software. One thing I realized was just how impatient of a learner I am. Although many of the programs offered videos and demonstrations that would explain the program I tended to jump right in and try to figure it out on my own. Usually I had to go back and watch the videos as I would get stumped and frustrated. Perhaps I need to take the time to watch a demo so that I can avoid these frustrations. Fortunately, with most of the programs offered in this course there are videos and instructions that walk you through the program. My students quite often do exactly what I have done and I come across this quite often in the classroom. During instructions many of my students appear to ‘tune out’ of the instructional component and want to get straight to the assignment or project. Upon reflection, it appears I should allow them more time to play around with new software and programs to gain better understanding of it before I presenting an assignment.
How Will This Course Affect My Personal/ Professional Growth?
I look forward to sharing what I have learned in this course with colleagues and parents. Many of the free tools will benefit a multitude of children that I interact with both at work and on a personal level. I’d also like to share some of the programs with my former administrator that perhaps could be funded for next year.
I also plan to take some time this summer to spend more time investigating some of the links, as it was difficult to become proficient in such a limited amount of time. After taking this course I can see how easy it is to incorporate the UDL principles in the classroom and in the resource room. I look forward to seeing how the students react to some of the programs I'm planning to share in the future. Fortunately, I did have the opportunity to share a couple of the programs and extensions already and saw first hand how excited my students were with the various forms of representation. I really enjoyed all of the options for expression and look forward to sharing many of these.
Which Resources Do I Hope to Incorporate In My Word?
I found the multiple forms of representation to be interesting, however, some of them I already knew about and was incorporating into my teaching already. That being said, I did learn many new options and look forward to sharing them with my students. I have always adhered to offering multiple forms of representation, however, I did not have much of a toolbelt prior to this course. I particularly liked all the free versions as any learner can access them. The multiple forms of expression that were shared with us is staggering and I look forward to teaching my students how to use them. This way they can be more engaged in their learning and excited about sharing their knowledge. I particularly enjoyed the multiple forms of media. There are so many options for students to share their learning and many of them are relevant to students in primary and high school. There are so many resources that I am excited about that the list is far too long to write about. Let’s just say I will be attempting to provide multiple means of representation, expression and engagement in my teaching.
My List of Favourite Resources
What are My Goals?
My goal is to become proficient with many of the applications and software programs offered in this course. I’d like to be confident enough to share them with my students by next year. I plan to incorporate many of the options in my student’s daily learning. My first goal will be to share the ‘free’ options at the beginning of the year with both my students and their parents. My hope is that they will have their own toolbelt that they can choose from to enhance their educational experience and demonstrate their skills and knowledge.
What Was My ‘Aha’ Moment?
I have used what I have learned to demonstrate my ‘Aha’ moment. Below is a story I created through Storyboardthat then copy and pasted into Storybird. Both are great programs that I will enjoy sharing with my students as soon as I am more experienced with them. I hope you enjoy it. Just click on the link to this page.
This course embodies the UDL principal which led me to a deeper understanding of why it is so important to offer students an educational experience that adheres to this. I, like many of you, have participated in a number of workshops, Pro-D, and courses in my career. Some were definitely enlightening and thought provoking, however, many others fell short and were dull, boring and not at all relevant. Unfortunately, quite often I'd find myself disengaged as I watched the clock counting the minutes or days until it was over. Thankfully, this course was not at all dull, boring or irrelevant, quite the opposite. Paul presented this course with UDL in mind. There were multiple forms of representation and expression. As well, the course had a lot of flexibility and choice as far as time management, presentation format and creative design, which left me engaged and wanting more. This course deepened my understanding of UDL by demonstrating how engaged I can be if offered a course in this framework. Too often a lot of the courses I have taken did not follow such a flexible and engaging framework and thus I lost interest and enthusiasm. Being a learner myself helped to fully understand the merits of a UDL framework.
What Have I Learned In Regard to My Learning Style and UDL?
I have always known that I am a stronger visual learner than auditory and this course definitely solidified that. I also realized how much of a kinaesthetic learner I am and how I, like most students, learn best when immersed in my learning. I thoroughly enjoyed trying many of the programs and software. One thing I realized was just how impatient of a learner I am. Although many of the programs offered videos and demonstrations that would explain the program I tended to jump right in and try to figure it out on my own. Usually I had to go back and watch the videos as I would get stumped and frustrated. Perhaps I need to take the time to watch a demo so that I can avoid these frustrations. Fortunately, with most of the programs offered in this course there are videos and instructions that walk you through the program. My students quite often do exactly what I have done and I come across this quite often in the classroom. During instructions many of my students appear to ‘tune out’ of the instructional component and want to get straight to the assignment or project. Upon reflection, it appears I should allow them more time to play around with new software and programs to gain better understanding of it before I presenting an assignment.
How Will This Course Affect My Personal/ Professional Growth?
I look forward to sharing what I have learned in this course with colleagues and parents. Many of the free tools will benefit a multitude of children that I interact with both at work and on a personal level. I’d also like to share some of the programs with my former administrator that perhaps could be funded for next year.
I also plan to take some time this summer to spend more time investigating some of the links, as it was difficult to become proficient in such a limited amount of time. After taking this course I can see how easy it is to incorporate the UDL principles in the classroom and in the resource room. I look forward to seeing how the students react to some of the programs I'm planning to share in the future. Fortunately, I did have the opportunity to share a couple of the programs and extensions already and saw first hand how excited my students were with the various forms of representation. I really enjoyed all of the options for expression and look forward to sharing many of these.
Which Resources Do I Hope to Incorporate In My Word?
I found the multiple forms of representation to be interesting, however, some of them I already knew about and was incorporating into my teaching already. That being said, I did learn many new options and look forward to sharing them with my students. I have always adhered to offering multiple forms of representation, however, I did not have much of a toolbelt prior to this course. I particularly liked all the free versions as any learner can access them. The multiple forms of expression that were shared with us is staggering and I look forward to teaching my students how to use them. This way they can be more engaged in their learning and excited about sharing their knowledge. I particularly enjoyed the multiple forms of media. There are so many options for students to share their learning and many of them are relevant to students in primary and high school. There are so many resources that I am excited about that the list is far too long to write about. Let’s just say I will be attempting to provide multiple means of representation, expression and engagement in my teaching.
My List of Favourite Resources
- Google Chrome - Speak It, Read and Write, Readability, VoiceNote II and Split Screen
- Eduapps
- Natural Reader and Books Should Be Free
- Visual Dictionary, MathDictionary For Kids, Simple Wikipedia.
- Watch Know Learn, Knowmia, How Things Work.
- Prezi, Toondoo, Scratch, Utellstory, PowToon, StoryboardThat, Storybird and Thinglink
- Mathematics Add-in for MS Word and OneNote
- Boardmaker, Kurzweil and Clicker 6
What are My Goals?
My goal is to become proficient with many of the applications and software programs offered in this course. I’d like to be confident enough to share them with my students by next year. I plan to incorporate many of the options in my student’s daily learning. My first goal will be to share the ‘free’ options at the beginning of the year with both my students and their parents. My hope is that they will have their own toolbelt that they can choose from to enhance their educational experience and demonstrate their skills and knowledge.
What Was My ‘Aha’ Moment?
I have used what I have learned to demonstrate my ‘Aha’ moment. Below is a story I created through Storyboardthat then copy and pasted into Storybird. Both are great programs that I will enjoy sharing with my students as soon as I am more experienced with them. I hope you enjoy it. Just click on the link to this page.