EDLD+5364

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Week5 This week, I learned about the new direction assessments are supposed to be going. I heartily agree with the idea but have reservations about the ease of implementation. In addition, the concepts about student belief in effort related to a number of my own personal experiences in rehearsal this week. It is my intention to become a better teacher by working on ways to encourage the concept of effort in my students. The use of technology through graphics and the effort rubric are useful ideas that I might be able to adapt to my teaching methods.

Week 4 This weeks focus on student learning assisted by technology. The edutopia videos provided some interesting insights into school related technology. I especially liked the idea of having[| a classroom where the teacher doesn't have to know everything about the concept and can let the students learn on their own and teach each other]. To have that level of freedom in the classroom does however require a level of knowledge amongst the students in relation to fundamentals both academically and socially. With my school, I feel that our students often have difficulty in some basic areas. As such, I like to try to give them learning freedom but have to make sure that they are mature enough to handle the responsibility that comes with it. Chapter 7 in the CASt book on UDL struck a nerve with me concerning assessments. The discussion post can be[| found here]. Am continuing to collaborate with team on the scenario. Updates will be posted on the [|site].

[|On making the book:] Making the book through the website was fairly straightforward. Didn't have any technical problems during the process. Creating books does require a fair amount of planning. As seen by my book's rather simplistic design, any amount of coordination and alignment with UDL would require some serious planning. For the most part, I explored the sites options and played around with the site as I made this thing rather plan it out seriously. I can see how this would allow anyone who wanted to play at being a publisher to create their own works. With enough time, this can be an excellent tool to create resources that accommodates specific needs of many different students. The audio features are beneficial for auditory learners or the visually impaired. The ability to add pictures or your own audio allows teachers to lead students to the concepts they want conveyed. The student note section replaces the highlighting and circling in a real book that I know many students feel is necessary. The little helpers that can be prompted to give more information can be useful in guiding the students' curiosity. All these options available to teachers when creating a book makes for a very helpful resource for those inclined.

On creating the UDL lesson plan: I liked the layout of the CAST lesson builder. It was pretty easy to use. Didn't see that I had to use the offline version till after I was done so I had to copy and paste onto the template. [|Uploaded and shared with my groups members here.] Hyperlinked to the document from the group website as well. My lesson was pretty standard as far as teaching music is concerned. It naturally incorporated the UDL system so their wasn't a lot of extra to do. Cooperative learning, teaching to the visual, aural, and tactile, multiple opportunities for practice both guided and non-guided are all present. The what, how and why of UDL are there as well. Seventeen years of musical training helps in that should any of the presented activities not fully engage the students for at least a little while, I can always come up with more.

Week 3 Again, Universal Design for Learning's strategies and resources are already integrated or being used in the Fine Arts. The more I read about this theory, the more it seems that much of what is presented is going to be used by good teachers. Many of the concepts are just grounded now in data based facts and research. The 'what', 'how', and 'why' of teaching is used every time I present a new piece of music to my students. The resources for a technological approach to my content is already present but the structural support is not. This is my current long term project. In addition to building a successful program, I am working on acquiring the resources necessary for my classroom to be technology oriented. The things I will need are different from the standard classroom so planning with my administrators is important. Otherwise, I'll end up with nice toys that will not have the greatest use for Orchestra.

Week 2 As I read about the Universal Design for Learning, I came to think that there is a lot of similarities in the theory that is already used in my content area. Its overall idea of integrating many teaching methods is present in teaching students how to play an instrument. I function primarily as a coach. I can tell the student numerous times to do certain things but if the student does not initiate their own learning, progress is practically nonexistent. While the primary focus is to create an orchestra, individual attention is given to accommodate each students' particular needs for their instrument at their own playing ability. Differentiated learning is quite prevalent in our teaching method. Cooperative learning is also present as when I don't have time to work with a student, I can always have one of my more advanced musicians work one on one with them or in small groups. Students are often placed in situations where they have to cooperatively teach and learn to be successful as a whole. The introduction of technology simply aids my students. There is now software students can practice with; there are websites they can find information and music to work on on there own; and the range of abilities that allow my students to become active participants in their own learning continues to expand.

Week 1 Reflection

During this week, I have learned about two different learning theories and cyborg theory's potential impact on education. Constructivism was easy for me to understand. To take knowledge and add it what I have already experienced makes sense to me. This is how I teach my orchestra classes. I take the techniques and fundamentals that have been taught to the students and build new knowledge on their previous experiences with their instruments. It helps that new knowledge is difficult or even impossible to present without the acknowledged need for prior instruction. Connectivism was a little less palatable but I think I understand the premise. I can understand the idea that knowledge is contained in networks. What I don't really see is how this affects my teaching methods. I can acknowledge the presence of networks but it doesn't affect the ways I present knowledge to my students.

My interest in the group project has been piqued. I have not had the opportunity to work collaboratively through Google. This should be interesting.