UDL & DI Course Reflection

Through out my course I have learned a lot about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) that can and has been applied to my classroom immediately. Though they are two different strategies and require different approaches towards classroom application, they both encourage diversity in student learning and consider all needs that students may have and can be tied directly together. By using various technological tools that many young students are familiar with, and by getting away from traditional pencil, paper and text book instruction, students are better able to reach their potential in the classroom.
UDL is simply different “strategies that can be employed to overcome the barriers inherent in most existing curricula” (National Center for on Universal Design for Learning, 2010). This is done by the teacher who carefully assesses each one of his or her students in order to engage the individual into the curriculum and specific lesson.
With DI, instruction allows the teachers to customize their lessons to their students specific individual needs and to teach “students of differing abilities in the same class” all of the same content (Strangman & Meyer, 2003, p.1). This takes the knowledge of the individual student and their learning and applies it to a customized lesson for that student. Tools such as online graphic organizers, interactive study tools, interactive concept maps, and various multi media tools for creating presentations are among many different options that students can have access to. These various strategies can potentially attract much more student attention and involvement.
Each year teachers are presented with a new challenge to teach the diverse needs of each one of their students. Since “no teacher has been handed a class that has been a match set”, teachers need to adjust their lessons to their various students in order to maximize success of the entire student body. (Laureate Education, 2009). Through a combination of the use of UDL and DI, teachers will be able to ensure that their students have the best opportunity to learn.
Immediate changes that have been made in my classroom have been using tools such as http://teachingeverystudent.blogspot.com/2007/06/free-technology-toolkit-for-udl-in-all.html. This site has a text-to-speech application that benefits one of my IEP students in a lower level class. I combine that with http://udl.spps.org/Social_Studies.html which has access to the text used in my class. These have allowed them to keep up with the rest of the class by simply modifying the reading for him. Through the use of http://prezi.com/, I had my students do a visual presentation of a virtual tour that they went on of a European country of their choice.
My next lesson upon returning from break, I will introduce my students to http://www.xtranormal.com/. This site allows them to create and edit movies. The lesson will consist of them getting in groups and reenacting the life of Americans from the end of WWI up through the Great Depression. I will have to spend some time in the computer lab with them to make sure that they are familiar with the website, but I believe that they will have fun and learn so much with it.
My biggest struggle that I have encountered using these various sites has been the time factor. I have had to spend valuable instruction time explaining and sometimes re-explaining how to use some of the interactive sites. At times it has been my fault because I did a bad job at explaining how to use the site. That is partially due to some of technology is also new to me and I am learning with them. Other times, it has been because some of my students are not accustomed to using the computer in their other classes, and a lot of this is a new concept to them.