Journal Post # 10

Chapter 10: Promoting Success for All Students through Technology

Focus Question # 1: What are differentiated instruction (DI) and universal design for learning (UDL)?

     Just as no two fingerprints are alike, neither are two students. Each comes with their own experiences, culture, background, abilities, learning style; some even have some kind of disability. Obviously, there are many factors that make each student different and therefore unique. Regardless of these differences, each has the right to learn, to develop their skills and potentials fully. Therefore, it is up to us, the educators, to meet this challenge imprinting our teaching with the flexibility, variety and creativity necessary to reach every student and meet their individual needs. It is precisely here where differentiated instruction (DI) comes to play its role. It means that teachers proactively plan varied approaches to what students need to learn, how they will learn it, and/or how they will show what they have learned in order to increase the likelihood that each student will learn as much as he or she can, as efficiently as possible. To accomplish this, learning activities may be differentiated on the basis of students' readiness for learning the specific content or skill, their interests or their preferred ways of learning. In a differentiated classroom, students experience learning in many configurations –working in small groups (with peers having similar or different readiness, interests, or learning preferences), with a partner, individually, and as a whole group.

     Closely linked to this approach is the concept of Universal Design for Learning. The central practical premise of UDL is that a curriculum should include alternatives to make it accessible and appropriate for individuals with different backgrounds, learning styles, abilities, and disabilities in widely varied learning contexts. This reflects the need to accommodate differences, creating learning experiences that suit the learner and maximize his or her ability to progress. UDL provides a framework that helps teachers differentiate their instruction through carefully articulated goals and individualized material, methods, technology strategies, and assessments. In short, this means access to quality and effective education for all.

Tech Tool Link: The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)

      This is an interactive website that provides information, ideas, lesson plans, activities, case stories, books, videos intended to assist teachers to find effective ways to implement UDL in the classroom. By the way, I found it very practical some of the books on this site, especially for ELL students, because it offers the readers the opportunity to interact with content and other resources to obtain more explanations, illustrations, examples and exercises that allow them to get a full understanding of the story. There are also useful links to other websites, articles, and books about UDL.

Summary and Connection:

     Finishing reading this chapter I started to think about the huge amount of doors that the technology applied to education open to us. Just one of these is the possibility to make real the differentiated instruction. Truly, all these resources allow us to plan our classes in a more realistic and flexible manner to meet our students’ needs.

     In summer, I took the course: Diversity for Educators and in one of the assignments I had the opportunity to know about the sad story of Billy Pagoni, a young man here in Naples diagnosed with autism who finished high school and wanted to continue studying to become a baker, but no school could offer him a course that meets his needs. Billy implored on a video posted on Facebook. “I want to be a baker. I am a great student. I never miss a day of school. I get A’s on my report card. Please, can you help me go to college? I am an American. I am autistic.” The article about him was published on Fox News.com and it includes comments made by his mother. One of them says: “While universities currently offer specialized programs for blind, deaf, ESL and high-functioning Asperger’s students, there are little to no options for more severely autistic children.” Obviously, we all have to continue fighting for the principles advocated by UDL do not remain at the theoretical level, but rather to make education truly accessible for everyone.

References:

-Crees, A. (2012, April 6). Young man with autism appeals to Obama | Fox News. Fox News - Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos & News Videos. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/04/06/young-man-with-autism-appeals-to-obama/

-Photo credit to LShave on Flickr


-Maloy, R. W., Verock-O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P. (2011). Promoting Success for All Students through Technology. Transforming learning with new technologies (pp. 277-279). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.