UDL Lesson Template

Whew! That's what my brain is saying after using the UDL template found on the CAST website. UDL stands for Universal Design for Learning. If you have never heard of this idea before, think about a building that was recently built. It should have all of the necessary structures included to allow access to all people, including those with disabilities. When I think about my church, which is over 100 years old, it really makes me understand the necessity of having "universal design." I didn't even know that there was a term for the ramps, handicapped seating, and elevators that we need to incorporate at my church. (Well, we do have seating and one elevator, but it leads to the basement, not the choir loft.)

The UDL framework incorporates three main networks for learning. If you go to the website, I highly recommend clicking on the link to learn about UDL and then on "Try a Fun Activity." Better yet, here is the activity.

1. Recognition Network

You will navigate through a few pages while viewing the same photograph. The first time you view it, you name objects in the photo. This is a demonstration of your recognition network, the network that quickly notices concepts that are familiar. I noticed a boy, a woman, a man, a chair, a door, and a frame, to name a few. This is basically WHAT you understand.

2. Strategic Network

The second time you view the photo, you are asked to explain what you see, or the purpose of the objects you identified. This is a way to exercise your strategic network, which helps you to make conclusions or inferences based on your observation and gained knowledge. I said the people were in their 30's-40's, that they lived in the early 20th century, and that the woman was surprised to see the man come home. This is WHY you understand.

3. Affective Network

The third time you view the photo, you don't actually see the photo, but you see an image of the direction of eye movement that people's eyes take when viewing the photo. Then you are asked to view the photo and explain why you think you notice parts of the photo before other parts. Here you are using your affective network, or the network that helps you to understand HOW you understand. I said that I noticed the woman first because of her dark dress and then the man because the woman was turned towards him.

Isn't that interesting? I've never looked at a photo 3 times in that way.
There is a lesson planning template that is focused on UDL, which has teachers create lessons that are geared to include the learning of all students, including those with disabilities, gifted children, or students in the special education program. It really made me think about ways to reach all of them. How do I make sure the blind student can participate, how do the gifted students remain engaged and challenged, and how do we create formative assessments that are individualized? It was a great lesson in individualized instruction.

Here is the Energy lesson that I planned.
Enjoy!

The Texas STaR Chart: Teaching and Learning

Let me throw out a few acronyms from the educational field.  NCLB, LRPT, STaR Chart, SBEC.  I won't even get into Special Education.  That would be a different day's blog.

So I've started my Masters this summer, and here I am, trying to balance work and my online masters curriculum, singing in the church choir on Sundays, my yoga class, and my husband.  That list is not in any sort of order, by the way.  My Concepts of Educational Technology class has introduced new acronyms in the world of educational technology.  And on top of it all, part of this week's assignment asks us to start a blog.  After a brief hesitation, I think, "Huh. That's a cool assignment."  And here we go....

Does anyone remember the days when a visit to the computer lab included a room of Macintosh computers loaded with the lemonade stand game?  How about learning the use of "writeline" (or was it "writeLn"?) in the procedural programming language of Pascal during a Computer Science class?  I remember claiming victory as my name would sprawl all over the screen, knowing that I had set up the program correctly.  Ah, the technology highlights of my youth--1984 (when I was in 4th grade) and 1993 (as a senior in high school).  Today I'll comment on the changing face of education in light of a technology-dependent world.

School Ratings - Blue Ribbon- check, Exemplary- check, Target Tech?

Many of our friends are starting families, and the core of our dinner conversations naturally pull toward the quality of schooling in our neighborhoods.  One couple is happy with the school district through the high school level, while another is happy with the elementary school only-- beyond that, private school or moving are the two options for them.  What we know is that a "Blue Ribbon" designation is given to schools identified by national standards while the "Exemplary" rating is a state designation.  Will we be looking for "Target Tech" schools as well?  What does "Target Tech" mean anyway?

"Target Tech" on a Campus Assessment: The Texas STaR Chart

"a tool designed for use in technology planning, budgeting for resources, and evaluation of progress in local technology projects"

The Texas STaR Chart is a way to assess the campus' status in reaching goals set by the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology (LRPT) 2006-2020, which includes increased student achievement that includes seamless technology integration across the curriculum.  Starting in 2006, educators were required to complete the online STaR Chart on an annual basis, resulting in a campus report regarding technology preparedness and integration.   With the STaR Chart, schools are dubbed one of the following progress levels across four key areas:

Early Tech

Developing Tech

Advanced Tech

Target Tech

The goal for every Texas campus is to reach the highest level, the "Target Tech" status, across all four areas, by 2020. 

Key Areas: The basis for an excellent 21st Century education

The Texas LRPT recommends technology integration in four key areas.  They are:

         1. Teaching and Learning

         2. Educator Preparation and Development

         3. Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support

         4. Infrastructure for Technology

Key Area 1:  Teaching and Learning 

As a current 6th grade science teacher, the area of Teaching and Learning jumps out at me because it is most relevant to my daily work.  

Six categories comprise the Teaching and Learning key area:

TL1:  Patterns of Classroom Use

The progress levels range from using technology for teacher-centered lectures to a seamless integration of technology in a student-centered learning environment.

TL2:  Frequency/Design of Instructional Setting Using Digital Content

Progress levels range from the occasional use of technology in the classroom of library to an on-demand access to resources and technology.

TL3:  Content Area Connections

Progress levels range from using technology for basic skills with little connection to content, to a seamless application of technology beyond the boundaries of the classroom and related to all content areas.

TL4:  Technology Applications (TA) TEKS Implementation

Progress levels in the K-8 grades range from an awareness of the TA TEKS to a working knowledge and integration of the TA TEKS.   At the secondary level, the lowest level offers 4 high school TA courses while the highest level offers and teaches at least 4 TA courses, as well as offering them as independent study.

TL5:  Student Mastery of Technology Applications (TA) TEKS

Progress levels range from 25% of students mastering the TA TEKS to 86-100% of the students showing mastery.

TL6:  Online Learning

Progress levels range from using a few web-based learning activities to teachers who create and integrate web-based lessons that include interactive communication and online content grounded in the TA TEKS.

Progress and Trends within the Teaching and Learning Key Area

District:  Highland Park ISD (in Dallas, TX)

Campus:  McCulloch Intermediate School (MIS)

2006-2007

MIS scored 14 points and was classified as Developing Tech.  

On a state level, MIS was among 73.6% of Texas schools who were also labeled Developing Tech.

2007-2008

MIS scored 17 points, classifying the campus Advanced Tech.

On a state level, Texas 25.5% of the schools who completed the STaR Chart, were classified Advanced Tech.  The majority of schools (69.7%) reached the Developing Tech level.  Therefore, MIS found itself in the minority group of schools who were Advanced Tech or Target Tech.

2008-2009

MIS scored 16 points in the Teaching and Learning Key Area, classifying MIS Advanced Tech.

Overall, MIS has shown an increase in the Teaching and Learning Key Area, graduating from Developing Tech to Advanced Tech.  Compared to state data, MIS is now a part of the upper crust of Texas schools that are Advanced and Target Tech schools in the area of Teaching and Learning.  As far as national progress, the STaR Chart helps campuses to keep track of their status concerning reaching goals set by No Child Left Behind.  According to NCLB, all eighth graders should be considered technology literate before entering their Freshman year in high school, and teachers should show technology literacy as well as integrate technology into the classroom.  As MIS works towards the Target Tech progress level in each area of the LRPT, by 2020 it should be a Target Tech campus fulfilling the requirements of NCLB.

How can we improve in Teaching and Learning?

There are several challenges in this area.  

1. Many of us learned while our teachers taught.

Isn't that how it goes?  Students are recipients of learning as given to them by their teachers?  Actually, students are participants in their own learning now.  Gone are the days of lecture notes and ditto sheets.  Enter problem-solving, collaborative grouping, and (yikes!) movement around a classroom.

Recommendations for improvement: Educators will need to see themselves as facilitators in the classroom.  Student-centered learning accompanies dynamic rooms with collaboration between students and problem-solving that requires higher-order thinking skills.  The article "Real Projects in a Digital World" by Suzie Boss and Jane Krauss discusses the shift from traditional project-based instruction towards project-based instruction that involves the integration of technology, creating opportunities to expand the classroom boundaries to gain real-world experiences.  We want them to become global thinkers.  Let's provide global experiences.

2. We are in a Digital Age.

What's so challenging about that, you say?  Do you remember your Encyclopedia set?  I had one set of traditional, alphabetically-arranged, navy encyclopedia books, a set of Charlie Brown Encyclopedia books (my favorites for obvious reasons) arranged by topic, and a set of Classic Literature reference-style, encyclopedia-looking books (those became really cool after college when I truly learned to appreciate the Classics).  Think of how you access information now.  If you had to write a research paper, where would you go?  Google.  I know you're thinking it.  Go ahead and say it out loud.  I promise I can't hear you.  Kids today have such an enormous amount of information to them via the Internet, that they must be taught not just how to access it, but how to determine its validity, its relevance to their task at hand, and how to manipulate it in order to present it in a compelling way.

Recommendations for improvement:  Educators need to become learners and participate in professional development opportunities that will bring new technology skills to their daily tasks.  

Such professional development should be "just-enough" for teachers to take back to their rooms to use immediately, as stated in Mary Burns' article "From Compliance to Commitment: Technology as a Catalyst For Communities of Learning."  One does not have to be an expert to work with technology.  Creating an online learning experience will have students excited about school.

3. Kids are different.

When did you buy your first cell phone?  My students have had a cell phone at least 1 year, and they are 12 years old.  They have apps I've never heard of and games I've never played.  I am considering an iPhone once my Sprint contract ends so that I can keep up with them.  Henceforth, our challenge as educators is to be technology literate enough to teach them how to incorporate what they already use into their learning experiences.

Recommendations for improvement:  Campus leaders should support new devices and gadgets that can be incorporated into learning.  At MIS, teachers use laptops, iPods, digital cameras, and a host of fun web-based applications that give ordinary lessons a splash of technology color.  Students are very comfortable with "punching buttons" to see how a gadget works and by clicking around the screen to navigate around a website.  Teachers should take advantage of these traits!  Also, educators should share ideas among co-workers.  Reading literature about a new piece of technology or a new way to use existing technology to implement the TA TEKS can really add quality to a lesson or classroom experience.  By reading about tools that will improve their own efficiency and time management, such as Scott McLeod's "Document-Management Tools" from techlearning.com, educators can add one more best practice to his or her daily work.

Where will all of our hard work get us?  Let us remember the goal of education.  

Student achievement.  

If we work with increased student achievement in mind, the integration of technology into our classrooms will be important enough to make necessary changes to close the gap between our students and our own school-aged experiences with technology in school.

Is Your School Technology-Ready?

Check out this SlideShare Presentation created by Rina Almarez for Concepts of Educational Technology, Lamar University Academic Partnerships course 5306:

STaR Chart

View more presentations from rinaalmarez.