I have been somewhat preoccupied this week with the death of my uncle and the realization that complete end of an era is upon my extended family. There are few left who play major adult roles in the memories of my youth. It is the cycle of life and we all know that it will happen but that knowledge doesn't change the process.
In my preoccupation, I found it difficult to focus. Although the information from the reading is not new and not difficult to comprehend I find myself having re-watch the short and to the point videos and re-read the assigned text. Therefore, I will comment on these things in the order I watch or read them while the covered information is fresh in my mind.
UDL is a simple concept. Accommodations or modification made for a specific need can and do benefit everyone. Universal Design is applicable to all of society, not only education. Since we do not live in a one size fits all world, this concept shares its foundation with Constructivism. I know this is over simplifying as it has taken many years for the the concept and society to evolve to the point of being able to accept and acknowledge that the group dynamics and services needed to change in order to be respectful and inclusive.
While Constructivism is not new, maybe we as a whole society can finally make the most of it through new and constantly evolving technologies. Technologies are changing the way we perceive education.
The readings this week did not really teach anything new except UDL and that isn't new it is just in a different context. There are so many letters floating around education these days it is sometimes hard to keep them all straight. LFS, UbD, UDL, what it all means is that we must be open to possibilities and helping all students succeed on their own terms instead of trying to force all students into a one size fits all education.
It seems that UDL will be the catalyst in helping teachers to integrate technology into their curriculum. "Instead of being "just one more thing," the UDL framework provides a way to make various approaches to educational change more feasible by incorporating new insights on learning and new applications of technology.." (Rose & Meyer 2002). Whether we are working within the framework of LFS, as we do in my district, or some other framework, UDL will act as a complement.
Like Steven Covey and LFS, our reading in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works (Pitler, et al, 2007) reinforces planning with the end in mind, while using technology to allow individualization for all students.
I believe that planning and objects are more to keep the teacher on track than the students. I still would rather allow students to construct their own learning to their own end. Let's face it we are not all cut out to be the same thing and while I believe we realize this on the level of accommodations and modifications we still do not want to acknowledge it when it come to student objectives and grading.
Why can't we change the course of education after elementary school, to placing students into paths that will enable them not only to excel in school but prepare them for life after high school? I believe that we are going to reach a point when there is just going to be too much information to learn in any given subject that we will have to completely restructure the school day/year as well as what we teach and how we teach it. I also believe that this is going to lead to greater use of "schools within schools" structure in order to meet not only the needs of diverse learners but overwhelming amounts of information.
Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology Web site. Chapter 1. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Chapters 1, 15-38.
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