Here we go! Now this is my area that I am good at, at least I hope so! My life from 8-4 is all about differentiated instruction and UDL! I have eight children in my classroom, K-2, two boys and six girls all with IQ's less than 70. All of them are very complicated in their own way. I have three children that are "SXI" or severely multiply impaired. Four are non-verbal, four are diapered, one is Down's Syndrome and ASD, one just Down's Syndrome, two have the same genetic syndrome called Wolf Hirschhorn that is one in 200,000 births (and I have two, very odd!) two children born significantly premature with significant delays, and a seizure student. There IEP goals go from keeping eye contact with an adult for seven seconds to reading at a DRA level 8. Most of the students also receive OT, PT and Speech and Language services. So I am all about differentiating my instruction!
So I read the Scholastic article on differentiated instruction and yes, this is what I do. All my children have a folder that I keep daily logs on. They also have a bucket/box that holds academic that address their individual needs, a speech and language folder with specific tasks, adaptive equipment such as pencil holders and grips. On the wall above these boxes are "I Can statements" for each child (targeted learning). Here the children's goals (academic, OT, PT & S/L) are stated so that everyone can see what the expectations are for each child. There is also an area for OT and PT to give activities and academic indicators such as sight words and number knowledge. All staff (I have four paraedcuators that work in my room) can reference this board and the boxes so that each child has activities based on their needs.
Each day we do at least two "groups" or "circle time" activities with oral language, shared reading, movement activities, written language activities and hands on manipulatives. During these group activities we still differentiate based on children's needs so that everyone is able to participate and be successful. For some this is oral based conversation and for some it is participation at their level. I feel this one of the most important times of the day as each child has a "bar" that is set for them to reach. Once they have reached that bar, we move it up a bit and strive to improve our skills. For some of my children their bar is considerably lower than other children but they are able to see and hear higher levels of conversation going on and benefit from the experience. And some of my children may never "speak" but that does not mean that they don't understand the conversation. The remainder of the day is used for small group and individual instruction focused on literacy and math.
From here I went to the article on differentiating instruction and UBD. http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/kn-05-01.pdf
I think one of the biggest issues with not using technology more in the classroom has to do with time! In my district, at the elementary level, we have C.O.R.E. to implement, a new math curriculum (that we were given in August) and coordinating book study, staff meetings, DATA meetings, SAT meetings, PLC, Rubicon, IEP's, math and literacy "road shows", M-Step, 5D+ with three rounds of evaluation and paperwork, specials that revolve in a four day cycle with one having a no special day, DIBELS (literacy & math) with interventions, RTI, DRA, three rounds of report cards with parent teacher conference for two days in between each set of written report cards, and then we also need to plan, grade and teach our students. I would love to have time to show the rest of the staff many of the things I have learned through 21 Things but honestly, I don't think anyone would come!
Each day we do at least two "groups" or "circle time" activities with oral language, shared reading, movement activities, written language activities and hands on manipulatives. During these group activities we still differentiate based on children's needs so that everyone is able to participate and be successful. For some this is oral based conversation and for some it is participation at their level. I feel this one of the most important times of the day as each child has a "bar" that is set for them to reach. Once they have reached that bar, we move it up a bit and strive to improve our skills. For some of my children their bar is considerably lower than other children but they are able to see and hear higher levels of conversation going on and benefit from the experience. And some of my children may never "speak" but that does not mean that they don't understand the conversation. The remainder of the day is used for small group and individual instruction focused on literacy and math.
From here I went to the article on differentiating instruction and UBD. http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/kn-05-01.pdf
I think one of the biggest issues with not using technology more in the classroom has to do with time! In my district, at the elementary level, we have C.O.R.E. to implement, a new math curriculum (that we were given in August) and coordinating book study, staff meetings, DATA meetings, SAT meetings, PLC, Rubicon, IEP's, math and literacy "road shows", M-Step, 5D+ with three rounds of evaluation and paperwork, specials that revolve in a four day cycle with one having a no special day, DIBELS (literacy & math) with interventions, RTI, DRA, three rounds of report cards with parent teacher conference for two days in between each set of written report cards, and then we also need to plan, grade and teach our students. I would love to have time to show the rest of the staff many of the things I have learned through 21 Things but honestly, I don't think anyone would come!
Next I went into UDL Strategies and looked at the different categories. We have been using UDL in my district for many years and so I am very familiar with the work. I use a lot of visuals in my room such as PEC, picture charts, communication boards and books, schedules, etc so I went into the visual category for this picture. http://udlstrategies.wikispaces.com/Make+Learning+Visual I just used PhotoPeach recently and thought the program was simple and easy to use. I could definitely used this program more frequently in my classroom to enhance the use of technology with my students.
Lastly, I went into Yakitome. https://www.yakitome.com/tts/text_to_speech/Welcome-to-YAKiToMe?b=None
I used one of my Daily Notes that I use to inform my parents about what we are doing in class. Since so many of my children are non-verbal or struggle with speech and language issues, my Daily Notes give them a start point for what we did in school. It also gives them our crazy ABCD schedule so they know if they need to send in gym shoes or a library book.
I used one of my Daily Notes that I use to inform my parents about what we are doing in class. Since so many of my children are non-verbal or struggle with speech and language issues, my Daily Notes give them a start point for what we did in school. It also gives them our crazy ABCD schedule so they know if they need to send in gym shoes or a library book.