Universal Design for Learning

The Universal Design for Learning consists of three parts including: broad learning goals for students, the ability to individualize learning to match the specific learning style of each student, and assessments to be sure that students are truly learning. With UDL the teacher takes a supporting role in helping students find meaning through analysis, problem solving, and synthesis rather than teaching one objective truth. UDL can reach all learners in the classroom because by reinforcing content with technology students who learn differently have the opportunity to learn with the method that best works for them. Additionally, teaching the material in different ways reinforces material for all the students in the class. For example, a teacher might use a website or printed materials to teach a lesson. Then, he or she might reinforce that lesson with a verbal explanation of the visual materials as well as e-text, which reads the material aloud. This way an auditory learner could better understand the material, and students who learn visually could have the material reinforced.

In my classroom I would like to use UDL principles. While teaching Shakespeare, I might find a website or e-text so that students could hear a play read aloud with headphones. I might also find visual images that represent the basic story line online and have the students put them in order. In this way, I would accomplish the general goal of teaching a Shakespeare play and the more individualized goals of matching each students learning style. At the end, I could give a brief quiz with basic material from the play to be sure students knew the necessary information.

Images in a High School English Class

Computer images could be very helpful in Secondary English Education. If we were studying a particular novel, one option might be to show art work from that same time, so that students could get a feel for the context of the novel. Additionally, if we were studying a particular author, it might be helpful to show images of that author throughout his or her life while lecturing about that author. Students could even take photographs of the outdoors and use them as illustrations in a compilation of their own poetry.

Overall, I think images are a good idea in any subject area because they are helpful for visual learners. Reinforcing verbal information with an image helps a teacher relate with more students that learn in different ways. If there is a way to involve students in finding images, that woud be helpful for a third group of learners that prefer a hands-on approach.

What is your vision for the appropriate use of technology in high schools today?

I think that using technology is important especially if the objective of education is to prepare students for the job market of the future. Even if it is not possible to teach students the more complex aspects of technology, they should at least learn the basics (word processing, powerpoint, how to find a credible internet source, etc...).

With the use of technology, it is important to monitor students so that they stay on task in the classroom. Using technology opens the door to students playing games in class or checking their e-mail. Additionally they can be involved in more serious infractions such as looking at inappropriate websites or cheating on assignments. Using technology is important, but standards for appropriate use of technology should be equally important to learning new programs or skills on computers.