Doug

Recap from 6/19/12

1. Now I know that it isn't impossible to balance 10 nails on the head of a single nail put into a board!

2. It was interesting to read that article about willing to be disturbed because it gave me a different perspective on accepting change and listening to other people's ideas. The more teachers that I am able to work with will give me a better chance to find other ways to help students learn.

3. The picture activity was also interesting to see and hear all the different perspectives on what everyone thought about the picture as well as what the felt when they saw the picture.

4. The thing that stuck with me the most is the story of Thomas and how he started off with no confidence in his academic ability and with the help of UDL and Mr. Mundorf tailoring the lessons to his strengths he became a very successful student. It was impressive to hear that story and we can all think of students that might fall into that category that we could help.

The Future is in the Margins: What parts of the text do you want to aspire to? I ultimately would like to be able to teach the model of UDL to other teachers in the future. In order to do that there is a lot of things I must be accomplish. The first part would be to be able to fully understand the ever changing UDL model so that way I can completely understand how to best use all the materials and resources that I might have access to. Next I would have to be able to understand each of my students and determine the what their strengths are so I can tailor each lesson to have them be successful. I will also have to make sure that I continually modify and adapt my lessons and choice boards to fit each student/class that I have each year. Another thing that will work best is to reflect on each lesson/choice board to be able to learn from what works and what didn't work.

6/21/12 There is still a lot that I don't completely understand and feel comfortable teaching others, but it is starting to make a lot more sense. The Future is in the Margins reading was very informatIive as to what the future holds and hold I as a teacher can help each student reach their full potential. Also, I have a better understanding about what the final product of the UDL model is supposed to be and the guidelines really helped to clear that up. Another great thing was the link for the UDL guidelines that had all the information to explain each guideline and checkpoint. Not only does this give you examples and some resources, but it also give you evidence of how it worked and other links to help you put your plans into motion. One thing that I still need to figure out is how I will get all of my students engaged in whatever my lessons will be which I will have to do more research from the Provide Multiple Means of Engagement section to help me better understand. I will also have to learn what is each student's best learning style and tailor each lesson and activity to help them be successful in my class.

I worked with Michelle to work on the 7th grade Combining like terms lesson that she attached to her wiki page.