Kaitlyn+Smarse

This is Kaitlyn's page.

Responses to 6/12 homework.

**Responses/Reflection to Learning Styles and CAST Website Resources** I was not surprised by my learning style. I have known for a while that I am a kinesthetic learner. In one of my college education courses, we had to take a similar test, and by reflecting on what classes I learned best in as well as by identifying with some of my students, I recognize that do a much better job when I am able to learn through active engagement or work on a task with support. The study skill that made me laugh the most was sitting in front of the room and taking as many notes as possible. I recently cleaned out a lot of my college materials, and in college, the only way I could focus and follow some of my lecture classes, was writing everything down; now I guess I know why it helped me.
 * 1) In completing the learning styles survey, did you learn anything new about your personal learning style, or did the information confirm what you have already determined about how you learn best? Were there any suggestions offered for improving your study skills that you had not considered before?

2. What was your overall impression of the CAST website? I was honestly overwhelmed by the amount of information on the CAST website, I wish I knew about it 3 years ago when I started teaching. I appreciated the example format varieties that were available, and that the site “practiced what it preached.” They have the BrowseAloud software, a variety of charts, and also made some of the pages interactive, even if it just meant clicking buttons to open extra information

3. Did you find any interesting information in the electronic version of **//Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age//**? Describe how you might incorporate that information in your teaching. When I was looking over the different chapters, one of the last sections I looked at was the Making Universal Design for Learning a Reality. I felt better the point I am at in my educational career because I was not familiar with the process. When the section talked about recommendations, awareness was the first step. As I discuss later, informing my administration about a potentially new philosophy is a great first step, and going through some of my units to try and incorporate new technologies to better support my students will be very important. For example, the Book Builder might make a fun project to scaffold assignments.

4. Differentiation of instruction is a topic that is stressed in public schools today. Did any of the resources provided at the CAST website give you some new tools in helping you plan lessons for all learners? I appreciated the breakdown of objectives and the charts that condense the mass amount of information. I liked the links to free tools that could help differentiate lesson plans to appeal to differentiation philosophies. In terms of a knowledge progression, it didn’t overload me with too many examples which I appreciated. I hope that if I create short term goals in my classroom that I can make improvement and not overwhelm my students with too many new strategies to master.

5. What was your reaction to the 2 activities in which you participated? Did you gain any new insight into your strengths and talents through these exercises? After doing the two activities, I was more surprised by the way my mind goes about processing activities. In the picture recognition activity, I was surprised at how the brain goes about answering a question based on the objective. In the diagrams that showed how the eyes focused on different points depending on what was asked was a significant data collection. When I chose to hike Mount Kahadin, I liked how we were able to include choice to the activity, but I approached it as a teaching exercise rather than as a student.

6. Many of my graduate students who are teachers have expressed concern that they don’t feel equipped to sufficiently plan differentiated lessons for their students, but they have responded quite positively to the materials at CAST. Is this a resource that you may put to use in your teaching or share with colleagues at your school? At this time, I can identify with your graduate students. I felt like the CAST material can be very beneficial, yet I cannot help but consider classes I teach and all of the material I cover which could potentially need to be revised. I will definitely forward this site to the Academic Dean and Director of Learning Support as potential tools, and I think that I could slowly start integrating this material into my revision process for next year. You don't want to bite off more than you can chew at first. I suggest starting slowly - with, perhaps, one lesson or unit - then taking time to evaluate and reflect upon what worked and what needs to be changed the next time. The more you work at it, the easier planning for differentiation will become easier.

7. What would you like to know/explore more at CAST? I would like to see more real-life applications of the CAST model. I liked how one section gave us a walk -through of an English teacher revising her noun-verb lesson plan, and if there were more premade lesson plans that I could tailor to my material, it would seem more attainable. When I explored the Toolkits, I found the Digital Content in the Classroom activity on The Monkey's Paw, but I was not sure how that would work in my classroom.

6/19 homework Reflection on virtual field trip

As I went through the field trip, I tried to remember I was completing it as a teacher as well as a student. With these two perspectives in mind, I enjoyed the concept and specifically the Portrait of Ports site. It was more interactive from a student's perspective, but from a teacher's, I would hope that students had the problem solving skills to navigate through an interactive site. I know this sounds like I doubt my students' abilities, but I simultaneously believe this would be a valuable problem solving skill for my students. As we have discussed before, students engage themselves when they can achieve instantanous reward, so if they are not invested in the project, it could be a struggle more for the teacher than student. What I did appreciate was that it gives students choice and the ability to go at their own pace. And, you could develop your own activities and questions to guide your students through the experience. Perhaps you would want to emphasize some content more than others - you can modify a virtual fieldtrip to accomplish your own objectives.

In numbers 2-4, I liked the open-ended questions, but for my 9th graders, I would probably ask more specific questions. Depending on the class, I might ask them to take screen shots, draw pictures either on or off the computer, or vary the way in which the students respond. If it is a field trip, some of the students might get more caught up answering the questions rather than absorbing information.

Overall, I enjoyed the activity, and it could be a fun way to integrate technology in my classroom. The virtural fieldtrip approach would definitely take more time compared to going over it together or in a class where they explore each site on their own with more teacher guidance. I envision this in my class as an interesting unit hook or introduction to a project. My one hesitation would be the potential amount of time it would take to prepare for this activity. It might be very worth it, but it could take awhile to pull all of the information together. Yes, it could take a while - perhaps a summer project?



6/26 assignments Toondo.com example cartoon- Despite the technology and the resources at their fingertips, kids will still be kids, right? Glogster Assignment on Multiple Intelligences

After using Glogster to create a Glog on Multiple Intelligences, I was surprised at the many functions the program had to offer. Initially, I was overwhelmed by the program and what I needed to include. After I went through the project’s guidelines, I organized what I needed to include.

Through the creation, I struggled with how best to present the necessary information. Like any poster, you do not want to overload the viewer’s eyes, and I felt like I initially did that more with Glogster rather than a traditional poster because of the many backgrounds and patterns. I found myself investing more time displaying the information through text boxes and colors rather than focusing on the facts.

From a student’s point of view, I found the options engaging and new. There is definitely a learning curve for the program, and I would make sure to walk the students through creating an account, the basic editing tools, and examples of what I would expect. Overall, I had a great experience.

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My Voki

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Final Project

For my final project, I created a project for my students using Glogster. Below is the Glog example for my students

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Attached is the UDL lesson plan I created for the project along with my reflection.

Attached is the project description and directions my students will receive.