acarpita

Reflection 1: I believe that for certain students, the curriculum status quo is appropriate and not disabling. Certain students have no problem or very few barriers. Our curriculum guide itself, is completely dysfunctional, but that's a separate matter. The curriculum as it exists is not completely disabled, but a teacher must know what pieces to pull, and use, vs. disregard. I know the crucial components. This includes the caveat that many times if my subject coordinator were to walk in and see my version of the curriculum, she would cringe. Yet, I am teaching so that my students can access the material. The reason it is disbled and disabling for some, in my humble opinion, is basically 3 pronged: More emphasis on content than necessary is imposed upon us in order to pass the HSA test. This translates into a warp-speed pace of presenting students with concepts, assessing their initial grasp of this after a very short amount of processing in a lab or activity or 2, then moving on to the next concept. The time does not exist to reteach unless students stay after school. We are constantly feeling like we must move on, move on. That exposes two barriers: emphasis on content (barrier 1) as reflected in the **required assessment** leaves no time (barrier 2) for reassurance of mastery for many students. Process is more important, but less tested. But to the point, there's not "chewing time" for any of it. The third barrier I feel, is technoligical. Our internet access is full of so many blocks, which causes too much difficulty to navigate. As a teacher, we are forced to spend extra time saving things at home, which could not be used for students, unless I did so. In school, on our network, I cannot access useful and engaging materials for my students. Period.

A trigger early on that we diuscussed in UDL, was that instead of differented instruction, it's a MORE "one-size", "approach lessons the most holistic way", method. An analogy that resonated with me was (no suprise) fashion related. The "little black dress" is about universal design for me. The idea of UDL is that all acess, all types of learners, and as many different avenues of engagement should be available to the learners as possible. Little black dress is a go-to, working for everybody in concept of comfort, appropriateness, ease, and success. Also, I'm immediately reminded that a little black dress may not be the same dress for every individual. THIS also reminds me of UDL. Obviously what makes me look and feel nice is not the same for every other woman. I have a "LBD" mneumonic for UDL. Little black dress, sexy reminds me of UDL this way: "learning becomes diversified, superceeding" LBDS. In UDL, the learning will be __diversified__ (all over the map) yet performing to one standard, or goal. The "sexy" part stands for 'superceeding', means that the worldwide web of options, the biggest dress shop possible for little black dresses is before a learner, laid out like a red carpet, welcoming a student to feel fitted and customized along the path of learning. Little black dress sexy = learning becomes diversified, superceeding. This makes sure that when our students get to the party of the lesson, or better: the assessment, they are in their best beautiful neutral. The learner should feel confident and knowledgeable and prepared for the "big event" of the assessment.
 * Menu:**
 * Appetizer**:

I reread Prensky's article on "Digital Natives Digital Immigrants". His premise is that the great divide in thinking between those who are adapting and rewiring our behavior as technology advances, vs. thriving and growing while technology advances is a huge barrier in education today. As educators, we are charged with engaging them, as well as fulfilling their potential. If helping them to feel even slightly engaged, interested, etc. is to speak their language- how dare we continue to speak gibberish? If fullfilling their potential is a digital and technological potential, how would we help them reach those goals by using a pencil and paper only? This article is an extremely useful one in convincing colleagues, by Pensky's nice articulation of these two cultures. We cannot go back in time and become digital natives. We also cannot deny that digital natives are growing their brains and pathways of behavior whether we share their style or not. How do we choose to actually "educate" our very genuinely formed poplutation? This is and extremely important question that MUST not be ignored.
 * Main Entree:**

I tried the "Brightstorm" link from Bergman's site section about Acess and Expression. There are multiple videos to refer students to, so that I can use them as reinforcement, "flipped" classroom, preteaching, etc. I will use this brightstorm site to diversify my presentation of info, but also will share it with my colleagues. What I like is that this website hasan extensive and very organized way of listing topics. What I find a bit of a concern is that the flash updates may be a barrier. I will be anxious to see whether or not I can acess this from my school account, or whether I will have to be at home saving it onto "zamzar".
 * Dessert:**

In traditional assessments for Biology, the main barrier for students is reading. When students are not identified with reading disabilities use kurzweil, or discuss the question aloud with the teacher, you can realy tell that they understand the advanced concepts. For those with definite reading disabilities, using kurzweil or discussing the question aloud is THEIR ONLY chance at letting me know they unerstand. Thus sets up the challenge that we don't have the staffing or the time (in almost any testing setting) to help every single student who is uncomfortable with the deluge alientating vocabulary.intrinsic in Biology. Teaching the vocabulary takes up so much of our lessons, that process and context of the concepts gets hurried if not skipped. This is a huge barrier of teaching this class to many types of learners.
 * Reflection 4:**

//Reading. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants // [|//Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants//]  // (course binder, tab 3) // 1. According to Marc Prensky, define the term, “Digital Native.” Digital Natives are ‘native speakers’ of technology, video games, computers, etc. They have known this type of format as a first source for most of their learning lives. 2. What does it mean to have a “digital immigrant accent”? We second-guess, and second check our emails with phone calls, or print out an email. The second step is what gives us away as immigrants. Natives would find it more natural to rely exclusively on the digital format, and hardly at all on paper. 3. Identify **one ** reason why Digital Natives have no patience for lectures or step-by-step logic. They would prefer parallel processing or multitasking. Logic as D. Immigrants defines it is too slow and single-tracked. 4. What is **one ** suggestion that Prensky advises Immigrant Teachers to try with their Native Students? He advocates giving them freedom to build a video game or program that demonstrates concept attainment. 5. See course binder, tab 3, page 4B. “Learning Preferences of the Digital Generation.”Select **one ** entry from each side of the chart. Provide a comment as to whether you agree with the finding or not. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">I agree that natives would like to network simultaneously with many others, and many immigrants and educators prefer to work independently first. I think this is because immigrants need the mental processing time and space independently first- while they sort the new learning. Natives are sorting while gaining the input, which is just intimidating and baffling for many immigrants. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">Reading**. 60-Second Guide to Digital Classrooms** // [] <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">I had not started to think of the real cost difference of ebooks and printed textbooks. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">In ibooks, to know that I could probably go create something with little or no background in computer programming is so exciting! <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">I am concerned, as this author points out that the ethics of using the web are not being emphasized. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">Issues of plaigerism, valid sources, bias, etc will be lost as students are let loose on the great sea of the internet without an essential compass. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">1. Explain in **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">5 – 10 **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;"> sentences. Did the organization of this graphic help you compare and contrast the information, or did the organization confuse you? Why? Why not? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">I am glad to know that such a ‘cheat sheet’ exists. The info ins present and thorough. The actual layout of this sheet is not user-friendly for me. I could better utilize a data sheet style, where the rows were the different social media venues, and the columns were the pros, cons, lingo, audience, steps, etc. So overall, I find this page helpful, but not intuitive. It isn’t prohibitively confusing, but it’s not my ideal layout. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">1. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">Explain your answer in 5 – 10 sentences. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">One of the ways a school district is utilizing social media in its schools is by using Gaggle.net. Do you think your school system would benefit from having Gaggle? Why? or Why not? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px;">I think school would benefit from gaggle.net. The social networking aspect spans different social classes and cultures, which is universal. The access and appeal of such a network would connect more different students who currently claim ‘boredom’, or feel underwhelmed by our status quo for teaching. I think that parent involvement would be increased,and the feeling of security (as filters for appropriateness are already in place) would be important.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">1. Highlight **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;"> 3 **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">interesting points shared in this article. **
 * //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">Reading //**//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">. Need a Cheat Sheet for Social Media? // [media/39546/]
 * //<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">Reading //**//<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 20px;">. Ten ways schools are using social media effectively // [media-effectively/]