Blog #4 Formative vs. Summative Assessment

Discuss the differences between Formative and Summative assessment (do a little research if you need to)? If you had to break it down into more workable terms, how would you define the two? Why are both important? Discuss what you learned, how you feel this idea affects students of varying needs/learning styles/disabilities, and the pitfalls of doing too much or too little of one or both. Discuss how it has felt to evaluate one another! Blog by Sunday, 9/20 and respond by class time Thursday, 9/24.

Blog #9 Socratic Seminars

Socratic Seminar – How can a Socratic Seminar be used to facilitate an inclusive setting? How would doing a Socratic Seminar differentiate learning? How could it help kids of varying special needs? We talked about it in class today...how well were you listening? Can you apply what you heard? Talk about at least 3 different types of special needs students who could benefit from a Socratic, and discuss the "how and why" of those benefits. This is deeper application, so don't just skim the surface here. 

Grade: 20 pts. for the blog; 3 pts. per response and respond to 4 classmates. Don't just agree...have a discussion here. For 3 pts., I want to see you truly thinking critically about this.
Blog by Tuesday, April 28^th and respond to 4 classmates by Friday, May 1^st  

Blog #8 DLU Presentation & Implementation

AFTER you present, post a response that includes: 1. What was toughest for you in creating your unit? 2. How do you feel your presentation went? and finally, 3. How realistic were your accommodations and how hard do you really think implementing your lesson to diverse learners will really be?
Post as quickly as possible after your presentation (within 3 days, if possible). Respond to the folks who presented on the same day as you (I've saved the sign-up sheet on Dropbox in the Diverse Learner Unit folder).

Blog #7 Backward Design

Diverse Learner Unit/Backward Design
What is the value of Backward Design, what are the drawbacks, and how do you think Backward Design can play a role in your future classroom? Be sure you can make a connection between what you are learning and how you will use it in your future classes. Consult the article "Principles of Backward Design" in the Diverse Learner Unit folder in Dropbox if you feel you need more information about Backward Design. Blog by Friday, March 13 and respond to at least 4 classmates by class time Monday, March 16.    

Blog #6 Gallery Walk (and what it means to interact with one another's reading responses)

How can doing a Gallery Walk (and the preparing to do one) meet the needs of more learners than a simple "read and write about it" activity? How is it more inclusive? Or can you make an argument that it might be less inclusive for some? Be specific! Blog by Friday midnight, and respond to at least 4 classmates by class on Monday (note that you do not have to just respond to your compass group!).

Jim and Tyler Blog for Assessment

FOR IN-CLASS WORK -- DO NOT COMPLETE
1. Which UDL guideline do you believe is the most crucial for creating an inclusive classroom?  How will you implement this principle into your classroom?

2. What does it mean for a curriculum to be disabled?  Give an example of a disabled curriculum you have experienced as a student, and explain how it could be corrected.

Blog by Monday, March 2.  Respond by Sunday, March 8.

Blog #5 Assessments and UDL

Discuss the value of formative and summative assessment. Both have a place in education, and when dealing with the needs of all learners, it is very important to know the difference and be able to implement both in your curriculum. How does that fit into the Universal Design for Learning? Be sure to address both! Blog by Wednesday, Feb. 18th, and respond to your compass group by Sunday, Feb. 22nd.

Blog #3 Applying Different Learning & Teaching Styles

You have now applied various types of learning and teaching: creating learning styles activities, jigsawing, evaluating one another. Blog about doing/creating learning styles activities, about being collaborative by jigsawing a reading, and how it felt to evaluate one another. Various task cards can get students playing with concepts, definitions, and various levels of thinking. Other learning styles have included flip chutes, electraboards, all kinds of matching games, and plenty of other ideas. These are great hands-on ways to engage students, but ultimately, they will learn the most when they do these activities and then create their own. It will be the application and implementation that will truly make it meaningful. So how could you use these ideas of the teacher using these strategies AND having STUDENTS create/use these strategies to help them be in charge of their own learning? How did it feel for you as a student but then also, how will you implement these activities as a teacher? Blog by Tuesday night, and respond to your compass group classmates by Thursday, Feb. 5th.  

Blog #2 -- Jigsawing, Whiteboarding, and Sharing, Oh My!

React to how this style of learning (jigsawing, whiteboarding, the various learning styles activities you're creating, even the idea of small group whiteboarding before whole group sharing) could help kids with varying needs. Think of various types of special needs kids and address at least 3 different types for your blog (examples: gifted kids, those who are ADHD or ADD, someone who is visual vs. auditory, ODD, struggling reader, dyslexic, etc.). Blog by Sunday, Jan. 25^th; respond to each of your compass group members by Tuesday, Jan. 27^th

How do our learning styles affect learning? Blog #1

After watching the UDL video and completing your own Learning Styles Inventories, you now have an idea that we all learn differently. No matter our level of intelligence, we all need material presented, consumed, and applied in different ways, and how smart we are does not always equal how much or how well we learn. How does that make you feel as a future teacher? What will you do to accommodate for that? How does that apply to you as a student here at WC (i.e. does it explain classes you've excelled in and/or fallen short)? Discuss! Post by classtime Wednesday, Jan. 21. Respond to your Leadership Groupmates by classtime Friday, Jan. 23rd.