Week+3+Reflection

Week 3 Reflection

I loved the videos this week of different students showing what they could do when given the technology. What I felt was missing was the teachers behind the students encouraging the students to explore and the amount of money that it cost the school district to setup and maintain the technology. Imagine what school districts could do with unlimited resources. School would be able to have the most recent and best technology available, moving toward "the new Technology High School" (Solomon & Schrum, 2007) I beleive school districts need to spend their resources on what the Teachers can do and want to do. To spend money on technology that Teachers won't use is like buying an expensive book holder. Schools still need the teachers that are comfortable with the technology or who are at least willing to allow students to explore the technology tools.

Solomon, G., and Schrum, L. (2007) Web 2.0: New tools, new schools/ Washington, D.C. International Society of Technology in Education (ITSE)

Week 3 UDL Lesson Reflection

I did my UDL lesson plan on Scratch. Scratch is a program that I believe can and should be used at all levels of Education. It was designed for Junior High School, but is used by Harvard Computer Science Department to teacher first year Computer Science courses. While I am uncomfortable with fifth grade Science, when I saw the pictures of the Life Cycles of different animals, a lesson in making an animation of the Life Cycles of different animals seemed like a natural fit for Scratch and something that I believe a 5th grade student should be able to accomplish.

My son (who is in 6th grade) loves Scratch and thinks of it as a game. He has made numerous games with it all the while learning different Computer Science techniques with-out realizing it. Taking this into consideration I developed a Scratch lesson for Life Cycles that I felt was appropriate for the 5th grade classroom.

I felt that using scratch and showing the different Life Cycles allowed for students to show multiple abilities and show off different skills. For instance a student that loves to draw or paint can spend more time making the pictures better and more realistic. Students that are better with technology can find pictures on the Internet of the Life Cycles. Students who are faster with finishing assignments can make the assignment better by adding a background or other Animation to the Scratch program. I felt this program allowed for many students to show off their own abilities and creativity.