EDUC 6714 Course Reflection

During my time in the course, Reaching and Engaging All Learners through Technology, I learned about differentiated instruction and universal design for learning. I learned what they are, how they are related, how to implement them, and about the potential they have to positively impact student motivation and learning. However, since I currently am not teaching full-time and I am using lesson plans that have been created for me by the teachers I am subbing for, there are no immediate adjustments to my instructional practice that I can make as a result of that learning.

If I were teaching full-time in my own classroom currently, the immediate adjustments I would make would be to create more learning activity options for my students in regards to different levels of support materials, learning methods, and varying interests to better meet their individual needs. I would teach my students about how each of them bring their own unique learning circumstances with them including how they learn best, what interests them, and how much background information they already possess about the topic. I would guide them in choosing learning options that provide the proper amount of challenge for them and best support their individual learning. I would then take a step back from being the classroom leader, to instead become a facilitator to assist my students in taking the leadership role in their own learning. Technology would play a central role in helping to provide these options through internet resources and media that go beyond the textbook, different learning activities and tutorials, and ways in which students can demonstrate their learning and understanding.

If I return to full-time teaching, it will most likely be in the role of a homebound teacher. In this case I would be working with a small number of students on a primarily one on one basis. Here again, the primary role I would take would be that as a facilitator although I would be able to provide even more focus on meeting the individual learning needs of my students. The technology that is available will most likely vary depending on what technology each student has in his or her home, but I would do the best that I could to use any of that technology in providing appropriate resources and media, learning activities, and options for demonstrating learning to the student or students I am working with.