AdrienneR

**__Intro__**
My name is Adrienne Crossman but you will find me calling myself Adrienne R or Adrienne Ramey because I was just married on July 1st and came home from our vacation/honeymoon/destination wedding two days ago. I am currently teaching at MacArthur Middle School in Anne Arundel County. I teach art in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. I am taking this course for a few reasons... 1. I am 4 credits away from my masters + 30 (and therefore a pay raise... yaaayyy)... 2. This sounded like the most interesting course through Gratz RTC (I've taken one other course last summer)... and 3. I would like to start taking my students to the computer lab once in a while and eventually I see myself teaching high school art (and chances are I'd be teaching a photo digital class), so focusing on digital learning should really be a big help for me.

__I Am Poem__
Glenn (aka G, the Dizz), emma (aka lil' e, emmy, rat dog, tick butt, frenchie), Adrienne (A, Andy, blondie) Glenn's year old green Nissan Cube (Booger) Poppop, Nana, Mommom JD Bake (my brother), Spock, Andy (my softball nicknames) Crabs, Homemade ice cream, hotdogs and hamburgers The Wave, Moab, Corolla, Nissan, Newark, The Brick, High Sierra Trail I can call myself an artist (100%) My artwork

__**Willing To Be Disturbed**__

 * Willingness to have our beliefs and ideas challenged by what others think
 * No one person or perspective can give us all the answers.
 * What can others add to your understanding
 * You must be willing to change, leave your comfort zone
 * Curiosity is a gift, use it to your advantage. Use it for discovery[[image:http://mysoulmission.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/comfort-zone.jpg width="250" height="172" align="right" caption="Leave your comfort zone"]]
 * "My way or the highway" gets you nowhere
 * Keep your own beliefs but be willing to listen to others
 * See a situation from another perspective
 * Collaboration

No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

John Donne, 1624 Meditation XVII, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

**__[|UDL (Universal Design for Learning)]__**
A universally designed curriculum contains the following:
 * Multiple means of **__representation__** to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge
 * Multiple means of **__expression__** to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know
 * Multiple means of **__engagement__** to tap into learners’ interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn

[|Representation]
> -Offer ways of customizing the display of information -Offer alternatives for auditory information -Offer alternatives for visual information -Clarify vocabulary and symbols -Clarify syntax and structure -Support decoding text, mathematical notation, an symbols -Promote understanding across languages -Illustrate through multiple media -Activate or supply background knowledge -Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships -Guide information processing, visualization, and manipulation -Maximize transfer and generalization
 * Perception:
 * Language, expressions, and symbols
 * Comprehension

[|Expression]
-Vary the methods for response and navigation -Optimize access to tools and assistive technologies -Use multiple media for communication -Use multiple tools for construction and composition -Build fluencies with graduated levels of support for practice and performance -Guide appropriate goal-setting -Support planning and strategy development -Facilitate managing information and resources -Enhance capacity for monitoring progress
 * Physical Action
 * Expression and Communication
 * Executive Functions

[|Engagement]
-Optimize individual choice and autonomy -Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity -Minimize threats and distractions -Heighten salience of goals and objectives -Vary demands and resources to optimize challenge -Foster collaboration and communication Increase mastery-orientated feedback -Promote expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation -Facilitate personal coping skills and strategies -Develop self-assessment and reflection
 * Recruiting Interest
 * Sustaining Effort and Persistence
 * Self-Regulation

Why We Need Flexible Instructional Media
> The brain processes sound, printed text, and images in three networks that potential problems can occur for learners: 1. Recognition 2. Strategic (comprehension, making connections) 3. Affective (emotional)
 * Key Ideas:
 * Learners' capacities are not inherent; capacities are defined by the interplay between learners' abilities and the tools they use.
 * Traditional classroom __ [|materials] __ and __ [|media] __, like books and speech, come in "one size" for all, but they do not fit everyone. Inflexible__ [|media] __ actually create barriers to learning.
 * New classroom __ [|media] __, like digital text, sound, images, and the World Wide Web, can be adjusted for different individuals and can open doors to learning.

Digital media:
 * The ability to easily add and subtract what you do and don't need
 * Captions on video to help with hearing and comprehension

What Is Universal Design For Learning?
Our UDL visual presentation [|Concept web]  [|ClassProfileTemplate.pdf]  [|CurriculumBarriersTemplate.pdf]  [|UDLSolutionsTemplate.pdf]

Using UDL to Support Every Student's Learning

 * **- Figure 6.1 -**
 * Network-Appropriate**
 * Teaching Methods** ||
 * **To support diverse recognition networks:**
 * Provide multiple examples (seeing, hearing, smelling, or touching)
 * Highlight critical features (photos, drawings, bold font, pitch, facial expression)
 * Provide multiple media and formats (choices, level of detail depth, increases access)
 * Support background context. (reflect, vocab, and direct to additional materials)


 * To support diverse strategic networks:**
 * Provide flexible models of skilled performance (multiple models showing many ways in 1:1, small group, online, etc.
 * Provide opportunities to practice with supports (practice and practice until automatic)
 * Provide ongoing, relevant feedback (Immediate and often so practice is correct and self- monitoring)
 * Offer flexible opportunities for demonstrating skill. (gives reasons of why, gives time to reflect)


 * To support diverse affective network:**
 * Offer choices of content and tools (listening to music, getting outdoors, watching movies via websites)
 * Offer adjustable levels of challenge (challenge just beyond, just out of reach)
 * Offer choices of rewards (goal: in order to be interested in learning)
 * Offer choices of learning context (noisy vs quiet, on own, guided) ||

**__Reflection #1__**
// At the core of UDL is the premise that often the curriculum is disabled (and disabling!). It is not flexible; it often poses barriers, and // // consequently prevents rather than supports optimal learning experiences. Do you agree or disagree with this view? Why or why not? //

I would have to say that I agree with this statement in some respects. Not everyone learns and performs and demonstrates their knowledge in the same way yet many curriculums have guidelines stating exactly how a teacher is to instruct students, what projects the students are to complete, and how the students will be assessed. Both learning disabled, "average" students, and gifted and talented students all have their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to obtaining and demonstrating knowledge but the curriculum does not usually easily allow students to focus on their strengths. Instead, students must attempt to process information and demonstrate their knowledge in the format given to them. Some students are up to this challenge, some attempt to succeed but fail, some decide not to try at all.

I would also have to say however that some curriculums may be very flexible yet the teacher/school does not have the materials to make UDL work. For example, the art pacing guide that I teach from is extremely loose. As long as I cover certain topics sometime throughout the year and have the students create products, I'm good (for the most part). But my students are not allowed to have electronic devices in school. (I've had students with behavior management issues that I KNOW would do their work more successfully and allow others around them to work undisturbed if that child were allowed to listen to their music. But by allowing that student to listen to their must means that I am breaking a school rule and I could get into trouble for it. And playing music for the whole class does not usually help those particularly difficult students to focus.) We have a high number of poverty students, many of whom do not have consistent access to a computer and high speed internet at home. We have 2-3 computer labs but I have to sign up for those along with the rest of the school (not to mention my class size is often bigger than the number of computers in the lab). I teach 12 classes on an ABC day rotating schedule... can you imagine the probability of me getting all of my classes to the computer lab within the same week? And what if we need the computer lab for two consecutive classes? That would be 6 straight days in a lab. Wikipedia (and I'm guessing other wikis) are blocked. Youtube is blocked. I cannot install software on my computer "without an administrator's approval." My curriculum allows for UDL but my school does not.

[|UDL according to the Maryland State Dept. of Education (A Route for Every Learner)] pdf file ==

Cool Interactive Sites== [|Prezi]... so cool download something! to replace power point

[|Voicethread.com] Would be **great** as a digital portfolio people can comment on images verbally (record their voice) or type a response. This seems great but it would cost me too much to sign up all of my classes. Does the school have it or will they purchase it for me?

[|AACPS Blackboard] go to Tech Resources tab

[|Slideshare.net] Have ppt slide shows available on the net so that they take up very little space and someone without ppt can view the slideshow.

UDL Curriculum
must have goals, methods, materials, and assessments goal - keep it general so that you do not make it too hard for certain students methods, materials, and assessments: provide choices

**Reflection #2**

// What are the benefits of analyzing the curriculum for strengths and weaknesses rather than focusing on the student’s strengths and weaknesses? What are the challenges of this approach? //
Analyzing the curriculum for strengths and weaknesses rather than focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of the students can be beneficial because it could potentially save time and effort. If you focus on making the curriculum flexible in many ways (providing options through representation, expression, and engagement), then you will //most likely// appeal to each student in some form or another. But if I were to instead focus on the students in my class instead of the curriculum I would approach it in one of two ways: 1. Read the IEPs and 504s I have and make options only for those students ignoring the majority of my students who don't have documented accommodations. or 2. Interview all of my students (about 30 in a class, 12 classes, that's 360 students) in order to find out their strengths, weaknesses, interests, etc. (Appealing directly to that many individuals is not possible). Focusing on 3 preps (6th, 7th, and 8th grade art) is easier than focusing on 3 sets of about 120 students. Also, by offering options to all students, I am not singling out the students with special needs. I do not want students to feel self conscious about their needs (some of them would rather fail than show their peers their weaknesses). Another advantage of focusing on the curriculum is that the next year that I teach that same curriculum I will have already created many of my options that hopefully appeal to all of my students, instead of having to interview my students again and starting the process all over.

=Podcasts =
 * Like OnDemand and Tivo.
 * Some art podcasts (and blogs) []
 * I can see the use of podcasts within the school. The teacher can give instructions through an audio outlet for those students who are auditory learners or who have reading difficulties. The students could make a podcast in order to record their response to a self-reflection or comment on a piece of art (professional or fellow student).
 * Personally I do not usually like listening to podcasts. Unless the content is extremely interesting and the speaker is a really good orator, I get pretty bored. I prefer to have visuals supplement the audio (but even a lot of the video podcasts consist of just a person just standing in front of a camera and speaking... big deal). I'm not much on talk radio either. Too many people just like to hear themselves talk.

Xtranormal
[] create an animated movie. Write dialogue and computer voices (Geico: I'm not your daddy I'm your granpa) SOOOO cool. Check out my video... []

Social Bookmarking
[]

Skype
[] internet to internet communication is free. If one side is a phone (not through wifi) then it will cost money.

Extension Project - A website for my students to use
I will do either just a website or a website or and a wiki or blog. I will design a website first.

Possible websites (facts, pros and cons):

[|livebinder]... Add this as a component of the website.

 * an easy way to save websites for informational purposes. Instead of listing website urls, website titles are listed as tabs.
 * This would be good for organizing links on a preexisting website

[|googlesites] - YES

 * free
 * looks like what I need
 * templates you can start from
 * 10gb of space. If you run out of space you can transfer your site to googleapps (which has more space but will cost money)

[|teacherweb]... may not be enough space (images!!) **NO**
 * $39 per year
 * designed specifically for teachers
 * may not work with safari but should work with firefox
 * 100 MB, it will cost $1 per 1MB per year for additional space

Wiki or blog ?
What do I want? What do I need? What is easier? How do the students use them? Costs? # of people (students) that can participate?
 * WIKI **: easier to track students. On a blog it's just my comment and then a list of misc comments from others underneither

5 new technologies to try
1. Googledocs 2. Slideshare.net 3. Livebinder 4. Googlesites 5. Wiki (build my own for students) 6. prezi: for more interesting slide shows (would not do this all the time as they take more time)

4 ideas to share with others
1. Benefits of voicethread (collaboration, self reflection, critique) 2. Benefit of googledocs: when collaborating on a document, not having to load and save a document over and over 3. 3. We should be focusing on assessing students for the learning in a particular curriculum, being careful not to let barriers get in the way. 4. Our students eat sleep and breath technology. If we take this resource away from them we are hindering their abilities to process information, communicate and express themselves. **(Why can't I let my students listen to their music with headphones while they are working!!!!?????)**

3 principles of Universal Design for Learning
Representation Expression Engagement (see my notes above in the section titled UDL (Universal Design for Learning)

1 BIG idea to implement in School
1. Either take the students to the lab more often (definitely doable) and/or set up my computer so that students may use it one at a time (this may not be feasible)