I'm not entirely sure what I am supposed to have taken away from this class as far as integrating technology goes. I guess UDL is a combination of accessibility combined with generally just being a thoughtful teacher. I am not using the word thoughtful in the caring sense, but rather in the contemplative "I need to make sure I am aware of all the aspects of this before I put this in front of kids" way. It seems to me that this is common sense what good teachers should be doing. I'm a little disappointed that some people need a checklist to be thoughtful about teaching, regardless of the content. I suppose that because I don't use a textbook I might be more aware of these ideas whenever I design any content that I will put in front of my students. I was also taught to write unit plans using Wiggins and McTighe's UbD.
The StAIR project was by far the most useful thing that I created in this class. It isn't so much the StAIR that I created as much as it is the ideas of what I can do with it. I am particularly drawn to the idea that I can tailor an experience for the students at my school and be responsive to their needs and the way we each Algebra, not beholden to some textbooks CD interpretation of Algebra that they supply as a "resource". I actually took mine to a cross departmental meeting and asked teachers from other departments to try it. I explained that I thought it would be a good idea for everyone to know how we are teaching our students to solve equations. I also started thinking about using it as a resources for parents, as we get a lot of complaints about not having ways for parents to access the material. Maybe I will post some things like it on my website. Next year I am teaching an intervention class and was thinking how nice it might be to have a fleet of StAIR type things that kids can sit and work on that are actually in line with the curriculum we teach (as opposed to the garbage E2020 software our district has now). I am amazed by how many things that just this one assignment or other things like it could be useful for. This project has given me lots to think about as far as goals for integrating technology into my department.
Just an aside but doing the StAIR project made me remember playing with HyperCard on a Mac when I was in Jr. High. We used to write goofy games that were navigated in exactly the same way.
I liked making the website as well and I spent a lot of time hand coding it. I have learned a ton of HTML #tags and a lot about what goes into trying to make a site that displays well in multiple browsers (might want to look at my site with Firefox because it doesn't play nicely with IE). I mentioned that I would like to create a website for my department and I feel like that is much more realistic at this point. I will probably scrap much of the code I wrote for my site and try again. It is really sloppy and I am having tons of issues with the named CSS elements not playing nice with the CSS rules. I am in no way disappointed by the idea that a lot of hard work may be scrapped because I am sure of the fact that I will learn a ton more and be able to create a site that is even better. This is the piece of the class that has brought me much nearer to my personal goals at least as they stood at the beginning of the class.
I've come to look at my goals for this program as being very flexible. They have changed drastically in the short time that I have been enrolled in the MAET program and I see that they will probably continue to evolve as I am faced with new information in each course.
I am not a big fan of having to read about and respond to issues of pedagogy where the questions regarding it presume that I learned so much from it. I felt like that happened a lot in this course. Read this amazing thing that should "change the way you teach" and now tell us how great we are for having put it in front of you. I appreciate it when an idea is delivered without having made mention of exactly what conclusion I was supposed to draw. It is more authentic feeling to me, as I am not a person who likes the feeling of having someone tell me what to think.
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