Reflections - Week 3

This week was extremely trying because it is our spring break. I had to try to stay focused, especially since others were depending upon me to do my part of the lesson. I re-worked my curriculum for How Coyote Stole Fire using Cast UDL Book Builder Web site. "Universal Design for Learning is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn. UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs.[1]" My part of the lesson was to include multimedia. I created a lesson that required students to break into groups of 3 - 4 students per group. Each group had a multimedia project to create.

I also had to create an e-book using the UDL Book Builder site. This was fun but challenging. At first I could not decide on what I wanted to create. I decided to create a book that allowed the characters in How Coyote Stole Fire to tell their stories. My task was to focus on the blind and hearing impaired students, so I looked for images and sound clips. My e-book is titled Character Stories for How Coyote Stole Fire.

The videos for this week were excellent and eye-opening. You hear about child prodigies, kids who are exceptionally talented, but rarely do you get to really see them. I felt that the students in the videos, Luis and Cameron, were simply amazing. I wish we could challenge our students to do half of what these guys have done! It is too bad that policy makers do not understand the value of technology and seek ways to cut rather than boost spending on it. These guys prove that technology has endless possibilities and is extremely worthwhile.

---

[1]About UDL (n.d.) Retrieved March 11, 2011 from http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html
Other Resources:
http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-profile-luis-video 
 
http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-profile-cameron-video

Our Google site: https://sites.google.com/site/team5364/