CAST’s UDL LESSON BUILDER

Kelly Rodriguez

Jodie Allex

Carrie Allen

Lesson Overview

Title:	Comparing Complete and Incomplete Life Cycles
Author:	Carrie Allen, Jodie Allex, Kelly Rodriguez
Subject:	Life Cycles of Insects
Grade Level(s):	2nd
Duration:	1 week
Subject Area:	Science
Unit Description:	The students will learn about complete and incomplete life cycles of insects. They will also compare the different life cycles. Students will engage in several different activities to support their learning and they will have multiple opportunities throughout the unit to share their knowledge.
Lesson Description:	Lesson 3 of 3 The students will compare and contrast the complete and incomplete life cycles of insects. They will have multiple opportunities to share this knowledge.
State Standards:                 ISTE NETS C	112.13. Science, Grade 2, Beginning with School Year 2010-2011. (b)knowledge and skills. (10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms resemble their parents and have structures and processes that help them survive within their environments. The student is expected to: (c) investigate and record some of the unique stages that insects undergo during their life cycle.

Goals

Unit Goals:

1. Students will identify and describe a complete life cycle. (butterfly) 2. Students will identify and describe an incomplete life cycle. (ladybug) 3. Students will demonstrate their understanding that at the beginning of an animal's life cycle, some young animals represent the adult while others do not. 4. Students will identify, compare and contrast the differences between a complete and incomplete life cycle. 5. The student will use the correct vocabulary to show that organisms undergo similar processes.

Lesson Goals:

Students will demonstrate their understanding that at the beginning of an animal's life cycle, some young animals represent the adult while others do not. Students will identify, compare and contrast the differences between a complete and incomplete life cycle. The student will use the correct vocabulary to show that organisms undergo similar processes.

Methods

Anticipatory Set:	Share lesson goals and objectives: Brainstorm in science journal what you know about insect life cycles (Recognition) Fill in a KWL chart (Recognition) Use Socrative App to gauge pre-knowledge of topic (Recognition)
Introduce and Model New Knowledge: Recognition	Present students with new information appropriate to the lesson: Show Complete vs. Incomplete metamorphosis YouTube video (Recognition) Read eBook Complete and Incomplete Metamorphosis Let's Compare (Recognition) Use images to illustrate insect life cycles (see materials) (Recognition)
Provide Guided Practice:	Divide the class into 3 groups and have them rotate through each center: Read eBooks Dragonfly Lifecycle and The Lifecycle of a Butterfly (Recognition) Students will sequence complete and incomplete life cycle cards with a partner (Strategic) Watch Harcourt video Incomplete and Complete Metamorphosis (Recognition) Bring students back together to view interactive whiteboard lesson Insects (Smart Notebook Lesson by K. Edlinski) (Strategic)
Provide Independent Practice: Strategic and Affective	Create a Venn Diagram comparing complete and incomplete life cycles (Kidspiration) Draw a complete and an incomplete insect life cycle Create an eBook comparing complete and incomplete life cycles Create an Animoto video acting out both life cycles Create a rap about insect life cycles

Assessment

Formative/Ongoing Assessment: Strategic	Sequence life cycle cards are accurate Socrative App Quiz Vocabulary is used correctly in the Rap, Animoto, and eBook Rubric for Independent practice projects Graphic organizers are correct
Summative/End Of Lesson Assessment: Strategic	Rubric for Independent Projects End of Unit Exam

Materials

Modifications: GT - During guided practice the GT students will visit http://outdoornebraska.ne.gov/wildlife/programs/projectwild/pdf/PPT_pdfs/Life%20Cycles.pdf to learn about types of life cycles. Hearing Impaired - Harcourt video has closed captioning Blind - Harcourt video has picture descriptions, eBooks read the text, YouTube videos, peer coaching Online Users - eBooks, YouTube videos, Harcourt video, Interactive Whiteboard Lesson, Socrative App Multiple Achievement Levels - rubrics will be adjusted for multiple achievement levels

Images for New Knowledge

EDLD 5364 Week 3 Reflection on the UDL Project

There are many obstacles in today’s classrooms. Having a combination of regular education, gifted and talented, and special education students brings a level of difficulty to planning lessons so all students are taught, motivated, and enriched. This week I have been researching on http://www.cast.org/ how to make a UDL. UDL stands for Universal Design for Learning. . A UDL helps teachers to set goals, materials, and assessments for different types of learners.

The basic premise of a UDL is that each student learns in their best learning style. In other words, there has to be multiple activities for each assignment. In my classroom that would mean that my students would not all be working on the same task. The students would be working on the same skill and would be expected mastery at the end of the lesson but the path traveled to mastery would be different.

Teachers need to focus on all three networks of learning when they are constructing their UDL. The first one is the recognition network which is “the what” of learning. It is here where we identify and categorize what we see, hear, and read. The second one is the strategic network which is “the how” of learning. It is here where a person plans and performs math problems and writes an essay. The third is the affective network which is “the why” of learning. This is where a student would be challenged, excited and interested.

It has been a rough road constructing this UDL. There has to be a lot of planning, materials, and time involved in order to put together a UDL for your classroom. Collaborating with my team members has helped me tremendously not only to understand the steps involved but coming up with ideas to fit into each category.

"CAST." : Center for Applied Special Technology. Center for Applied Special Technology, n.d. Web.      

     15 Sept. 2013. <http://www.cast.org/>.

EDLD 5364 Knowledge Learned From Week 3

There are numerous reasons why technology is adding to the level of success in classrooms all around the world.  The video, Welcome to the Digital Generation, explained that technology is already an essential part of our students’ day.  Teachers need to be able to use that to their advantage.   The video explained that teachers will give our students empowerment when we demonstrate that there are ways to be engaged when you partake in directed learning through technology.  We need to teach our students that there are endless possibilities with technology.     Liz Perle, Editor in Chief of Common Sense said, “This technology is a good thing.  It is going help your kids create, meet people, explore, pose, and express themselves in more powerful tools than they have had in any other generation.

I wrote down all ten tips from the video Top 10 Tips For Using Technology in the Classroom.  Looking back and studying them showed me that I am on my way to incorporating technology into my classroom but there are more ways to integrate it.  My goal this year is going to be to use more music, streaming video, and to use my white board more effectively.  Incorporating more technology into my classroom will help me to address the different interests and learning styles in my classroom.

Creating a book on Book Builder at http://bookbuilder.cast.org, was one of the assignments this week.   The website itself was very easy to navigate through.   There were several template options to choose from which made creating your pages easy.   Adding and deleting text and pictures were stress-free because the buttons were clearly marked.

 

Boxoftricks.net (nd). Top 10 Tips for Using Technology in the Classroom [Video file].
     Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiisteObuhk

 Edutopia.org (nd). Welcome to the Digital Generation. Retrieved from

      http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-project-overview-video

 “Welcome to Book Builder!" UDL Book Builder. The Center for Applied Special
       Technology, n.d. Web. 15Sept. 2013. <http://bookbuilder.cast.org/>.

 

Book Builder Reflection

Kelly Rodriguez, Carrie Allen, & Jodie Allex -

Experimenting with UDL Book Builder

The purpose of part 3 was to investigate the planning process for developing student-centered learning activities with technology. Each of us created an eBook using a free website available to teachers, parents, and students at http://bookbuilder.cast.org/ . Before we began creating our own books, Kelly looked at several eBooks that already been created to give us the direction that would most effectively get the information across to our students. Through the use of coaches, media, and reader prompts we were able to make my book more engaging.

The website itself was very easy to navigate through. The directions were clearly marked and through trial and error we had made our title page and the first content page. There were several template options to choose from which made creating your pages easy. Once we had finished those two pages the process became easier and we were each able to continue with ease. Adding and deleting text and pictures were stress-free because the buttons were clearly marked. Using the Google search colorful pictures were added to increase the effectiveness of the book. Having the space to add the source of the pictures made citing sources even easier.

The coach feature was the last thing added to some of our books. The characters and voices were fun and will add to the usefulness of this tool. You could hide the coach as well so students would have to read on their own if prompted to. Carrie had the coaches giving extra information so the advanced students could add to the depth of their knowledge.

Jodie discovered after she had already finished her book she could have enabled the student response area on each page and readers can write right into the book. Once all the students have finished the teacher would be able to click on the button that says “view my responses”and it would open a document where all the responses were collected. This would be a great way to ensure that all readers were actively participating and understanding the purpose of the lesson.

We can see great benefit to using eBooks in our classroom. There are numerous ways that it could be implemented into any classroom but having the students make their own eBooks would be a great learning and assessment tool that we would like to try. Having the students create their own electronic book would cover several technology standards.

This reflection was created through collaboration during Facetime and converted to text by Kelly Rodriguez.

EDLD 5364 Week 2 Reflection

Being in a classroom that has a combination of regular education, gifted and talented, and special education students brings a level of difficulty to planning lessons to where all students are taught, motivated, and enriched.  This is something that a teacher does daily but I didn’t realize that there was an organization that was reachable through the internet for help.  “CAST is a nonprofit research and development organization that works to expand learning opportunities for all individuals through Universal Design for Learning” as explained on www.cast.org.  Its Universal Design for Learning (UDL) helps teachers to set goals, materials, and assessments for different types of learners.  In the video, Principals of Universal Design for Learning, it explains the UDL gives teachers various ways of acquiring information and knowledge, optional ways to demonstrate what they know, and multiple means of engagement. 

I do not understand the UDL completely but it seems to make perfect sense.  The video, Brain Research, explains why it is important to differentiate for the different types of learners in each classroom. In this video it starts out explaining that every individual has their own DNA and fingerprints.   There is no difference when you compare the learning styles of our students.   Every person learns differently and at different rates.  It goes on to explain the different three brain networks.  The first one is the recognition network which is the what of learning.  It is here where we identify and categorize what we see, hear, and read.  The second one is the strategic network which is the how of learning.  It is hear where a person plans and performs math problems and writes an essay.   The third is the affective network which is the why of learning.  This is where a student would be challenged, excited and interested.

 I am hoping that learning this information will help me in the classroom.  I have become a member of CAST which allows me to utilize their tools and search for sample assignments that are UDL.  I look forward to learning and applying the new information that I have learned.

 

Cast.org. Transforming Education through Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved September 8, 2013, from http://www.cast.org/index.html

Lessonbuilder.cast.org (nd). Principles of Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

Lessonbuilder.cast.org (nd). The Brain Research. Retrieved from  http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/window.php?src=videos

Week 2 Conference Reflection

I think I am getting used to working through my assignments without any guidance. I am thankful for my facebook group who is ready and willing to help me with any road block that I come across. I have felt like the conferences in this class is a day late and a dollar short until today’s reasoning behind the Saturday class.

During our conference today someone asked why we have to have our conferences on Saturday due to the fact that most of our assignments for the week have already been completed.  Dr. Abernathy explained that the internet is too congested during the week which causes problems. She went on to explain that our conference was really supposed to be about the up and coming week. That was not something that I had been told before so next Saturday I will make sure and already read my week four assignments so I can get clarification on anything that I might need.

There was confusion as to how we were to document what was said and by whom in our project and Dr. Abernathy liked the idea of using different colors for the different people. I am glad that was an acceptable option because my group is already doing that.

My Reflection for week 1 in EDLD 5364

This past week in EDLD 5364 I was introduced to three different theories.  The three theories are the connectivism theory, the constuctivism theory, and the cyborg theory. All three theories dealt with introducing learning with technology and described how learners would approach new information, process it, and put it into action. 

The cyborg theory was a theory that I did not agree with or ever would want to take part in.  This theory was explained in the video by Kevin Warwick called Cyborg Life.  He has participated by placing chips into his nervous system to test out extra senses and connecting other individual’s senses to his own.  He felt as though this was a reality that was going to change the human evolution and he wants to become a cyborg.   Out of the three theories I believe most in the constructivism theory.   In the article, Learning as a Personal Event: A Brief Introduction to Constructivism (1999), I learned that learners bring their knowledge and their experience to whatever the learning situation is.  The article explains that “those unique experiences are the foundation for learning; they provide opportunities for personal connections with new content”.  This allows for each student to learn at their own individual pace.  Constructivists also believe that social interaction in a classroom is important therefore our past beliefs that a quiet classroom is a learning classroom need to be revamped.  Discussing with their peers will help develop a stronger understanding.

Imagine using the ideas from the constructivists and integrating technology effectively in classrooms.   This combination would greatly affect the student’s leaning and would encourage them to want to learn and apply the new content in their everyday lives.

 

 

 

Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, (1999). Learning as a personal event:  A brief

     introduction to constructivism. Retrieved from http://www.sedl.org/pubs/tec26/intro2c.html

 

Warwirk, K. (nd). Cyborg Life [Video file]. Retrieved from

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB_l7SY_ngI