reflections on Course EDUC 6714I-1

Reflection
Before I took this class I used the same strategies and styles of teaching that I was taught in my teaching program in college. Many of these strategies tried to do some differentiation or help students with learning disabilities, but they were all still teacher centered. I was doing a great deal of work creating different but simultaneous lesson plans for my students who did and did not have learning disabilities.
Learning the strategies and ways of teaching presented in this course has opened a whole new world for me. I now have new ways to teach that are by far, more effective than the old ways. During this course I had some difficulty understanding UDL and DI and how they related to each other. I am glad that I did additional study and research on these and now have a good working knowledge of them.
I am excited to put my new capabilities with UDL and DI to work in the classroom. I have already tried a few things and have found it to increase understanding and learning for the students along with more enthusiasm on their part, but also actually less work and more enjoyment on my part. It is exciting to see students who did not “get it” or did not seem to try before, finally start to understand the material and start looking forward to class each day.
What I have to do still though, may be more difficult. My school is set up with two computers per classroom and one computer lab that can only accommodate one class at a time. To make full use of the technology available and useful for UDL, and use it everyday, I will need to encourage the rest of the faculty to see the need for more computers and, more importantly, to see UDL and DI as the new way to go in their teaching. If I can accomplish that then there may be a hope that we can convince the administration, and in turn the district, to supply more technology to our school. Using only two computers in a whole class, limits you to how much UDL technology can be used. All that I have been able to use them for is use in large teams and groups, not concentrating on more individual needs.
I am totally sold on the use of UDL and DI, and will fight to make them a reality for all the students in my school. I am grateful for being exposed to these new strategies and hope there will be even more useful teaching tools presented in my last three classes at Walden University.