Leann's+Page

week #6 Additional resources related to using technology to differentiate instructions:

This site is designed as a support for parents. It explains what differentiated instruction is an how it supports their child's educational experience. It explains that curriculum is no longer defined in terms of what a teacher will teach but rather what the students will be able to demonstrate. @http://hubpages.com/hub/What_Parents_Need_to_Know_About_Differentiated_Instruction

These sites are some of the sites that will support my second grade lesson on families and ancestors. This site has information and resources that are organized by state. [|www.us**genweb**.org/] This site is a list of sites. It has resources and suggestions for places to search. It is basically a list of sties to search [|www.cyndis**list**.com] Both of these are sites have resources that might have clues for researching ancestors. They also have information from others who maybe be searching for your family too.

[|www.rootsweb.**ancestry**.com/] [|www.kindredkonnections.com/] This is a site that requires a membership [|www.**ancestry**.com/] This is a site that has photos of tombstones [|www.**findagrave**.com]



http://voicethread.com/share/1549589/

Hi Everyone, It's been a crazy week, My daughter got married on Saturday and I had some technical difficulties with my laptop. I am in another state and away from all normal comfort zone. So sorry I missed meeting with you all last week. I would love it if someone can bring me up to speed on what we are doing with the discussions this week. Thanks

I thought I's tell you a bit about me...I am a mother of 6. Last year my son got married and this year my daughter got married. I started my masters because I thought life was calm with all my kids away from home. I live in California and this year I teach a first/second grade combo class. Personally I think combo classes should be outlawed. It is extremely difficult to meet all the standards of both grade levels, but we do the best we can.

I had a great time searching for surveys last week but I wasn't overly pleased with what I found. I thought many surveys would be somewhat challenging for many younger grade students to read and complete. I wish I had found something with pictures. But here is one that I thought might work for learning styles.

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This is an interest survey,

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Week #5

Resources for Using Technology to Differentiate Instruction

Students come into the classroom with a variety of diverse needs, so it may be beneficial to locate resources, strategies, and tools to assist with differentiated instruction with a focus on using technology. The following resources that may serve this purpose: //Harness the Power the Power of Teacher Effectiveness,// @http://www.ascd.org/ This web site, ASCD focuses professional development opportunities through online instruction. There are two main technology opportunities, first, observation, including feedback and reporting and secondly self assessment. Many districts are experiencing financial difficulties and spending less and less money of workshops for professional growth. This site is online and readily available and perhaps less costly than most workshops. Teachers cannot implement things they are unfamiliar with. These resources may greatly enhance the teacher’s ability to implement differentiated instruction and Universal Design of Learning. ** Tomlinson, C. A., & Allan, S. D., (2000). Leadership for differentiating schools and classrooms. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. ** @http://www.ascd.org/ //Talk to others.// [] The Teaching Every Student section of the CAST web site includes an online community where teachers can communicate, collaborate and obtain support from other educators who are exploring and teaching with UDL. This sounds like a great website, unfortunately it was temporarily unavailable. //Pro Teachers Oceans lesson plans for elementary teachers:// I have an autistic student in my class this year who is extremely interested in oceans and sea animals. This Pro Teacher Collection has tens of thousands of teaching ideas and advice from experienced teachers from across the United States and around the world. There are detailed lesson on specific sea animals and ocean environments and anything you decide to create you can share in the community of teachers. Students could visit this sight to research information for themselves or teachers can utilize this community for lesson plans. In the Ocean Unit alone it has six //technology// integration //lessons// on whales, sharks, and //ocean// vocabulary. [] Minimize barriers and realize the strengths and challenges each student brings to the classroom will have a positive effect on teaching practices. Instructors can more effectively engage students and help all students progress when there are multiple opportunities for implementing differentiated instruction and principles of Universal Design for Learning practices.

Week #5 **Differentiation Station Assignment** Explore the links shared by your group members. For at least two of your classmates’ resources, post a description of how you would implement their resource/tool/strategy in your classroom. I am not sure if I am finding the links from my classmates… I can tell you I was most impressed with the Pro teacher link I found… it has a gazillion suggestions on ocean lessons and there is a world wide community where teachers share their lessons and ideas… I bet we could find one on almost every subject. Susie has awesome graphics on her page but being the simpleton that I am I seemed to get lost in all the links. Susie is very advanced in her technology skills. Several of my colleagues are still in the process of posting their links.