Barsotti,+Steven

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I learned that I am very confused when it comes to learning styles. I see myself as a very hands on person that needs to constantly go over material verbally in order to remember it for tests. I find that I am able to picture where the information is on the page. I did not see myself as a visual learner in the aspect of reading material from the text and learning it that way and I was also surprised about the suggestion to highlight material and color code it. I absolutely hate highlighting because I find that after I am done all I see is the things I highlighted and there are very few things that I did not highlight. Most of the information confirmed what I had believed before about my learning style and I already do many of the tips they provided for me. The only things that they suggested for me to do that I do not do already are things that I do not like doing or have no succeeded at previously. I really liked the CAST website. It was completely free and very easy to use unlike some of the other websites. They focused solely on Universal Design for Learning. I really liked how they had a science writer as a part of the website. The writer helps students during each step of the paper writing phase and has detailed steps for each piece. It shows the basic report structure and sentence starters to help the students get started with their writing. I find that most students have problems with starting but once they get started they are much better at writing. It also gives you checklists for when you want to edit your paper and revise your paper. I wish I had this resource when I was in high school. I found that for the book that we had to read one aspect stuck with me when I was reading. Most people want to categorize students into categories and mainly normal, disabled, and exceptional. But even when we put them in these categories we still would have to split them up even more because they have developed individually and therefore they different across all three brain networks. I never realized this before I read this article. I understood that everyone was different and that categories really did not tell you what the student was capable of but I never really understood 100% why. I will be honest and say that I did not like the first activity that we participated in. I guess I just did not like the way the activity was set up. However, I did find the second activity to be very interesting. I really liked looking at the pictures and trying to decode what was going on in each image. I have no idea if my assumptions were correct. I also did not realize that I looked at different parts of the pictures first when I was asked different questions and that my background could really have an effect on what I would notice first. I loved the comment that if you are tired or hungry you may not see anything interesting at all because I have felt that and like to see that I am not the only one. I really liked this method to teaching differentiated instruction. I am a strong supporter of education that Is equal for all and that is well equipped for all students. Just because some students are different should not mean that they are taught different materials. Each student should be taught the same information but if needed that information can be adapted to each specific students needs. School systems should not have a single way of teaching their students because many students are going to fall behind and fall between the cracks when the purpose of the school system is to educate all students. You are not educating students when you do not teach them the way they need to be taught just because it is easier. Universal Design for Learning is a great idea and program that I believe should be implemented in every school system possible that all students can get the best education possible. I would like to know more about the processes of how they came up with the “blueprints” for creating instructional goals that were not based on a “one-size-fits-all” policy. I did not see much discussion about this but that might have been due to my selective searching of the website. I would also like to know who came up with this idea and how it is being used today. When I say today I mean in my local schools here in 2011. I would also like to know who figured out that students can differ greatly in the development of the three networks and how to use that to our advantage as teachers in the school systems. That would be really interesting to know and I would applaud the person for changing the way our schools should work.

Virtual Field Trips

One of my major teaching philosophies is using interactive activities to teach my students so that they can have a chance to interact with the material. Using interactive experiments for a biology lesson seems to be a very helpful teaching method because many students learn better by doing. These field trips allow student to interact with all the materials they would normally be able to on the field trip without actually having to be there. These activities are extremely detailed and they really do make it feel as if the students are really at the location of the virtual field trip. The interactive field trips also give any information that the students would need to know along with information that would allow the students to maintain interest in the material while going through everything. Another huge thing with the economy being so bad is the fact that the students do not have to pay for the field trip. Field trips can be very pricey and many students cannot afford to go. Schools do not take the students affairs and do not pay for students to go on field trips. These activities allow students to experience the field trip without having to spend any extra money that could be used for other things and they still get almost the same experience that they would get if they were actually there.

Infomercial on Science Topics

Steven Barsotti Infomercials The subject of my article was using story boards and other creative technology in a science classroom. The students had to go over the basic elements of the periodic table and had to select and element to “sell” to the class. After the element was selected they had to go through and research the element to get research that would help them make a commercial. Once the research was done they created story boards and finally a commercial for the class. The object was to inform the students enough and make their fellow classmates want to buy the described element. After all the presentations were completed and shown to the entire class the other students would decide which element they would think about buying based on the commercial and the group that had the most bought element won the small competition. Most students found the project very informative and much more interesting than simply writing a paper for the project. I was really excited to actually see this kind of project working in a classroom. I was not surprised that it worked because I know from experience that students do not like to write papers for projects and would much rather do something interactive. The students in this article were able to express their ideas using an interactive assignment. The students had to research and come up with a design for a commercial. This makes the students become very knowledgeable about the specific element that they had to research. After all the presentations each student should be able to remember each element and a few characteristics of each element. I think this because most students learn much better when they are interacting and seeing the material while being told about the material. I also saw this accomplished in a local high school during one of my observations for my SCED 341 class. The teacher made the students do a commercial on a given health condition. The students had to research their given condition and make sure they had any important information so they could try to inform their classmates. This assignment was not a competition but I believe it was as effective as the competitive project given in the article. The students were able to be creative and use props in their commercials. This assignment gave the students freedom that they would normally not be given in the average classroom. I believe this helped all the students learn about each condition and allowed the students to have fun. This is one of the most important aspects of the assignment. The students actually had fun completing the assignment and I believe that is key in the learning of new information.

Assistive Technology

1) After viewing the videos and a few of the websites I found out that most of the main software providers provide some kind of assistive technology such as Apple and Microsoft. They provide magnification programs so that you are able to zoom into specific portions of web pages and documents. They also provide text to speech and speech to text software for those students that are not able to use their arms and hands. This allows them to create papers by speaking their thoughts and allows them to read the computer screen even if they have eye problems. The videos also showed me that assistive technology does not stop at the classroom and can also go into extracurricular activities such as band. 2) I found the videos to be the most intriguing out of this assignment. The video with the guy that loved to play the tuba and was unable to move his hands because of his disorder. The idea that an instrument can be modified to help someone that has no use of his limbs is amazing. It does not surprise me that it is possible but it does surprise me that no one has thought of this before. When I start teaching I want to keep this video in my mind and if I find a student that has the courage to attempt something they love even though their disability stops them I want to attempt to help. 3) These new technologies allow students to obtain a more normal education that they were able to before. They can now be independent members of society where as before they had to have constant help and needed to be watched at all times. They can now move independently and hopefully live independently because of the technology. They can also compose papers and music easier than they used to and are able to express themselves with the push of a button. These new technologies allow students to fully embrace the life that they are entitled to. 4) I have not been in contact with anyone that had to use assistive technology. 5) I will take the fact that all students deserve a complete education and that this is possible for all students no matter what some people may tell you. I also hope to help any and all students that come through my classroom. I do not want to discriminate between normal and the disabled students because they are able to do as much as everyone else they just may need some extra help in some areas. Education is for all students and all students deserve a full and complete education.

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