Course 6714I3 Reflection

In the past in my building at school, I have heard a lot about differentiated instruction. I had my idea of differentiated instruction, and had my initial thought of how to implement it in my classroom. From this course, I began to get a different and more educated idea of what differentiated instruction really is, and why we must use differentiated instruction if we want to reach all our students. So how will I begin to implement these new strategies in my classroom this year? I plan to look back at the websites and resources that dealt with the Universal Design for Learning, and from these principles, try to make sure I hit different strategies to reach the different types of learning styles for the students in my classes. To me the UDL will be a great guide or checklist to see if I am differentiating my instruction in my lessons to reach the all my students and give them all a fair and equal shot in gaining an education. If I make a checklist myself from the UDL to look at while I am creating new lessons, and while I am looking at lessons that I have already creating that I will be teaching, I will be able to make sure that I have added the elements necessary to get all of my students involved in the lesson. Technology will serve as a big part of this, because much of the new technologies that are available to teachers to use to teach their students in the classroom are differentiated and has a little something for all different types of learners. These activities also grab the attention of our students, and this is a major factor when it comes to our students effort in the lesson. When we get our students attention and motivate them to learn, than we have a chance to get them to learn the things that we need them to. The major way to get their attention and motivate them is to teach them using the learning styles they prefer and by teaching them by relating things to their interests. These are the things that I hope to improve on this year. I hope to avoid the same pitfalls that I have fell into in the past where I do what is easier, instead of what needs to be done, and I must put the work in to improve my lessons so I am not alienating the other students in my class, and I give all my students an equal opportunity at an education.