Luke's+Differentiating+Instruction+in+Your+Classroom+Links

This learning community has been a great way to share technology with each other. All of use have so many techs that we like to use so sharing them has been great. All of these techs are free to use so in our funding crunch they work well. The three technologies that I will use in my classroom to do DI and UDL are West Point Bridge Builder, Sketchup and Glogster. The West Point Bridge builder is perfect for my Tech Innovations class where we do lots of digital designing and building of models. Sketchup will also be used in my Tech Innovations class to draw buildings and other structures. Since both techs are free and easy to use they will be perfect for my middle schoolers. Lastly for my students presentations in all of my classes I will use Glogster. Glogster helps make the visuals needed for the presentations that are required in my classes.

Resources I found: 1. Cobb, A. (2010). To Differentiate or Not to Differentiate? Using Internet-Based Technology in the Classroom. //Quarterly Review of Distance Education//, //11//(1), 37-45. Retrieved from ERIC database. This is a journal article written about the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and their attempts to differentiate instruction. While this is not a tool in itself, it is a good article on how technology can be used in DI. It also gives some ideas about what can be done to differentiate instruction. This article can be used by teachers for general ideas for DI. It also has some basic ideas of how to use technology to DI. The article is well written so it really supports itself in terms of research and findings. All of the ideas it proposes, it supports with its own findings.

2. Poll Everywhere ( [] ) This is a free polling website for cell phones. Poll Everywhere is a great way to do assessments with the class. If you don’t care to have a grade for a quiz this site can show you what your students know and don’t know. These polls can motivate students with them actually getting to use their cell phones in class for once. If you use these polls to quiz your students then you can know what your students know and don’t’ know. The idea of knowing where your students are at before doing remediation or acceleration is definitely supported by DI.

3. Discovery Education ( [] ) Discovery Education is a paid video streaming and downloading site used by educators. It also includes a blog area for teacher and other educators to share ideas. DE is a great source of videos and images for your classroom. DE also gives you the rights to the videos so you can cut and edit the resources for your own needs. The videos also are very educational so you can use these videos to teach your students. Video and other visuals are a great way to reach visual learners in the classroom. The learning resources from this week talk a lot about using images and visually to reach all students.

4. Google Earth ( [] ) Google Earth is a free download program that is an interactive map of the whole world. It is used to map weather, traffic, famous locations, travel and many, many more resources. I use Google Earth to map famous structures and then present them to my class. Also when I need to show a mountain range or other geographic locations I like to use Google Earth to present them in a more dynamic way. Another use of Google Earth is to do Lit Trips. Lit Trips are visual “flying” tours of locations talked about in literature. A great example is following the progress of the family’s move in //The Grapes of Wrath.// It is really cool to track their progress down the road as you are reading the book. The learning resources this week discuss using many tools for presenting information and ideas. That is exactly what Google Earth does. It carries a lot of the wow factors that make learning more fun and really reaches both visual and kinesthetic learners. Also the idea of having visuals to go along with readings is supported by the Cobb (2010) article discussed above.

5. Google Sketchup ( [] ) Sketchup is a dynamic tool for drawing and creating art and structures. I use Sketchup to have my students make bridges and other structures for a technology class. Sketchup is both free and easy to use so assigning projects in this medium is a great idea. Sketchup is an amazing tool for doing DI and UDL. The creativity that students can easily display is great. The idea of allowing students to show their creativity and work in new mediums comes from our learning resources throughout the course. Even the brain research we read about last week discusses allowing students to use new tools that make them process information in new ways.

Additional Resources:

Prezi ([]) Ages: Great for all ages Description: This is an alternative to the traditional presenation software. Prezis are great to get your students attention becuase its something new that they probably have not seen. It can be used to present any info but it is a harder medium to use images in.

YouTube ([]) Ages: Middle School or High School usually Desription: We have all heard of the uses of Youtube in the world but usually teachers are too afarid of the bad content to use it in the classroom. As long as you preview every video and watch the links that come up you will be fine. One of my favorite uses of youtube is when I see something cool on TV and want to show it in class. a lot of times they will have tv shows that can then be shown whole or as just a clip.

Hulu ([]) Ages: Depends on the video but can be fine for any age Description: Hulu is a lot like youtube but can be a safer option. First the bad content is more hidden and a login is needed for these videos. One downside is that they ahve less educational videos because the Discovery and History channels are not on the site. Another downside is that all the content is streaming so if you do not have good bandwidth at your school you can have choppy videos. **This site is also great for personal use!**

Hi Luke, I really like Google Earth I plan on having my 5th grade technology students use it for an assignment. I am going to have them write a story about what they see as the fly above places using Google Earth. Thank you the links, Scott

Hi Luke, Thanks for sharing the google sketchup resource. I have never actually heard of this before, but it looks very interesting and cool to use. I think my students would truly enjoy using this tool when making presentations across all content areas. I especially think our art teacher would truly enjoy using this website with our students. She doesn't have the opportunity to use much technology, but I think this website looks easy enough to use where she could begin to see how well technology and art can be integrated to make learning more engaging and exciting for our students.

Thanks again, Jewel Johnson