Week+2+Readings

**Here is where I will type my thoughts regarding this week's readings.** This week I enjoyed reading about Universal Design for Learning (UDL). I think this is a great way to support teachers with the challenges of effectively teaching diverse learners and meeting the challenging high standards that teachers and students face in the classroom today.

"The task for educators is to understand how students learn and use the technology available in this digital age to provide selected supports where they are needed and position the challenge appropriately for each learner. In this way we can engage more students and help every one progress." (Meyer)

I think this quote really embraces the need for teaching with technology and what technology can do for our students when presented correctly. Educators need to take the time to understand their students and how they learn. Education is often treated as a "one size fits all" approach and that is extremely ineffective. Every student has unique needs and instruction must be tailored to accommodate those needs. Through the use of technology, educators can provide differentiated instruction where each individual student feels successful and therefore takes ownership of his/her learning. Once the student takes ownership of his/her learning it then becomes meaningful to the student. Classrooms are full of multi--language students, students with various attention difficulties, speech and language disabilities, and motivational issues, just to name a few. If educators can become comfortable with rethinking the way education can be presented with the help of technology, then curriculum and school itself will become an entirely different organization....one that allows students to explore, create, rethink, collaborate, communicate, design, and LEARN.

I also enjoyed reading about the actual ways to integrate technology into the classroom by providing students organizational and communication tools that help to make the learning objectives more clear. Through the use of these tools: web processing applications, organizing and brainstorming software, data collection tools, web resources, and communication software, teachers can motivate their students to set goals and take ownership of their learning. (Pitler)