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ED 602:

Reflective Journal

By: Colleen DiNunno


It’s important for all educators to build
relationships with their students first, without a

Building a strong
relationship there’s no trust. If there is no trust,
learning and teaching don’t occur. Establishing a
positive classroom culture should begin day one of

student-teacher relationship meeting students. I like to greet my students at the


door with a smile, so they know I’m always there
for them. In art, it’s really easy for me to design
projects that are relevant to culture or student
interests. I find that when my students are more
interested in a project or topic, engagement goes
up.
● Model lifelong and continuous learning for students

● Establish strong student-teacher relationships to


provide a positive classroom environment where

Characteristics of a
natural learning and motivation occur

● Personalized learning

learner-centered
● Using collaboration to work together to develop
meaningful learning activities

teacher
I think I possess the ability to build strong student-teacher
relationships, because to me, it’s important to know all of
my students, so I’m able to develop lessons that are
personal and engaging. I like to involve my students in my
planning of ideas for art projects. I think it helps them
relate to what they’re doing, and helps them realize that I
value their opinions, while also personalizing my teaching.
My score was higher than the rubric in both the
Learner-Centered Beliefs about Learners,
Learning, and Teaching section at a 4.0, and the
1. Complete the Assessment of Non Learner-Centered Beliefs about Learning
Learner-Centered Practices (ALCP) and Teaching at a 3.4. In the Non
Learner-Centered Beliefs about Learners, my
Teacher Beliefs Survey 1 (on pages score was slightly lower than the rubric at a 1.6.
26-27). Score yourself following the
directions. My scores tell me that I find relationship building
with my students the most important, and that I
2. How does you score compare to the feel it’s necessary to try my best as an educator
supplied rubric scores on pg 29? to reach the more “difficult” students. My score
3. What does your score tell you. also tells me that it’s up to me as the teacher to
think about ways that I can improve how I
demonstrate for my students what they should
be doing as the learner in my classroom.
What motivates students to learn?
I asked two students in my homeroom what motivates them in my class. They
both told me that they feel safe in my classroom, and feel respected by me.
They also shared that the art projects I assign them are usually engaging, and
keep them interested in Art.

On page 38, it listed that students wanted to be trusted and respected; to feel
apart of the a family; their teachers to act as helpers; opportunities to feel
responsible; a place where people care; teachers who help them succeed; and
choices.

I feel that in my teaching practices I foster most of those needs students’ want
in a classroom/school environment.
My school is focusing on building
community this year. Each day, we

Reaching complete a restorative circle with a


certain class. Sometimes, with the

“difficult”
students who are harder to reach,
these circles help them to open up
and become more trusting. It’s also

students.
important to recognize that students
experience far more than we could
ever imagine, so just letting them
know you’re there for them is
crucial.
● I think that I need to look more into
the metacognitive aspect of
learner-centered principles, or the
“thinking about thinking” part.

LCPs and incorporating ● Incorporating this part of LCP in my


instructional practices means allowing

them into instructional more time for self-reflection for my


students. This may mean developing a

practices
plan or criteria for them to create
artists statements for all of the
artwork, which can both be used a
reflective tool for their thought
processes, and an assessment for me
to ensure they’re learning what I’m
teaching.
Quality Conditions Improvement
Condition 4:
Students are asked to evaluate their own work.

I could implement more student feedback, this could allow them to


reflect on what they’ve already done and figure out what they
could do to improve their work.
I could use “Artist Statement” as a means for students to justify
their work and explain their thought process behind what they did.
Classroom Culture
To me, it’s important for all students to feel welcome in
my classroom from day one. I’m sure to greet my
students’ at the door, so they know I’m always there
for them. I try my best to say hello to everyone student,
and address them by name, so they know they’re
noticed. Starting on the first day of school, I’m always
sure to model classroom expectations and procedures
they should know, so that they form habits when
entering my classroom. The biggest goal I always have
in my classroom is respect. It’s my expectation that my
students’ respect each other and materials, so it’s my
responsibility to model that respect.
Lowest
-Supported: it’s important for students’ to feel like they

Student
are supported in my classroom. If they struggle, I want
them to know I’m there to help.
-Cared for: Everyone has bad days, and I think it’s
important for students’ to know they have an outlet and
a trusted adult they can speak to.
-Responsibility: Holding students accountable for their

Achievement
actions.

Highest
-Engagement: offering projects with student interest in
mind.
-Respect: Maintaining respect for classmates and
materials
-Relationships: Establishing positive connections to
have a good classroom environment
In order to make my classroom
more learner centered I could:

Goals for making my ● Make projects more challenging,


sometimes I feel like what I give
my students’ is too easy, or vise

classroom more
versa, if it’s too challenging I
sometimes help them solve their
problem, which isn’t helping them

learner-centered
learn for themselves.
● Giving more control to my
students’ when it comes to
classroom management and
establishing rules, so they feel like
they’re apart of the classroom
culture.
I grew up in the “upper-middle” class, and went to
schools that were predominantly a white
population. Fortunately, I grew up in a household
that taught me the importance of respect for
Share how your own cultural, everyone. Growing up, I watched my grandfather
show compassion towards all people he came in
social, or linguistic backgrounds, contact with, always greeting them with a smile
and a simple hello or asking them how their day
values, family history, experiences, was. This trait was something that always stuck
with me, and to this day I try to pass on to my

personal education, and/or students’. Seeing and being taught how to treat
others respectfully and responsibility has allowed

ethnicity affect you as a teacher.


me to grow up with compassion and empathy for
all and understand that sometimes we’re the
victims of circumstance, which is something I
carry into my classroom everyday.
LCP #7: Motivational and Emotional
Influences on Learning. I chose LCP
7, because students’ deserve a teacher
who is willing to show up everyday
and motivate and inspire them to do
better.

LCP #10: Developmental Influence


on Learning. I chose LCP 10, because
it’s important for teachers to know
the needs of all their students’ and
show up for them based on their
needs to make them successful.
Artwork by: Sylvia Duckworth
Check me out on Wikispaces
Planning
If teachers only provide assessment at the end
of unit, how can they be sure learning is
actually happening? It’s imperative to have
learning checks throughout the duration of a

ahead
unit as a way to make sure learning is actually
occuring. When teachers aren’t doing periodic
checks, they’re not only doing a disservice to
their students, but also themselves.
Alignment in the curriculum using UbD

When a teacher utilizes backwards mapping, they’re keeping the destination in


mind, rather than the route. By focusing on the end destination or for education
purposes, the results, educators are able to address what the individual needs of
their students are. This way teachers are able to collect the proper data, to
ensure that “end goal” was met, and students are learning effectively.
The purpose of UbD is for teachers to have the end in mind when they’re
creating curriculum, which allows for more meaningful learning with the
appropriate assessments. In many ways, Understanding by Design relates to
the Learner-Centered Principles.

Domain 1 LCP #2: Goals of the learning process. The successful learner, over time and with
support and instructional guidance, can create meaningful, coherent representations of knowledge.
Domain 2 LCP #7: Motivational and emotional influences on learning. What and how much is
learned is influenced by the motivation. Motivation to learn, in turn, is influenced by the individual's
emotional states, beliefs, interests and goals, and habits of thinking.
Domain 3 LCP #10: Developmental influences on learning. As individuals develop, there are
different opportunities and constraints for learning. Learning is most effective when differential
development within and across physical, intellectual, emotional, and social domains is taken into
account.
Domain 4 LCP #12: Individual differences in learning. Learners have different strategies,
approaches, and capabilities for learning that are a function of prior experience and heredity.

UbD LCPs
The
While testing is important, I don’t feel that the
appropriate assessment is offered in many cases
when it comes to standardized testing.
Standard is just another word for “average”,
which is something the educational system
needs to break away from.

Broken
STANDARDIZED TESTING RESTRAINTS

● Limited learning differences


● Biased by social-class, ethnic, regional,
and cultural differences

Curriculum
● Cause an unbelievable amount of stress
on teachers in their curriculum
● Causes stress on students the prepare for,
and what if the fail?
● Limits creativity
● Places labels on students
Master of Choice
I feel like I’ve mastered the ability to offer choice in my classroom. I really
enjoy having student surveys in the beginning of the year to gain
perspective on my students. This serves as a way for me to develop projects
that have student interests in mind, and allow students to add personal
ideas in their artwork. This also allows my students to feel like they have a
voice in my classroom. When they feel like they were apart of the decision
making process, I feel like it drives up student engagement. Sometimes, I
have the occasional student who doesn’t want to do a particular unit, so
together, we try to come up with ways the student can still learn the
required skills, but have a different outcome they’re happy with and willing
to do.
Growth Mindset
To me, growth mindset is believing that your abilities can continue to grow through
hard work.

In my classroom, growth mindset can be used by...


● modeling trial and error, often times I do demonstrations for what I’m
teaching, and sometimes things don’t go according to plan, so I have to
talk them through my thought processes, so they can see my critical
thinking process in action.
● Offering feedback and identifying how students achieved their success.
● Providing choice for student creativity.
Why do teachers need to
be expert learners,
continuously growing
It’s important for teachers to be lifelong learners,
because the world is constantly changing. I think
back to when I was going through school, we

and changing?
didn’t have personal computers, or cell phones to
use in class. But now, most classrooms have some
form of technology students are using. So it’s
important to teachers to find new engaging and
motivating ways to teach their curriculum,
because it’s constantly changing, so we should be
growing and changing with it.
The Myth of Average
The myth of average basically means that if something works for
some of most, it will work for all. When I think about this is the
world of education, I think about how diverse all classrooms are.
No one learner is the same, so why should be design our learning
environment based off of an average? Technology is irrelevant if
it’s not being utilized to meet the needs of all students. It’s crucial
for educators to explore options to meet the needs of all students in
their classroom, not just the “average” student. In doing that,
teachers are setting their students up for success.
Carol Dweck’s Ted Talk Reflection
1. Make things in the classroom challenging and more
informative.
2. Don’t set students’ up for failure. Workloads
shouldn’t be too rigorous to the point that it causes “In a growth mindset, challenges are
students to want to cheat, feel poorly about exciting rather than threatening. So
themselves, or want to give up. rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to
3. If students’ make mistakes, process with them and
allow them to learn from it, and show they how they
reveal my weaknesses, you say, wow,
can correct it. here’s a chance to grow.”
4. Praise the process, effort, strategies, focus, and
efforts, so they don’t feel the pressure to focus on the -Carol Dweck
“A+” and the final assessment.
What I remember about going to school
growing up was that a lot of my classes
The
Traditional Curriculum
required us to be seated and went in
sequence to a textbook that built off of
knowledge from previous school years.
This mostly relates to the recognition
network. So much has changed in
education in a short amount of time with focuses primarily on:
the introduction of technology. Teachers
are now able to better meet the needs to
the individual learner rather than the The Recognition Network
“average” learner.
The Affective Network
The affective network is the motivation/engagement or the
“why” component of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
Learners have different interests, backgrounds, experiences, and
methods of learning. When teaching, it’s important for teachers
to design learning experiences that cater to the Affective
Network or the “WHY” Network in order to allow students’ to
use their background and experiences to make connections to
new ideas.
The Recognition Network
Every child brings something different to the classroom.

In the recognition network or the “what” network, students are


identifying patterns and placing information into meaningful
categories in their brain, where relatable concepts may already
exist. In order for students successfully gather facts, all course
information in the classroom should be accessible, or choice based,
to all types of learners.
The Strategic Network
In the strategic network, or the “how” network, learners are
demonstrating their mastery of what they learned. In order for
students to be successful in this network, it’s important to provide
learners with opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge in a
way that they are able to. The teacher should be take into
consideration different types of assessment to allow their students
to excel in this area.
Image borrowed from
It’s important for educators to
know about systematic learner
variability because it’s what
Systematic
Learner
helps them implement UDL, in
order to differentiate instruction
to meet the needs of all learners.
By staying flexible in curriculum

Variability
planning, educators are paving
the path for each learner to be
successful.
Engagement: Recruiting Interest
In order to meet this checkpoint, I could offer
student interest when designing ideas for units. I
could also allow them to choose what types of
materials they would like to use on particular
projects. By offering a variety of choice, there is
more authenticity and value in what students’ are
creating.
Representation: Language and Symbols
In order to meet this checkpoint, I could
provide a word wall, and highlight any
important definitions of the terms they will be
learning about for that unit.
Action & Expression: Executive Functions
In order to meet this checkpoint, I can provide
process visuals and teacher/student examples
to demonstrate how the end goal. Perform
teacher demonstrations that model the
process. Students’ can do peer
assessment/critique to monitor their progress.
Example:
Students will be able to discover a

Effective Goals: variety of ways to use weaving


techniques, in order to develop
● separate the means from the ideas for the personalized weaving
ends
projects.
● consider all 3 learning networks
● challenge all learners
● actively involve all learners
*For this process, students rotate through
stations, completing a variety of different
tasks both individually and
collaboratively.
Poor
While in undergrad at Towson University, I took a
general education History class. It was the first class
I received a “C” in. The class required four papers
and had one final exam. When I got my first written
paper back, I was shocked, the professor had given
me a “D”, and all over my paper in red pen were his

Assessment
opinions on why what I said was wrong. I felt
defeated, because I worked so hard on that paper,
only to be told what I thought was wrong. I did okay
on the other three papers, never receiving above a
“B” on them. After I got back that first paper, I felt
like I checked out of the class, because it seemed like

Experience
my professor didn’t care much about anything other
than his opinion on the topics in history he talked
about.

Ideas for UDL-friendly assessment this professor


could consider:
-Allow students to choose the topic they want
to write about.
“From Bach to Lady Gaga”
***** Loved it

I enjoyed listening to Dr. Rose’s perspective on variability and UDL


through music. He offered great examples of how the brain networks
function. He also walked through the UDL framework and modeled
how to effectively use them, which is crucial for all educators to do in
their curriculum design. It’s important to make learning universal, and
I think that’s evident in seeing Dan perform his music, and watching
the cast of Glee perform John Lennon’s “Imagine” with musicians
from a deaf school.
Chapter 7 Practitioners
1. Sometimes students’ are afraid to speak in class, because they’re afraid of
being made fun of. I liked the part in Chapter 7 that talked about a student
getting assistance for another student, who wasn’t necessarily the “above
average” student of the class. This might help to not intimidate the student,
and feel more comfortable in their learning process.
2. I teach a boy who is selective mute. I haven’t been able to get him to speak
in my classroom all year, but he communicates with me through writing
and pointing. One of the projects we made this year, students were able to
select a word that represents them, he chose the word “shy”. It was really
touching to read about ways to alleviate anxiety for a shy student.
I believe Udl will...
Guide me in planning adequate
and more engaging instruction
for all of the different style of
learners that I teach.
Udl and Common Core Standards
If UDL is used effectively, it can help teachers
create effective learning goals and formative
assessments to meet the demands of the
Common Core Standards and all students.
Concerns about Udl
My only reservations I have with the implementation of UDL is the
lack of time for planning. After getting to know each individual
learner, it takes time to gather the proper materials to meet the
needs of all the individual learners I teach. Typically, I don’t know
the names of my students’ until a week or two before school starts,
then if they have an IEP/504 I don’t get that until days before
school starts. It would be nice if we knew our class lists ahead of
time, so that we could adequately prepare our curriculum for our
students.
Universal Design for Learning
is important because it’s a
framework that encourages

Significance educators to design their


curriculum so that meets the
needs of all the individuals in

Of Udl
their classroom. Instead of
trying to fix the learner,
education should try to fix the
curriculum so that all students’
have equal opportunities for
learning.
Implementing LCPs, UDL and UbD
There are so many ways I can take the information learned in this course and apply it
to my teaching practices.

❖ Continue to foster positive relationship building with ALL of my students.


❖ Think of creative ways to offer choice to my students (material exploration for
projects, incorporating personal design elements, etc.)
❖ Allow my students to be more reflective on their own, rather than having mostly
teacher provided feedback
❖ Incorporate more ways for students to collaborate with one another (class
discussions, class critiques, peer critiques, etc.)

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