UDL Presentation at the CASE Spring Conference

Today I spoke at the CASE (Council of Administrators of Special Education) conference. I was thrilled to have been asked to be a part of this conference and very much enjoyed sharing the exciting things that have been happening in Coquitlam. I based most of what I said on my previous blog posts “How UDL has changed my job” post and my “UDL Success” post. The most important messages I wanted to share during this presentation were: Our appreciation and thanks to the BC Ministry of Education and to SET BC for their role in bringing the UDL movement to BC. … Continue reading UDL Presentation at the CASE Spring Conference

My Twitter PLN (Personal Learning Network)…

This list includes both people I follow many of whom also follow my twitter updates. It is a great way to keep track of what is going on internationally in your area of interest. I mostly follow people who are interested in UDL, Special Education, Educational Technology, and Accessibility. Twitter is a great way to learn!!

UDL Success!!!

The process of transforming the way we work with our students is gradual. One of the first things we have been working on is moving away from the ‘resource room’ model where kids who are not reading/writing at grade level miss classroom instruction to be involved in extra instruction to work on their areas of weakness. We continued pulling kids but only in short-term focus groups set up for a specific purpose (this term it was phonemic awareness). Some kids who are on our support list did not need this group so the only support they received was to monitor … Continue reading UDL Success!!!

Learning Intentions – What are we really teaching?

As a staff we decided that one of the first things we would do when we began to design Universally Designed lessons was to ensure that we were clearly stating our Learning Intention to our students at the beginning of each lesson. Some of our teachers now write the learning intention for each of their lessons beside their daily agenda on their board. Teachers who are using Interactive Whiteboards build their first slide as their learning intention slide. I wanted to share two things I have discovered as a result of doing this: My first discovery is a bit embarrassing … Continue reading Learning Intentions – What are we really teaching?

I made a Wordle…

This was created (very simply!!) in Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/. This would be a fun project for kids using their name and descriptors about themselves. It was simple and fun to play with.

Roxio!!

  This is rough – just messing around but it only took me 15 minutes to put together. Cool!!

How UDL has changed my job

I am a student services teacher who programs for students with a variety of special learning needs including learning disabilities, autism, cerebral palsy, etc. UDL has turned how we plan for our students upside down. In the past I tried to keep up with what the teachers were doing and plan a program for the students I worked with that was somewhat related to what they were doing. Keeping up with such a variety of programs was exhausting and sometime around December (okay November) I lost track of the classroom programs and the students’ programs became less and less related … Continue reading How UDL has changed my job

Great Video Sites

With projectors and/or SMARTBoards it is easy to bring video into your classroom. Here are a few great sources I have found. If you have found any others please post them to share with us. You Tube (of course)  – Here is a link to my favorite video… http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=LTLARW0-EIA Another favorite: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=rvTFKpIaQhM Teacher Tube – They are amassing quite a collection of SMARTBoard instruction videos… http://www.teachertube.com/ Teacher TV – Great educational videos, and professional development videos…  http://www.teachers.tv/ This one is about a student’s life in India: http://www.teachers.tv/video/29290. At our Last PD day we watched a video about Assessment for Learning: … Continue reading Great Video Sites

UDL Weblinks from the Birchland Team Presentation ~LATA

What a great day! David Rose was inspiring, really reminded us why we have worked so hard this year – and renewed our energy. We also had a great time sharing our Journey so far with those who came to watch our presentation. I want to blog so many things I learned today… the only problem is time – I must write my IEPs this weekend… As promised, here are the weblinks that were shown in our presentation today – I hope I got them all. If I have missed anything either post a comment, or send me an email – there is … Continue reading UDL Weblinks from the Birchland Team Presentation ~LATA