Personal Learning Reflection

Learning about UDL guidelines and applying them to the Weather Report lesson I created was very beneficial for me in learning about effective teaching strategies. These guidelines really opened my eyes to how technology can be such a huge asset in a lower elementary classroom. In a lower elementary classroom you have such a variety of reading levels, so the simple tool of text to speech is very valuable. I really liked the website Vozme, and I also loved the feature included in powerpoint to add a sound recording. This is such a great tool to use and takes a frustration out of learning for some students. Another thing I learned about effective teaching strategies was the importance of reaching the TPACK “sweet spot” by blending knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and content when creating a lesson. After evaluating the TPACK webquest it was interesting that a lesson may be strong in content, but very weak in other areas, such as technology. The strongest lessons were those that addressed and blended all three areas.

Finding effective ways to integrate technology in a lower elementary classroom has been one of my main goals. After learning to create a StAIR, and creating my own StAIR for learning coin values, I have found that this is a very valuable tool for a lower elementary class. A StAIR is a great way to create a teacher guided activity and incorporate tutorials, online activities, or videos, while still allowing students to work independently. This is definitely something I will use in my classroom.

A new goal I have for myself is to be conscience of the UDL guidelines, as well as TPACK, as I create lessons. Making a few changes to a lesson to incorporate more UDL and blending the content, pedagogy, and technology will make my lesson plans much stronger.