Etch 'n Sketch Reflections

It was another full (and exciting) week, and it's hard to believe that next Tuesday is the start of a new school year! Monday and Tuesday had some professional learning centered around UDL: we looked at our district's "non-negotiables" for the teaching and learning that happens in Sheboygan Falls; we had an online session with UDL guru Allison Posey, who offered us some things to ponder and focus in on for the year; we took time to dive into the UDL checkpoints for the access level of the guidelines in order to identify ways that we can apply them into our classrooms; and, probably the most beneficial for me at this time, was the opportunity to do some UDL lesson planning with colleagues. This allowed me to get a closer look at my new science standards with a UDL lens. In addition to our UDL work, we also continued discussions with the types of things we will need to remember when it comes to students arriving on Tuesday. We went over our classroom "launch...

When I last left you, I had a classroom full of materials that needed sorting and storing. Well, I'm proud to say that is finished. It was a busy Monday and Tuesday getting the plethora (I like that word :-) of materials sorted and organized. I was able to meet with one of the other science teachers to have him inspect the materials and let me know what materials were needed and what ones were the typical teacher "I can probably use this somehow" materials. It was nice to meet with him, because he let me know that a good chunk fell into the latter category. So, I pitched some of the materials and kept others that I probably still don't need, but I'm going to make a promise to myself: I hereby swear that I will go through the cabinets in my classroom at the end of the year and get rid of any items that were not used. There. It's written. Can't be taken back... Wednesday and today were the first official back-on-the-clock inservice days for the school distr...

While contracted inservices don't start until next week, this was a week of learning. I had the opportunity to spend Tuesday and Thursday with colleagues down in Oconomowoc at their district's UDL Academy (yes, it has been a UDL-filled few weeks). I also got to be in the new middle school on Wednesday with some of the other middle school teachers getting acclimated to our new surroundings. Here's a recap of the highlights (not EVERYTHING) from the last few days! Tuesday morning's UDL Academy began at the Oconomowoc Arts Center with Joni Degner speaking on "Empowering All Teachers." I had the opportunity to hear Joni in Boston, but this keynote was different than the one she gave in Boston, but it was just as good! Right away we were introduced to a tool that I can't wait to use in my classroom-- https://answergarden.ch/   This site is an instant word cloud creator that fills as participants give their answers. I want to use it with my students as soon as...

With August being here (school's not too far away), and following the CAST conference, UDL has definitely been on my mind. To help support the staff's knowledge base with UDL, my school district has purchased the book Dive into UDL, by Kendra Grant and Luis Perez. Every teacher on the staff is getting a copy of the book, and we are going to be using some of our inservice time at the beginning of the year for a book study. We had the opportunity to pick up the book during the summer to get a head start on the reading prior to inservice, and I started digging into the book, so I thought I'd take this chance to highlight some parts from the first part of the book. The book begins with the story of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and the challenges he faced in the classroom. I liked this example that was given, as it focuses a situation that is common for many students--highly successful in certain aspects of their lives and education and struggling in others. The introduction...

It seems like a long time since I last wrote my blog, but it has only been a week, and what a week it has been! I had the opportunity to join a colleague, Mark Thompson, this past week to spend a few days in Boston at Harvard for the CAST UDL Symposium on Empowering Learners, and we presented some of the outstanding work that teachers in Sheboygan Falls have been doing. Even better, I was able to learn from UDL leaders! It was fantastic, and I'll take this opportunity to reflect and share. This is going to be a long post because there was just so much packed into these few days, so get ready! We arrived on Sunday around noon, and a cousin of mine who lives in Boston generously offered to pick us up at the airport and hold onto our bags until our Airbnb was ready. We had a few hours to kill, so we decided to take in many of the sights of Boston and walk the Freedom Trail. This historical path tells the story of Boston around the Revolutionary War. It was very interesting to ...