The idea of having a variety of ways to reach the same goal.  This can be done through the use of supports like closed captioning, audio, visual, and other media formats.  I am also intersted in the Backward Design  and how this can help with lesson planning and looking at the big picture and creating pathways to reach that lesson goal.

Nikia Cockerham

Hi Nikia - Great points! Which particular strategy were you looking at on the CAST resource? 

I can use the support planning and strategy development CHECKPOINT 6.3 Facilitate managing information and resources to provide more opportunities for scholars to have accessibility in their learning. My learners have challenges determining what information they should retain and memorize. This checkpoint will be invaluable.

In Pre K we have certain objectives we focus on for student development and mentioned in Cast students dont oftent have say so on the learning objective itself.  However CHECKPOINT 7.1 says we are educators can optimize individual choice and autonomy.  As a Pre K teacher I can optimize individual choice by providing choices to students thru allowing them to choose the tools they will use to perform task, the rewards, the way the objective will be presented to them and helping decide how we may be able to achieve the goal.  

I teach 5th grade and I also gravitated towards this checkpoint. I really like the idea of including learners to participate in the design of classroom activities and academic tasks. That really allows them to take ownership in their learning. This is so key to them "buying into" the activity. I have never thought about approaching something like that before so I am definitely going to strive to incorporate that next year!

With virtual learning, I have worked on engaging access by giving choice boards for students to choose activities that they feel confident they can complete, as well as offers meeting various learning styles. Students appreciate the choice and are often more motivated to complete the assignments.

That is a good point, Michelle.  Giving students a choice at a few different "activities" that encompass all learning styles is important.  I noticed during virtual learning I had more responses from my students when I gave them a "choice".  It lets them foster their learning styles and/or explore others. 

Hi Bobby & Michelle:

I am familiar with the choice boards but have not used them as yet since there were so may other tools that I have been trying since just arriving here in January.

Giving students a choice definitely seems to be a better option, especially for use in small group settings.

Checkpoint 9.2 Internazie: Facilitate personal coping skills and strategies.  Using scaffolding to help manager frustrations and helping students by using prior knowledge and real life sitaution.  This is very important since virtual learning has taken place all over NC.  Students anxiety have soared because they don't have that face to fact attention and connection.  By using this is could assist students in learning how to deal with those anxietys and give them strategies to cope. 

Use multiple media for communication (checkpoint5.1)- this strategy can help all students by providing opportunities to use a variety of media for expression. This will help reduce barriers for students with special needs. We reside in a media-rich world so it is important to utilize a multitude of resources to provide success for all students. 

Promote Expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation

Checkpoint 9.1-Develop self-assessment and self-regulation helps my students to reflect, better engage, and focus on the task at hand. It allows them the opportunity to pause, concentrate, and redirect their energy in a more positive direction. Students are encouraged to journal/draw their feelings or keep a diary. They can revisit/reread that journal/diary to monitor and make adjustment in order to evolve in their social emotional skills.

UDL: Foster Collaboration and Community - Checkpoint 8.3  

Distance learning can be isolating. Students need to be given opportunities to collaborate with their peers in both synchronous and asynchronous instruction. Incorporating more opportunities for my students to collaborate and foster a sense of community will enhance my students' overall mental health. 

Sustaining Effort and Persistance - Foster Collaboration and Community standard 8.3

This will be hellpful for my students because they become motivated when they are working in pairs or groups. However, it has been challenging to get them to cooperate, show kindness by speaking appropriately, and accept responsiblity for their part. I will incorporate this strategy by providing clear roles for each student. They do well understanding the goal, but assigning roles will be helpfull. They will also benefit from using specific prompts/language to properly ask fo help. I will also be sure to set clear expectations for the pair. 

As a DPI Consultant supporting district leaders, I think providing opportunities for collaboration and community (CHECKPOINT 8.3) can help build capacity among district leaders, and help them feel safe asking questions and giving feedback. Having dynamic groups that may change over time also ensures that the leaders within my region form positive relationships and a sense of community.

Checkpoint 9.2 Facilitate personal coping skills and strategies

Teaching students social and emotional coping skills is so important this year, especially for virtual learning. Those students are not engaging in the classroom environment, but are doing so virtually. They are not sitting near their peers during lunch or recess but are engaging through technology. While it is amazing we can provide the opportunity, their learning is not the same. With that said, this year we have had to adapt to help give those virtual kids the same instruction we are giving in person students. Teaching these students how to cope when things do not go their way has been really beneficial. Students are comfortable with sharing when they do not understand a concept, which is hard for a young child to do, especially in front of their peers. 

Build Fluencies  with graduated levels of support for practice and performance 5.3 This strategy can really help my students in the differentiations that it provides and also the scaffolding to help provide many varieties of fluency.

I can also see how this strategy can really help my students when it comes to engagement, perserverence, and resilience.

ENGAGEMENT - As a beginning teacher, I find one of the hardest aspects of teaching is pacing. My school recently transitioned to Eureka for Math. This curriculum is mostly whole group, which can make teaching tricky when it comes to pacing. How do you go slowly enough that you don't discourage your students that aren't getting the material, yet also go quickly enough to challenge your high flyers? 

PERSEVERENCE/RESILIENCE

When students receive scaffolds that are "gradually released with increasing independence and skills (e.g., embedded into digital reading and writing software)" they are more likely to feel capable and confident in their ability to learn. So, when the work gets challenging or a concept isn't clicking, students are less likely to freeze up.

Promote Understanding Across Languages: Checkpoint 2.4

One of the things that my students and I have enjoyed doing is adding movements/motions to our vocabulary terms.  This enables the auditory and kinesthetic learners to have more points of access to the vocabulary, which is often domain specific.  This is also a very helpful strategy to employ with English Language Learners, which, if we really think about it, many students - even those for whom English is their first language - are.  We also can benefit from learning from each other, especially when certain vocabulary terms are cognates;  it is a means to connect to other languages and cultures.

I like the ideas from the guiding perception of information. I know that sometimes we forget how difficult learning something from the beginning can be for young learners and since we have be using that information since we were their age or younger, we forget that these learners have never been exposed to it before. I know that I can move pretty quickly because I will think some concepts are very easy and I could use better ways to give explicit prompts for the sequence of learning, and even give more interactive materials for my students. I do recognize some students learn simply by listening and others need to "DO" the thing to learn it. I hope to explore more ways to provide many different methods of learning so everyone is "doing" the thing so those who need it will have it and those who don't need it will hopefully have fun learning it and will find something interesting about the "doing" part to remember the lesson better. 

The guideline I chose was "Illurstrate through muliple media" . Since text isn't always the best way to communicate a lesson to a student. Illurstations and interactive images and really help "wake up" a student's mind to a new concept and the image may stick with them more than a paragraph or a sentence about the subject. For example, when asked a test questin about a plant cell, a student may remember an image of a plant cell versus the written parts of a plant cell. 

Checkpoint 9.1 Promote expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation

Incorporating expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation will help students set and achieve attainable goals. It is important to not only provide academic goal setting guidance, but social emotional as well. This strategy can impact my learners by increasing their self-confidence with each goal they meet. This strategy is not creating a goal for the class as a whole but creating attainable expectations for individual students. By providing a nurturing environment in my classroom, I think I will be able to use checklists as well as encourage self-reflection when looking at strengths and weaknesses. 

CHECKPOINT 1.1

Offer ways of customizing the display of information

I think this is very important, because, as a Kindergarten teacher this is already how I have to think about what I convey to my children when we get started with a new unit.  There has to be a way to draw them in that isn't text heavy.  If it is then their ability to connect with it will be null and void because most of them cannot read. In that vein I must think of creative ways of getting the concept of a topic across and that includes all sorts of fonts, pictures, and size of text.  I like this way of approaching a new topic especially for my non-readers.

Guide Appropriate Goal Setting (Checkpoint 6.1)-this strategy has helped my students and will continue to help my students. Based on where they are in Reading, we set realistic goals together that are attainable for them to reach. Once they meet the goal that we have set, we make a new goal together. 

I clicked on engage for this. What really stuck to me was giving children choices in the classroom. Whether this is through class activities, centers and what not. I aslo liked giving students choices based on how they acheive their goal. I would give students choices during centers for reading and math. I have first graders so I do not want to give them too much free since they're little. I already give students choices for rewards. We cash in our bulldogs bucks at the end of each week. Students get to pick prizes based on how many bucks they have. 

I teach K-5 music classes. I would like to use Minimize threats and distractions (checkpoint 7.3). My students need to learn theory music without threats and distractions. I create my music lessons with changing activities. For example: They learn about rhythm how to call different notes and rests. How much beats in each note?  Then they clap and say rhythm patterns. Then they recognize them on the piece of music. They use body percussion: clap, tap on the shoulder, snap, pat on the knees, or stomp rhythm patterns.

Foster collaboration and community (checkpoint8.3)

My students with disabilities do well when they can learn from their typical developing peers. I chose this one, because I think it is important to encourage this in all aspects of their learning. 

Activate or supply background knowledge: This strategy can really help my students by reducing barriers by providing options to activate prior knowledge. I will incorporate this in my classroom by using visuals, graphic organizers, and modeling.

Minimize threats and distractions (checkpoint 7.3)-this strategy can really help my English Learners by creating accepting and supportive classroom climate and class routines.  Also, varying number of features or items presented at a time and giving alerts and previews can help.  Varying the social demand required for learning or performance, perceived level of support and protection, and involve all participants in whole class discussions can help.