UDL in Indiana

Yes, Universal Design for Learning exists in Indiana, too. I'm glad I found it and don't have to pioneer it here myself! It is the PATINS (Promoting Achievement through Technology and INstruction for all Students) Project, and it provides a library of materials, Internet resources, and other technological resources to Indiana's schools.

The best part is that it currently has a UDL pilot program, wherein 8 schools are selected per year to receive UDL support materials and training for three years. For each of the six semesters they are in the program, the schools report data about their students' progress back to PATINS. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Explore for yourself: http://www.patinsproject.com/index.htm

A Poem By Emily Dickinson

I found this as I was sorting through material from my high school senior English class. It captured my attention as quite profound now that I've been through Mind, Brain, and Education.

632
The Brain--is wider than the sky--
For--put them side by side--
The one the other will contain
With ease--and You--beside--

The Brain is deeper than the sea--
For--hold them--Blue to Blue--
The one the other will absorb--
As sponges--Buckets--do--

The Brain is just the weight of God--
For--Heft them--Pound for Pound--
And they will differ--if they do--
As syllable from Sound--

More Video!

Herry Monster:

YouTube Videos

Well, I really just need a space to post these videos because I'm using them for Tina Grotzer's class. They're for my unit on listening to television songs for kindergartners.

Bear in the Big Blue House:




I'll give more on UDL wrap-up next time.

Individual Differences Go To Work

The Fort Wayne Center for Learning is a place where I am applying for a job after I graduate. I just found this video on their website today. It's a little cheesy, but it shows one place (even in lowly Indiana!) where individual differences are catered to specifically.


Hopefully, I'll be doing something like what these instructors do someday, although ideally in a whole classroom.

Issues with Images

I found last week's class demos so neat, I had to peruse further. I especially enjoyed the Image Detective resource, which provides strategic scaffolding in looking at images. It reminded me of Thinking Reader for art. I guess that would make it "Thinking Viewer," or something like that. However, this site and others we looked at in class also brought up a question for me about balancing cognitive accessibility with guidance. With a strategic guide for looking, how do we know the strategy given isn't the creator's interpretation?

This is not so much of an issue with text or books. It's easier for words to "speak for themselves" (excuse the pun). But art--art is sensitive to interpretation. This is a difficult question. I know Tina Grotzer must have grappled with this a little as she made the Art Works for Schools curriculum with Project Zero. Perhaps that would give insight to how to approach art openly and give scaffolds.

Quick Dyslexia Tidbit

My brother sent me the link to this article. Fascinating that the neurobiology for dyslexia may be quite different depending on what language you are dyslexic in. This short snip is about a study that compares English speakers and Chinese speakers. Does this have an implication for how to universally design interventions in different cultures?

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/08/dyslexia-language-print.html