I have learned through this 8 week course all about Universal Design for learning and how much we use it along with differentiated instruction. Differentiated instruction is not strategies for the different levels of students within a classroom; this is however, how teachers have been taught. Throughout this course we have learned how to teach individual children while figuring out how they learn best. Teachers can sometimes figure out how children learn the best by observation of the classroom.
With children as young as 5, I can ask them to complete a student survey by having them point to pictures of things they enjoy and how they like for someone to teach them new things. I have set up my classroom with the idea of teaching with centers. This is a way that I am able to meet the individual needs of my students. There are certain centers that children who don’t speak English can go to. I also have daily guided reading groups and for those who are not reading, we work on word work/letter skills/word sounds. Through these reading groups I have individualized instruction. One of the centers during the literacy block is computers. There are many different programs that can be used for phonics introduction. There are programs that work at the student’s levels to move them along at their own pace. This can reiterate what is being taught during the week.
