Well, we presented our webinar today. Though we were both nervous I think we were able to convey our information accurately and we were blessed with very active and ready participants.
But I still have many worries, and I will tell you why.
Several times during these blogs I have mentioned the benefits of using digital tools, and I still stand by what I said. Digitizing math gives students access to websites, games, and resources that allow them to build their problem solving skills in engaging ways and I have personally seen how much students enjoy the opportunity to work with digital tools. But let me share with you a cautionary tale.
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| Retrieved from makeameme.org |
I was extremely stressed to work with Youtube livestreams because its a platform I am unfamiliar with, but we were given instructions to follow and I knew my fellow teacher candidates would help me in any way they could. So my partner and I created a test webinar link and every seemed to be ready for the big day. And yet, the day of the webinar came and brought many unexpected challenges. We had to resend links and worry about the quality of the internet, the lag time, the possibility that one of our observers would choke on a pizza crust and have to miss our webinar because they were rushed to the professional pizza uncloggers like in the dream I had last night.
You know, normal worries.
But at the end of the day our webinar "Differentiated Instruction: Universal Design for Awesomeness" was complete without a single pizza related incident and we were able to share our resources and knowledge with our fellow classmates using a new platform that we might not have otherwise used, so I have to admit there is some good in that.
My word of caution to you, dear blog buddy, is that when you feel nervous about working with new technology make sure you make use of all the resources available to you to get acquainted with it. Because, as great of a resource as it is, technology is as fickle as the weather we have been having so it's always best to be prepared!
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| Retrieved from http://now-here-this.timeout.com |
Resource Round-up
Lastly, speaking of resources, I'd like to share some of ours here! The first link DI Resources goes to a page on Edutopia, an educational company created by George Lucas (yes that George Lucas), and there are over 20 resources gathered on that link alone that deal with Universal Design for Learning in several different contexts. The second is an EduGains document that focuses on differentiation for intermediate/senior students specifically, it even goes up university level!
Hopefully these are of some help!
Speaking of help, remember to ask for it when you need it! I didn't as much as I could have this week and I am kicking myself for it.
This week has been a difficult one but I have learned a few lessons I sorely needed reminding of and I am glad for it. So until next time:
"Forth and fear no darkness"
Bernadette
Bernadette, Thanks for this comical reflection on your webinar experience this week!
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to hear that your webinar on "Differentiated Instruction: Universal Design for Awesomeness" went off with a bang. I too, presented my webinar on DI this week and we experienced our own technical difficulties following our webinar. ***Long story short, everything loaded onto YouTube successfully, and we were able to check the webinar off of our "ToDo List."
I have to admit that leading up to the webinar, I was dreading going online as I prefer intimate, in-classroom, environments where I am only being watched by our small class of 20. By creating a digital presentation that would go LIVE on YouTube, we were inviting strangers from the "WORLD WIDE WEB" to take a peek into what we pre-service teachers are learning these days. Once we started "rolling" I realized that yes, strangers would be looking at my smiling face while I talked about teaching and learning strategies, but on the plus side, we were creating an online environment for presenters and participants to work together, while sharing learning and information with classmates. Thankfully, we both successfully informed our fellow educators on how to differentiate the teaching and learning of Mathematics, while providing useful tips and tricks for differentiating teaching in the math classroom. I think we need to give ourselves a pat on the back for that!
Technology is becoming more common in classrooms, in more forms which is providing more opportunities for teaching and learning. Just think about our webinars for instance. Who would have considered this as a platform for teaching and learning before getting assigned this project? Educators of today are having to push the boundaries of teaching to reach out to individual learners and we have to be open and ready to try it in our own classrooms.
Kudos to us for reaching out to our 21st century learners and nailing it on the first attempt!
I think you are completely in the right mindset Brittany! We challenged ourselves and because of it we have gained new skills and conquered some old fears!
DeleteHere's to new adventures! :)
Bernadette
Hi Bernadette!
ReplyDeleteI must say, it took me a while to get to actually writing this comment because I was so hypnotized by your beautiful 'Sun and Moon' style Newton's cradle. I was also thinking to myself that your ability to find and incorporate many humorous as well as aesthetically pleasing photos, clips, etc. will come in handy as a teacher and that I am almost certain all of your students will appreciate it! It is something that even someone like me, in my frail old age can appreciate. With that being said, I do not want to forget to thank you for sharing the point you made about not being afraid to ask questions. It reminded me of a quote I really liked and I think you may enjoy as well, "a smart person learns from their mistakes- an even smarter person learns from the mistakes of others!". This just goes to show that it would actually be quite foolish of us to go through our lives not asking for help from others because it only makes things harder on ourselves unnecessarily.
Great post, and I hope to see more from you soon!
I'm glad I was able to reach my target audience, frail old people like me! I love that quote, and you are completely right, its so relevant to us as educators! Both your comment and Brittany's were so positive that I think I will be sure to add more happy notes to my blog posts in the future!
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