Tales with Mrs. T

Take a look at my comic that I created with Pixton!   Initially when I started this class I was pretty excited because I love learning about all things tech. I honestly felt like "what else could I learn that I'm not already aware about!" and boy was I wrong. I had a pretty easy time working with the AI components of the course, but I was really interested in learning more about diffusion of innovations. I never really thought about the idea of needing to get other people on board with new initiatives. I did find myself initially struggling with keeping up with a blog, even after this course I'm not sure I would remember to set aside time to keep up with my blog but it's been pretty fun so far! I know at the end of the day everything that I've been exposed to will be beneficial to me and my students, but the most beneficial thing that I've learned about has been the universal design for learning.

While reading about the universal design for learning, I realized that I have not been following the guidelines as much as I would like to think I am. I'm fortunate that I do get to teach online and a lot of the guidelines actually follow our standard procedures for lessons. I try to offer different alternatives to auditory information like transcripts and diagrams, but currently I'm not able to provide ASL for lessons. I do try to clarify vocabulary and symbols, as well as clarify syntax and structure. I also try to promote understanding across languages with translations and illustrate through multiple media. I help to provide background knowledge, highlight patterns and relationships, guide information processing, and help maximize generalizations. I try to optimize access to tools and assistive technologies. I try to provide various options for communication, especially with students and parents. Lastly, I try to offer options for executive functions like goal-setting, plan...

For this assignment I decided to focus on creating a tutorial for middle school to high school students who may be looking for historical research sources. I relied on Google, since that is where a lot of students begin with their research journey. I wanted to make a point for students to not rely on Wikipedia or social media sites as we are looking for historical and reliable information. Here is the video tutorial!