Photo from Erin Fletcher's Blog
Feedback on Erin Fletcher's blog post #3 regarding topic #3 questions: How can you ensure equitable access to authentic, meaningful & relevant learning environments for all learners in K-12 open and distributed learning contexts? What did you already know, what do you know now based on the course readings and activities, what do you hope to learn?
Erin, thank you for your reflective blog post. You provide great suggestions for creating an open design learning space which is inclusive to all learners. I appreciate that you acknowledge your worries around becoming a teacher and the questions you ask yourself. It is comforting to know that someone else is also thinking about these things. I find it overwhelming to think about how many different learners we will teach. It produces a lot of pressure on ourselves to create meaningful work that will reach each student and will be relevant to them, the curriculum, and the world around us. We are lucky to be a part of a community of educators who are all trying to meet these goals and are eager to help one another when the pressure builds up.
I like that you mention using the two by ten model. By taking two minutes for ten days with a student, you can get to know them, build a trusting relationship, and begin to understand them as a learner. My one concern is, that teachers will not always have enough time to meet with every student in the class each day. My suggestion would be to start with a small group of ten or less students for the first ten days and meet with a new group after that. By focusing on a small group of students at a time, it will help the teacher to not become overwhelmed with information, and really listen and concentrate on those particular students.
Thank you for acknowledging the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework and creating a brilliant sketch note to go with it. I agree that providing an inclusive learning design stems from offering multiple means of representation to reach different learning needs. I appreciate the quotes you included from this topic’s readings. I think they accurately sum up the importance of including student voice and promoting student agency, to encourage students to take control and responsibility of their learning. This idea blends well with teaching through inquiry; this method allows students to design their own learning goals and follow content interests that will engage them and promote natural curiosities that they want to explore further.
I agree, that with classrooms being moved online, there has been an abundance of equity issues regarding students’ access to learning tools. I like your suggestions of increasing student choice and further opening the learning design. This can allow the curriculum to be more adaptable to ensure that each student can be successful with the tools they have. I look forward to continue collaborating outside of this course, and discussing these topics further to discover how we can best educate ourselves to provide a successful learning experience for our students.