UbDDI+B1+Chapter+2

While reading chapter 2 of UbD/DI, it is easy to pick up the hints that it’s not about you anymore, as it’s all about the students. Teachers need to be able to recognize that each student has a different life and what happens in those lives is going to carry over into the classroom. The huge point made was: No matter how much you plan, things will always end differently then planned. Everyday will be different from the one before it and you can never fully plan for the next, its essential that you go with the flow and take things as they come. We thought that the teacher should always be prepared to teach responsively to the students and take into consideration everyone’s learning styles, while realizing that plans probably aren’t going to go as planned. A website, Scribblar.com, known as a virtual whiteboard can help teachers post what was supposed to be covered so students could revisit what the lesson was after class is ended. We as teachers need to be able to respond to the signals that students give out everyday, whether they are good or bad. What we make for curriculum needs to reflect upon the learning needs of the students and how they learn, while not catering to every single individual need of every student.
 * Abstract (Moe):**
 * Synthesis (Moe):**

Kristen
toc Kristen A teacher needs to be prepared for their plans to change. A teacher can never be fully prepared for the differing perspectives of the students. Each student meets a challenge differently and each comes out a bit differently in the child’s actions. Teachers need to be aware of the way students learn and why they act the way they act. If there is a problem with the student do some investigating. The environment is key. Both the learning environment and the home environment are important to understand a student’s perspective and ability to learn. Learning is an interactive thing. “Learning happens within students, not to them.”

Amanda Martemucci
UbD/DI-Chapter 2: Chapter 2 discusses the barriers teachers may face with students that can cause issues in a students learning. It is important for a teacher understand that students want to learn and grow, and a teacher should help give them that opportunity. Students are also different in learning ability, personal life, etc., and teachers need to take those into consideration in order to fix obstacles that students may face. The chapter emphasizes how a teacher should teach responsively and ways in which him or her could do this. This is the part of the chapter I got most out of. Ideas such as building teacher-student bonds, offering more ways to explore and express learning, and teaching in multiple ways are definitely strategies I would consider trying in my classroom. Students learn in different ways and it is my responsibility to come up with ways to incorporate the several learning abilities into my teaching. Using some of the ideas expressed in this chapter will help me start doing that.

Kevin Quinn-Kelly
Chapter 2 This chapter addressed some of the concerns I have about how it doesn't matter how well prepared I may be, if the student is having issues outside the classroom it will be very difficult to get through to him/her. Providing a comfortable and safe classroom is important in helping students to be able to focus. Another part of being able to engage the student is to try to adapt in whatever way possible so that they will be best served.

Jesika
Chapter 2 This chapter was about remembering that the students are what it’s all about. Without them teachers are pointless. Attention to the details of how a student is reacting to what you are doing is critical. This has a lot of meaning to me because I have known many people who could have done better if teachers had paid attention to the signals they were putting out about how they were learning or reasons they were not. This is quite possibly the most important practice of all. It is attention to detail that will help me to make sure I am reaching my students.

Christina
In Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design, chapter two begins with the art of teaching. In order to successfully reach out to each student when barriers are presented, the teacher must be able to adapt their lesson or personal instruction to match the needs of that particular student. By being a responsive teacher, and anticipating the needs of the learner, an environment where knowledge and understanding are obtained is created. I believe one important aspect of the reading is the suggestion that classroom teachers should not individualize their curriculum, but rather implement patterns of instruction likely to serve multiple needs. Additionally, the teacher can look at individuals to make refinements in the teaching patterns.

Chelsea
Chapter 2 discusses how teachers need to be understanding in the way that they plan their curriculums. Curriculums need to be adapted to students, and the needs of the students are ever changing. The book describes different barriers to students learning and how it can overshadow a teacher’s well thought out plans but it can also allow a teacher to examine a student and discover new things about that students learning abilities. Teachers also need to teach responsively, the need to respond to the students needs. There are several different ways that a teacher can approach responsive teaching. The chapter represents how the curriculum should be planned with students needs in mind and that while it does not need to be individualized it does need to reflect the different needs of students.

Moe
One of the hardest lessons, that I will have to learn, is that plans do not ever go as planned in the classroom. Although this isn’t a problem for me, because I’m pretty chill, but it still is a little disappointing. I think it will be fun to have to make things up on the fly. Along with having alternate plans, it is important to use efficiency when looking at different strategies to use when addressing learning needs. In the classroom it only makes sense to plan efficiently for not only varying learning styles, but also kinks in the plans and schedule. I still am not sure how to go about this different instruction for varying learning styles.

Bridget
UBD/DI focuses not only on the idea that a teacher should know their students learning styles, but also what impacts their life outside the classroom and how it affects their learning. Students’ relationships with peers and parents greatly affect their performance in the classroom. Social and economic status as well as gender, race, and previous exposure to learning are all important factors of how students learn. Attending to all of these issues and influences is a difficult task, but the teacher is not expected to create individualized lesson plans for each student to best meet their needs. Teachers are expected to recognize different ways of learning, such as the multiple intelligences and teach to those to meet the needs of all the students. This impacts me greatly as a teacher because I will need to learn to understand what influences my students and rather than teach to each individually or all in a blanket fashion. I must see patterns of difference in the way my students learn and incorporate their learning styles into my teaching style.