Universal Design

It was interesting to read about universal design and to start thinking about how these principals can improve my instruction.  I'm particularly interested in how the use of multimedia can make curriculum more accessible.  Multimedia in the classroom can be used in two ways: consumption and production.  For example, students can watch a YouTube video in order to learn about a topic (consumption), or they can create a video about a topic and post it on YouTube (production).   For a student who has difficult concentrating, either of these uses of media can be very beneficial.  Similarly, a visually impaired student might like to learn by listening and creating podcasts.  And a deaf person might benefit much from creating their own comic books or animations.  In general, bringing these types of media into the classroom is a great way to make schools more universal.

My Lousy Elevator

I chose to write about the elevator in my building, which was clearly not designed with inclusivity in mind.  For instance, it would probably greatly inconvenience someone in a wheelchair.  Unlike more modern elevators, the door to the elevator does not open automatically.  Instead, it has to be manually opened just like a regular door.  The entrance to the elevator is also not wide.  And when the elevator stops, the floor of the elevator often doesn’t align with the floor of the building, creating a step which one can easily trip over.

The elevator could also better accommodate visually impaired people.  The elevator does not make any sound to indicate that it has reached its destination, which increases the likelihood that a visually impaired person might accidentally get off on the wrong floor.  There is also no Braille on the elevator buttons.

Finally, the elevator’s emergency alarm is inadequate.  One must hold down the button in order for the alarm to continue ringing.  Also, the button doesn’t send any automatic notification to building’s superintendent.

Oh, and might I also mention that the elevator breaks down a lot, sometimes trapping people inside!

About Me, My Work Experience, and My Experiences Learning Technology

Hello! My name is Zach. In 2004 I graduated from Connecticut College with a B.A. in English and a certificate in Elementary Education. After college, I moved to Harlem and began work as a schoolteacher at P.S. 85 in the Bronx. During my first two years I worked as a math "cluster teacher," which meant that I rotated amongst about ten classrooms (grades 3-5) teaching supplemental math. During my second year as a cluster teacher, I designed a unique curriculum that integrated art into my math instruction. More recently, I've self-published my curriculum in a book called Math Art, which I sell through Amazon and promote through my website MathActivities.net.

After two years teaching only math, I spent my third and final year as a teacher in a general fifth grade classroom. Compared to being a cluster teacher, I did not enjoy this experience as much since it required the teaching of all subjects. Wanting to try something new, I left P.S. 85 to work for a couple years in the field of website sales and marketing. Although I liked the company for which I worked, I found the work less rewarding than teaching.

Therefore, I plan to re-enter the teaching field as a Technology Specialist. This is my third semester in the Technology Specialist program at Teachers College. This semester I'll be student teaching at the Friends Seminary lower school (near Union Square). I look forward to possibly applying this course's content to my student teaching and sharing with the class what I've learn while student teaching.

I have much experience teaching myself various technologies (e.g., web design, photography, image and video editing, online self-publishing, online marketing).  My talent at "figuring out" software applications was one of the reasons I entered the Technology Specialist program.  I believe that Martinez's essay about "problem solving" describes my approach to learning technology.  When learning a new technology, I often use an incremental, "trial-and-error" approach.  Since many technologies are extremely complex, it is often impossible to understand all that they are capable of doing.  Nevertheless, by "playing around" with some of the various features of a technology, one can eventually learn to put it to practical use.  For instance, I hardly know everything that Adobe's Photoshop software is capable of doing.  But this is OK since understanding the entirety of Photoshop was never a goal of mine.  Instead, I've set and achieved smaller goals for myself over time, and as a result have learned to use Photoshop to meet almost all of my photo editing needs.

However, though the "trial-and-error" approach to learning technology often suits me well, occasionally I need more assistance and support, especially when I'm first starting out.  For instance, last semester I took my first programming class.  Since I had no prior experience writing code, I had to seek assistance from the professor on multiple occasions.  However, by the end of the course I felt that I had developed a foundation of understanding from which I could continue to learn on my own.  Or, as Martinez would say, I reached a point designing programs using code became "self-sustaining" activity which "[pushed me] along by its momentum."