Nancy+B.

Nancy M. Boyle
Teacher. Mother. Wife. I have been a teacher for 26 years. I have a BA in English from Montclair State College and a MA in Reading from Montclair State University. I began my teaching career at Hanover Park High School and I am currently employed at Jefferson Township High School. As a reading specialist, I am currently responsible for structuring and implementing a pull out program targeting regular and special education students who present as at-risk for achieving proficient scores in Language Arts for the NJ HSPA. In addition to teaching, I am a mother of two daughters, Reilly Anne and Braeden, and a son, Christopher. My husband and our three children reside in Byram, New Jersey.

Presentation of Chapter 1 of **Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age: Universal Design for Learning** by David H. Rose & Anne Meyer

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5 new technologies to try===== 1. wikispace 2. wordl 3. voki 4. delicious 5. flickr

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4 ideas to share with others===== 1. the significance of UDL 2. Bloom and Lev Votsky ideas on higher levels of learning 3. selective attention and its role in lesson planning 4. that the jobs we are preparing students for don't even exist yet.

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3 principles of Universal Design for Learning===== 1. Representation 2. Expression 3. Engagement

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2 changes in your teaching to reach all learners in the Digital Age===== 1. move from personal folders to personal wikispace for students. 2. integrate technology that will generate higher levels of interest and foster a greater love of learning.

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1 BIG idea to implement in the fall.=====

Turn focus away from mastery of content to mastery of learning!

Toolbox #1: What did I learn/find interesting? I found out there is a wealth of resources available to access. It is amazing how many professional minds can be tapped into by simply reading their tweets whereas otherwise, these individuals would be unaccessible to most of us on a daily basis.


 * 2: How will this technology help make curriculum more accessible to students? The comments on twitter exist in the immediate present. Students can hear comments from doctors, lawyers, educators on current issues in the media.


 * 1) 3 What is UDL: UDL is the compilation of the latest brain research and educationally sound teaching strategies that combine with the latest technology to create a state-of-the-art 21st century classroom that fosters greater student achievement through diversity and a reassessment of content based curriculum over mastery of learning.

Toolbox #2 What are the benefits of analyzing the curriculum for strengths/weaknesses rather than focusing on student strength/weakness?

Curriculum content changes over the years based on what society deems important/significant but the concepts BEHIND the curriculum are for the most part timeless. If teachers analyze the WHY of what they are teaching they will have a better understanding of how to reach all students. For example, if teaching Shakespeare, the content may not be as important as the value of experiencing a masterfully crafted piece of literature. It changes what we want students to know and what we want them to take with them for years to come. I may not remember how many miles wide the Grand Canyon is or how deep it may fall, but I will always remember the beauty of seeing it for the first time and knowing I was experiencing something magnificent. We want our students to experience what our classroom can offer in order to make their lives richer, more meaningful, and more challenging. When we focus on what is important in the curriculum we can then design an approach for learning.

Toolbox #4 What did I learn/find interesting?

I liked using Jing to move printed media. I could use this tool to create more inviting visuals for my classes.

How can this technology make curriculum more accessible?

VIsual presentation is such an important piece of the learning process. By having multiple options at our fingertips, teachers can create handouts, webpages, as well as a myriad of other visual devices that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also target different types of learners.



Digital natives are those who have been born into a world of computers, cell phones and the myriad of digital technology that the rest of us born prior to that age are working desperately to understand and appreciate its place in our every day lives. Technology is not just a tool, or a device, it is a way of life. It has changed the way we live, the way we learn and the way we think. Its not about infusing it into our lives as much as it is about understanding how it is changing the way we do just about every task imaginable and embracing those changes. Digital immigrants have been thrown into the proverbial swimming pool and as the age old adage goes, "we either have to sink or swim."