Understanding My Strengths and Weaknesses

As I previously mentioned, I used the UDL Guidelines Educator Checklist provided by CAST.org to reflect upon my practice and make changes to an existing lesson in order to incorporate more UDL guidelines. Here is an example of the checklist: 

UDL Guidelines	Unit/Lesson:
I. Provide multiple means of representation– Knowledge Networks (more info)
1.    Provide options for perception (examples)	Your Ideas
1.1  Customize the display of information
1.2  Provide alternatives for auditory information
1.3  Provide alternatives for visual information
2.   Provide options for language and symbols (examples)	Your Ideas
2.1  Define vocabulary and symbols    X	Words to know worksheet
2.2  Clarify syntax and structure
2.3  Decode text and mathematical notation
2.4  Promote cross-linguistic understanding X
2.5  Illustrate key concepts non-linguistically X	Story Map
3.   Provide options for comprehension (examples)	Your Ideas
3.1  Provide or activate background knowledge  X	Throughout Anticipatory Set
3.2  Highlight critical features, big ideas, and relationships X
3.3  Guide information processingX
3.4  Support memory and transfer X	Writing in their journals to review
II. Provide multiple means for action and expression - Strategic Networks (more info)
4.   Provide options for physical actions (examples)	Your Ideas
4.1  Provide varied ways to respond
4.2  Provide varied ways to interact with materials
4.3  Integrate assistive technologies
5.   Provide options for expressive skills and fluency (examples)	Your Ideas
5.1  Allow choices of media for communication
5.2  Provide appropriate tools for composition and problem solving
5.3  Provide ways to scaffold practice and performance
6.   Provide options for executive functions (examples)	Your Ideas
6.1  Guide effective goal setting
6.2  Support planning and strategy development
6.3  Facilitate managing information and resources
6.4  Enhance capacity for monitoring progress
III. Provide multiple means for engagement - Affective Networks (more info)
7.   Provide options for recruiting interest (examples)	Your Ideas
7.1  Increase individual choice and autonomy
7.2  Enhance relevance, value, and authenticity
7.3  Reduce threats and distractions
8.   Provide options for sustaining effort and persistence (examples)	Your Ideas
8.1  Heighten salience of goals and objectives
8.2  Vary levels of challenge and support
8.3  Foster collaboration and communication  X	Students working in small groups
8.4  Increase mastery-oriented feedback
9. Provide options for self-regulation  (examples)	Your Ideas
9.1  Guide personal goal-setting and expectations
9.2  Scaffold coping skills and strategies
9.3  Develop self-assessment and reflection

As an educator, it is important for me to be aware of both my strengths and weaknesses. This checklist was very helpful in pinpointing my strengths and weaknesses in terms of applying the UDL guidelines. Truthfully, since I am new to UDL I did not have many strengths. However, the majority of my strengths fell within section 1: provide multiple means of representation. This shows that I have been doing a pretty good job in terms of knowledge networks. However, I did not have any checkmarks throughout the second section, provide multiple means for action and representation, which is a definite weakness. This shows me that I have a lot of work to do in terms of incorporating physical actions, options for expressive skills and fluency, and options for executive functioning. However, now that I know what my weakness is, I will be able to take steps to make it a strength!

Putting It All Into Practice

A large part of understanding UDL is being able to reflect upon your work as an educator and apply what you have learned in order to improve your practice. Using the UDL Guidelines Educator Checklist provided by CAST, I evaluated a lesson that I had previously created to see how many UDL guidelines I had included. Unfortunately, I found that I had not been incorporating nearly enough UDL guidelines into my lessons! 

Therefore, I took what I have learned about UDL and used it to revamp my lesson. Here is one example of the types of changes I made to my lesson: 

Pre Lesson

d. Individually, students will be asked to write at least four sentences in their writing journals retelling The Three Little Pigs. Students will not be able to use their story maps as a reference. Teacher will collect writing journals. 

Post Lesson

d. Individually, students will be asked to write at least four sentences and provide an illustration in their writing journals retelling The Three Little Pigs.  Students who have difficulty responding by writing will be able to utlize speech-to-text software, dictate their sentences to Teacher, create four sequential illustrations to retell the story, or will be given four pictures from The Three Little Pigs and will put the events in order. Students will be able to use their story maps as a reference. Teacher will collect writing journals.

As an educator, it is extremely important for me to reflect upon my practice and continually strive for improvements. Using the UDL Guidelines Educator Checklist opened my eyes to my strengths and weaknesses in terms of UDL and showed me ways that I could improve my lessons. 

Breaking Down Curriculum Barriers!

As I have discussed throughout the previous posts, Universal Design for Learning focuses on making learning accessible for all students. Every student brings their own unique interests, strengths, and challenges into the classroom. As educators, it is our responsibility to identify the curriculum barriers for each student and determine what to do to break down these barriers. 

The Curriculum Barriers Finder provided on the CAST website is a great resource for
educators to gain experience using the UDL framework to pinpoint hidden barriers in the
curriculum or missed opportunities depending on the student's strengths, needs, and
interests. 


Using the Curriculum Barriers Tutorial found here, I identified the curriculum barriers for Charlie, a student in a 5th grade US History class. The tutorial provided background information on the student, Charlie, and the expectations of the 5th grade class. I used the Curriculum Barriers Model and the provided background information to come up with three possible curriculum barriers for Charlie. 


Here is what I came up with: 

Curriculum:	Fifth Grade US History
Student:	Charlie
Curriculum Element	Student Characteristic	Barrier in learning environment for this student
Seat work, short projects, homework	Charlie quickly abandons both long-term and short-term tasks, regardless of whether or not the task is complete	Without direct help, Charlie has a difficult time completing tasks and assignments
Materials	Forgets homework and textbook almost every day	Charlie is rarely prepared for class activities.
Lecture/ Verbal directions	high energy, gets out of seat often, constantly seeking new things to do	Charlie may only be understanding portions of what the teacher is saying due to not being focused

As an educator, it is extremely important to be able to identify the curriculum barriers for your students, even for those who do not have Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). If Charlie was in my class, I would make the following accommodations to address these barriers:

•               Provide extra time and one-on-one instruction for projects and homework

•               Have Charlie write homework and other things he needs to remember in an assignment book each day. I would check and initial the book each afternoon, and if possible, I would have his parents and/or caregiver do the same to ensure that he is going back to check his assignment book

•               Provide guided notes, study guides, task-analysis, visual or written directions

I found the Curriculum Barriers Finder to be an excellent resource. The website provides a tutorial to practice identifying curriculum barriers, a tool to help analyze the barriers, and a downloadable template that can be used in the classroom to identify the curriculum barriers of students and what can be done to remediate. I can definitely see myself using this website to support my future teaching!

So What Does UDL Look Like in the Classroom?

Up to this point, I have reviewed the basic principles of UDL. While it is important for educators to understand the basis and context of UDL, it is crucial to understand how to implement it in the classroom. So now it is time to address the important question of...

What does UDL look like in the classroom? 

National Center on UDL

http://www.udlcenter.org/

The above website is an excellent resource for all things UDL. It provides articles, toolkits, videos and more for educators to use in order to implement UDL in their classrooms. 

Another great resource is Maryland Learning Links. This website provides information and resources regarding all aspects of education, including UDL. 

My favorite aspect of Maryland Learning Links is the interactive UDL Simulator, which provides an interactive tour of a classroom that has applied the concepts of UDL. 

Click here to visit the UDL Simulator

This interactive activity provides visual representation of how UDL concepts can be implemented into the classroom in practical ways to support learning of all students.

I thought it was extremely helpful to be able to see examples of what UDL looks like in the classroom. For me, it is one thing to read about the concepts of the approach, but it is hard for me to fully understand something unless I see it in action. Therefore, I find the above websites to be excellent resources for all educators, or anyone who would like to understand UDL!

References
http://simulator.cte.jhu.edu/simulations/10#!/scene/46
http://marylandlearninglinks.org/1021

http://www.udlcenter.org/

UDL: Elements of Good Teaching

To sum up my previous posts, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a curriculum framework designed to assist educators in meeting the diverse learning needs of students. UDL focuses on three core principles: Multiple Means of Representation, Multiple Means of Expression, and Multiple Means of Engagement. Furthermore, the authors at CAST applied the three principles of UDL to a neuroscience perspective, describing the Recognition Networks, Strategic Networks, and Affective Networks of the  brain, all of which are involved in the process of learning. 

To expand upon my understanding of UDL, I visited this website. The Ohio State Partnership Grant Improving the Quality of Education for Students with Disabilities published the article "Universal Design for Learning: Elements of Good Teaching" to assist educators with implementing UDL into their classrooms. 

The authors of "Universal Design for Learning: Elements of Good Teaching" state the following about the application of UDL: 

"Although this design enables the student to be self-sufficient, the teacher is responsible for imparting knowledge and facilitating the learning process. It should be noted that Universal Design does not remove academic challenges; it removes barriers to access. Simply stated, Universal Design is just good teaching." 

So who benefits from UDL?

• Students who speak English as a second language
• Older students
• Students with disabilities
• Teachers whose teaching style is inconsistent with the learning styles of their students
• ALL STUDENTS!!

Examples of how to implement UDL into your teaching:

• Make class materials available online so that students can access and review information and materials from class
• Incorporate cooperative learning, group discussions, and peer mentoring opportunities
• Use guided notes to enable students to listen for essential concepts rather than copying notes off of an overhead
• Encourage the use of assistive technology in your classroom
• Develop and provide study guides
• Relate new topics to information already learned or concrete, real-life examples  

I found this article to be an excellent tie-in to what I previously learned about UDL. The section of the article that made the greatest impact on me was the aforementioned quote about UDL. I loved the simplicity of the explanation, and personally, my understanding of UDL became a lot clearer after reading this quote. 

Reaching and Teaching All Students

In my previous blog post, I discussed the importance of UDL and it's three principles by reviewing the UDL Wiki Site, which had a lot of really great information. To further my understanding of Universal Design, I will review the information provided from CAST. 

CAST: About UDL

The authors at CAST discuss UDL in terms of the three primary brain networks that come into play during learning. 

Recognition Networks

The "What" of Learning

This neurological network determines how we gather and categorize information. 

In terms of UDL, educators should present content and information in a variety of ways (multiple means of representation). 

Strategic Networks

The "How" of Learning

This part of the brain affects how we organize and express our thoughts and ideas. 

In terms of UDL, educators should differentiate the ways students can express what they know (multiple means of expression).

Affective Networks

The "Why" of Learning

This part of the brain affects how learners become engaged and remain motivated. 

In terms of UDL, educators should find various ways of stimulating interest and motivation for learning (multiple means of engagement). 

CAST: Teaching Every Student

This section of the CAST website provides resources for educators to learn more about UDL and ways to incorporate it into their practice. I found this website to be extremely informative and I believe that it will serve as an excellent resource throughout my career. It provides a wealth of information and tools to make using UDL simple and practical for educators. Some examples include: videos, interactive activities, case stories, checklists, and lesson builders. One of my favorite features is the variety of model UDL lessons; I am a very visual learner and it helps immensely to be able to actually see all of the information being presented in a practical example. 

Here are links to a few of the resources featured on CAST, there are MANY more featured on the website:

CAST UDL Lesson Builder

UDL Book Builder

UDL Model Lesson: Elementary

UDL Toolkits: Planning for All Learners (PAL)

CAST provides multiple toolkits for educators to use when incorporating UDL into the classroom. The PAL toolkit applies UDL to planning and developing instructional activities that promote access, participation, and progress in the general education curriculum for all learners. Planning for All Learners involves for steps which are demonstrated in the image below:

The PAL toolkit includes the following components:

• Procedures
• Explicit explanations of the steps and concepts of this toolkit. 
• What to do and how to do it
• Examples
• Classroom applications of the toolkit
• How to apply UDL in your classroom
• Resources
• Further information on UDL and PAL 
• Share
• Connects educators to other professionals using UDL

I found the information provided on CAST to be extremely helpful in furthering my understanding of UDL and how to apply it to my future teaching. I found these websites to be extremely clear, focused, and informative. My favorite feature of CAST is definitely the list of resources featured in the Teaching Every Student section, I can see myself using those resources on a regular basis throughout my career.