Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning

As I mentioned in my last blog, I’ve been learning about the principles of UDL by slowly reading my way through Katie Novak’s book, UDL Now! Although Novak is quite adept at breaking down difficult concepts into manageable bites, I am a “slow and steady wins the race” kind of person. Like all my fellow OMSD teachers, I have a lot on my plate--McGraw Hill Unit assessments, report cards, staff meetings, PLCs, and so on. Although I wasn’t necessarily looking for “one more thing” to do, something phenomenal fell right into my lap. The UDL framework may very well change the way I approach every decision in my classroom. I see the potential for UDL to Unleash a host of possibilities for me and my students., to Disencumber my students by removing barriers to their learning and to Liberate me, as the teacher, so that I can provide the most appropriate learning opportunities
In my last blog, I likened educators to stonemasons--reconstructing our learning environments year after year. Sometimes we use the same bricks (previously introduced district initiatives and mandates) and sometimes we use new ones. Although we are required to follow certain protocols to ensure equity for all of our students, as creators, we want our “building” to reflect our creativity. As I reflected on the UDL Guidelines regarding Engagement, Representation, and Action and Expression, I made a number of connections. Although I don’t have the desire or time to toss out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak, when it comes to all the teaching methods I have learned over the years at OMSD, I can certainly tweak my practice to ensure greater success for both me and my students.
“When we ask all students to do the same learning task in the same way, we have no idea what INDIVIDUAL children are capable of.”--Dr. Bertie Kingore
I decided to draw clear and purposeful connections between what I was already doing and UDL. I pulled some of the tenets of UDL to see if I could connect any dots and I was pleasantly surprised by what I discovered: UDL encourages teachers to build fluencies with graduated levels of support for practice and performance. Isn’t this also one of the goals of Eureka Math? UDL tells us to promote expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation. Isn’t this also considered a growth mindset? UDL tells us to vary the methods for response and navigation. This sounds a lot like Kagan to me. UDL wants us to Promote understanding across languages. Wait, doesn’t this sound like our McGraw-Hill E.L.D. program? UDL wants us to clarify vocabulary and symbol. Don’t we do this every day as part of our McGraw Hill reading program?. UDL tells us to foster collaboration and community. This is a core tenet of Project-Based Learning. UDL tells us to minimize threats and distractions. In my last blog, I included this quote from Stephen Krashen, “The affective filter can be prompted by many different variables including anxiety, self-confidence, motivation and stress.” We can’t learn if we feel threatened. UDL tells us to Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships. G.A.T.E.  Icons come to mind. UDL tells us to Guide information processing, visualization, and manipulation. This makes me think of Thinking Maps. With the highest English Language Learner population in the district, I am constantly searching for ways to build bridges. I owe it to my students to leave no stone unturned when it comes to brain-friendly, research-backed education. UDL promises to make learning accessible to all students and that’s exactly who I’ve been tasked to educate--ALL students.
Still Trying to Connect the Dots, Lola E. Jollie