Universal Design for Learning

 Welcome

For today's blog, let's talk about the Universal Design for Learning. Sounds pretty fancy right? It is a framework created to help all students have an equal opportunity to be successful. Let's look into it some more. 

I watched UDL At A Glance to get a brief idea of what Universal Design for Learning or UDL is and develop an understanding of what it is. As a Special Education resource teacher in high school, my instruction is different from a general education teacher. All of my students are in the SPED program with a different range of disabilities. The curriculum is modified with slower paced instruction and lots of repetition. So, it would be interesting to see what I am currently practicing according to the UDL and what I can use from the framework.

Engagement

• Removing threats and distractions. For this, I try my best to maintain a cohesive theme in the classroom that has calming colors that are not too exciting or overstimulate the students. Also, making sure there isn't too many things that can distract the students from the lesson or activities. Removing threats is a must as a teacher and also making sure that I intervene if there is a situation between students to prevent fights or avoid someone from getting hurt such as being CPI trained (for student restraints) annually. I also provide a class routine, visible school calendar, schedules, announcements of changing schedules or events, and providing breaks once the students are done with their work. 
• Optimize choice. I do try to give my students in the class to help feel like the classroom is "ours" and not just "mine", it can help them feel more confident and comfortable in the classroom.
• Optimizing authenticity and value. I try to build a purpose for the lesson and make it connect somehow to the students. I have the students do journals where they do responses to the activity as well as making sure the activities match their abilities and activate participation. 

*In the resource room, I am always reteaching previously taught topics, so it can be reinforced to the students. It's also key to maintain a good pace and not rush through the lesson since going too fast can disengaged them quickly. The most important thing believe it or not: greet the students. I do this everyday, always telling them good morning or afternoon then proceed to saying the date and the  objective along with any general announcements I need to share. At the end of the period, I always tell them to have a good day or weekend and I'll see them the next day. It sounds simple, but it does so much. 

*I always present journal topics on the board where the students can clearly see it and verbally read it to them. If there is a test or quiz in class, I read the questions to the students and repeat if needed. I also keep the amount of actual graded work quite small (literally about 2 or 3 assignments a week), but try my best to keep them engaged through different activities and worksheets. 

*For this guideline, I would like to improve on self-assessment and reflection. Teaching students how to assess themselves and reflect on how they can improve can be tough, but I would like to slowly introduce how they can do it without feeling overwhelmed. I will look into creating a simple rubric for essays and develop a better method to conference with students for feedback. I would walk around the room to do spell check or look at grammar, but I would also like to include how to rewrite sentences better or ask questions as part of the feedback. I will try that this year and hope it will help a lot. 

IDEAS:

1. Using rubrics for assessment
2. Use more self-reflection opportunities
3. Maintaining open-dialogue with students
4. Establish expectations in a clear, simple manner 

Representation

• Offering different ways to present information- I always say general announcements for upcoming school events, change of schedule or other information such as benchmarks verbally to students. If the school sends flyers to our emails, I print them and post them on the announcements board and post on Google Classroom. I will display important things like assignments or projects due as well as chances to earn extra credit on Google Classroom, verbally and display it on the smartboard for the students.  In the resource room, the max number of students is usually around 12 to 13, but I still need to be loud enough to be heard by everyone and maintain a good pacing during instructional time so that the students can keep up with me, but I also follow their IEPs by providing extra time and repeating as needed. 
• Alternatives to auditory information- I use anchor charts, word walls, visual presentations such as creating a Google Slides with a list of assignments needed to be turned in for make-up day (usually Fridays), trying to include videos with closed captions and text-to-speech/oral administration (read to students)
• Clarify vocabulary- I try to simply complex terms and repeat them often to help the students learn it. I give them a word wall with a word, definition and a picture and also use supports such as a dictionary and thesaurus
• Guiding information- I do this every day. I have the students "chunk" information while writing small notes to write short summaries of what they read. I also tell them to highlight words they don't understand in order to find them in the dictionary as well as get keywords from questions. I always scaffold in my classroom or during in-class support, I show the students how to break down the information so it's easier to process while providing either a checklist or a rubric (my own creation) for essay writing as well. 

*I always reteach so using background knowledge and clarification is something I do all the time. I always use videos a lot of the times and I will turn on captions as well. I always make sure that the video does not go over 10 minutes. In resource, 10 minute videos are too long and you can disengage students quickly. So, I am always trying to find short and simple videos that stay within the 10 minute limit. 

*Graphic organizers are the best! Whether you use ones that already exist (like KWL or Venn Diagrams) or create your own, they're really useful. It helps the students "chunk" information without getting overwhelmed and I even use them as short assessments to check what they know. Review usually helps too, it can activate the prior knowledge and the students practice the skill. 

*For this guideline, I think I do most of the items outlined in the framework inside. the resource room. So, depending on my schedule this upcoming year, I would like to implement this more during in-class support when I go to other classrooms. I think this will help me reach the true goals of co-teaching models and build a good rapport with the teachers I help out and assist the students in being successful. 

IDEAS:

1. Promote understanding by asking questions and have students explain what they know
2. Clarify information through templates, graphic organizer, using simple vocabulary, connect lesson to real-life examples, or verbally repeating
3. Provide motivation by giving students choice to work independently, in pairs, small group (about 3 to 4 students) or station with the teacher. Provide incentives such as candy, cell phone time, extra credit opportunities  or other rewards! 

Action & Expression

• Physical action- I provide chromebooks for students to use if they cannot write and prefer to type. I also slow down or speed up as needed during instruction, I will usually ask students if I need to slow down, speed up or repeat. 
• Communication- I have the students write or type journal responses, I also allow for them to tell me orally if they struggle with writing/typing. The whole class uses the comments on Google Classroom or private message on GC as a way to communicate when we are not in class (only about one or two of my students actually email). I also provide immediate feedback during independent practice time when the students are working on a worksheet or writing. I do individual student-teacher conference after they turn in an essay (I only do this for final copies which are usually typed), each feedback is unique to each student based on what their strengths and weaknesses are. 
• Providing authentic goals and monitor progress- I'm always trying to implement realistic goals that students need to meet (usually they're good at meeting these goals). If the goal needs more time to be met (this is for more advanced skills), then I will extend the time needed for it. The benefit of the resource room is I can modify the pacing of the curriculum as needed and it's okay if an extra week is used for the skill we're practicing (I usually plan for a skill to take about 2 to 3 weeks to master). I am always monitoring progress and let the students know how much they improved or need to work on. I do this at the end of a six weeks since I think that's a good timeline and it's in regular intervals. 

*I am always trying to provide an open line for communication with the students and asking them questions. They tell me stories during independent practice time (it's a good way to get insight of how they're feeling and how their day is going). It's always best to keep a calm tone when speaking to them. I hardly raise my voice with them unless I think it's absolutely necessary, my "teacher" voice (I raise my voice a little bit and use a more firm tone) usually works haha. 

*I also do my best to scaffold the lesson as much as possible. The more advanced the skill, the more scaffolds needed. I also tell the students to explain their responses to me for answers. I usually spell-check with them (I spell words for them orally when they ask me) and I encourage the students to use a spell-checker, grammar checker, read aloud or with a partner, read to me, provide sentence stems, and rubrics for assignments.

*For this guideline, I would like to enhance monitoring progress. I want for the students to be able to assess themselves by peer-review (I really want to use more writers' workshops this year) or through groups. I also want to use more variety on self-assessment strategies and have the students identify what kind of feedback they need from me. I also need to provide more "stop and think" time for them when I ask a question and I am definitely interested in having them create comics/graphics as projects this year! 

IDEAS

1. Gallery walks to have students move around the room
2. Have students create presentations, comics, graphics, etc. to show their understanding of the lesson
3. Have students interact with the smartboard more often

Conclusion

To conclude this blog about UDL, there's so much within the framework that I already implement within the classroom and other things that I need work on. The UDL provides great guidelines for how to reach as many students as possible while helping them become successful. I learned throughout this research that it's not easy to implement every single thing from the UDL framework, but that's the thing about teaching. You're always learning and growing just like your students do and there's so many ideas based off of UDL to implement into the classroom and help students grow. 

Sources:

Google Images

CAST. (2021, October 15). The UDL guidelines. UDL. Retrieved July 25, 2022, from https://udlguidelines.cast.org/

UDL Guidelines Checklist- Module 10 

UDL: About the Graphic Organizer- Module 10

Sutcliffe, J. (2021, May 27). Strategies for engaging students with different learning needs. Digital Matters. Retrieved July 25, 2022, from https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/digitalmatters/2021/05/27/strategies-for-engaging-students-with-different-learning-needs

Mt. Sac Library. (2022). Universal Design for Learning (UDL): UDL principle: Representation. Research Guides. Retrieved July 25, 2022, from https://mtsac.libguides.com/udl/representations

Novak, K. (n.d.). UDL: Providing multiple means for action and expression. Novak Education. Retrieved July 25, 2022, from https://www.novakeducation.com/blog/udl-providing-multiple-means-for-action-and-expression