Jayme shares her thoughts on Universal Design for Learning and Curriculum 2.0, planning with UDL, and how it has changed her thinking about the writing process. Thank you Jayme for sharing your thoughts!
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As an educator, have you ever witnessed someone teaching a lesson that was so engaging to kids, you just had to step back and appreciate the great art of teaching? Because no matter what anyone says, there is a critical human component of planning and delivering learning experiences that can't be denied. This year, I've been lucky enough to see it time and time again in our schools. Thank goodness for the camera on my phone because that's what has made it so easy for me to share it with others. Amy Zeigler is an 8th grade Social Studies teacher at A. Mario Loiederman Middle School in the Wheaton cluster. A few Fridays ago, before Snowzilla hit us, I was visiting UDL PLC classrooms at Loiederman MS and saw Ms. Zeigler deliver a lesson that had her students thinking, collaborating, and reflecting. Does anyone remember the computer game, Oregon Trail? The premise is that you were journeying out west and would encounter obstacles and then have to make a decision about how to deal with each problem. Your decision would then affect the rest of your journey in some way. Ms. Zeigler's lesson was a role play structure in which kids were assigned to groups for the "trail". In the middle picture you can see the thread that each group of three or four students had to keep holding throughout the activity so they wouldn't be lost on the "trail". Each person in the group was randomly assigned a profile: some were doctors, farmers, merchants, etc. As the journey began each group was assigned a few oxen, little plastic ones, and some random amount of money in the form of little plastic gold coins. As the journey ensued, students were presented with "obstacles" that they needed to figure out how they were going to handle.
Each obstacle presented choices that could be made by the group with an arrow pointing to the side of the room that would designate where the group should go to commit to their choice. The flipchart presented the obstacle, choices, possible risks and rewards. As members of the group were eliminated, sometimes as a result of their choices, they would sit down at their seat and observe. The analysis and discussion of the problems made for quite a lively experience! A variety of points were presented and important decisions were made. Sometimes individuals were lost during the journey, sometimes whole wagon teams- either by sickness, trail accidents, etc. In the end, just as in the actual events of westward expansion, not everyone made it to the end of the trail. The reflection that occurred at the end of the lesson was critical for students to be able to fully process the experience of their journey and gain a deeper understanding of the expansion movement. The reflection prompt (shown in the picture above) helped students think about their feelings of their "journey" and tap into the affective network of the brain. I definitely think that the role play structure facilitated this, as well. Of course, I love that Ms. Zeigler had students compare and contrast their journey with the painting American Progress by John Gast in 1872. It is a seamless way of presenting the concept of westward expansion in multiple ways of representation: through a role play activity and also in the visual mode of a painting. This lesson also provided multiple means of engagement, according to CAST's UDL Guideline- Educator Worksheet because it provides "options for sustaining effort and persistence" by "fostering collaboration and communication". I feel that it also "provides options for self regulation" by helping students to "develop self-assessment and reflection". If you haven't used the Educator Worksheet by CAST, I encourage you to take a look. It breaks down the aspects of the UDL framework that is very specific as you work to apply the UDL framework in lesson planning. As we say, much of implementing UDL is "front loading" your lessons with flexible options so it will reach more learners. This worksheet is a valuable tool for putting the UDL lens to your work. Let me know what you think! Click on each picture to see a larger image. A few short weeks ago, I was able to visit the classroom of first grade teacher Abby Stone. Her students were busy reading, writing, and talking as they researched about the topic of penguins. I took a few pictures and thought I would share because they demonstrate some of the nuts and bolts about how she set up her classroom to implement the UDL principle of providing multiple means of representation.
The first picture clearly shows the steps that students were to follow in their research process as well as the choices that they would have. The students had a choice for how they wanted to learn about their topic. The content was presented in print and digital formats and the students were able to choose which one they wanted to use on that day. It was interesting to see that there were students that had chosen each of the three formats. In UDL classrooms, we often see visual supports for classroom routines. The second photograph shows technology structures for using the computers as a choice. The specifics for how to access a variety of websites and resources will help guide students to get to their choice. Sometimes navigating through the menus and passwords can be tricky as they are different for each digital resource! Posted directions can remind students of the specific path to get to each one. These structures will empower students to become independent users of information. The third picture shows the variety of graphic organizers that students were able to choose from as they gathered their information. By offering these choices, Ms. Stone has allowed for different opportunities that students' can flex the strategic network of their brain. I imagine Ms. Stone had to build an understanding of each type of organizer throughout the year, but at this point, the students had many to choose from. Surely if this can work in first grade, we can envision providing these choices for older students as well. Can anyone think of other ways that teachers can support choice for all students? |
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AuthorsWelcome! I am a media specialist at Brookhaven Elementary School. I began this blog when I was hired to work with the HIAT team as a UDL Project Specialist for the Expanding Bridges Grant. Since the Grant ended, HIAT staff now collaborate to contribute to the blog and share UDL stories from MCPS! Archives
December 2016
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