Ms. Peterson-Tardif at Parkland Middle School regularly offers her students choices during a lesson. In the lesson that I observed, Ms. Peterson-Tardif offered choices for gathering information as well as several choices for students to show what they have learned. In this video, Ms. Peterson-Tardif reflects on the changes that she has made to her middle school science classes with the UDL framework.
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Loiederman Middle School science teacher, Ms. Sheria Pope, is expanding 8th grade science options for her students. Ms. Pope put on her UDL lens as she planned for the 8th grade unit on tectonic plates. She changed her delivery of the curriculum to make it more accessible and engaging for all students. She expanded opportunities for students to show their learning with multiple means of expression. Ms. Pope decided to give students a choice of presentation tools. The original project, outlined in red, plans for all students to show their learning through the creation of a Bi-fold or Tri-fold brochure. Ms. Pope's rewritten assignment, outlined in green, offers give students the choice of a few presentation tools. Students could choose: 1. Photo Story 2. Prezi or Power Point 3. Video Commercial. Ms. Pope also added to the original lesson plan by including a list of the evidence that she was expecting to see in each presentation. This makes it clear to students that even though the presentation tool might be different, the content would need to meet the same standards. In addition, Ms. Pope weaved in multiple means of representation when she put together a flipchart that included a variety of video clips that students could use to gather information. She was able to gather her video clips from Discovery Education's website. Ms. Pope made an effort to guide the students' processing information through a note taking sheet that she modified from Linda Hoyt's Make It Real materials. Ms. Pope has taken Ms. Hoyt's strategies for summarizing informational text and tweaked it to include gleaning meaning from video. The note taking sheet that she gave to her students is shown to the left. I visited the class as they were finishing their final projects and getting ready to turn them in before the quarter ended. Students were scattered, in small groups and individually, throughout the media center. Each group was rehearsing their final presentation which would take place the following week. Student Feedback on this Project Thank you to Alicia, Leonel, Leia, Cielo, Ada, and Sarai for their thoughts... "It makes the students feel like they can do what is easier for them so they can get a better grade. Maybe they are not that good at doing brochures but they are good at making Prezis..." "We were able to expand our horizons..." "Well, kids these days, we like technology..." "You are able to do better when you like the things that you are doing." "She repeats for us, if we need clarification, she does a "master check", to see if we know the material and if we don't then she's going to go back. She also makes sure we have hands on activities so we can all use our different learning styles. Some people can do it just by seeing, some people can do it by hearing, and some people do it by kinesthetics..." Me: How did you know that? "At the beginning of the year she told us about that..." "She's kind of like a mom away from home." "Yeah, a science mom!" "You can just tell that she really cares for us...she put these research planners together and then she took us to the computer lab and then she took us here to the media center to work on our presentations. She is also giving us a sense of independence because we get to do the work by ourselves...with the resources." One group had chosen to use Prezi and another decided to use Power Point to present their work. Nicely done! It was interesting to hear some final thoughts from Ms. Pope on her work. Teacher Reflection from Ms. Pope It's time to adapt the curriculum and really utilize some of the UDL principles...if we try to build our instructional center with these models I think teachers will feel less stressed in the day because they will see that students are being held more accountable. Previously, the teacher is at the center and they are the ones that are constantly delivering. Now, the students have to deliver and show what they have mastered and learned in the class. The accountability was on the students... There were a lot of components to think about with the different pieces..how to plan for presentations, how to plan for creating the product, and really, how to plan for the students to work together. Front loading and thinking ahead to make sure that the project would be successful for presentation day was the biggest challenge... Ms. Pope's students will be presenting their work at Loiederman's "Journeys in Engineering, Technology, and Science" event from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. on April 3rd.
This morning I saw the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework in action in the Advanced Chemistry class of Ms. Marie Paul. As soon as I entered the room the hum of engaged learning was evident. There was a video on the Promethean Board with a scientist who was explaining a chemistry concept and some students were taking notes from the video. There were students at their desks working and also taking laptops out of the cart to get them started so they could log in. There were students who were talking to Ms. Paul about their assignments and she had a clipboard in hand to sort out homework assignments. Ms. Paul has her lecture available on her Youtube channel for students to access as they work through the chemistry problems. Click on the image below to access one of Ms. Paul's lectures from Youtube. Ms. Paul's room had an atmosphere of purposeful and engaged learning. Students were both collaborating and working independently to understand the content from a variety of sources. They were able to build capacity for self-regulation by making choices for their learning. One student told me that the learning process in this chemistry class was different than most of his lecture based classes. Student Reflection It is challenging but when I leave the class, I actually know how to work out the problems for myself. Teacher Reflection from Ms. Paul I can definitely see added value of using a UDL lens in my planning. Students have multiple ways to learn the material. The videos are just one of the resources available to them. Beside the videos, my PowerPoint presentations are posted on Edline and my students have access to the whole textbook online. If a student chooses not to watch the videos, they can always go over the PowerPoint, read the material from the textbook even though very few opt for that option. The students also have a choice of completing their homework online or on paper. They even have a choice of taking their quizzes online or on paper. I honestly feel that I am making a better use of the face to face class time. I don't spend most of my time in front of the classroom lecturing. Instead, 90% of my time is spent interacting with the students. My role has changed. I walk around and help. I am more of a tutor and a guide, answering their questions. I used to be so busy in front of the room lecturing; I never had a chance to interact with the shy students who would never raise his/her hand to ask questions. I decided to start recording my lectures after a workshop I went to last December where 2 teachers presented the benefits of a flipped classroom. The next day, I created a YouTube account and started recording. I have made several mistakes, but I am doing better now. After that workshop and after listening to the testimonies of other teachers through the “Classroom 2.0 Live Video”, I was convinced that interacting with my students would be best use of my class time. My first recording was done on a snow day using the application “Screen Chomp” from my iPad. I posted the site of the video on Edline and sent an email to all my students asking them to watch the video before they come back to school and several students did. Now, I use ActivInspire for my recording, upload them on YouTube and post the YouTube link on Edline. Students are more engaged in class and I have better homework and test grades. Benefits of UDL for All Students One of the myths that we sometimes hear is that the Universal design for Learning mostly benefits the students with some type of special need. We consider this a myth because we realize that all learners have a "jagged profile" in which they will excel in some areas and have challenges in others. This image from Todd Rose's Myth of Average Ted Talk shows us some of the areas where learners can vary. We know that if we stretch the framework of our lessons to provide options for learners on the edge, rather than the middle, all students will benefit. In this instance, the advanced chemistry students were able to benefit from having multiple means of representation through the Youtube lectures that Ms. Paul had prerecorded, her PowerPoint presentations, an online textbook, and the CALM website to help guide their learning. They also had benefit of working at their own pace with the one on one assistance of Ms. Paul as she circulated to identify students who might need some tutoring/coaching to move through the work. Finally they have the option to complete homework and quizzes online or on paper.
Thank you Ms. Paul for sharing your outstanding work with students! I found this UDL Guidelines Educator Worksheet from CAST on the National Center on UDL website and have seen some schools using it as a planning tool. As we start to dig deeper in thinking about how to plan with UDL, this could be helpful in thinking about how to build in flexibility of goals, methods, materials, assessments. According to the CAST website, the "UDL Guidelines are not meant to be a 'prescription', but rather as a set of strategies that can be employed to overcome the barriers inherent in most existing curricula. They may serve as the basis for building in the options and the flexibility that are necessary to maximize learning opportunities. In many cases, educators may find that they are already incorporating many of these guidelines into their practice." Recently, I was able to attend the UDL-IRN Summit, which brought some of the biggest minds in UDL together for 2 days! An interesting note is that Skip Stahl from CAST showed a newer graphic of these guidelines where they had moved the Engagement Guideline to the first column. To me, this makes complete sense, because I think persistence and intrinsic motivation are powerful forces that can truly empower students as they approach their learning. I'm proud to say that HIAT team members Bill McGrath, Linda Wilson and Eithne Ellis presented our work with UDL school projects in spectacular fashion at the summit. This is a picture of Bill as he gave his "Ted Talk" style address to UDL participants from around the country. And below is a picture of our MCPS contingent hanging out with David Rose, one of the original creators of the UDL framework. From left to right: Dr. Denise Decoste (former MCPS head of HIAT), Bill McGrath, me!, Linda Wilson, Eithne Ellis, and Trish Janus (Supervisor of the Physical Disabilities Unit). One of the things that I realized at this conference is that UDL is a matter of equity. We are doing this work because it empowers our kids to be able to access their learning and the curriculum in the ways that make sense to them. If we don't provide these learning opportunities for our wide variety of learners, we are not giving them what they might need to learn. It's crucial that we create flexible options for learning to make it accessible for all learners.
Recently, I interviewed a student in Michelle Montgomery's 5th grade classroom at Great Seneca Creek ES, who mentioned that the students were given a choice to use drawing to help them take their notes. As a classroom teacher, some years ago, it hadn't occurred to me to offer this as an option but I'm sure now that I would make it a choice. Kathy Shrock has pulled together an excellent resource web page for visual notetaking, also referred to as "sketchnoting". She includes links to the research behind it, samples of sketchnoting at all levels, tools for sketchnotes and educator how-to guides to help you get started. Even if you don't think you can draw, this can be an option for action and expression for your students!
Do you have any thoughts on this topic or examples to share? Please feel free to add your thoughts or work on this topic. 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? What a treat to see students in Teresa Brown's 2nd grade class using the online resource Pebble Go to learn more about the topic of water. Finding high quality online resource materials is a treasure hunt. Pebble Go is a subscription service that MCPS has purchased for all schools. It has 4 main databases: Animals, Earth & Space, Social Studies, and Biographies. It is a flexible resource that includes photos with captions, video clips, and text to speech options. What are some of your favorite online resources? |
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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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