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.
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!