Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is "a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn." Sign me up!

Engagement: recruiting interest, sustaining effort, and optioning self-regulation

When it comes to engaging a class, we have to strengthen individual voices by increasing trust and safety in an environment. It is my goal to value each person in the class and value their time by including relevant content, contexts, and activities into their daily lives. Through all of this, we should be authentic in our character like most adult collaborations expect.

Representation: providing perception, using language and symbols, and opportunitzing comprehension

How best will our students understand what they need to know? We don't have to be mysterious about it. Clarify, clarify, and clarify. We want them to clarify when they write, answer questions, or communicate, so let's start with us. Using a variety of teaching methods will support lots of different students too. We can clarify by highlighting main ideas, using guided information, add visualization, help decode text, and many other ways.

Action & Expression: allowing physical action, practicing communication, and building executive functions

Time to get out of our seats! Our brain and bodies need it. When their feet are moving, we are often utilizing different types of tools in our world which effectively help them adapt to solving new tasks. Group work can cultivate facilitation skills, monitoring skills, and goal-setting skills. Creating their own work can also add a sense of valuable pride to their motivation.

Questions:

Are most teachers currently in the field using UDL?

What if you aren't using UDL everyday?