What UDL Looks Like in Two Classrooms 

In this article in School Administrator, Massachusetts district administrator Katie Novak describes two lessons:

• Third graders sit on the floor as the teacher reads Chapter 2 of Charlotte’s Web. Then each student quietly writes a paragraph about Fern’s feelings about Wilbur. 
• In a high-school U.S. history class, students read John Locke’s 1690 Two Treatises of Civil Government and respond to a document-based question on their Chromebooks. The teacher circulates and conferences with individual students. 

In both cases, students are reading an appropriately rigorous text and the lesson is aligned to standards, but the teachers’ one-size-fits-all assignments don’t meet the needs of a diverse group of students. Novak suggests that each lesson could be improved by applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles:

• In the third-grade classroom, students choose where to sit (beanbag chairs, a couch, chairs, the rug) and the way in which they read the chapter: an audiobook, reading aloud to a group of peers, or reading the book silently to themselves. The teacher has listed vocabulary words (apple blossom, woodshed, brook) on a whiteboard, paired with photos. When students have finished the chapter, they choose how they will show their understanding of Fern’s feelings toward Wilbur: writing a letter from Fern to Wilbur; using purple gel pens to craft a poem or song about Fern’s feelings; or forming a group and creating a skit. All students set goals for their work and have access to appropriate graphic organizers and rubrics, and the teacher circulates, providing support where needed. Toward the end of the lesson, students reflect on their learning, write, type, or dictate a self-assessment, and then share their products with classmates. 

• In the U.S. history class, one group of students participates in a Socratic seminar in a corner of the room, using a template as they explore whether citizens have a right to dissolve their government. Other students design John Locke’s Facebook page and interpret the book through a series of status updates. A third group sits with the teacher reviewing strategies for closely reading a primary-source document and responding to a document-based AP question. 

“A Scene Shifter: Personalization Under UDL” by Katie Novak in School Administrator, November 2015 (Vol. 72, #10, p. 34), http://my.aasa.org/AASA/Toolbox/SAMag/Nov15/Novak.aspx; 

Novak can be reached at novak414@gmail.com. 

From the Marshall Memo #612