UDL....does it apply to me?

Sometimes it seems like everyday there are a million new educational theory ideas and it would take forever to learn how to apply them to your teaching.  More often than not, I find that I've incorporated many ideas into my teaching but need to tweak my style a little bit in order to better fit some principles.  For example, I find that many of the ideas within UDL are in visible in my lesson plan.  I need to work on making some of these strategies more transparent to my students.  I also need to work on incorporating student goals more in my classroom as a strategies.  Below are the UDL principles and how they are incorporated into my lesson plan on Organic Molecules.

UDL Guidelines – Educator Checklist Version 2
I.    Provide Multiple Means of Representation:	Your notes
1.     Provide options for perception
1.1 Offer ways of customizing the display of information	Available – seen in notes provided visually for students.
1.2 Offer alternatives for auditory information	Available – seen in online activities, written transcripts for both videos and auditory clips.
1.3 Offer alternatives for visual information	Available – students use physical and spatial models to convey perspective
2.     Provide options for language, mathematical expressions, and symbols
2.1 Clarify vocabulary and symbols	Available – Vocabulary definitions read to learner in online activities.
2.2 Clarify syntax and structure	Available – breaking down scientific words into smaller parts (ongoing activity throughout year to understand definitions of key scientific terms)
2.3 Support decoding of text, and mathematical notation, and symbols	Available – seen in online activities, written transcripts, key terms
2.4 Promote understanding across language	Barrier – translations not available
2.5 Illustrate through multiple media	Available – information presented in text and accompanying representation of that information in illustrations and diagrams
3.     Provide options for comprehension
3.1 Activate or supply background knowledge	Available – students work with prior knowledge of how elements bond in order to make more complex macromolecules
3.2 Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships	Available – investigate patterns of elements and bonding, relationships between molecules; multiple examples of structures provided.
3.3 Guide information processing, visualization, and manipulation	Available – chunking present, scaffolding up to student inquiry of enzymes
3.4 Maximize transfer and generalization	Available – supported opportunities to generalize learning to new situations (d- and l-dopa, enzyme lab)
II.   Provide Multiple Means for Action and Expression:	Your notes
4.     Provide options for physical action
4.1 Vary the methods for response and navigation	Available – alternatives in requirements to interact with materials/manipulative/technologies
4.2 Optimize access to tools and assistive technologies	Barrier – alternatives not available
5.     Provide options for expression and communication
5.1 Use multiple media for communication	Available – models, text, speech, illustrations, videos all used
5.2 Use multiple tools for construction and composition	Available – Web application (animation/videos), pre-formatted graph paper and calculators
5.3 Build fluencies with graduated labels of support for practice and performance	Available – Scaffolding present through unit, differentiated feedback available for online activities/group work, multiple examples of macromolecule structure provided
6.     Provide options for executive functions
6.1 Guide appropriate goal setting	Barrier – goal setting is not an obvious part of the unit/lessons, somewhat present during enzyme lab in terms of setting up/designing portion of the lab.
6.2 Support planning and strategy development	Available – planning template present for enzyme lab (setting up an experiment), show and explain your work present in several activities.
6.3 Facilitate managing information and resources	Available – templates for data collection (enzyme lab), guides for note-taking available
6.4 Enhance capacity for monitoring progress	Available – self-monitoring review questions, checklists and rubrics used
III.  Provide Multiple Means for Engagement:	Your notes
7.     Provide options for recruiting interest
7.1 Optimize individual choice and autonomy	Limited Availability – tools used for information gathering during labs are left to group, most other activities are very structured due to nature of activities
7.2 Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity	Available – macromolecules explained and exampled in terms of how the human body uses them, age appropriate
7.3 Minimize threats and distractions	Available – supportive classroom climate in several areas.
8.     Provide options for sustaining effort and persistence
8.1 Heighten salience of goals and objectives	Available – assessment discussions, prompt to restate goal, prompts for visualizing desired outcomes
8.2 Vary demands and resources to optimize challenge	Available – differentiated degree of difficulty within activities, emphasis on process and effort of some activities
8.3 Foster collaboration and community	Available – cooperative learning groups, PBIS present (school-wide initiative), expectations for group work present
8.4 Increase mastery-oriented feedback	Available – feedback available
9.     Provide options for self-regulation
9.1 Promote expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation	Available – PBIS covers behavior (school-wide initiative)
9.2 Facilitate personal coping skills and strategies	Available – PBIS covers behavior (school-wide initiative)
9.3 Develop self-assessment and reflection	Barrier – not obviously available to students

© CAST 2011