September UDL Connections

Each month this periodical will 1) highlight critical UDL practices, 2) make connections to the UDL guidelines and checkpoints, 3) connect you with great tools and resources, 4) share some ways schools are putting this practice into action and 5) offer additional approaches to utilize this highlighted practice.

3.3.a Present content and teach skills in multiple ways with options and scaffolding available.

• 3.2 Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships
  

I recently completed a course through Novak Education and had the opportunity to explore so many resources that I just had to share some of my favorites with you!

Accommodations for All Learners - Created by Shannon Davenport, Jamie Wright, and Lesley Burdine, this site was developed to assist teachers in finding digital tools to help support learners in need of accommodations. "We believe by providing students will these tools we are empowering them to find success and achieve life-long learning goals."

How Accommodations Help All Learners! A great visual representation to help understand accommodations is with these short TikTok videos from @TheYeeetBaby. Check them out (and we dare you to try not to smile!).

Continuum of Supports/Services for Students - Another great resource from Katie Novak and Alisha Poling!

Six Scaffolding Strategies to Use with Your Students - "What’s the opposite of scaffolding a lesson? Saying to students, 'Read this nine-page science article, write a detailed essay on the topic it explores, and turn it in by Wednesday.' Yikes! No safety net, no parachute—they’re just left to their own devices.

Meet Ludia!

Ludia can make a difference for educators and learners around the world! This is one more tool to help us make progress in making Universal Design for Learning - Universally Accessible! Ludia is designed to be a new entry point and learning scaffold for developing a UDL mindset, intentionally designing to reduce barriers, and discovering the power of Artificial Intelligence. Ludia does not just give strategies; they provide context-specific and culturally relevant options for instructional design that take all three principles of UDL into account. Ludia gives guidance about barriers that have not been considered and minimizes threats to unlearning that can lead to shifts in mindsets.

What's even more amazing is that this tool is removing language barriers as well because Ludia understands and responds in multiple languages! WOW!

Also, I've just recently heard of Magic ToDo. Use this tool to break tasks into smaller steps. Watch this short turorial on YouTube.

Visual Aids:

Check out the image below to see how the teacher highlights key information from her lesson and procedures into a visual scaffold for students.

Alternate Seating:

Next, check out all of the alternate seating options in the second picture. The big idea here is that no two brains are alike, and as learners, we have different needs. Check out the wide variety of options that students can choose to use during independent learning.

Use of Manipulatives and Choice:

Finally, the third picture shows one student using math chips while another student is engaged in an app with headphones. While one student needed to have directions read and headphones to minimize distractions for him and the class, the other student chose a paper and pencil option with math counters to complete the assignment.

Affinity Mapping is a protocol that helps organize ideas, aid in root cause analysis, and generate common themes in order to focus the work.

The images below show adults engaged in the Affinity Mapping protocol during professional learning sessions and leadership meetings. Check out the protocol linked HERE for more details.

Supercharge Your Classroom with Blended Learning, Kickoff Sept. 19th @ 3:00pm, Instructor Dr. Catlin Tucker; In this 8-session collaborative professional-learning experience, award-winning educator and best-selling author Dr. Catlin Tucker demonstrates how to design and facilitate student-centered learning experiences with blended-learning models to deliver accessible, inclusive and equitable learning experiences for every student.

Novak Education: Coaching & Supporting UDL Implementation: October 2 - November 30; Participants in this course will explore the UDL Guidelines and take a deep dive into the implementation of UDL, focusing on creating innovative learning environments for teachers that can be scaled to improve the outcomes of all students within the district, developing PLC’s rooted in UDL, supporting the work in classrooms, and staying true to a vision of UDL.

Cherie Smith began working at State Support Team Region 6 in July 2015. She has a Master of Education in Educational Leadership and the Inclusive Classroom. Most of her experience has been in special education as a supervisor and an Intervention Specialist at the secondary level. She has taught students wtih disabiliteis in both Florida and Ohio.

Cherie is currently a co-chair of Universal Design for Learning Implementation and Research Network's Implementation Special Interest Group and is a member of the Ohio UDL Collaborative.

As an SST6 Consultant, she supports districts in the Ohio Implementation Process as a Regional Data Lead. She leads Universal Design for Learning and supports districts with IDEA Internal Monitoring, Postsecondary Transition, PBIS, and College and Career Readiness.

Email: csmith@sst6.org
Website: https://www.sst6.org/UniversalDesignforLearning.aspx
Location: 1045 Dearbaugh Avenue, Wapakoneta, OH, USA
Phone: 419-739-0170
Facebook: facebook.com/SST6ohio
Twitter: @SST6