January UDL Newsletter

Each month this newsletter will 1) highlight critical UDL practices, 2) make connections to the UDL guidelines, 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.

Do you or your students struggle with the same standard each year?

Try creating a Tip-to-Tip Learning Progression (Region 6 Template) using Cognitive Rigor Matrices (CRM) and Ohio's Performance Level Descriptors (PLD) to allow for multiple entry points for all students to begin to engage with, meet, or go beyond the grade level standard.

Pro Tip:

Think about the cognitive tasks, skills, or steps a student might need to get from a lower Depth of Knowledge (DOK) or PLD to a higher one and use the CRM to help you add graduated levels of support or additional splinter skills for students to get from one level to the next.

An excellent resource for how to scaffold cognition and rigor comes from Beth Stark, an Inclusive Practice Strategist for International Schools. This Scaffolding by Design resource helps practitioners plan ways to scaffold how students think while supporting ways to move students toward higher levels of DOK.

Finally, remember to include multiple means for each of these splinter skills and cognitive scaffolds. A wonderful UDL planning resource to help any teacher is Katie Novak's UDL Flowchart. Check it out!

Here are a few examples of how teachers are trying to create cognitive scaffolds for each learning each standard:

1) 6th grade Reading

2) Physical Science

3) Biology (copy made for students to monitor their progress)

4) 5th grade Math

In the 6th grade example, this teacher added additional rows, or splinter skills, between the proficient and accomplished performance levels to scaffold her student's thinking (bulleted below).

(Proficient) Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by evidence from claims that are not

• Evaluate the evidence and follow the claim
• Evaluate the quality of evidence
• Evaluate the order or evidence (strongest first v last)

(Accomplished) Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, describing why the evidence supports or does not support the claim

The teacher then utilized multiple means by allowing students to evaluate evidence in a group discussion, a matching activity, and ordering index cards through individual work time, small groups, and partners.

At an International Baccalaureate school in Munich, Germany, teachers are "scaffolding by design" when lesson planning by using these open math tasks.

How might teachers who created the 6th-grade example above utilize the lesson prompts given in the Scaffolding by Design resource to enhance their lesson design for each of the additional splinter skills (evaluate the evidence...) ?

Do you want to start utilizing the UDL framework throughout your school/system?

Try the Team Planning Template (shared during Ocalicon 2022).

Don't be intimidated by the template. The design is meant to scaffold your organizational use of UDL. Try introducing sections of the template at a time to enhance your current meeting effectiveness.

• Since it's the new year and the theme of this month's newsletter, I recommend starting with the GOALS section ;) In the Goals section of this template, you can even link to your Tip-to-Tip Learning Progression!

While this is meant for classroom-level planning, this same template could easily be adapted for building, district, regional, or state-level use.

One commonality I see throughout levels of the system is a need for clarity around goals. Teams are meeting and working hard, but sometimes a bit off-focus. Starting each meeting with clear goals ensures the work is more focused and can help your team better stay on track.

Want to learn more from the world's leaders in UDL? You can't miss the UDL IRN Summit!

There are also a variety of asynchronous sessions available, including:

• View From Here: How to Implement and Sustain UDL in the Real World, Presenters: Cherie Smith, Laurene Sweet, Mike Nikson, Michelle Duda, Alisa Jones

This session offers perspectives from each level of the educational cascade and lessons learned from UDL Implementation.

Additionally, if you would like to learn more about Creating Tip to Tip Learning Progressions, visit the SST6 Tip to Tip Learning Progressions webpage for asynchronous learning opportunities.

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 and directed students with disabilities 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 is the lead for Universal Design for Learning and a part of the Special Education team supporting 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