June 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.

Flexible Methods in UDL refer to varied instructional strategies and instructional practices designed to meet the diverse needs of learners. This flexibility allows educational leaders to design approaches to support learner variability.

Flexible materials in UDL are resources and content that can be adapted to meet the varying needs of learners. These materials are designed to be accessible and usable by all learners, regardless of their abilities or learning preferences.

Click on the image below to learn more.

Choice in engagement involves offering learners different ways to participate and stay motivated. This could include:

• Interest-based options: Providing topics or projects that align with students' personal interests.
• Collaboration preferences: Allowing students to choose whether to work individually, in pairs, or in groups.
• Flexible pacing: Letting students set their own pace for completing assignments or mastering skills.
• Choice of tools: Offering various digital and non-digital tools to explore and create content.

Click on the image below to read more:

How Universal Design for Learning Helps Students Merge Onto the 'Learning Expressway

• Read: 3 AI Tools for Making UDL Choice Boards (Matt Bergman) Choice boards offer students a selection of activities, empowering them to take ownership of their learning. But crafting engaging, well-rounded choice boards that align with clear goals, can be time-consuming. That's where AI steps in, becoming your hidden gem to boost student motivation.

• Watch: Creating Autonomy-Supportive Learning Environments (Jon Stolk) Educators talk a lot about learner autonomy, but less so about the conditions that promote learners’ feelings of choice and control. In this talk, Jon Stolk examines how learning environments may be better designed to promote the emergence of confident, agile, self-directed learners.

• Listen: Too Many Choices?! The Ideal Number of Options (Katie Novak) This episode is perfect for those seeking to create flexible, inclusive learning environments while avoiding the pitfalls of choice paralysis. Included are strategies for supporting students who may struggle with visual processing, decoding grade-level text, and multilingual learners.

• Do: Make a Choice Board using the "How To" Google Slide deck created by Christine Danhoff, K-12 Technology Integration Specialist at Geno Area Local Schools.

Why do we want to be flexible?

1. We want to be intentional in our design. We want to plan for learner variability.

2. We also want to remove or reduce barriers that are inherently a part of the curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

In December of 2022, I shared a great example, the Butterfly Standards: Aligned Choice Board and Single-Point Rubric (force copy), from Matt Bergman, who was an education professional working for the Milton S. Hersey School In Pennsylvania. Matt is a wealth of knowledge!

Take a moment to think about the barriers your teachers are facing. With these three options:

• Would this address learner variability?
• Do these options reduce or remove barriers?
• What might still need to be adjusted?
• What instructional scaffolds might still be needed?
• Can those options be included the next time you present these options?

Also, check out Session 112 from UDL in 15 minutes with Kelly Ackerman and Lisa Renz, hosted by Loui Lord Nelson, to hear more about one school from Kansas is providing choice and co-creating rubrics.

One of my dear friends, Beth Stark, shared this Take A Break choice board during a couple of UDL-IRN Implementation SIG meetings.

I just love it~ so I wanted to share it with all of you. This is a wonderful, low-threat, way to model choice during an professional learning session.

The Ohio UDL Collaborative has created FLOs. They are flexible learning options (FLO) documents that contain a variety of ways to engage in learning around a specific topic. We, the UDL Collaboratiev, use them to build understanding and background in Universal Design for Learning. A consultant from SST6, Caryn Timmerman, followed suit with Flexible Learning Options to grow awareness and understanding of Project Core, pictured below.

The FLO document TEMPLATE provides a nice template that you too can replicate when creating options for your staff!

Finally, when providing a nice way to model multiple means when providing coaching is to be flexible with the format. Whether it is providing coaching using a shared journal, document, or project board. It can be helpful for both the coach and coachee to make that learning visible.

The Making Coaching Visible Choice Board, pictured below, offers three examples that you can use during your next coaching contracting session. Remember to be flexible. Offering options that remove barriers to the process can help both the coach and coachee make the most out of their time together.

July 30th & 31st, 2024

Pre-conference sessions on July 29th
Online and in-person
Hyatt Regency Sacramento, CA

This year, for the first time, CAST’s Annual Symposium and the UDL-IRN Summit are joining forces to create the world’s largest International UDL Convention.

I'll be there too! (Cherie)

If you can make it, consider visiting one of my session listed below:

Session Title: Unlocking Design Mindsets to Lead UDL wtih Loui Lord Nelson, Beth Stark, and Cherie Smith

Session Title: UDL and Implementation Science: Adapting UDL Practice to (YOUR) Context with Tracy Mail and Cherie Smith

For more information and to register, visit https://www.cast.org/products-services/udl-con-international-2024 learning.

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

As the lead UDL consultant for SST 16, Lisa coaches educational leaders in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and provides professional learning to build the capacity of UDL practitioners. She is a member of the Ohio UDL Collaborative purposed with building the capacity of regional UDL facilitators in order to build state-wide capacity for UDL implementation.

Lisa is licensed as an Intervention Specialist in the state of Ohio and with MA in Counseling she brings a unique skillset to the field of education.

Email: lisa.arthur@sst16.org

Website: https://www.sst16.org/

Location: 21 Birge Drive, Chauncey, OH

Phone: 440-735-8565

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sstregion16