The last guideline under Principle II: Provide multiple means of action & expression.
Let’s consider the following checkpoints:
6.1 Guide appropriate goal-setting
6.2 Support planning and strategy development
6.3 Facilitate managing information and resources
6.4 Enhance capacity for monitoring progress
One popular goal setting method is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Bound). The video below helps explain it and would be appropriate for students.
Very Special Tales offers a nice packet on setting SMART goals for kids. It’s free with e-mail sign-up. I like how the author breaks down each part into student-friendly language. The accompanying packet allows students to record their thoughts and build a SMART goal.
This guideline under Principle II: Provide multiple means of action and expression has the following checkpoints:
5.1 Use multiple means for communication
5.2 Use multiple tools for construction and composition
5.3 Build fluencies with graduated levels of support for practice and performance
Students need to be given tools to assist with meaning making. This can be in traditional form, such as sentence starters, concept maps, and manipulatives. But in this digital age and especially with the advent of COVID-19, digital versions of these tools can be found.
Concept mapping is great way to organize information. Unfortunately, I’m horrible at making them because I’m always forgetting to add something and need to re-do the entire thing. This is why I love MindMup. It’s easy to make and edit concept maps with its drag and drop features.
The free version is actually pretty powerful. You can make an unlimited number of maps with no account or log in (yay! Not another username and password to remember!) and save 100 KB of maps for up to 6 months. You can also export maps to Google Drive or as a PDF.
The MindMup user interface
While my area of expertise is in science, I am married to a mathematics education professor and mother of a second grader and preschooler which has shown just how important manipulatives are in mathematics education. Whether due to budget limitations or COVID-19 protocols, digital manipulatives are an excellent alternative to physical.
My favorite version of digital math manipulatives comes from The Math Learning Center. These are high quality, free apps that have web-based, iOS, and Chrome versions– perfect for whatever hardware you have available.
Let’s take a look at the Number Frames app. There’s also fractions, geoboard, math clock, math vocabulary, money pieces, number line, number pieces, number rack, partial product finder, pattern shapes, and whiteboard. But number frames have been something my daughter has used that was new to me, and I think it’s great trend in deeper mathematical understanding at a younger age.
One thing that makes this number frames app stand out from others I explored is the option to adjust the frame size. Many other apps only offer 10 frames. This fits perfectly into guideline 5.3, which is all about offering graduated levels of support. Teachers can create number frames appropriate for their students and move them up to larger ones as needed.
Number Frames app user interface with adjustable frame size
And check out this amazing feature: you can share the image, share a link to your specific number frame, or share a code. The code can then be entered using the key button on the bottom menu bar, and the number frame will be shown. What great ways for teachers and students to share what they have done and reuse number frames!
Moving on to Principle II: Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression!
Principle II: Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression
Let’s take a closer look at what this UDL principle is all about:
Guideline 4 includes 2 checkpoints:
4.1 Vary the methods for response and navigation
4.2 Optimize access to tools and assistive technologies
There is a lot of wonderful technology out there that adhere to this guideline. A quick Google search brings back a plethora of alternative mouse and keyboard devices:
Plickers allows students to use a card with a unique shape on it to answer questions. These cards can be purchased or they can be printed out on paper. Each side of the card indicates an A, B, C, or D answer, and students hold the cards up with their answer facing upward. Teachers can use a smart phone or tablet to quickly scan the room and record student reponses.
As long as the students are able to rotate the card to indicate an answer, this would be an interesting alternative to mouse or keyboard use. To allow all students to have time to process the question and think about their answer, I would normalize keeping their card down until they are asked to raise their cards up at the same time. This would prevent students from following their peers and reduce stress for students who don’t have the answer as quickly as others.
I taught Anatomy and Physiology for two years, and talk about a class with a lot of big ideas that cannot be fully realized only with text! Helping students visualize the complex interactions happening inside the body can be a challenge.
Each body system has amazing diagrams, animations, and 3D models to help. Here’s an example:
I’m continuing theme of Principle I: Provide Multiple Means of Representation and looking at Guideline 2: Provide options for language, mathematical expressions, and symbols.
Quizlet is a website that checks off a lot of Guideline 2 checkpoints:
2.1 Clarify vocabulary and symbols
2.2 Clarify syntax and structure
2.3 Support decoding of text, mathematical notation, and symbols
2.4 Promote understanding across languages
2.5 Illustrate through multiple media
I used Quizlet quite a bit back in the days I taught Anatomy and Physiology. It is an excellent website for any learner taking on vocabulary they find difficult.
Once the Flashcards set has been created (teacher-created or student-created for an extra challenge!), there are variety of ways for students to interact with the information:
What’s your favorite? Flashcards, Learn, Write, Spell, Test, Match, or Gravity?
I love using video to illustrate points, so I thought I’d share a list of my favorite science-y YouTube channels:
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework is set up with three essential principles. Each principle is broken down into three guidelines, and each guideline has 3-5 checkpoints. I’ll be devoting a post to each of the nine guidelines and sharing resources the fulfill its checkpoints.
Today, let’s focus on Principle I: Provide Multiple Means of Representation
UDL Principle I
A quick overview on UDL guidelines on representation:
UDL: Representation Overview
This particular post will examine resources for Guideline 1: Provide options for perception.
First up is Newsela, which fulfills Checkpoint 1.1 Offer ways of customizing the display of information and Checkpoint 1.3 Offer alternative for visual information.
Newsela offers news articles in the areas of English language arts, science, and social studies. Each article is available in a variety of different Lexile levels, which makes it easy for teachers to support their students at every reading ability. Additionally, the “Read Aloud” function gives students an auditory version of the article. This is so important for developing readers and students with visual disabilities.
A screenshot of a Newsela article displaying Lexile choices and the Read Aloud function
I’m a 100% Apple user, so unfortunately I haven’t been able to use this app, but it looks really cool! Google Live Transcribe appears to be a great choice to fulfill Checkpoint 1.2: Offer alternatives for auditory information (if you are an Android phone user).
According to the blurb, it uses speech recognition and sound detection technology to create real-time transcriptions. This could be used to create a transcription of a video that doesn’t come with subtitles. Even as someone without auditory issues, I love it when videos have subtitles (I’m a very visual person) so I think this app is great… if I had an Android device to use it on…
Time to resurrect this little blog for a whole new degree program!
Previously, on Winer Science…
It was 2013, and the young new teacher Elizabeth Winer was completing a project for her Masters degree. She had taught a few years, thought she might be finally getting the hang of things (lol), but had no idea just how crazy things would become.
Fast forward to 2021…
3 school districts, 2 children, a cross-country move, and a global pandemic later, we find Elizabeth teaching at an online high school in Washington while taking doctoral coursework at Washington State University.
SpecEd 595 Universal Design for Learning requires a choice assignment, one of the options requiring 10 blog posts.
Re-enter WINER SCIENCE!
A modest little blog sorely in need of attention barely scratching the surface of the powerful blogging platform that is WordPress. Not surprising, WordPress has even more bells and whistles now than it did in 2013 when I selected the platform because of the customizable features. Having always enjoyed the more technical side of things, blogging with WordPress makes sense for me. But to those less tech-savvy, it may be overwhelming but I’m not afraid to poke around and play with it. I haven’t broken anything… yet.
This time around, I’ll be focusing on teaching high school science with a UDL twist. “What is UDL?” you may ask. Here’s the short and sweet version:
Universal Design for Learning Guidelines
Perhaps you’re a bit like me and think, “Well, I all ready do quite a bit of that in my teaching.” However, as I’ve delved deeper into UDL concepts, I’ve come to learn that true UDL-aligned teaching is done with intention. Thus, in my up-coming blog posts, stay tuned for ways I will be intentionally integrating UDL concepts into my teaching practice. My hope is that you will find something helpful for you to integrate into your teaching practice as well.
Winer Science 