Online Community of Practice for UDL Implementors
Bach to Lady Gaga
Thank you for a most informative and engaging talk about UDL. I am a professor of special education and am currently instructing an online course about UDL. We also have a junior class in which we use a UDL textbook and apply UDL principles in our lesson plans. Despite good content and examples from the text, CAST, and other resources, UDL proves to be a heady concept for us to get our head around. What advice might you have to help students and me more easily access and apply the UDL principles in our lesson plans and field experiences. Thaks
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jill Bowen on -
UDL is a new concept for me and I know teachers at my school have not heard of it. I am excited to watch the series and explore the site to learn more. As a special education teacher, I would love to be able to take this into our classrooms. I agree with Dr. Somers that it is hard to get your head around. I know I will face lots of resistance in trying to implement this. Any advice on how to get other teachers on board?
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Permalink Reply by David Rose on -
Thanks for your kind words about the From Bach to Lady Gaga session and your question about lesson planning using the UDL principles.
First, for someone new to UDL, you may want to suggest viewing the UDL at a Glance video (http://www.cast.org/library/video/udl_at_a_glance/index.html) and reading The Future is in the Margins article (http://udlonline.cast.org/resources/images/future_in_margins.pdf). I find these resources helpful as a starting point. You’ll also find some good advice about UDL and lesson planning in the free CAST UDL Online Modules (http://udlonline.cast.org/home).
I find using lessons I already have and evaluating them against the UDL Guidelines-Educator Checklist (http://udlonline.cast.org/guidelines) to be most helpful. Focus on one principle and one checkpoint at a time. I like to start with the Engagement principle but you could choose a different UDL principle based on your needs. Use the National Center on UDL examples to help you organize your thoughts (http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines/principle3). For example, if you decide to see if the lesson recruits interest (Guideline 7), click on Checkpoint (7.1) and read through the “Tell Me More!” section which provides concrete examples of what to consider in addressing learner variability. When planning new lessons, you can use this same process.
If you feel you need something more concrete, there are examples of lesson plans in the current CAST UDL Lesson Builder. To offer additional exemplars, we are updating the Lesson Builder tool and we’ll also be publishing a new book which will include lesson planning. Look for these new resources soon!
Thanks again for your comments and thoughtful question.
David Rose
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