I wanted to share mythoughts about this year’s UDL institute. We kicked off this summer class in late June — spending a very long five days together — exploring an array of UDL articles, books, resources, and techniques. As with each class over the past six years, this one was no different. Students were eager to learn, enjoyed the time together, and were amazed at how much sense a UDL approach makes. In fact, in emailing with one student about her final project, she shared with me a conversation she was having with her 80 something father and the components of UDL. His reply, “well that’s how everyone should learn”. My late father had the same feeling and, I suspect many a learner would appreciate the flexibility that is borne out of a UDL classroom. This year we shifted our class design a bit by infusing more instructional

technology time on the tools that students might use or include in their final projects. As with other classes, some students found a final paper to be their favorite route to take while others chose to create a movie in Movie Maker or Photo Story. Regardless, the final products were great to see. We even hear that a new video on You Tube may be debuting soon. We’ll let the student blogs be places you can learn more about their work and interests…should they wish to share.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=library-to-go

“Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits.”

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-healthy-type

Your task is to spend the next 25 minutes creating an “alternate representation” explaining ONE of the principles. It should indicate  what a learner needs to support that specific brain network as well as some teaching methods that support that principle. When you are finished, post either a photo of or the actual alternate representation to your blog.

Just a few ideas: interpretive dance, play-doh sculpture, drawing, mosaic, jigsaw, Inspiration concept map, PowerPoint photo collage, PhotoStory, song or speech with transcribed lyrics or explanation, poem, pop-up book, other…

Teaching Every Student, Chapter 7

Universally Designed Classroom, Chapter 1

In the next 25 minutes, please respond to one of the following two prompts in your blog today:

(1) Think back on your experiences as a student, at any level. Discuss the goals, materials, methods, and assessment of an experience. Do you feel it was a “universally designed curriculum”?

(2) To determine whether a curriculum is universally designed, we must examine the goals, materials, methods, and assessment of an experience. Select a type of education practitioner (classroom teacher, transition coordinator, vocational evaluator, other). What specific questions should these practitioners ask themselves to determine whether their curriculum is universally designed? What “look-fors” would you suggest?

Yaaay!