CAST: About UDL. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/udl/index.html
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Why UDL?
In my last post I explained the concept and principles of UDL. This post will deepen your understanding of UDL and explain why it is essential to include in your lesson plans. In our classrooms today we are exposed to learners with very diverse abilities and backgrounds. The one size fits all approach found in traditional teaching methods contains many hidden barriers for these diverse learners. Universal Design for Learning supports teacher's efforts to meet the challenge of this diversity by providing a framework containing techniques and strategies that help them to differentiate instruction to meet these varied needs. The Cast website shows the transformation of education through Universal Design for Learning while providing countless resources for teachers. I think UDL is great because it gives all individuals equal opportunities to learn. One of my main goals as a teacher is to inspire a love of learning within my students. UDL will help me to attain this goal by allowing each of my students to feel successful participating during lessons. The video clip below further explains the benefits of implementing Universal Design for Learning.
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Amanda, I love that you mentioned one of your main goals is to inspire a love of learning within your students! I think a lot of educators can relate to that statement. I appreciate the video that you have included. It goes right along with your statement in showing how and why UDL is so critical to all our students. I agree with the video that their is a significant problem in American education and that schools have the disabilities in their teaching style. We should no longer be trying to fit kids into this narrow and fixed mold. Our instruction should be hands on and interactive. When I taught science my first year if teaching I quickly became bored with reading just the words from the text book and soon had the students exploring activities that brought what we were reading to life! I think that is our goal along with what the video said really hit me and stood out. That our goal is to have students on the same level. Struggling non readers being able to have a conversation about a story with high level readers. That is truly education at its best!
ReplyDeleteThe "one size fits all" approach that you mentioned I couldn't agree more with. It's a very traditional approach and I'm sure many of us as younger students in the classroom may have been taught this way. However, with the rate of diverse learners in the classroom on the rise (and it looks like it won't drop anytime soon), the UDL approach is a modern way to address such a wide array of learners. It allows every student to learn in the style that best fits their needs. In doing so, we as teachers can get a sense that we're accommodating our class as needed and making the most out of any lesson we teach. After all, what good is teaching a lesson if only 1/8 of the class actually understood the lesson?????
ReplyDeleteExcellent Resources on UDL!
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