UDL

Introduction

School and Classroom Community

I teach at a Chester County public elementary school in Pennsylvania. The community includes major corporate and research centers. Many of our parents are highly educated and international. Our district also has a reputation for generous provision of services to students with special needs. As a result, our individualized education plans (IEPs) are very precise, lengthy, and litigious-minded.

There is a strong emphasis on higher level critical thinking at all grade levels. Curriculum is written by a select few teachers and administrators. There has been a shift from standard textbooks to a hand-picked committee-derived curriculum in the format of binders with materials that are emailed in chapters to teachers for reading, writing and social studies. In special education however, we use alternative math and reading programs that are scripted. Together, these programs provide a research-based delivery system that is approved by our district lawyers.

UDL Structures in My Classroom Setting

UDL can be applied to nearly every learning need and subject in my classroom. For that reason and for the purposes of this paper, I applied UDL to three significant issues for my students: use of technology, assistance with auditory processing, and reading.

Addition of technology

Learning about UDL came at a most beneficial time in my classroom. The needs of my seven students are very significant, yet widely diverse. One student (6 years old) has emotional disturbance and disruptive behaviors that were interfering with the learning of peers. He had made positive gains academically that put him on grade level, however he’d become bored with the classroo...

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...udio recordings of different coyote howls. The students were engaged with the story. They asked to highlight new words, see mini-videos, and made connections to our unit on Native Americans. This was a meaningful experience for my students, and for me as a novice at UDL strategies. I will look to use ULEs from the CAST website in the future, and maybe even create some myself over the summer.

Conclusions

This course has changed my philosophy of teaching dramatically. From this year forward I will make plans that offer multiple forms of representation, action and expression and engagement to all my students. In doing so I have already seen greater progress and fewer behavior problems in my classroom. Below are tables that address UDL practices and strategies to increase technology, auditory processing, and reading support for all students in my classroom.