Final Reflection

 

Universal Design for Learning

 UDL in my Classroom

A guideline that I am currently already implementing in my classroom and in the library is the use of engagement. It’s safe to say that engagement is a very strong suit in my classroom library because the opportunities for this part of the guidelines takes place at the beginning of the lesson during warm ups, the middle of the lesson, or, the meat of it, and of course, the end as well to close off the lesson. In the warm up, I always start the class with a writing activity. Students have a journal, and when they walk in, the expectation is that they have their journals ready by the time the tardy bell rings. This is a procedure that was established upon the first day of school and has been implemented ever since. Okay, so, students are sitting at their desks with their daily journals out, ready for the warm up. Often, they’ll get a prompt on the board, but sometimes I switch it up and show a video or a picture. Regardless, they get a writing task that prompts them to think deeply about a certain topic. Because I have high school seniors, I try to give them prompts that help them process their emotions, their thoughts, reflect on their beliefs and values, and just make them think a bit deeper about our world and society. The engagement part comes after the 5 minutes they are given to write in which I tell them to share what they wrote and what they think about the prompt they were given. Usually, the topics are fun and interesting, but most importantly, debatable, so that the conversations they have will be engaging while also cultivating empathy for others’ responses. Now, for the actual lesson I am teaching that day, I try to make sure they get a task in which they must solve, create, or analyze something, but it must be done together. There is a chunk of the lesson in which they read, write, or learn something independently, but then the second half they must use whatever they learned and work with someone through collaboration and communication to create an outcome of what they learned. Lastly, the closing part of the lesson also requires some sort of engagement in which they share what they learned and how it applies to their world. I always try to ask them how it connects to their real world because otherwise, they may sometimes fail to see the purpose of their learning these topics. Regardless, engagement is a super important guideline to me, and therefore, it is implemented on a daily basis in various forms in the classroom and in the library.

A guideline that I could definitely add right now is Action and Expression, especially how to “execute the function.” I sometimes fail to introduce the class with the goals for their learning at the beginning of the lesson. I believe that implementing this would maybe help them as they’re going through the lesson to actively think about and monitor their own learning. Another part of the Action and Expression guideline I could definitely improve on is the “challenge of practices,” as I oftentimes stick to what strategies my students are comfortable using in the classroom: projects, collaboration, etc., but I could definitely at least add more digital learning technology tools to their lessons. This world is constantly changing in the sense that technology tools are advancing and therefore we must advance with them. It would be a disservice to them to never teach them about these tools or allow them the space and opportunity to explore them in my classroom. This exposure to more tech tools and challenging the way and strategies we currently use may give them a learning curve that may set them above their competitors in the work field someday.

Lastly, one guideline that looks great but would definitely need help implementing is the Representation guidelines, specifically the “illustrations through multiple media.” I teach Composition 1 and Composition 2 Dual Enrollment college credit, so a lot of the end result products that we do are either projects about their learning based on whatever process in the writing stage we are in, or some sort of writing sample such as an essay. It is definitely agreeable that students need to learn how to demonstrate their learning through various modes and formats such as “an illustration, dance/movement, diagram, table, model, video, comic strip, storyboard, photograph, animation, or physical or virtual manipulative.” As an English teacher, offering various modes of representation of student learning is definitely something that sounds great, but is somewhat difficult for me to do. It’s hard for an English teacher to sway away from the essay, but it is very doable, especially with such helpful learning tools that we have now online. Another aspect of the Representation that may also be difficult is the diverse literature of learning. As our school consists predominantly of Latinos, it’s difficult to sometimes give them literary works of other cultures and areas or ethnicities that they will actually understand because they haven’t really been exposed to it in their daily lives. As opposed to areas with large populations such as Houston or Dallas where they can experience other beautiful cultures, our students haven’t really been exposed to other ethnicities in large masses like that other than Hispanics. While we definitely do expose our students to all types of rich cultures and diverse readings, they don’t always understand or can visualize what the context is, as they may have never interacted with someone that offers these great cultures.

Resources for Implementing UDL

Reflecting on these important guidelines of Universal Design for Learning, there are a few great resources that one can use to not only better understand the guidelines, but seeing how we can best add them to our daily lessons. There were two main websites that I found to be very useful. I don’t exactly remember how or why I came across these websites. I believe I may have encountered them in one of the assignments for my librarian classes, and I bookmarked them at some point, but I do know that they’re super useful to me and the students. The first website is called Common Sense. This website has a tab that offers many apps, websites, and other tools for learning, depending on the grade level, resource type you’re looking for, the topic, and the grade level that best helps you or the students. This is a great tool and resource that provides a lot of information for parents, teachers, librarians, or students. Really, anyone that may need help finding the right source can use this website tab for a better indicator. The second website is K-12 Blueprint Toolkits. This website focuses on helping students find the right technology for their assignments. Whatever learning topic they are trying to tackle, they can find the most suitable form of learning through this website. There are many guides to learning along with tips and strategies for students to develop their own learning through technology. This type of teaching is helpful in keeping track of how they learn through the use of technology tools.

Teach Someone Something! How to Search for Information Online

 

https://youtu.be/SRRnyGgykYg

https://youtu.be/SRRnyGgykYg