Teaching and Learning News
Community Edition
The Winter iReady Assessment
What should I know and expect as a parent/guardian?
● Computer adaptive assessments are designed to determine what standards students know and don’t know yet.
● Remind your child they will see questions they might not know the answer to and some easier questions. We need to know what they do know and do not know yet. This is expected.
● The purpose of the i-Ready diagnostic is not to give your child a score or grade, but to determine how to best support their learning.
Universal Design for Learning: How Does This Practice Support Millbury Students?
Millbury began our work with UDL in the Fall of 2019. Since this time the district has been exploring what UDL truly means and the benefits it has in meeting the varied needs of our learners. I wanted to use the Teaching and Learning News update to share some information about UDL and to hopefully help everyone understand what it is and how we are tackling this work in all buildings here in Millbury. I have shared a great article from Katie Novak below that outlines UDL. Katie has written several books about UDL and the staff in the district were all provided with copies of these texts to inform our work. We have also had Katie come to the district and work directly with staff on several occasions.
I have also shared with all of you the structure for the Professional Learning Days we have had this year. I am sure everyone wonders what happens in the buildings on those full days when students are home and teachers are at school. You can see in that section the work that the Millbury educators are taking on. This year we moved towards truly universally designing these days and educators made decisions for their yearlong professional learning driven by what they knew would be best for the students they work with. These days are incredibly beneficial and have resulted in instructional practice shifts and resources that immediately benefit all learners. I'm excited to get to share this with all of you!
If you have any questions after checking out the information below please don't hesitate to reach out to me. All of my contact information is at the end of the newsletter.
What is Universal Design for Learning?
Written by Katie Novak
As a teacher, I loved the annual PTO teacher appreciation breakfast: tablecloths featuring pencils, hearts, and shiny red apples, bouquets of pink mini carnations, and a coffee and tea cart fit for a barista. And the buffet! Like mead halls of yore, long banquet tables were lined with fruit salad, homemade quiches, scrambled eggs, miso soup, and gallo pinto. Bagels, croissants, chapattis, and churros sat atop a bread table. Little folded cards identified casseroles that were gluten-free or vegan. Options for everyone! I wanted to sample every single one.
A school down the street didn’t have it so good. Their breakfast served a single option—a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich on a biscuit. No substitutions.
Now, I personally love a good ol’ brekkie sammy, but it certainly won’t meet everyone’s needs. Some staff members may be vegetarian, lactose-intolerant, or gluten-free. Some may be watching their waistlines. And some will just think that the sandwich is G.R.O.S.S. We all can predict the outcome. Many will leave hungry, frustrated, and needless to say—unappreciated.
The bacon/egg/cheese saga represents the one-size-fits-all scenarios we often see in our classrooms: Every student is expected to read the same book at the same pace, listen to the same lectures, and complete the same math problems using the same materials. These inflexible solutions expect compliance and favor students who don’t face significant barriers to traditional learning. Many of the “tried and true” techniques and curriculum in classrooms perpetuate privilege rather than focusing on learning, autonomy, and empowerment.
When we design the same learning pathways for all learners, we might tell ourselves we are being fair, but in fact, single pathways are exclusionary. It may not be our intent to exclude our learners, but the reality is that many students do not have opportunities to learn at high levels or to access curriculum and instruction that is accessible, engaging, culturally sustaining, and linguistically appropriate.
Luckily, there is a framework that rejects these one-size-fits-all solutions and empowers educators to proactively design learning experiences so all students can increase their brainpower and accelerate and own their learning. The framework is Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
UDL is a framework for designing learning experiences so students have options for how they learn, what materials they use, and how they demonstrate their learning. When implemented with a lens of equity, the framework has the potential to eliminate opportunity gaps that exclude many learners, especially those who have been historically marginalized. If we want all students to have equal opportunities to learn, we have to be incredibly purposeful, proactive, and flexible. UDL creates a learning environment that is the least restrictive and most culturally responsive, trauma-informed environment for all students.
CORE BELIEFS OF UDL
This work begins with asset-based beliefs about students and the power of design to eliminate barriers. A UDL Practitioner believes:
- Variability is the rule, not the exception. Students may need to learn in different ways, using different materials, and share what they have learned in different ways to reach the same goals.
- All students can work toward the same firm goals and grade-level standards when provided with adequate challenge and support.
- All students will become expert learners if barriers are removed and they are given opportunities to self-differentiate.
BELIEF 1: VARIABILITY
Variability is the unique mix of skills, interests, needs, and preferences each and every learner brings to the classroom. Variability goes beyond differences between students and explores differences within students, based on context. Because of variability, what students need is ever-changing and evolving. So providing options for students to reflect on the barriers they are facing and choose pathways that best meet their needs is critical to build self-awareness and expert learning.
In traditional instruction, many educators attempt to define how students learn with one-dimensional labels. For example, many educators will ask me, “What does UDL look like for English language learners/black and brown students/students with disabilities?” My answer is always the same, “The students in those groups are not the same and they don’t need one-size-fits-all solutions.”
Let’s connect back to the breakfast buffet. Imagine you are labeled as a member of the “vegan group.” As a result, every day you and the other vegans have plates set aside for you with sliced tomatoes and plain oatmeal. Here’s the thing—not all vegans like or eat the same thing. You will want choices too and you will likely make different decisions depending on the day, your mood, and how your tummy feels. Intrapersonal variability matters just as much as interpersonal variability. And if none of the foods work for you, you will definitely need an opportunity to share what you need.
BELIEF 2: FIRM GOALS, FLEXIBLE MEANS
Every student can learn at high levels. When creating a universally designed learning experience, educators should ask themselves: “At the end of this lesson, unit, or professional development series, what do my learners have to know or what do they need to be able to do?” Once you identify the firm goal, ask yourself, “Based on the variability in my class, what barriers may prevent learners from working toward that goal and how can I eliminate those barriers through design?”
For example, if the firm goal is “Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence,” you may predict that some students will struggle with organization. Worry not! You can create a buffet with flexible means to support learners. If you proactively provide a graphic organizer, an annotated exemplar with notes about organization, a resource that includes words, phrases, and clauses to help clarify the relationships among claim(s) and reasons, and the opportunity to sign up for small group instruction on organization, you can empower students to choose what they need to organize their writing.
BELIEF 3: EXPERT LEARNING
In his book, Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn, author Mike Anderson discusses the concept of incorporating student choice into every lesson. Many educators are afraid of handing over the reins to their students, believing they won’t make the best choices. The truth is they are right to be afraid; students may make poor choices about their learning, particularly when they are first given this power.
For example, a student may choose to work in a group with his friends in which he becomes distracted instead of working alongside the teacher, where he would have been more successful. But the evaluation of that choice is where the real teaching moment comes into play. Through Anderson’s “choose, do, review” method, teachers transition their roles to the facilitator and can provide feedback that guides students to understand and self-evaluate their choices, determine what works for them and what doesn’t, and give them opportunities to make better choices in the future and provide feedback about learning design.
If students don’t have these opportunities to “choose, do, review” their way to expert learning, they will become what Zaretta Hammond has coined as “dependent learners.” Dependent learners are overly reliant on the teacher to carry the load of cognitive tasks and are unsure of how to tackle new tasks because they aren’t given opportunities to learn how to be expert learners.
UDL IN ACTION
Imagine this scene in a 6th-grade health classroom: Students are sitting quietly at their desks. The learning target written on the board notes that students will identify ways to reduce their risk of spreading or contracting communicable disease. The agenda outlines classroom activities: (1) watch a CDC video and (2) write an essay on how to reduce the risk of spreading and contracting COVID-19. The lesson is aligned to grade-level standards and features a high quality resource, so what is the problem? The learning experience will not meet the needs of all students because it is one-size-fits-all, so let’s give it the UDL treatment. For a lesson to truly be “universally designed,” it must meet the following criteria:
PROVIDE MULTIPLE MEANS OF ENGAGEMENT
Learners differ in the ways they can be engaged or motivated to learn. Because there is not one means of engagement that will be optimal for all learners; providing options to build interest and commitment is essential. At the beginning of the class, the teacher projects a list of communicable diseases including the common cold, strep throat, COVID-19, and Influenza A (the flu). Each disease is paired with a visual. Some learners take out their phones to look at their throats and ask their friends, “Does my throat look like that?” The teacher asks if anyone wants to add a communicable, or spreadable, disease to the list. One student offers, “mono,” so she writes it down.
For the next 10 minutes, students have the option to work independently, with a partner, or in a small group with the teacher to list as many symptoms as they can for at least one of the diseases. Students have the option to write words or draw images to represent symptoms on a provided graphic organizer. As they work, they are encouraged to use their devices for research and to find a place conducive to their learning. Two students work at a standing desk while others grab clip boards and gather on the floor with their devices.
PROVIDE MULTIPLE MEANS OF REPRESENTATION
The second principle of UDL reminds educators to provide multiple means of representation to build knowledge and comprehension in all learners. Not all learners comprehend information in the same way, have the same background information or funds of knowledge, or have access to the same language. When teachers present information, they often use a single representation. This is often done in a lecture, by playing a video, assigning text, or teaching vocabulary, etc. Because there is significant variability in students, they differ in the information they need to learn.
In the health lesson, after students complete the activator, there is a mini-lesson unpacking target vocabulary: risk, communicable disease, and community spread. One student’s father is a nurse, so the teacher arranges for a short Zoom call where Dad talks about the importance of washing hands and wearing masks. The closed caption feature is used and students are encouraged to ask questions.
After a short discussion, the teacher provides options for students to learn more about how to prevent the spread of communicable disease: watch the CDC video in English or Spanish, read an article on Newsela, review pamphlets from the nurse’s office, or explore a combination of these resources. They are provided with essential questions to support their learning. As students work, the teacher checks in with each of them, asks questions, and provides feedback.
PROVIDE MULTIPLE MEANS OF ACTION AND EXPRESSION
It is devastating when students aren’t able to express their understanding because of inflexible assessments. Traditionally, students have been asked to share their understanding using only a single pathway, like a multiple-choice test, essay prompt, and/or project without any flexible scaffolds or supports. When teachers provide students with multiple options that are authentic and personalized, learners are able to practice executive functioning skills as they analyze the task and choose the best option to demonstrate that they met the intended outcome.
After learning about how to reduce their risk of spreading or contracting communicable disease, students are provided with numerous options to share what they have learned. They can write a response, record a video or podcast, create a pamphlet or infographic, or suggest an alternative. The teacher provides a word bank with the target vocabulary, a single-point rubric, and a checklist so students can self-assess their work before submitting it. One student asks if he can write and produce a rap as long as it meets the rubric. “Absolutely,” the teacher replies. “I can’t wait to hear it.”
ARE UDL AND DIFFERENTIATION THE SAME?
You may be reading this and thinking, “This sounds a lot like differentiated instruction.” The frameworks are similar, and complementary, but they are not the same.
Carol Tomlinson leads the field of differentiated instruction, As Tomlinson shares in her book The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, teachers in a differentiated classroom begin with their current curriculum and engaging instruction and then adapt the content, process, product, and environment to ensure that students receive the targeted intervention, support, and enrichment they need. This responsiveness is incredibly important, but may not set students up to reflect on their learning and make choices for themselves.
In the breakfast buffet analogy, you don’t want to be a part of the “vegan group” where decisions are made for you. Even with the buffet, hosts need to be responsive and reflective, noting when some people aren’t eating and figuring out how the buffet could be designed differently the next time. When differentiation is combined with the practices and principles of UDL, students have opportunities to reflect, make choices, and build ownership of their learning; they also benefit from more explicit support when necessary.
Unlike differentiation alone, UDL empowers students to self-differentiate their learning and build autonomy and independence; this sends a powerful message. This kind of design honors our students, and when we provide them with choice and voice, we communicate these things:
- You are more important than the systems we serve.
- You are more important than my personal preferences.
- You are more important than the way the content is packaged.
- I am willing to learn about you to help you reach your life goals.
- You are important and I will honor you with instruction that holds you accountable and empowers you to take ownership of your own learning.
Proactively designing curriculum and instruction through the lens of UDL, and supplementing that design with differentiated instruction, is a pathway to equity—one that will have an incredible impact on learners.
As Mirko Chardin and I shared in Equity by Design: Delivering on the Power and Promise of UDL, “Educators hold incredible power: power to design learning experiences, power to set expectations for students, power to elevate and celebrate student voices, power to inspire and motivate students, the power to create consequences, and the power to allow for choice and personalization. We have to understand that all of us carry that power and privilege and we must use it as a tool to confront and dismantle inequities so all students have equal opportunities to learn.”
Why our Focus is Universal Design
(This is the blurb that was shared with staff to get our professional learning pathways started)
As we continue our commitment to meeting the needs of all students we have to acknowledge that we cannot serve all students until we design learning that embraces all learners. Learners with disabilities, English learners, learners of different cultural backgrounds and lived experiences, learners who are economically disadvantaged, learners who experience trauma, and learners who need more social, emotional, behavioral, or academic support than we currently provide. UDL is about ensuring that our design is informed by the voices of, and the needs of, our learners, their families, and our communities. This is how we provide equity in our practices in order to reach all of our students.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) isn’t about erasing differences to make “one-size-fits-all” lessons and assessments. Instead, it’s about recognizing barriers, naming them, highlighting them, celebrating them, and designing for them. Doing this well requires learning more about culturally responsive teaching, trauma-informed instruction, academic scaffolding, blended learning opportunities, Inquiry driven instruction, and developing students' ownership and engagement in the learning process. (Novak, 2021)
There is also no "one-size-fits-all" solution for getting this work done. This is why the topics we have presented at staff meetings, during PLCs, in shared newsletters, and for professional development days have seemed so varied. In order to provide opportunities to advance everyone's skill sets in designing for all students the professional learning topics we needed to explore had to be just as varied. After a year of exposure to the many facets of UDL it's time for you to choose where you and your team/department need to focus to move forward in this important construct that gives ALL students access to rigorous learning expectations.
Professional Learning Paths 22-23
August 30: Time will be spent in teams/departments to finalize a professional learning path focus area and goal for the school year. A brief outline of what groups are expected to accomplish on the remaining PD days as well as the chosen focus area and specific goal will be submitted at the end of this day.
October 7: Teams and departments will begin working on their professional learning paths. Samples of work accomplished and group progress will be shared in a drive set up for all of the learning paths. This will allow all groups to benefit from the work of their peers.
January 3: Teams and departments will continue working on their professional learning paths. Samples of work accomplished and group progress will be shared in a drive set up for all of the learning paths. This will allow all groups to benefit from the work of their peers.
March 17: We will spend time on this last PD day gathering across the district into groups based on the nine learning paths. Teams will have an opportunity to share out the work they have been focusing on during the year with peers who have been working on the same topic.
Exploring UDL and SEL
- create rubrics for your grade/department for the CASEL 5 and a structure for implementing them in the classroom, collecting the data, and analyzing the data as a group to create an action plan
- Use the self-direction toolkit rubrics specific to the age range of the students you work with and come up with a system for utilizing this data to create opportunities to develop these skills for students in connection with UDL
- Lesson/unit plan with the SEL and UDL connection in mind to create greater opportunities for students to be successful in owing their own learning
UDL and Blended Learning
- Participate in the Amplifying UDL with Educational Technology course with Jeff Berthiaume and the EdTech instructors. Read this course overview for more information: Overview of Content: Amplifying UDL with Educational Technology
Educational technologies when carefully designed and thoughtfully applied, have the power to amplify the impact of high-quality instruction. In these professional learning experiences, participants will learn specific technology integration strategies that are aligned with Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Using the CAST framework to guide our work, we will explore ways that EdTech tools and strategies can help educators provide students with multiple means of engagement, representation, action & expression. We will also focus on utilizing Millbury’s core four district-wide EdTech learning applications: Screencastify, Flipgrid, EdPuzzle, and Peardeck.
EdTech for Differentiated Instruction
- Utilizing EdTech tools and resources to offer instruction through various modalities (text, illustrations, audio, images, simulations, interactive graphics.)
- Developing digital instructional materials that leverage strategies such as “chunking” information, sequential highlighting, and providing multiple entry points to the content.
- Developing digital visual thinking routines that help students develop strategies and skills to process information.
- Using formative assessment EdTech tools to provide high-quality feedback that is frequent, timely, specific, and informative.
- Leveraging EdTech tools to provide learners with autonomy and choice.
- Enhancing engagement through authentic, relevant digital learning activities.
- Utilizing EdTech tools to foster collaboration and communication with others.
- Edtech tools and strategies to provide students with multiple forms of media for expression. (ex. text, speech, storyboards, videos, graphics,)
- Using digital tools and resources to help students self-assess and reflect on progress.
- Resources that can help students by visualizing progress, prompting specific self-reflection techniques, and scaffolding the experience with checklists, rubrics, and sample student work.
Re-design Assessment and Grading Practices
- Re-design grade-level assessment practices in any of the content areas.
- Create rubrics, PBL opportunities, Inquiry projects, and a number of other alternatives to traditional assessments for grading
- Re-design the scale used for evaluating student progress through a deep dive into standards-based grading.
- Pull apart all the standards attached to your content/grade to evaluate the multiple ways you can assess progress. Use Katie's work around content versus method standards as a guide
UDL your Lessons/Units
Equity through UDL
Inquiry and the Role it Plays in Creating Choice and Voice
UDL: Engagement
Providing options for recruiting interest:
- Optimize individual choice and autonomy
- Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity
- Minimize threats and distractions
Provide options for sustaining effort & persistence:
- Heighten salience of goals and objectives
- Vary demands and resources to optimize challenge
- Foster collaboration and community
- Increase mastery-oriented feedback
Provide options for self-regulation:
- Promote expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation
- Facilitate personal coping skills and strategies
- Develop self-assessment and reflection
UDL: Representation
UDL: Action and Expression
1. Create materials that allow learners to interact with the content at their own paces (e.g. rewind, fast forward, pause).
2. Build opportunities for learners to communicate their knowledge in a variety of formats where appropriate and relevant.
3. Provide learners with many examples of ways to solve problems or address issues with real-life and academic examples.
4. Give feedback in different formats.
5. Provide graphic organizers or templates that learners can use to organize course content and information.
6. Pose questions to learners that ask them to reflect and self-monitor progress.
7. Share checklists and guides for note-taking with learners.
8. Assess student work using checklists and scoring rubrics, and share examples of annotated student work with learners.
Elizabeth Boutiette
Email: eboutiette@millburyschools.org
Location: 12 Martin Street, Millbury, MA, USA
Phone: 508 865 9501
Twitter: @lifelonglearnLT