Blog Post: UDL Lesson Planning

What makes the UDL lesson plan different?

How do you determine the lesson assessment?

Resources for UDL Lesson Planning

Teachers are always adjusting ways and means in their interactions with the learning needs of their students to make the classroom inclusive. After analyzing the latest assessment made for the class with a score of 85% the following were highlighted as the program’s strengths: clear learning objectives, interactivity that caters to differing learning styles, interactivity enhanced by multimedia. Of course, there are some issues to be improved – such as offering extra help for those who have difficulties comprehending something, encouraging students to work together, and using different types of testing and quizzes.

To enhance the students learning, the UDL Elementary Lesson Planning tool captures possible barriers that a child may experience including language barriers or poor attention span. These barriers are: Attention Deficits, Language Barriers, and Sensory Issues, and the procedure to reduce these barriers are: Attention Deficits- Use of visual images, Language Barriers- Alternative Instructions, Sensory Issues- Sensory accommodations. Examples of both are essential, such as structured group: discussions and similar assignments that are varied to help support the learning and to build up independent learning skills. Being an anticipatory approach, UDL lesson plans have provided for the requirements of students with various abilities. They give several access points for students to comprehend as well as to participate and communicate in and about learning environments: they are nonrestrictive and seem to offer choice in the acquisition of knowledge. Developing assessments inside the UDL setting should be helpful for learning goals or results and give more than one method of evaluation for and within fairness.

To facilitate the implementation of UDL various resources can help educators in doing so effectively. For instance, Gargiulo & Metcalf (2010) present the Universal Design for Learning approach as a part of “Teaching in Today’s Classrooms: Understanding and Applying Instructional Technology”, which offers recommendations about the application of UDL in the classroom. Specific action strategies for making the general curriculum accessible based on UDL principles are described in an article by Hitchcock et al. in Teaching Exceptional Children. Holding (2004) is useful for advice on how to address standards-based reform for students with disabilities, pointing to UDL as an essential framework. Moreover, resources such as the CAST Universal Design for Learning: An Overview, the CAST UDL Toolkit, the CAST UDL Lesson Builder, and the Macomb ISD Universal Design for Learning Initiative provide rich strategies and actual lesson plan examples that teachers could use to incorporate the principles of UDL in the classroom.

Therefore, there is a realization that when UDL principles are implemented in lesson plan development and in actual teaching practices; educators create better and more engaging learning opportunities for students. Thus, the practice of embracing and developing a strong sense of reflection and cooperation, as well as integrating the resources available to special needs teachers in routine practice, means that the journey towards the development of an inclusive environment in education becomes not only feasible but also immensely inspiring.