Day 1 in Hamilton Township Public Schools
Hamilton Township Public Schools Tagged instruction, lessons, teaching, UDL March 13th, 2008Well if you’ve made it as far as this blog then you’ve made it past the first couple of hours of UDL training. Congratulations! You now have the basic understanding that Universal Design for Learning is the framework for something that you’ve been working so hard as an educator to do for your students this year and possibly for many years past as well.
Please read the Case Study: Teaching Probability in Middle School found at http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/casestories/cs3/ and comment on the traditional versus UDL approaches discussed towards the end. Be specific as to which approaches have been successes or failures for you and which you can see yourself attempting to implement before the end of the school year.
March 30th, 2008 at 8:45 am
As a 7th math teacher I can relate to Ms. Randall’s dilemma. Some students do not have the conceptual maturity to understand concepts like theoretical and experimental probability. The traditional method depicted by Ms. Randall will not reach some students, specially the seven students who are struggling with math, the 5 ELL, and the two students with disabilities.
March 30th, 2008 at 9:05 am
On the other hand,with the UDL approach, Ms. Randall used the pair and share strategy along with the use of the computer to demonstrate the concept to the whole class. This method will definitely appeal more to the student population given the fact that students nowadays are more technology oriented than in the past.
I have used both method: traditional and UDL. The major problem I have is time management. Our periods consist of 40 minutes of instruction as opposed to the 55 minutes that Ms. Randall has available. Sometimes students get so excited with the UDL activity presented that group management might become somewhat challenging.
I have six periods as opposed to the four periods that Ms. Randall has. To create effective and efficient UDL lessons you need a very valuable asset:time. As a single mom,first year teacher, and night student is hard to find the time to accomplish what I know it can be done, because I’ve done it. However, I wish I can come up with UDL lessons every day. Our rooms are equipped with one computer and we can bring to the room an LCD from the Media Center. I think we are very fortunate in that sense. I see myself using the strategies that Ms. Randall used with her group a couple of more times.
My only question regarding the case is how Ms. Randall was able to reach the five English Language Learner students, the two students with learning disabilities. The lesson designed might have reached some of her seven students with disabilities, but details were not provided.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:21 pm
After reading Ms. Randall’s case study, I found myself forgetting we were reading about another classroom. We seem to all be facing the same dilemmas: resources, oversized classrooms, computer access and most importantly–TIME. With the diverse population of students we are teaching, we try to squeeze as much content in a period along with resources and strategies in hope all students achieve success.
Because I have taught this exact lesson for so many years using the traditional and more recently the UDL approach, I have found that differentiated instruction works in reaching the heterogeneous population. Using alternative methods, media and materials not only enhanced the lesson but ensured that all students had options that suited their learning style and ability. Having the luxury of teaching a block schedule class allowed me to stay on tract with the math standards while accomplishing the goals I set forth.
Mr. Randall’s use of all learning styles in the UDL approach furthered competency for all students regardless of their abilities and needs. In her methodology, she allowed students to interact using the concepts when presented orally, visually, kinesthetically, and through technology using the Shodor website. (By the way, I can’t wait to try it!)
She had the assistance of a paraprofessional for two days a week. It seems like she has all the resources and assistance available to her and still did not have the one thing necessary to achieve success for all—TIME. Where do we take it from to allow more when needed?
Although, we are all using both traditional and UDL (in a minimal way) I, too, share the same dilemma. How can lessons be designed using UDL effectively in one period? Sometimes, we need to take a couple steps back and do an overview of what we are trying to accomplish in a short period of time and adjust for content mastery.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:58 am
As a special education teacher, I have the luxury of presenting lessons to small groups (6-10 students). The problem for me,therefore,is not managing large groups, but in presenting concepts such as proability in a way that will make sense to students with learning disabilities. The UDL design is a perfect fit for students with learning disabilites in that multi faceted approaches enable special education students to be exposed to the variety of approachs that they require. I especially like the introduction to the lesson(what we would call anticipatory set)– what student cannot relate to board games. As with regular education teachers, special education teachers find it difficult to “fit” in all the curriculum that students are to be exposed to for standardized testing. I find that the subject of probability is a good topic for review for testing in that so many other concepts can be incorporated(multiples,prime numbers etc). The strength of the UDL design is in presenting in such a way that students will be excited about learning.
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:48 pm
These are great responses so far and I see a theme of time forming that we can talk about more in our next session together. Keep two things in mind as we continue to discuss the framework for UDL:
1. What is the goal of the lesson?
2. Even the best UDL classroom is only an approximation of all three parts of the framework.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I have read the case study on teaching probability using the traditional and UDL approaches. But if you are limited with the resources that are available the traditional method seems the most realistic approach. The UDL method of teaching is the most effective approach but the one problem I would face would be “time”. Ms. Randall has only 4 classes and 55 minutes per class to engage the students with this lesson on theoretical and experimental probability whereas I teach 6 classes and have only 40 minutes to teach the lesson. Those extra 15 minutes Ms. Randall are an advantage. It would be great to get some suggestions on how to acheive this UDL approach with the time constrants I have.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I think when we all sit down to design a lesson, our goal is to create one as dynamic as the lesson described in the case study. Sometimes we do it better than others. For me, the hardest part of being a teacher is when I know that my lesson is not as good as it should have or could have been. As mentioned in the other responses: there are many reasons that this occurs. Very simply, my main goal in getting involved in this project/grant is to better develop my ability to “reach” students on a daily basis. The more I do this, the more that they will benefit!
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:41 am
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