Reflecting on UDL: How UDL lessons meet the needs of all learners

Video Transcription

Hi. My name is Ashley, and this lesson is titled Reflecting on UDL-- How UDL Lessons Meet the Needs of All Learners. In this lesson, we will review how to revise and reflect on your own created UDL lesson.

If you recall, we revised an existing lesson using UDL principles. Consider these questions as you revise and think aloud on lessons to meet the UDL principles. How should I revise the goals of the lesson to align with UDL? Why do those changes need to be made? What materials do I need to change in order to align it with UDL? Do I need to change any methods to better accommodate students using UDL principles? Do I need to revise assessment strategies, such as implementing more formative assessments rather than summative?

When the lesson is fully aligned with UDL principles, ask yourself, how does the lesson meet the needs of diverse learners? Remember to think of the three principles. Principle one, multiple means of representation. Principle two, multiple means of action and expression. And principle three, multiple means of engagement. Each of these principles emphasize the need of various methods of instruction, expression, and engagement to connect with diverse student.

You can also use a plus/minus delta chart to reflect and evaluate how well you implemented the UDL principles. In the plus column, here's where you will add things that went well. The minus section is for things that didn't go so well, and the delta is for suggestions for improvements. For each UDL principle, think of one thing that you did well, another that was challenging, and then something you plan on doing from now on in order to improve.

Now let's take a look back at our revised lesson. If you look on the left of your screen, you'll see the existing lesson. This was the lesson before we revised it using UDL principles. And on the right of your screen, you'll see revised lesson. This was the outcome of our lesson after using and implementing the UDL principles.

So now let's take a look at using the two strategies that we just learned to think aloud and the plus/minus delta to reflect on this lesson. Let's start with a think aloud. What materials do I need to change in order to align it with UDL? Well, the first lesson just involve paper and a pencil and the whiteboard that the teacher was going to use. But now our lesson involves a manipulative, something that can be moved around, so that was one thing that was changed.

What's something else that was changed? Well, we revised the goals of the lesson to align with UDL. Before, there was really no way that students could find the relevancy in adding fractions with unlike denominators, but we added the part that says, and relate it to eating donuts. So the donuts that were eaten by, we said, Jacob and Lucy are now relatable to students, because it relates it to them. They, one day in their life, will eat a donut or a cookie or something edible, and they can apply this to their own life.

Another question, as we think aloud, is, do I need to change any methods to better accommodate students? Well, we changed our assessment methods. Instead of just having students write in a notebook, answer questions such as adding the fractions, and going over them as a whole group, now we're giving students options. We're giving them the option to either write it in their journal, to talk it out with a friend or verbally tell the class what they did. They may even move their objects and explain how they found the answer. We're able to accommodate students better and allow them to express their knowledge in various ways.

Now let's take a look at the plus/minus delta. What are something that this lesson does well? I think there's a couple things that this lesson does well. First, it makes it relatable to students, and it involves the manipulatives. So I think that would work very well with students and they would enjoy that.

Now let's look at the minus section. What is something that this lesson does not do well? Maybe in this area, we can address other instructional methods that the teacher can be doing while the learning is taking place. Remember, your plus/minus delta can be used as a result of your presentation of the lesson. So since we have not actually taught this lesson, we can't fully go through the whole process of the plus/minus delta, because that will be things that we've noticed while students were involved with it.

The delta section would be suggestions, suggestions that may improve the teaching of the lesson, what the students learned, and the outcome of the lesson. But I do feel like this lesson involves all of the three principles of UDL. Principle one states that there are multiple means of representation. Students here are able to represent their knowledge in multiple ways, and they're also able to use manipulatives to represent math.

Principle two, multiple means of action and expression. Again, students are able to express themselves in multiple ways to show what they have learned with adding fractions with unlike denominators. And principal three, multiple means of engagement. Students are now engaged, because it involves something that's relatable to them. The thought of eating donuts and to figure out how many donuts were eaten all together and the use of the manipulatives is engaging. So I believe this lesson does a really good job in incorporating all three of the UDL principles.

In today's lesson, we talked about two different approaches to reflecting on your UDL lesson. With the think-aloud process, ask yourself questions to reflect on what can be improved in order to meet the UDL principles. Or you may use a plus/minus delta chart to write down what went well, what did not, and suggestions for the future. Choose whichever reflection model best matches your own thought process.

As we bring the lesson to a close, remember to always set time to reflect on your lessons. Also, ask the opinions of students and other staff members who may be in the classroom with you, such as teachers' aides, to help you reflect and decide what worked and what did not. To dive a little deeper and learn how to apply this information, be sure to check out the Additional Resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material.