#4: If Only...

The optimistic in me watched the video on Universal Design Learning and read the companion article with excitement.  This is exactly the type of teaching methods I dream about using in my own classroom.  My goal is to access each student’s abilities, get to know their individual qualities, interests and talents and try to accept their unique personalities in an attempt to meet them where they are when we start the year together.   As UDL suggests, I would love to offer various options to my students so that they may address the lessons in the way that best suits their abilities.  (Although, learning to process something in a way that challenges you is also a great skill to develop.)  Using the UDL techniques in differentiation will require a lot of time and effort.  I’m more than willing to go there for my students, but I wonder how realistic are my goals?  



The videos and reading themselves instill even greater doubts. The solutions offered to address the needs of the Kindergarten student with hearing loss and the fourth grade girl with below grade level language arts skills seemed anything but differentiated (Ralabate, 2011).   In fact, the methods suggested are nearly identical.  Furthermore, it was annoying that some of the links to pdf’s which promised to “drill down” on these methods were broken or nonexistent.  



Further research into “CAST” and the founders of UDL, Rose, Meyer and Hitchcock, uncovered that they have not been that active since 2014.  This raises the question if the UDL team interfaced with the development of Common Core? I would really like to know if they were involved or have modified their methods to incorporate the new standards?  The video references standards from 2008, which I assume were somewhere housed under the umbrella of NCLB.  



As someone who is dedicated to differentiation, I would like to know more about UDL and how/if this methodology is evolving to meet our current requirements.  I feel like the video and the reading gave a nice overview, but it fails to address in a serious way the real problems facing teachers when they approach differentiation.  Those issues include time, resources and support from the administration and parents.  So my take away is…  if only, that would be great.



Ralabate, P. K. (2011, August 30). Universal design for learning: Meeting the needs of all students. The ASHA Leader. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/universal-design-learning-meeting-needs-all-students

Videos About UDL | National Center On Universal Design for Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/resource_library/videos/udlcenter/udl#video0/