August 18, 2021
Teaching Is Emotional Work “At its core, teaching is emotional work” -David Rose, CAST Founder This quote by David Rose, one of the founders of CAST and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), offers two meanings. The first reminds us that teaching, by default, taps our emotions. Interactions with students, other educators, and with yourself all […]
June 4, 2021
Helping Educators Implement UDL This episode with Timmary Leary emphasizes how Universal Design for Learning is not about making things easier, it’s about making things accessible. Those are two very different things. Easier means there is a lowered level of rigor. Accessible means maintaining rigor (and even promoting higher levels of rigor) while designing an […]
May 13, 2021
Intentionality During my conversation with Callie Mulcahy for this episode of UDL in 15 Minutes, she shares how she uses UDL to help her students move through the process of design. She provides them with a process that helps them think through the steps they will from idea generation to the finished product. What she […]
April 21, 2021
When Choice Builds Agency During this episode, Emily shares how the instructors at the Relay Graduate School of Education not only teach students about UDL, they also use the UDL framework to design their instruction. She makes clear that this has been a journey for everyone and they are continuing with their growth, but what […]
April 9, 2021
Helping Educators Implement UDL I had the honor of interviewing Alaa Zaza for this podcast. Zaza works for the Manahel-Syria Education Programme which is helping educators reach and teach children all over northeast Syria, even during the war. You can read more about the programme here (and you will want to). A theme that emerged […]
March 17, 2021
The UDL Reporting Criteria During my conversation with Kavita Rao for UDL Research in 15 Minutes, I realized that the topic was perfect for UDL in 15 Minutes, too, because the tool she was sharing is one that can be used by many. This blog will focus on the UDL Reporting Criteria tool and offer […]
March 3, 2021
Stereotype Threat During my conversation with Andretesha Fitzgerald, she told a powerful story about her learners’ growth in leadership. It all stemmed from a newspaper article about the city in which they live, East Cleveland. Within the podcast, Antretesha quotes the phrase “three miles of misery” from that article. From there, she tells a wonderful […]
February 17, 2021
Falling in (Radical) Love with the Checkpoints During my interview with Lizzie, she shared how she dug into two of the checkpoints within the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) guidelines. She shared her deeply felt reasons for why she dug into those checkpoints, but that digging-in really needs to happen with all of the checkpoints. […]
January 20, 2021
During this episode of UDL in 15 Minutes, Jess Lombardi describes how she sets her students up to successfully lead their own conferences. There is no need to present an argument for this kind of design because there is no downside. We need to empower all of our students to identify goals based on data, […]
October 21, 2020
Are you still using a typewriter? During this episode, Blake shared her passion for reflective teaching and her passion for helping students become reflective learners. In the process of talking through those big ideas, she shared a story that made me remember an attitude I once had. That attitude stated, “You made your choice. Now, […]
