While sitting on the main stage in front of a live studio audience at the UDL-IRN Summit, Camille shared her experiences as a learning coach at Sunflower Elementary School in Lawrence, Kansas. She told us the story of her school’s fourth grade teachers and what brought them to UDL. They came to her saying, “We have a weekly assessment that we give to check for student understanding, but we don’t feel like we’re getting the information from the students that they know. We know they know main idea but we don’t allow them to give us all their information.” It’s the second sentence that caught my attention: “We know they know main idea, but we don’t allow them to give us all their information.” It caught my attention because those are such powerful words that demonstrate a certain mindset. It is a mindset that primed the teachers to begin their relationship with UDL more quickly.
These teachers not only recognized the control they had in relation to their students’ learning opportunities (e.g., they owned that they wrote the lesson plan, they chose the materials students used, they decided on the assessments given), these teachers went a step further and understood that this level of control was what inhibited or freed their students to fully demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. In this case, they already saw that the design of the assessments impeded student progress. They already realized that their students knew more than the assessment structures allowed them to show. These teachers demonstrated an assumption of student competency and an acknowledgement of narrow assessments. That combination set those educators up to connect more deeply with the UDL framework.
Later in the podcast, Camille shared that the teachers were initially, “very structured.” She continued with, “And then as they went along, they released that control to the students. And that is amazing when you see fourth graders, they’re learning main idea, they’re getting that direct instruction, but then they take it upon themselves to plan out how they’re going to show it.” They gave more control to their learners and everyone benefitted.
When educators learn about UDL, the first question is always, “How do I get started?” I’m a very pragmatic person and I love to give people concrete instructional steps to take. Thinking about mindset is a very different angle to take. An angle not everyone is willing to take. Mindset gets at the core of who we are as individuals and as teachers, but if we’re not willing to do the deep work of discovering and naming our mindset, we run the risk of inadvertently creating barriers for our learners. This isn’t easy work and it is not always comfortable, but you and a partner or PLC can begin with these three steps.
20 Minute Activity
Background knowledge: Some practice implementing the nine UDL guidelines.
Goal: to discover where you assert control in your learning environment and whether or not that control can be shifted to the learners through the use of the UDL Guidelines.
- Individually, write down your answers to these questions on notecards or 1/4 sheets of paper:
- Where do I exert control in my learning environment? Think about everything from lessons and classroom design to daily routines (list one item per piece of paper) – 2 Minutes
- For each of the items, why do I exert control over it? (write down your reasons on the same side of the paper as the item) – 2 Minutes
- Discuss your answers with a partner. Where do you see similarities and differences? Did you add items to your list? – 5 Minutes
- Turn each piece of paper over on the table so the side with writing is facing downward and mix them up. Each person chooses three cards. With your partner, brainstorm how you could give up some/more control of that item so students can practice skills that lead them to become expert learners. Use your UDL guidelines to help you design this shift. – 6 Minutes
Debrief: what was the most challenging part of this activity? What item always requires you to have full control? Is there anyone that sees that item differently? Did you shift? – 5 Minutes
This is one step you can take to begin investigating your learning environment design mindset. You will always be the facilitator – the person who determines the overall plan, but keep pushing yourself and your students to see what they can take on. After all, increased active participation in the design and implementation of the lesson will help them gain more skills associated with becoming expert learners.