# data[].attributes.headline
lets not swim upstream - what happens when your students are directed to get their notebooks?

# data[].attributes.subject
lets not swim upstream - what happens when your students are directed to get their notebooks?

# data[].attributes.body
classroom systems to promote organized, efficient cooperation to get materials and get started on a task:

If students need notebooks - hand 5-6 notebooks to a few students to hand out while others go to their seats.

If all notebooks are in students folders or basket - spread baskets in groups of 5 or 6 around the room so all students are not going to one area.

Are all the writing supplies in one place? separate supplies around the room again so all students are not flocking to one area

computers are an issue - as long as all computers are sure to be charged each night - during the day they can also be spread out in the room to create less chaos

# data[].attributes.headline
AMPLIFICATION system for teachers that want it - check out the research

# data[].attributes.subject
AMPLIFICATION system for teachers that want it - check out the research

# data[].attributes.body
content words with spelling, meaning and expressed in Mandarin

# data[].attributes.body
Instead of the typical hand out - lets change the format of the hand out - without changing any content:

In each question highlight/bold/enlarge/ underline the keys words

if there is more than one part to a question - separate the questions to a separate line so students can easily notice that there is more than one part

To differentiate more:

put each question with the above changes each on a new piece of paper - you can give each question one at a time.

If you have students that have mastered the first few questions - skip those for them - if you have students struggling after the first few questions stop there.

Other Options:
always offer variety of ways to respond - ie: written, oral, video, poster...

Extra time - be clear
alternative location to test
noise blocker
read aloud questions

# data[].attributes.body
During instruction - liven it up - move around the room to teach - use the visuals and be sure to go to the visual - do not just point

have students sit in different locations - in front of room for math, in back of room for reading....

wear costumes that match lesson - hats, glasses, coats....  then when needing to recall info you can say "remember when I had the great hat on - or remember when I walked the corner of room or stood on the chair to talk about ......"

When there are students that you know need more clarity - when sending students to work after giving instruction - invite students that want more clarity to the rug - be sure to name a few that you want to come to the rug - for those students that always have questions but do not really need that support - tell them to get started and see you in 5 minutes if they still have questions after they tried on their own.

# data[].attributes.headline
POTENTIAL BARRIERS YOUR STUDENTS MAY FACE:

# data[].attributes.subject
POTENTIAL BARRIERS YOUR STUDENTS MAY FACE:

# data[].attributes.body
working memory and slow processing speed are barriers we can address to support our students.

Auditory -

Is the room too noisy or is the student to far away to hear the teacher the first time??

Does a student need a noise blocker or head set to block out excessive volume in the room?

Visual -

Is the room filled with too much decoration so that a student cannot get past it to focus?

Are the worksheets too cluttered with information or decoration to allow focusing on the important items?

classroom organization:

Are materials easy to access? does this hold a student back from getting started?

# data[].attributes.body
This graphic organizer helps students analyze their emotional triggers and create a plan for how to handle them with scaffolded variations. Also included is a bank of common triggers and coping strategies.

# data[].attributes.headline
Variability - the myth of the average student 

# data[].attributes.subject
Variability - the myth of the average student 

# data[].attributes.body
https://youtu.be/8WClnVjCEVM

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Happy Tuesday, #TeamInclusion! I have a guest post today that co-teachers and UDL advocates will want to read and share. It's by Dr. Deborah Taub, a UDL/inclusive ed expert and the Director of Research and Programs at Keystone Assessment. Through some short but powerful vignettes, she shows us what's possible when co-teachers embrace UDL principles while planning instruction for students with special needs.

After you read this, tell us your experience: Does instructional planning in your school sound more like the first or second example? What are your barriers, if any, to adopting the planning approach Mrs. Summers and Mr. Harris took? What resources can we develop to help you? Read on, and then share your thoughts in the comments below!

***

There are often two questions about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) that I hear when training:

1. Why would I do this? It is no different from differentiated instruction, and

2. How in the world would I do this? It is huge!

Two quick vignettes of teachers planning for instruction illustrate the answer to both questions.

Ms. Jacobs and Mr. Snyder are planning instruction for Dawn, a student with complex instructional needs who is included in Ms. Jacobs' English class.

Ms. Jacobs: We are reading The Giver for the next couple of weeks. The students will be creating a timeline of a historical event and examining how it connects to their lives as a part of the social studies curriculum.

Mr. Snyder: Dawn can't read, so I don't think The Giver is going to be possible for her. And the subject matter doesn't really connect to her daily life so maybe I'll give her an adapted copy of Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge instead. It also deals with the importance of memories and forgetting and it is written at a second grade reading level so it should be easier to understand than The Giver.

Ms. Jacobs: Oh, that is a great idea. And maybe her timeline could be sequencing from her daily schedule instead of from history?

Now compare these teachers to Mrs. Summers and Mr. Harris, who are also planning for a student with complex instructional needs included in Mrs. Summers' English class.

Mrs. Summers: We are working on the themes and ideas in The Giver. The students will be creating a timeline of a historical event and examining how it connects to their lives as a part of the social studies curriculum.

Mr. Harris: I love that book-but it can be a bit of a barrier for some of our students unless we pair it with some accessibility supports. We can easily get some adapted versions of The Giver and maybe offer students the opportunity to partner read or use their online text readers.

Mrs. Summers: Yes, that makes sense. We may want to highlight key words or pictures to summarize the main points for some of our students who will still need additional help. And while we are at it, let's think about how to make it a bit more engaging for some of our students...maybe we can start with timelines related to their own lives and then move from there to historical events that shaped their world instead of from a historical event to themselves. It can go both ways.

Mr. Harris: Plus we could use some online timeline creation tools, pictures, or text-based timelines to provide students with lots of ways to engage with the timeline and get interested in the task.

The difference between these two conversations is subtle, but it illustrates one of the key ways differentiated instruction and UDL differ-as well as one of the biggest leaps teachers need to make if they are going to move to UDL-designed curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The biggest difference (and the most vital change teachers need to make to move to UDL-designed curriculum, instruction, materials, and assessment) is moving from the idea that the student is what creates barriers to learning to the idea that the curriculum, instruction, materials, and assessment create the barriers. And, while the conversations above may seem only minutely different, the belief that the student has the potential to access and make progress toward any goal significantly changes the way teachers approach planning, instruction, and assessment.

Consider the classic study by Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968) that examined how student performance and teacher expectations were tied together. They found that "when we expect certain behaviors of others, we are likely to act in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to occur" (Rosenthal and Babad, 1985). Our instructional decisions are based on our expectations, even if we are not necessarily consciously aware of them.

When we work from the premise that the barrier is within the student, then our job as educators is to fix the student so he can access instruction and materials. This belief sets up limits for all the things a school system can't change about a student: missing limbs, intellectual disabilities, an impoverished home, language and cultural differences, etc. When we work from the premise that barriers are within the instruction and materials, then our job as educators is to change instruction and materials to remove and reduce those barriers. We, as educators and school systems have control over those things.

This doesn't mean it isn't difficult. Looking at creating a UDL classroom may seem absolutely overwhelming. Consider the CAST website for their curriculum self-check: it is HUGE. There are so many things to think about. And then, on top of that, for students with complex learning needs you are still probably going to need to add some individualized supports on top of the universally designed curriculum, like Mrs. Summers and Mr. Harris did when they added summarized text or pictures to represent key concepts and ideas from the full text. Conceptualizing the barrier as being within the curriculum, instruction and materials rather than the student may seem overwhelming for what initially seems like a tiny difference in how these two sets of teachers plan and teach. In my experience though, it is that single key difference that helps create a UDL classroom. It is that single key difference that improves students' opportunities to learn and sets up systems that improve student performance. In addition, it is that key difference that sets the stage for inclusive practices. So, if you want to build an inclusive classroom, the biggest step you can take is to change how you think about barriers.

Want to hear more from Deborah Taub? Be sure to check out this podcast she did on alternate assessment over at Think Inclusive, and this post on leaving behind the notion of inclusion as a place.

More on presuming the competence of all learners: "Presuming Competence: What It Is, What It Looks Like"

Deborah Taub is Director of Research and Programs at Keystone Assessment, where she provides research and professional development assistance for states, territories, and other entities working to develop and sustain best practice. She has assisted states in building and evaluating systemic programs, especially around issues of inclusive practice for students with complex instructional needs, such as those with low incidence disabilities or who are dually identified as having a disability and ELL. Dr. Taub has designed, implemented, and evaluated alternate assessments for students with significant cognitive disabilities, developed UDL and standards-based curricula and instruction, and conducted validity and alignment evaluations. She's an advisory member of National Center for Universal Design for Learning's UDL Taskforce, and a member of the TASH Inclusive Education Committee and the Council for Exceptional Children's CCSS Advisory Group.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Your first step toward a UDL-designed classroom: Change how you think about barriers (Guest post) - Brookes Blog

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Happy Tuesday, #TeamInclusion! I have a guest post today that co-teachers and UDL advocates will want to read and share. It's by Dr. Deborah Taub, a UDL/inclusive ed expert and the Director of Research and Programs at Keystone Assessment. Through some short but powerful vignettes, she shows us what's possible when co-teachers embrace UDL principles [...]

# data[].attributes.headline
Teaching Students with ADHD- they are in all our classes

# data[].attributes.subject
Teaching Students with ADHD- they are in all our classes

# data[].attributes.body
Sensory-Rich Transitions are movement breaks in which students engage in stimulating activities, such as stomping or clapping, or calming activities, such as deep breathing or pushing against resistance.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sensory-Rich Transitions | UDL Strategies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sensory-Rich Transitions: Sensory-Rich Transitions are movement breaks in which students engage in stimulating activities, such as stomping or clapping, or calming activities, such as deep breathing or pushing against resistance (e.g., cart of lunch boxes, stretching with a theraband) in order to remain calm, alert, and in a learning ready state.

# data[].attributes.body
Replacement Behaviors is a strategy where the teacher positively reinforces a student for using a desired behavior (e.g. raising a hand) instead of a non-desired behavior (e.g. shouting out in class).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Replacement Behaviors: Replacement Behaviors is a strategy where the teacher positively reinforces a student for using a desired behavior (e.g. raising a hand) instead of a non-desired behavior (e.g. shouting out in class). When first teaching a replacement behavior the teacher determines the function of the non-desired behavior (i.e., why the student is responding using the non-desired behavior).

# data[].attributes.body
Planned Ignoring is an intervention strategy designed to decrease a student’s off-task behaviors by withholding attention. This strategy is most effective when a student’s behavior is motivated by the desire to gain the attention of others.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Planned Ignoring: Planned Ignoring is an intervention strategy designed to decrease a student's off-task behaviors by withholding attention. This strategy is most effective when a student's behavior is motivated by the desire to gain the attention of others. It should only be implemented if the behavior is not harmful to the student or others (e.g., calling out, getting out of seat).

# data[].attributes.body
Clear the path for ALL