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I found this chapter very interesting. I have a lot of background in working with students who had behavior barriers and I wish I had the knowledge I just learned to help back then.

What I found most interesting was the idea of involving the student in every aspect of the behavior plan. In my past experience, the most the student may have been involved in the plan was in determining the reward achieved. Using UDL the student is the center of the plan, which make sense since it is the student that has the behaviors.

The first step is engagement or buy in by identifying the behavior and asking the student if they agree with the observation of what happens when the behavior occurs. The second step, representation, is to come up with alternatives to help change the behavior. Asking the student which options they think will work allows the student to feel they have a say in the plan. Then, expression, create opportunities to   allow the student to practice the alternative behavior. I loved the idea of having the student monitor their behavior themselves as well as the teacher by choosing how to track it. The student feels a part of the process by creating their own personal check list and it allows them to reflect on what has worked to help achieve success.
Dawn Kane

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In one of the earlier chapters, it mentioned creating a checklist for students to keep them  accountable for their actions and behaviors. This chapter went a little further with how to do this.

I had mentioned that I would like to do a google form to have the kids self assess on their behavior and academic for the week and what they can improve on. I think I can use this along with my observations in class to help create intervention plans for EBD students.

I really liked the steps for designing the behavior interventions (pg. 226-230). I would have to get to know the students before creating a plan. Then in creating a plan, I would talk to the students and see if they agree with my observations such as yelling out or always getting out of seat. Then I come up with a plan and give the student options on how they can react to minimize their behavior. Something it also mentioned was keeping data. This is something I know I have to work on. I keep a 'mental' data but I think I should definitely try keep numerical data or written data at least at the end of each week. This will allow myself and the student to come back together to see if we can adjust their plan, remove items, or add items.

Now that some of our classes will be remote, some students might need intervention or just a small checklist to keep them accountable with how to act and engage on google meets.
-MR

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I chose this chapter because I am working in early childhood and I am working to strengthen incorporating UDL. I feel like There were a lot of topics and ideas they talked about that I have been doing all along, which was interesting.
I liked how it said UDL isn't just supporting academic learning but also social skills, friendship skills, problem solving, anger management, and emotional literacy.  I uploaded a checklist they included for a self reflection to see if you have addressed UDL.
This chapter talked about incorporating multiple means of communication- incorporating visuals, felt boards, signs, real life objects into instruction. One idea that I liked, and hadn't thought about, was presenting materials to kids before reading for them to make connections. Like the 3 little pigs. Making a sensory bin or having every play and test the house materials- straw, sticks, bricks. Some kids may have never touched either and have no idea why the houses failed. Giving this opportunity before or during reading will help them make the connections.
-PH

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Chapter 16: UDL Y Home School Collaboration

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Chapter 16: UDL Y Home School Collaboration

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I picked this chapter for kind of obvious reasons. During this time we need to try to make the best home and school connections as possible. I liked how it talked labeled some barriers that often interfere with home to school collaboration; Time, Beliefs, Communication Styles, Lack of Resources, and Relational Issues. A lot of these rang true during distance learning last school year. I send out at the beginning of the school year a form for the parents to check off what is their preferred method of communication in hopes to create a good home to school relationship. I also have had those not returned so it is a guessing game at that point until I can finally have communication with the parent.
My past two school years, I haven't had students that speak another language but when I was teaching in Brockton, I had students that spoke many different languages. I can speak Portuguese and Spanish so I would typically get the students who spoke those two languages to help the students as well as the home to school collaboration. I found parents were more likely to engage and return phone calls/paperwork  when I spoke/wrote in their native language.
I really liked ACTION table, on page 266. As much as I tried to get a picture it kept coming out blurry, but check it out!
One thing I would like to do this year if my students are doing remote learning is to figure out a better way for collaboration. I sent google forms asking questions to parents on how they thought it was going, if they were getting too much/not enough work, if they would like more/less zooms, etc... and out of 4 students I only received one back. I made phone calls and I didn't hear back from parents. I just am trying to think of the best way to have better communication. I didn't really think that I was carrying UDL to the home in how I was teaching but this chapter let me see that.
JE

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Chapter 16 - UDL and Home School Collaboration

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Chapter 16 - UDL and Home School Collaboration

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This chapter really made me think about how to start this particular school year off. Usually my partner and I send an email and newsletter home introducing ourselves. I always thought email was the best means of communication with parents/guardians. I never thought to ask which means they preferred. This year I created a google form for parents/guardians, which will be printed or shared, asking which means of communication they prefer. This will allow me to bridge the communication gap a
This chapter talks about increasing positive interaction and engagement between home and school. I always start the year with a "Math is Everywhere" assignment. On the google form I asked parents if they would like to zoom in to share how they use math as well as participate in future activities. I wanted to do a career day last year but it didn't work out, so this year I would like to invite family members, community members, and staff to get involved. I thought this would be a great opportunity to create more family involvement.   Another thing I never thought of, which I put in my google form,  is lack of resources. I want to make sure parents, guardians, and students have what they need at home to be successful. Collaborating with families to figure out what tools and supports their child needs at home and school will be key at the beginning of the year.  This chapter helped me realize that UDL doesn't stop once students leave school and it's not just a tool for students, but parents too.
-SC

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I will be co-teaching math this year so I wanted to look at UDL for math. The chapter gave practical and helpful suggestions for representation, engagement and expression.

For representation they suggest making a video library of concepts with a table of contents that students can access. This will be an especially important tool for students this year in virtual learning, because students will have 24 hour access when they need support. In addition to sites like Kahn, Brainpop, TeachingChannel, they suggest making videos. I already have screencastify lessons from our virtual learning time last year, so I can add these and continue to make more. In making the videos they suggest showing the steps and using think alouds in problem solving. Other suggestions were to Flip the class by previewing concepts for students to see the night before. They emphasize showing multiple solutions using various tools, such as, manipulatives and web-based tools. Finally, they suggest using a graphic organizer to help students get started on problem solving by focusing on the steps involved and suggestions for tools they can use.

To engage students they emphasize personalizing the learning by incorporating students names and interests in the problems. I really like the ‘Hint Cards’ which help students with reminders, visuals, as well as, breaking down the problems. Movement is also stressed with strategies such as posting problems on the wall or creating a large number line that students can walk on to help them with addition and subtraction.

To express their learning the chapter gives gaming sites such as PhET, Gizmos (explorelearning.com), Educade, MinecraftEdu, and Playful Learning. The Tic-Tac-Toe choice board where students choose three math problems is another option. Finally, they go deeper with their thoughts on choice, emphasising choice in materials, roles, and access.

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To me this was a good chapter to read. I have spent the past 3 years as a paraprofessional in different districts. After reading this chapter I feel like I spent this year co-teaching more than I ever have in the past. I know most of the time co-teaching, like the chapter said, is between the general ed teacher and another teacher (sped, reading specialist, speech, ELL specialist, etc.) and understandably so. Most years, I have been the person aimlessly walking around making sure the kids are on task and not hurting each other or been given busy work to do. No teacher has felt the need to have me co-teach a lesson or provide RTI services, even though I'm licensed. This year was the opposite. Although the SPED teacher did the co-planning, I was often co-instructing with the teachers. I would work with small groups, assigned by the teacher and then given feedback after each lesson. I feel like in each room this worked well and the students benefitted greatly.
I enjoyed reading about the Tic-Tac-Toe board. Making a tic-tac-toe board with 8 choices and having students pick 3 they want to accomplish. Also making the middle square a required task.
Another resource I liked was cubing. Not sure if I am late to this game but basically having a cub with each side a different focus point. An example was for a main idea cube and each side having who, what, where, when, why, how.
PH

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I like how this chapter discussed low or not tech tools, mid-tech tools, and high-tech tools. Many of the options for low and medium tech tools are things that can be easily accessible for teachers to provide for all students. In the beginning of the year I give all students a new pencil and pencil grip, not realizing a pencil grip is considered a low or no-tech tool. Some of my students find pencil grips help them write better and ask throughout the year for more grips.
In this chapter it talks about how AT and UDL promote accessibility for all students. One of the examples I liked was embedding glossaries and dictionaries into text. I feel this can support learning across all content areas.
In this chapter is states, "optimizing access to UDL friendly tools and AT can offer students multiple ways to express their knowledge and understanding content."  I like how this chapter includes websites, apps, and tools that aren't expensive or complicated to enable teachers to make that happen. A few AT tools that sixth grade has found helpful, and probably other teachers, are graphic organizers, read and write extension, speech-to-text, instructional videos created on screencastify, audiobooks, and timers.
There was a website for virtual manipulatives that didn't work for me. I would like to know if anyone else knows of a site that students can use for math manipulatives.
-SC

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I have not co-taught before as I have been in sub-separate classrooms for my career. I have pushed in to assist with activities in my students inclusion classrooms so I wanted to read more about co-teaching. If the school year was going to be a "normal" year, I would have been pushing  in more and doing some co-teaching. I am not sure if this will be occurring now or not though. But, in preparation of that, I wanted to read this chapter. I found this document when I was doing some further research that I thought was interesting for new co-teachers.
I think in the younger grades co-teaching would be beneficial because of different learning techniques and lower student-teacher ratio. The students would also be presented the information in different ways as well. I think some of the stations would be good to have a hands on learning activity, a technological station, and a reading station to reinforce the students learning.
One other thing I thought was cool that the book mentioned was communicating with the Voxer. During station rotation it could be a good way for one teacher to communicate how a rotation went quickly in between groups without having to get up and disrupt or if a teacher had a station in a different part of the building this would work as well.
I enjoyed learning different strategies and techniques in this chapter and look forward to using some of them in the coming school year.
J.E.

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I have been very lucky to work with amazing teachers in my classroom. I would say it is our classroom. We did a lot of Parallel Teaching where I would show one method to solve a problem and Meg would show a different method. It was super useful because they students could pick the method they found was best for them. Sometimes we would show the same method but explain it differently and it would help those that didn't see it the first time around and maybe just see it in a different way. Something we did to drive some of our instruction time was to use our ticket-2-leave to help us plan for the next class. We would take the students answers and sort them based on their work or explaination. We would split the class and perform Alternative teaching. One would take the group to practice the standard and the other one would take the group that mastered the skill and give them challening problems.

In the chapter, it talks about co-planning, co-teaching, and co-assessing. Co-assessing is the one in particular I would like to work on. I did work on trying to give students options on how they wanted to show their skills but I wish I had taken more data like the chapter talked about. I should have seen which options students usually picked and if they did their best work. I would also like to ask students how they prefer to stay engage or how they like showing their work. I think this would help me drive my lessons into something they will be interested in.

I do a lot of station work in my room but sometimes it can be just pencil and paper. I think a fun stations activity would to have different social media or internet options for students to demonstrate their work.

Some of them I used were:
-Create a Kahoot/Quizlet
-TikTok
-Brush Ninja
-ixl.com
-Khanacademy

But I would love to add to this list!
-MR

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I’m going to be co-teaching this year instead of doing primarily pull-out, so I was happy to find so many great strategies in this chapter. The chapter stresses that teachers need to co-plan, co-teach, and co-assess. These are all keys to a successful partnership, and the assessing part is sometimes overlooked. I was reminded that knowing how students are doing is essential in guiding instruction.The chapter offers guidance in differentiation. Using alternative teaching to target instruction by having one group of students read a selection silently, while another reads it aloud with teacher support. Another suggestion is to have a reading discussion that is facilitated, while another is more independent, with students using Flipgrid. A differentiation strategy I can't wait to use is cubing. Students are given a choice of activities at their level. The lesson fulfills the essential components of the lesson’s guiding questions, taking into account the relevant features of Bloom's Taxonomy for long term memory support. It is a fantastic way for students to guide their own learning while able to find success in all areas of the lesson goals. Another suggestion that offers a student centered approach is the magic tablecloth. After a math lesson, students are asked to write a problem from the day’s lesson. The problems are placed on a magic tablecloth. The next day, students choose a problem created by their peers and solve it. This UDL approach drives higher order thinking and more student investment in learning. Another way to give student’s choice is the Tic-Tac-Toe center learning. One station is required, while the others are for the student’s to choose. A bell rings for students to move on. This is important, so that students don’t stay on a single activity and ignore other problem solving challenges. Another novel way for students to problem solve is to use a QR code to investigate a subject and find different types of evidence to illustrate their understanding. They could search for a song, video, picture or article.These are great ways to differentiate, get students up and moving, while keeping on target with lesson objectives and helping all students feel successful.
(Joan McLaughlin)

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Chapter 11 UDL and Implementation Fidelity

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Chapter 11 UDL and Implementation Fidelity

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This chapter had some great ways to understand how to implement UDL in your lessons. It gave the suggestion of compiling a list of ideas related to recruiting and maintaining student interest and add a couple of new ideas each year. Another suggestion was to also keep a list of "barriers and solutions" that you have come up with so when you encounter a barrier you can look back to see if you have found a solution to it already. It also advised to always look back at your objective and remember the point is for the students to show mastery of that objective and not mastery in a particular way to reach the objective.
Dawn Kane

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In this chapter, I loved how they talked about color coding folders. I am part of a Special Ed Teacher group on Facebook and a teacher just shared "tool boxes" she made for her students this year. Each student had their own supplies all in one color. Having younger students having each student have their own color would be beneficial and help with identification. My students have morning binders that they do daily work in but, I would like to add their daily schedule to that this year as well. It will help them visualize their day as well. I have the page laminated and velcro board maker pieces and they help create it in the mornings and then they can check off what they have done.

The chapter discussed having students show off their talents by summarizing topics in their own style. One thing I did this past school year was a student really loved animals and we were working on identifying facts and writing a full sentence. He used a graphic organizer and was creating an "encyclopedia" of zoo animals. This was in preparation of the 2nd grade zoo field trip so that he would be able to share information with friends when they went. He was provided with an animal information sheet from the zoo and would cut out a picture of the animal or attempt to draw his own. This went along with the "Click or Clunk" strategy provided in the chapter as well. I think often times as Special Education Teachers we don't realize we have created this opportunities for our students and then reading these chapters we see that we do.
-JE

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Chapter 7: Udle and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports

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Chapter 7: Udle and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports

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In this chapter, they talked about putting PBIS into practice and creating expectations schoolwide  and within the classroom. This is something I always complete at the start of the year and always refer back to. It does suggest for positive wording, opposed to the 'not' be doing. With setting expectations, I like to also set up a routine in the classroom (bell, warm-up, homework questions, notes, break, practice). I expect students to follow this routine and I really believe it helps students get started on their work without me prompting (too much). I always say 'thank you' to the students who start the warm-up and the students will catch on.

The students also have jobs in the class which also holds them accountable and they love it! One of the jobs is to read the Essential Question. Over the years I actually find it super useful in the classroom because I want the students to be able to know what they will be learning for the class or week and they will be able to know how to answer the essential question.

The self monitoring and Check-in/Check-out (CICO) is a great tool I would like to use. I think this could help students that may blurt out or get out of their seats too often or forget homework. Having them create their own checklist and using it during class will hold them more accountable. There could even be some positive reward if they complete their check list on their own.

Something I also want to try this year would be having the students fill out a Self-Reflection on academic AND behavior. I think this could allow me to see what they think (as a student) they did well on and what they could improve/work on. I could use the things they stated to improve on as their goal/check list for them the following week or two weeks so they can begin to work on their weakness (i.e. if a student stated they didn't do well raising their hand in class, I could set a goal for them to raise their hand in class the follwing week and give them checks/stars when they do this and reach a certain amount for a reward)
-MR

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I feel most students and teachers can improve on their executive function skills, me being one of them. Organization is a work in progress for me. This chapter talks about color coding folders and labeling them to help students organize the different subjects, homework, and papers that stay at home. Last year, we asked students to have matching colored folders and notebooks for each subject. Most students found that helpful to keep them organized. Another strategy to help students with working memory is allowing time at the end of each day or the end of each class period to allow students to write down assignments and pack up their materials neatly. I also liked the idea of having a class calendar. This will allow students to visually see how long they have until an assignment or project is due. This chapter also talks about supplying students with graphic organizers. A variety of graphic organizers can be found of this website, especially for the younger grades, www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/
Another strategy, which I plan to try this year, is a virtual word wall. Students with working memory challenges face a major barrier when learning new vocabulary. A virtual word wall  enables students to hear the correct pronunciation and definition of a word. You can also attach a picture for additional support.
This chapter includes a lot of help tips and strategies that can be used to help all students in day-to-day activities not just students with EF challenges.
-SC

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This chapter talks about how UDL can support Positive Behavior Strategies. In creating expectations schoolwide, it suggests using multiple  means of representation, such as, stories, drawings, and even sewing! I liked personalizing the messages using symbols that the students relate to like superheroes or positive role models they admire. For choice in the classroom I like flexible seating, and the chapter also suggests goal setting, self monitoring, and mentor check ins. In one scenario to get the class back earlier after lunch the teacher asked students to come up with ideas to make it work. Students came up with options that would help them get to class on time and they also held each other accountable when they were late. I think using DOJO as the chapter suggests to reward students for positive behaviors is a great idea. It not only helps keep students on track but it is also a positive way to remind students of expectations throughout the year.
- Joan

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In this chapter, it had talked about having resources ready to go like videos to present to the class. I try to find videos to show before I start a new lesson but would definitely would like to find more and do this more frequently. It talked about having it on your Google Drive in a folder. When I read this, it made me think I should organize my drive, create folders for the units, folders for the lessons with documents/slides and now try to find videos for those lessons.

Another cool thing I want to try will be creating 'Hint Cards'. Students could be working in pairs or groups for a review or new content. For problems or stations, I can have prepared 2-3 hint cards to help students reach the solution without actually giving answers. I also think this would really help me with rotating around the room more freely to help all groups. I tend to help a group and not realize how long I have been with them and other groups need help. The hint cards will help the kids and even give them some confidence knowing they didn't need an adult to help them!
-MR

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One idea that I liked talked about strategies for representation. It said to incorporate ASL for students to practice spelling sight words or vocabulary words. In the elementary grades I have done a few strategies (tap it out, clap it) but haven't thought about signing it. Another strategy I liked was giving the option for students to record themselves that way they can listen back and self evaluate or peer evaluate their fluency. And paired to that, as the teacher using screencast or audio recording for feedback so the student can hear you verbally giving feedback rather than having any confusion with written feedback.
-Paige

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This chapter had great ideas on how to help students be more successful in reading and writing.

Text features to enhance writing help struggling writers stay on point. The Empowering Writers narrative program diamond is a visual that helps students write more interesting stories, however, it’s multi-step setup can be challenging. By using subheads, students give each step of their adventure a concrete opening that helps them focus on content.

Word walls become a more accessible tool. Students take turns writing the words, and drawing pictures to illustrate meaning. The book suggests lessonpix, which is great for lower grades.

Prior knowledge becomes more student centered. Instead of calling on students and writing their thoughts on chart paper, have students use post-its to write and/or draw what they know. I also liked the idea of peers working together to read or use audible books then use a graphic organizer to compare/contrast their subjects. These are examples of more authentic experiences that more deeply involve and motivate students.

UDIO is a powerful tool for students. It contains reading choice and multiple ways to respond to their reading. It is not a free tool, but if you go onto cast.org there are free UDL tools such as, UDL Studio (a project based learning platform), UDL Exchange (find and/or contribute UDL lessons) iSolveIt Math Puzzles (Grade 6 and up games), UDL Editions (small collection of classic texts with multi-level response materials).

Regulate progress to motivate students in their learning process. This is a tried and true method, but it suggests more student centered involvement, such as setting goals, dedicated practice time, charting progress, and individual conferences.

Executive function we know that many students struggle with project completion. One great suggestion was backward timelines. This type of thinking is so helpful in everyday life. Set the goal and go backward to see what needs to be completed to get there.

Implementation at the end of the chapter there is a chart with helpful suggestions on Representation, Engagement, Action, and Expression. They give engaging technology examples and explain how each of them can be used. They empower students with choices that play to diverse strengths like Remind for texting responses, and Pixton or Powtoon for drawing cartoons. For engagement they suggest tools like Kidspiration for summarizing, and Storyboard That for planning/organizing. The action/expression has multi-modal response tools like Padlet, Jing, Screencastify, iMovie. These choices give students more authenticity in their learning process and expression.

(Joan McLaughlin)

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I chose chapter 4 because I teach math and science in 6th grade. This chapter focused on how UDL supports STEM integration.  UDL is about giving students the voice to choose how they will access information as well as present what they have learned. Under the Tech Tips in chapter 4, it lists a variety of resources to help students actively engage in building their understanding of a topic by allowing them to choose how they will learn a specific topic. (Reading, listening, following along, virtual field trips, and teaching with simulation)

This chapter talks about using video conferencing to bring experts into your classroom. The last two years I have used Skype a Scientist. The students really enjoyed talking to a real scientist and asking questions that were not covered in our body system unit.

Growing up I didn’t really enjoy science. It was a lot of reading and answering questions. I totally agree with this statement found within this chapter, “Even students who feel they “hate science” can be engaged when they are the ones asking the questions.” Inquiry-based instruction and UDL provide a platform for not only the teacher to teach but for the students to actively participate in their learning.  Great read, to many strategies to include.
-SC

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I am by no means a math person so I chose this chapter. Even thinking of teaching math gives me anxiety. So, I really liked the idea of getting students to work together collaboratively and moving, as well as removing the emotional barriers.
We use a lot of manipulative for math in my classroom and during virtual learning I was always struggling to find 25 of the same things or 10 of 2 different things to do modeled videos. The chapter had a "tech tip" with virtual manipulative that looks great. During live zoom sessions with my students where we were working on completing one of the required jobs of the day we used this website often as well because I could share my screen and it had manipulative also. http://toytheater.com We also used it as a first/then for work then game to create some back and forth engagement with the student as well.
Jamie Escalera

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This chapter has given me an idea I can't wait to try! It talks about allowing students to summarize in their own style. If a student is artistic they could do a sketch note or a student that is an aspiring actor could create a video acting out the summarized material. It is totally UDL because it allows for various representation but all the students would be viewing each others work so it helps with EF by allowing multiple exposure to a concept. In the chapter it discusses posting daily assignments for students to copy into their planners, which I so every afternoon on my smart board, but then it took it to the next level. Have students prioritize the assignments by possibly labeling them A (urgent) B (needs to be done, but have some time).

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I like the idea of students tweeting about what they read. I think they would find that format more engaging than just answering the typical comprehension questions. Students could also take on the roles of the characters in the stories and tweet as them. I also love the example of how changing one word in the objective opens up an endless range of possibilities of students showing what they know. The example in the chapter was changing an objective from "Students will write," to "Students will create an example,"  (Dawn Kane)

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Sarah