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The new question-of-the-week is:
What are your recommendations for how best to set up and organize small groups in classroom instruction?
Many teachers find that well-organized student small-group work facilitates learning and effective classroom management.

It's the "well-organized" part that can trip many of us up, though.

This four-part series will share "tried-and-true" strategies for maximizing the effectiveness of this kind of instruction.

Today, Valentina Gonzalez, Olivia Montero Petraglia, Jenny Vo, and Jennifer Mitchell provide their suggestions.

You might also be interested in a previous series on small-group instruction, as well as Best Posts On The Basics Of Small Groups In The Classroom.

'Teach the Routine'

Valentina Gonzalez is a former classroom teacher with over 20 years in education serving also as a district facilitator for English-learners, a professional-development specialist for ELs, and as an educational consultant. She is the co-author of Reading & Writing with English Learners and works with teachers of ELs to support language and literacy instruction. Her work can be found on Seidlitz Education and on MiddleWeb. You can reach her through her website or on Twitter @ValentinaESL :
Image by Valentina Gonzalez
I didn't learn overnight how to make small-group instruction work for my students and for me. When I taught mainstream language arts (reading and writing in elementary school), we planned together as a team. Planning went very quickly because the more experienced teachers would bring their lesson plans from previous years and tell us "newbies" what we would be teaching. We all taught the same thing and mostly the same way.

It quickly became clear that teaching in a whole-group setting wasn't meeting the needs of all my students. Some students breezed through what I taught because they already knew it. Others had no idea what just happened. And most of the time I felt like students did not understand their role in learning. We were all just going through motions.

It wasn't long before small-group instruction organically formed in my classroom. After teaching a whole-group lesson and formatively assessing, I divided the class. For example, at the end of a lesson. I asked students to write a ticket out or gave them five questions to answer on a sticky note. Based on their answers, I quickly formed three groups for our next lesson; one for Enrichment, one for Guidance, and one for Reteach.
Image by Valentina Gonzalez
Here's what I learned along the way.
1. Teach the routine.
This is make or break. If students understand what small-group time is going to look and sound like, they will be more successful with it. Before you begin implementing small groups, hold a lesson with students telling them what small groups are and why you are doing them. If possible, model for the class what a small group will look like AND what the rest of the class will be doing. By teaching the routine, you set students up for success. On the other hand, if you don't teach the routine, don't be disappointed if while you are working with your small group the remainder of the class is off task. Clarity is key!

A few things to teach students about the routine are:

the time frame for instruction

what you expect from the time

the acceptable noise level

how students can move about

when it's acceptable to interrupt the small group

how to interrupt the small group

2. Teach students what to do independently.

It's possible that one of the biggest reasons why some teachers abandon small groups is because they become frustrated when they feel they've lost control of the classroom. To avoid this, clarity in goals and expectations for the end result is a must. Be as explicit as possible with instructions before sending students off to work on their own.

Tips for teaching students what to do independently:

write out the goals on chart paper or under a document camera and keep them visible during the lesson

show examples and nonexamples of end products if applicable

give options/choice

Keep in mind that while you work with small groups, the rest of the class can be working on various learning tasks. In primary grades, some teachers implement "centers" or "rotations" while gathering small groups. These can be described as short and interesting learning activities that students move through tied to previously learned skills. Older students can be reading or writing independently, working on research, problem solving, experimenting, or more!
3. Keep groups fluid.
These are your small groups. As Penny Kittle says, "Follow the child." Don't get too firm about them. Do what students need and keep flexibility alive. Today, "Jasmin" may be in the enrichment group but next week, she may need reteaching when we move to another topic. Small groups are fluid. They move and change with the time, topic, and needs of the learners.

There are so many reasons to hold small groups. Your small groups might include:

'Practice, Practice, Practice'
Olivia Montero Petraglia began her teaching career as an upper-primary bilingual teacher in San Diego. Over the last 23 years, she has served in leadership, as an instructional coach, language-acquisition specialist, consultant, and teacher in international schools in Colombia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Laos:
To be fully present and have quality instructional time with small groups of students is golden. While we all know what the research says about the positive impact of small-group instruction, it can be challenging to set up and manage.

Something I wished I would have understood earlier in my teaching career is that setting small-group work is a process that requires an investment in time and a collaborative classroom-community effort. A carefully co-crafted approach can transform small-group work into much more than just ideal conditions for differentiated instruction. It is also a great way to build community and help students develop skills such as self management, time management, and independence. Dedicating two to three weeks at the start of the school year to learn about your students while practicing different aspects of small-group work routines will gain you lots of mileage throughout the remaining school year.
Grouping students
When I start the year, I usually plan heterogeneous groups to work through fun, low-stakes activities. This allows me to notice several learning behaviors at a time. By keeping these initial sessions short (8 -12 minutes), valuable data can be collected quickly and minimize the pressure to form "perfect" groups straight away. What you notice from each day's session will help you regroup students and identify learning objectives for upcoming sessions. As the weeks go by, you will have opportunities to triangulate a range of data to inform different groupings and learning objectives linked to the curriculum; however, you will have had the opportunity to establish dispositions and a sense of community that will help support small-group work for the duration of the school year.
Invite students into the process
Be explicit when sharing the "why" for small-group work. A simple, yet critical initial exercise is to facilitate a circle-time discussion about small-group work. As students share their ideas, record responses on chart paper so that you can refer back to their plan as needed throughout the year.

What good things can happen as a result of small-group learning opportunities?

What things might get in the way of quality group work and what can help us to have the best small-group learning opportunities?

Visual guides
Create anchor charts or digital slides to display bullet point steps for each session. If a student is not sure of what to do after you have provided instructions or a mini-lesson, instead of telling them, point to the visual. Over time, you will condition students to reference the visual instead of asking you. For younger students, you can use numbered images as reminders. This one simple step can be such a game changer.
Prepare checklists
Create a spreadsheet for yourself of weekly or daily "look fors" to make it easy to record quick notes and keep you focused on key data. This also helps keep track of how frequently you meet with students.
Practice, practice, practice:
Think Vygotsky's "i + 1." Introduce different aspects of small-group work one step at a time. For example, to start, provide the whole class with an independent activity that will keep them engaged for the duration of the time needed for you to meet with one or two small groups. As students begin to understand expectations and routines, gradually add more complexity to the dynamics of small-group work sessions.

Discuss and post a "What to do when I'm done" list ahead of time that includes low prep activities such as independent reading, journal writing, or practice for skills previously learned. No need for students to ever be off task even when they finish work.

Debrief at the end of every small-group practice session. Prompt students to offer feedback for feed forward for improvement during the next session. Celebrate successes and name what students are getting right, and you are more likely to see it again and again.

Use music as a scaffold for transitioning. Starting a two- or three-minute song can cue students to move around, gather needed materials, get to their learning spaces, check in with others, and aim to be ready by the end of a song. Resist giving instructions; let the music do the work. Keep practicing until everyone knows what to do. Kids love this, and with carefully selected music, it can also be a mood changer.

I used to think that I couldn't start small-group work until I had time to get to know my students better. Now I understand that there is no better way to get to know students than engaging with them. Small-group interactions make it possible to take careful note of students' learning behaviors, strengths, and academic gaps.

'Flexible & Differentiated Learning'
Jenny Vo earned her B.A. in English from Rice University and her M.Ed. in educational leadership from Lamar University. She has worked with English-learners during all of her 26 years in education and is currently the Houston area EL coordinator for International Leadership of Texas. Jenny proudly serves as the president of TexTESOL IV and works to advocate for all English-learners. She loves learning from her #PLN on Twitter so feel free to follow her @JennyVo15.
What is small-group instruction? Small-group instruction is when you teach the students in small groups ranging from 2-6 students. It usually follows whole-group instruction. There are many benefits of small-group instruction. It is effective because the teaching is focused on the needs of the students, with the goal of growing their academic skills.

Small-group instruction provides opportunities for flexible and differentiated learning. With the smaller number of students, students have more chances to participate. Teachers are able to monitor the students better, thus providing better and more individualized feedback and support. Small-group instruction can be used in all content classes and is beneficial for students of all levels.

How do you best set up and organize small groups? There are a variety of ways you can set up and organize small groups. How you do it depends on your objective and goal for the lesson or activity. Some ways you can group students include: by ability, strategy, expert/interest groups, cooperative tasks, and student choice The three setups I use the most are by ability, by strategy/skill, and by interest.

Grouping by ability: You can group your students by ability, such as by reading level or language-proficiency level. Having students of the same ability in the same group will allow the teacher to provide lessons and activities that are more focused and targeted to the needs of the students at that level. There is less pressure because the students know that they are on the same playing ground as the other group members. For English-learners at that same level, they will feel less intimidated to take chances to speak.

Grouping by strategy/skil l: Strategy groups are great when you want to provide instruction on a specific skill or strategy. Let's say you gave an assessment. Looking at the data from the assessment, you see that certain students need more instruction and practice with a certain skill or strategy. Instead of reteaching the whole class, you can group together students based on the skill they need to work on. You can have reading groups working on inferencing, main idea, or summary. You can have math groups working on multistep problems, graphing, or data analysis. Your science groups can be working on food chains/webs, force and motion, or adaptation. Strategy groups very much rely on data. Groups should be short term and should be very fluid.

Expert/interest groups: Grouping students by subject knowledge or interest is a great way to work with small groups for projects. These types of small groups are perfect for science and social studies classes. Because students are grouped based on areas of interests, they consist of students of varying ability levels. With these groups, it is best that there is a cooperative grouping structure where roles are assigned so that responsibilities are equally divided. In that way, one or two students are not doing all the work or taking over the project and not letting the others be involved. English-learners can benefit from being in this type of group because they can share their knowledge since they may know more about the topic than the other members. It also gives them opportunities to improve their language by hearing more advanced students speak.

What are the other students doing while I'm in small-group instruction? I hear this question a lot when there is discussion about implementing small groups. My answer is: They should be working on activities that you have planned where they can work by themselves, with a partner, or in a small group that will allow you to focus on the group you are working with. For the language arts block, they can be reading and responding to their reading independently or working on their writing. For math, you can set up different workstations with activities focusing on different skills for review. Workstations can also be used for science and social studies class. Giving students a menu of activities to choose from is also a very effective way to keep the rest of the class engaged while you do small groups.

If you have not implemented small-group instruction in your classroom, I encourage you to try it. You will come to see the benefits to the students with your own eyes. With anything new, do it in small steps. Try one way of grouping. Try it once a week and slowly add more time. It is a great instructional approach to add to your teaching toolbox!

Student Leadership
Jennifer Mitchell teaches ELs in Dublin, Ohio. Connect with her on Twitter: @readwritetech or on her blog:
The myriad benefits of partner and group work are clear (particularly for ELs), but a system of purposeful, long-term groups with student leaders can transform classroom culture. Leading groups of 3-5 classmates for a quarter, semester, or year, my "squad leaders" (a structure and term I borrowed from my years in marching band) start group discussions and keep them going, remind their squad members about materials and on-task work as necessary, and, perhaps most importantly, build our community by demonstrating genuine caring for their squad members. As role models for their classmates, these leaders challenge themselves not just to grow academically but also to step out of their comfort zones and hone their leadership skills.

I encourage them to use purposeful small talk and tap into identity-related assignments, just as I do as a teacher, to forge strong connections. They also serve as points of contact between me and their classmates, providing clarification or help to their squad members when possible, notifying me of any concerns, and even pointing out when their squad members excel.

Choosing leaders:

The success of this structure hinges on the effectiveness and buy-in of the squad leaders. It's tempting to choose students who are academically (or linguistically) strong and/or socially popular, and while these can be great characteristics in a leader, they are not as important as the student's desire to improve the classroom culture and grow personally. In fact, it's students who care deeply for others and/or have the personal drive to challenge themselves who are most likely to become effective squad leaders.

Through careful observation during the first month of school, I can usually pick out a few students in each class who will be my leaders. It's so essential to have the right students that if I can't identify at least a couple strong leaders in a given class, I do not move forward with implementation. I've tried and failed to push students who weren't ready, and the whole structure loses credibility too quickly. It's better to stick with typical groups (possibly implementing squads later) than to end up with a class that will never buy into the vision because they've seen it fail with leaders who didn't follow through. (For this reason, it's essential to put careful work into supporting and developing your leaders throughout the year!)

Implementation:

Once I select the leaders, I invite them to a special meeting to introduce the role in more detail, and each leader reflects and sets goals based on their application responses. Next, it's important to discuss the vision of the squad structure with the whole class before seating them with their new squads. I share how powerful this structure was for me and my friends in marching band in terms of personal growth, group excellence, and social-emotional support. Then we split into squads for community-building activities, and from then on, the squads are together for nearly everything. They collaborate, share and reflect on their work together, engage in discussions, and participate in deeper connection-building activities with the squad leaders serving as the glue that binds each group ever more closely. Frequent leader meetings, conferring, and mini-tasks challenge leaders to reflect and problem-solve. Within a classroom culture built around reflection and goal-setting, a focus on learning, and SEL, the squads grow into supportive communities that provide a stronger sense of purpose and belonging in our classroom.

Thanks to Valentina, Olivia, Jenny, and Jennifer for contributing their thoughts.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email (The RSS feed for this blog, and for all Ed Week articles, has been changed by the new redesign-new ones are not yet available). And if you missed any of the highlights from the first 10 years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.

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What Are the Best Strategies for Small-Group Instruction? (Opinion)

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For teachers starting out, take small steps in introducing small-group instruction. Try a single strategy, and add time as you go along.

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Effective Small Group Differentiated Instruction

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Differentiated Instruction

Tips for giving direct instruction to small groups, whether students are in the classroom or learning at home.

Michele D'Ottavio / Alamy Stock Photo

Providing instruction to small groups of students is a tried-and-true way to differentiate and support students. Even in distance learning, it's important to know where students are in their learning, and working with them in small groups is one way to see that. So how do we plan small group instruction to maximize learning? We know we need to use data-whether from observations or a quiz or other formative assessment-to inform these groupings. We also know these groupings are dynamic and should change based on timely data and feedback we gather.

While small group instruction is nothing new, it's important to examine how we engage in it and consider new ideas for implementing it. We need to ensure that we provide small group instruction that leverages students' funds of knowledge rather than using a deficit approach. We should also guide students to look to each other for help rather than relying on the teacher as the sole source of learning.

Improving Small Group Instruction

Use small group time to listen and learn: When teachers set students up for small group instruction, they don't have to jump right into teaching-they can instead use some time to learn more about their students and what they know. This can be challenging, as we often feel pressure to provide direct instruction quickly. But while gathering information isn't instruction per se, it is part of the instructional process because it helps teachers improve their teaching and students' learning.

A teacher might create an activity for students to engage in and then observe what they do, asking probing questions to learn how they're engaging in the task. This can in turn lead to better planning and instruction. It's also an opportunity to assess and clearly identify what students have already learned. In a virtual, synchronous session, a teacher could put them into a breakout room or do this in the main room.

For example, a teacher working online gave students a math task on order of operations after giving direct instruction. She then put students into breakout rooms and visited each group to observe and look for patterns and errors. And an early elementary teacher who wanted to learn how students were learning about the concept of community and collaboration gave students choice in the activity and grouped them accordingly. She then observed, and in some cases videotaped the learning to see how students were able to learn and what strengths and ideas students brought to demonstrate their learning.

Offer rather than order: Students should not simply be told that they will be receiving small group instruction; instead, the teacher should collaborate with students to leverage them as agents in their learning. Using effective self-assessment practices and reflective metacognitive strategies, students can take ownership in determining whether they need small group support.

I've seen an example of this working out well in a sixth-grade English lesson. Students had just finished looking at feedback on drafts of their argumentative paragraphs. The teacher announced that he would be offering a mini-lesson on evidence at the center table, and that any student could sign up for 15-minute lessons. Some students chose not to sign up and instead continued work on their next paragraph, while the ones who felt they could benefit from the lesson came to learn from the teacher. Sometimes students don't make the right choice, and those occasions can be teachable moments to help a student reflect.

In distance learning, a teacher can use office hours as a structure, or give a schedule of virtual sessions based on different topics during a single day. These lessons might be 30 to 45 minutes long, with breaks in between, and students can choose the one they need.

Extension of learning: In our efforts to support our struggling learners, it's easy to not pay attention to those learners who are excelling. In addition to offering small group instruction for gaps in learning, consider offering challenges to students. Students need to see small group instruction as a dynamic space of learning that works both for addressing gaps and for pushing their thinking. This can help erase issues of labeling and stigmatizing students-small group instruction is appropriate for every student.

Choice in method: Remember that students can receive small group instruction in many ways. Direct instruction from the teacher is needed at times, but providing centers and other options to learn can help create more engaging lessons.

In a high school math classroom, I saw a teacher offer not only a mini-lesson at the front of the room but also a recorded lesson on the computer. And a teacher in a pre-K classroom offered variations on the same topic that students could pick from: One station was watching a video, another was doing a hands-on activity, and another was listening to the teacher read a story.

In distance learning, the teacher might create a schedule of small group instruction sessions on a topic, using different tasks or methods in each session. One activity might be watching and discussing a video, while another might be a performance task or challenge.

Student-driven lessons: In a similar vein, teachers can offer choice by asking students to provide lessons. As a teacher, it can be funny to experience a situation where students really understand an idea when a peer explains it after they were unable to get it from the teacher. But our students have amazing skills and funds of knowledge that can be leveraged, and students do love learning from their peers. Consider drawing on students and having them offer their expertise to other students in smaller groups. Teachers can work with students to offer these mini-lessons in synchronous sessions online, or ask students to record them to share later.

Ultimately, small group instruction, like instruction in general, is reciprocal-a two-way street: "What can I help my students learn?" and "What can I learn from my students?" In our rush to help students, we may miss the opportunity to learn from them to do our jobs as teachers in an even more effective way. In addition to addressing gaps in learning, it's about looking for opportunities to empower students to take agency in their learning and celebrate their funds of knowledge.

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Strategies for Improving Small Group Instruction

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Tips for giving direct instruction to small groups, whether students are in the classroom or learning at home.

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This page provides guidance on supporting the high-ability student to develop their higher order thinking skills. It is easy to assume that students who appear to move through tasks quickly have all the skills they need. A teacher may also think these students have little more to develop.

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Flexible Classrooms: Making Space for Personalized Learning

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a way of thinking about teaching and learning that helps give all students an equal opportunity to succeed. This approach offers flexibility in the ways students access material, engage with it, and show what they know.

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework developed by CAST, an Understood founding partner. UDL guides the design of learning experiences to proactively meet the needs of all learners. When you use UDL, you assume that barriers to learning are in the design of the environment, not in the student. UDL is based on brain science and evidence-based educational practices. It also leverages the power of digital technology.

Imagine this: Your students are going to write an essay on the stages of butterfly metamorphosis.

Some students have seen butterflies grow through the different stages at a local science museum. These students are excited to share what they know. Other students don't know anything about butterflies and are nervous about writing on this topic. And some students don't like to write - they dread this activity from the moment you say "essay."

In any class, you know there's a wide range of enthusiasm, background, and skills among your students. When you plan with this range in mind, you can approach the lesson in several ways.

You could share a mini-lesson on butterfly metamorphosis and have students use a guided worksheet as they write. Or you could set up stations where students are grouped using flexible grouping around understanding of the topic, language ability, or reading level.

But take a step back. In any lesson or task, you can anticipate this range of variability among your students. There's another approach you can take to plan for this variability in all your lessons: Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Why use Universal Design for Learning?

The ultimate goal of UDL is for all learners to become "expert learners." Expert learners are purposeful and motivated, resourceful and knowledgeable, and strategic and goal-directed about learning.

UDL is a powerful approach because from the very start of your lesson, it helps you anticipate and plan for all your learners. It can help you make sure that the greatest range of students can access and engage in learning - not just certain students.

You don't need specific tools or technologies to follow UDL's principles either. Instead, your students choose from the tools and resources you already have. They might use them in different ways.

Also, UDL may change how you think about what prevents students from learning. Instead of thinking that something needs to change about the students, UDL looks at the learning environment. The learning environment can include barriers to learning, like the design of the curricular goals, assessments, methods, and materials. In this way, the learning environment itself can be "abled" or "dis-abled."

UDL gives you a framework to follow so you can reduce the barriers to learning. The main way to do this is to prepare a learning environment where students have what they need to flexibly meet learning goals.

What does UDL look like in the classroom?

Universal design can be found just about anywhere you look - both inside and outside your school. Curb cuts change sidewalks so that they're accessible to the greatest range of users, including people who use wheelchairs and those pushing strollers. Closed captions make television accessible to people who are deaf or who have hearing loss, as well as people at the gym or spouses who can't agree whether or not to keep the TV on at night. No two forms of universal design are the same.

Universal Design for Learning looks different in every classroom. But there are commonalities. To start with, there's always a focus on building expert learning for all. Other common elements of a UDL experience include:

All learners knowing the goal

Intentional, flexible options for all students to use

Student access to resources from the start of a lesson

Students building and internalizing their own learning

In a UDL environment, students rarely do the same task in the same way at the same time. The flexible options will differ across developmental ages. But the framework for having clear goals and flexible options is consistent no matter the grade level or content areas.

How can I use the three principles of UDL?

UDL describes human variability based on parts of the brain that manage the "why" (affective network), the "what" (recognition network), and the "how" (strategic network) of learning. Watch as CAST co-founder David Rose explains why UDL emphasizes variability instead of disability.

CAST developed UDL guidelines that are based on three main principles that align with these learning networks. The three UDL principles are engagement, representation, and action and expression.

The chart below includes the three UDL principles adapted from CAST. It also gives you some questions to consider and lists some examples of the principles in action. You can print a one-page version of this chart to have on hand while planning a lesson, activity, or routine for your students.

How can families support this at home?

Families may not be familiar with the concept of students being active participants in setting their learning goals. They may have questions about letting students make their own learning choices.

Explain at back-to-school night or in a class that you'll be using Universal Design for Learning. You can even share a family-friendly article about the UDL approach to teaching.

Assure families that you have high expectations for all students to become expert learners in your classroom. And explain that you'll keep working with the students and their families to build the skills and interest to make that happen.

Additional CAST resources to explore

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL): A teacher's guide

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UDL stands for Universal Design for Learning. When you teach using UDL, your lessons are designed in flexible ways to meet the needs of individual learners. Read more about UDL.

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Transform Your Grading Practices Through UDL

There are a lot of great ideas circulating about grading lately. Our Novak Education colleague, Chris Bronke , provides us with a great definition of what Standards Based Grading is all about in his article on Standards Based Learning. Other educators like Irvin Peckham and Alfie Kohn "offer compelling evidence for higher quality student work and more meaningful opportunities for instruction when grades are either eliminated or nearly unrecognizable as grades." (Morgan 2020) Tamony discusses how important it is for us to make sure that "grading methods accurately report content knowledge" (Tamony 2021). And others have discussed better ways to make grading "more effective and efficient" (Barber & Nester 2018). So, today we would like to add to this discussion and talk about how we can make grading more compatible with Universal Design for Learning.

UDL is all about providing options and choices for your students so that you can eliminate barriers and give each student an opportunity to succeed both in and outside of school. Yet, grading practices are so often punitive and not really focused on really measuring what matters. How can we change that? How can create a unique grading system that gives students voice, choice and autonomy? How can we transform our grading practices to actually help students learn?

This UDL Grading Flowchart that we created can help guide you through your UDL grading process. It starts off by creating informal diagnostic and formative assessments that really do give students the opportunity tograde themselves and gives multiple opportunities for students to practice the topic at hand, revise submitted work without penalty, reflect on what they are doing, get mastery oriented feedback and review their assessments.

UDL Grading Flowchart

Review the UDL Grading Flowchart in outline form ( Word Doc) ( PDF).

1. Do you provide diagnostic and formative assessments to your learners before grading?

If Yes

UDL grading starts way before you give out an assignment or test or even before you begin the lesson. It starts with finding out where your students are with the content or topic at hand. This usually means that you do some sort of diagnostic and formative assessment. Starting with a diagnostic or formative assessment is particularly important during (and after) this COVID crisis. The California department of education states that "deep concerns about learning loss have triggered an urgency that district and school staff have in place useful diagnostic assessments that can identify where students are in their learning within key content areas when they return to school so teachers can teach them most effectively". The Teaching and Learning in Higher Education website adds: "The goal is to get a snapshot of where students currently stand - intellectually, emotionally or ideologically - allowing the instructor to make sound instructional choices as to how to teach the new course content and what teaching approach to use."

Now, let's face it, you can't wait until you have the results of these assessments to totally plan out the lesson and the rest of the assessments but as an experienced teacher you can use the results of the diagnostic to customize the plan that you have already created. A UDL lesson already has options and choices embedded, because you have already proactively planned for variability but the diagnostic can give you very important insight into adjustments you will need to make or choices or assessments you might need to add or remove. It will also provide the students with an important progress monitoring tool and help them self-differentiate based on what they already know or can do.

If No

A summative assessment is just part of the full story. Track your learners journey through ungraded diagnostic and formative assessments before considering providing a graded assessment.

2. Are your assessments aligned to stated standards and objectives and designed with multiple means for action and expression?

If Yes

Your assessments need to be based upon the standards and objectives that you stated at the beginning of the lesson and it also needs to provide options for the students to choose so that they can best show you what they have learned. These options and choices will also help reduce or eliminate "test anxiety".

Dr. David Rose, one of the original creators of the UDL framework, states that "when we consider learner variation in affective, recognition, and strategic networks, we realize that in order for assessments to focus accurately on what is being assessed, they need to be adjustable to meet learner variability. To get the most accurate data about what students understand and can do, assessments should not offer only one means of response but should provide multiple opportunities in varied media for learners to demonstrate skills and express themselves."

Additionally, "such flexibility in assessment also has a role in encouraging students to seek knowledge beyond the requirements of the assignment they are being asked to do, especially as they have chosen what interests them. Furthermore, the integration of UDL into assessment is not only beneficial to students, but also to faculty, as these practices would enable them to look more deeply at the course's goals and objectives, to determine what students should show during the learning process, and to notice the students' enthusiasm and creativity in their courses"(Alsalamah, 2020).

If No

Identify potential barriers within "one-size-fits-all" design and redesign using UDL best practices.

3. Do you provide students with multiple attempts to resubmit work/revise formative and summative assessments?

If Yes

It is often stated that "we learn from our mistakes" but we can only learn from our mistakes when we are given opportunities to correct them! It's suspect that anyone deeply learns from their mistakes when assessments provide nothing more than checks, "'x's" and non-specific comments. Students need to go back into the assessment and correct what needs improvement. Some educators feel that this process is unfair to the students who get the answer right the first time and that if a student needs more time to learn a concept or a skill, that the grade should reflect that. We respectfully disagree! Grades should reflect current learning and not past mistakes.

If No

Revisit your grading procedures to encourage a growth mindset and ensure that student learning reflects their current learning, not previous attempts (i.e, averaging original scores and retakes)

4. Do you have a UDL inspired rubric that clearly outlines how a student will be graded?

If Yes

Students need to know how a particular assessment will be graded and they need to have a tool to help them self assess their work and monitor their progress toward reaching a goal. "Students can use the rubrics to self assess. The students can answer the essential questions with their own big ideas. This empowers the students." (OCALI, n.d.) The type of rubric you use is less important than the fit that the rubric has to the assessment. "UDL does not have an ideal rubric type, that is to say, the ideal rubric for UDL is the one that can accurately support the measurement of student knowledge for the course learning outcome(s) without constricting the options of how a learner can show what they know. A rubric designed with UDL in mind takes into consideration:

That the assessment, and therefore the rubric design, will be based on the learning outcome(s) being measured, not the assessment method chosen.

That the rubric will be provided to students with the assessment outline to ensure they know how they will be graded for a specific assignment, and what knowledge is being measured. "(Mohawk College, n.d.)

Learn more about the different types of rubrics here .

If No

Build a rubric that can be universally applied to all options regardless of mode of delivery so that learners truly understand how they will be measured.

5. Are grades/points explicitly aligned to standards and outcomes?

If Yes

You can't assess and grade the student's work if you haven't evaluated the standards and goals first and you can't assign a grade if you are not clear about what fulfills the standards or goals when the students show what they know. The University of Illinois (n.d.) Center for Teaching Innovation has a full website of "Assigning Course Grades" that covers multiple ways of assigning grades. The method that most integrates with UDL is the discussion of Grading with "Established Standards". I have added some UDL connections to each of their advantages in italics:

Course goals and standards must necessarily be defined clearly and communicated to the students. (a UDL foundation)

Most students, if they work hard enough and receive adequate instruction, can obtain high grades. The focus is on achieving course goals, not on competing for a grade. (UDL high expectations)

Final course grades reflect achievement of course goals. The grade indicates "what" a student knows rather than how well he or she has performed relative to the reference group. (UDL Expert Learning)

Students do not jeopardize their own grade if they help another student with course work. (UDL collaboration)

If No

Consider revising your rubric or scoring so that the grade truly measures whether or not the student has met the standard/outcome.

6. Do you assign the grading points for each component on the rubric to accurately reflect the value of the knowledge or skill attached to that component?

If Yes

It seems that assigning a point value to an item on an assessment or rubric is a black magic skill that no one talks about. Yeah, we might assign one question 10 points and another 5 or another 25 but the reasons why we do this are not documented. When I was teaching, I certainly did this with some unspoken rule too. True and False questions, fill in the blanks, matching or multiple choice were given a 1, 2, 5 or 10 point value and short answers got a higher value. Essays got an even higher value. It was as if the length of the answer was the most important consideration in the assignment of value. Nothing could be less true. But, if we don't embrace and fully understand our standards and objectives, every question may be equal and many times irrelevant to the assessment of learning in a given student. We need to be able to determine if the student's answer is correct, incorrect, or partially correct by judging the answer against the standard(s) being measured. When an answer is obviously wrong it is easy to subtract all of the points for that question, but what if the answer is partially correct? So, it is very important that you align the questions on your assessments to the standards and goals of your lessons and consciously and deliberately recognize the value of the component parts of the standards and goals and assign the point value to match the importance of each component.

💡This would be a great topic for your next department meeting or faculty professional development day!

If No

Make sure that you have accurately valued each component in the assessment to match the importance of the information. Some things should be worth more than others!

7. Do you allow students to "self report" their grades or reflect on their learning?

If Yes

"Self Reporting" is more commonly used on formative assessments but reflection can be used on any type of assessment. In UDL Theory and Practice, Meyer, Rose, and Gordon state, "Most importantly, explicit formative assessment can provide a basis for individual learners to become more self-aware-more metacognitive -- about their learning. By modeling continuous prompts for reflection, teachers can begin to support students in monitoring their own progress. Effective scaffolding and mentorship helps students learn to assess their individual effort and persistence over time and ultimately gain a sense of autonomy over their own learning. The data collected from formative assessment can also be valuable to other teachers and parents as they work with that same learner. Intentional, ongoing assessments benefit not only individuals but also whole school communities."

Dr. John Hattie confirms this in Visible Learning MetaX (Corwin Visible Learning Plus, n.d.). His research shows that self reported grades have a very positive impact on student outcomes. His meta-analysis of 250 studies on over 79K students shows an effect size of 1.33 and a high confidence rating (anything over .4 is a considerable effect and this is in the top 10!). Allowing students to self report is also a great opportunity for a "teaching moment" where you can review what the student self reports and discuss with them the reality of their knowledge or skill; this turns into a great opportunity to provide mastery oriented feedback.

If No

Consider adding the opportunity for each student to reflect on their performance and grade themselves while also reflecting on how the choices they made throughout the unit impacted their learning. (You will always have the right and responsibility to disagree!)

8. Have you removed penalties for non-essential (construct irrelevant) errors?

If Yes

It is critically important that grades reflect a student's learning. I understand that seeing a misspelling or a grammatical error is hard to ignore but can we just point it out without penalizing the student? UDL Theory and Practice explains this perfectly, "Whether formative or summative, assessments need to be on-target to measure the construct-the affect, concept knowledge, or skill-they are intended to measure. It is common for factors that are irrelevant to the goal of an assessment to interfere with its accuracy. For example, requiring a response to be hand-written may conflate handwriting or spelling difficulty with lack of knowledge about a subject. Similarly, requiring students to take a test in a fixed amount of time may conflate stress-management skills with level of understanding."

If No

Removing the penalty does not mean you can't identify an error, it just means that the student won't be penalized for an error not aligned to the standard or goal like a spelling error in a math test.

9. Do you give mastery oriented feedback on the returned assessment or have either an individual or group discussion about how the assessment has been graded.

If Yes

Every assessment is an opportunity to continue the learning process of the lesson. Mastery oriented feedback is essential to support ongoing learning. An assessment may happen at the end of a lesson but it is not the end of the learning on the topic. Feedback should "guide learners toward mastery rather than a fixed notion of performance or compliance; towards successful long-term habits and learning practices". ( Nguyen, 2021) Furthermore, feedback under the UDL Guidelines must make sure to:

encourage perseverance, efficacy and self-awareness

emphasize effort and improvement, rather than relative performance

be frequent, timely, and specific

be substantive and informative rather than comparative or competitive‍

model how to incorporate evaluation, including identifying patterns of errors and wrong answers, into positive strategies for future success ( 2021)

If No

Consider adding time to give this mastery oriented feedback so that students will not only know why they got something right or wrong but where they can go to get more information or increase their knowledge.

10. Do you return the assessments to the students quickly and allow for discussion and resubmission?

If Yes

This may be the simplest step in the process but one that is sometimes ignored due to time constraints or department policies. The students need to see the results of the assessment, not just the final grade. They need to be able to discuss what they got right and what they missed and they need a chance to rework and resubmit whenever possible. I know that time is precious and that there is never enough of it but learning should be more than a race to cover as much material as possible so that we can help build independent, resourceful and knowledgeable students who become expert learners.

If No

Students need to be able to learn from the assessment too! Just a grade is not enough.

We hope that you find the UDL Grading Flowchart helpful and continue to reference it (or share it!) We're big fans of printing out this flowchart and posting it on the wall near your desk to remind you of the importance of not only making your lessons UDL compliant but your grading too. Download the UDL Grading Flowchart.

Implement more equitable grading practices in your learning environment.

Sources

Alsalamah, A. (2020). Assessing Students in Higher Education in Light of UDL Principles. American Research Journal of Humanities & Social Science (ARJHSS)R, 3(1), 24-27.

Barber, S., & Nester, A. (2018, March 22). 7 Strategies to make grading easier. George Lucas Educational Foundation. https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-strategies-make-grading-easier

CAST, Inc. (n.d.). CAST | UDL tips for assessment. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.cast.org/binaries/content/assets/common/publications/downloads/cast-udltipsforassessment-20200920-a11y.pdf

Corwin Visible Learning Plus. (n.d.). Visible Learning - Self-reported grades Details. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.visiblelearningmetax.com/influences/view/self-reported_grades

The IRIS Center Peabody College Vanderbilt University. (n.d.). Page 7: Assessment. Page 7: Assessment. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/udl/cresource/q2/p07/

Meyer, A., Gordon, D., & Rose, D. H. (2015). Universal design for learning: Theory and practice. CAST Professional Publishing.

Mohawk College. (n.d.). Rubrics and UDL. Mohawk College. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.mohawkcollege.ca/employees/centre-for-teaching-learning/universal-design-for-learning/universal-design-for-0/rubrics

Nguyen, N. (2021, December 3). Feedback and universal design for learning. https://feedbackfruits.com/blog/feedback-and-universal-design-for-learning

OCALI. (n.d.). UDL and Rubrics webinar: Rubrics in UDL to Support Learners. OCALI. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.ocali.org/project/udl-rubrics?t=0h12m58s&autoplay=true

Morgan, A.P. (2020, September 2). Is It Time to Reexamine Grading? JSTOR Daily . https://daily.jstor.org/is-it-time-to-reexamine-grading/

Peckham, I. (1993). Beyond Grades. Composition Studies, 21(2), 16-31. https://doi.org/10.2307/43501895

Submission Options. (n.d.). Mohawk College. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://www.mohawkcollege.ca/employees/centre-for-teaching-learning/universal-design-for-learning/universal-design-for-0-2

Tamony, A. (2021, October 6). The case against zeros in grading. George Lucas Educational Foundation. https://www.edutopia.org/article/case-against-zeros-grading

University of Illinois. (n.d.). Assigning course grades. Retrieved April 26, 2022, from https://citl.illinois.edu/citl-101/measurement-evaluation/exam-scoring/assigning-course-grades

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How to Universally Design Grading (+ UDL Grading Flowchart)

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There are a lot of great ideas circulating about grading lately. Our Novak Education colleague, Chris Bronke , provides us with a great definition of what Standards Based Grading is all about in his article on Standards Based Learning.

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Creating an inspiring space for young children has never been easier! Use the FREE myKaplan Classroom FloorPlanner to design the classroom perfect for your needs. Design, plan, visualize, and share your classroom with the myKaplan Classroom FloorPlanner. Use our FREE online classroom design tool to arrange your learning space and see how your favorite Kaplan products fit into the classroom.

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Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

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Google Workspace: Secure Online Productivity & Collaboration Tools

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Nearpod: Foster a love of learning in every student

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Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design tool. Use it to create social media posts, presentations, posters, videos, logos and more.

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Universal Design for Learning Mini-Lesson

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Universal Design for Learning Mini-Lesson

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Mini-Lesson.pdf

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Create a hashtag for this session using something you learned.

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It offers flexible seating, lots of student choice to learn the content, collaboration among peers, and an all around inclusive classroom.

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Customizable choice boards that can be created on Canva!

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Seating Arrangements

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It was good that you got to get up and walk around the room to get the vocab words.

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The data I chose was based on Teks I can see I won’t have to focus on re-teaching as well as ones where I will need to do some refocusing and some groupings of high, medium, and low.

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I love groups and rearrange them each 6 weeks based on class data and the Lagan method of high, medium high, medium low and low.

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The examples are truly what I needed here to help assist teachers with choice.

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The initial article led me to this article and I plan to learn more about rubrics.

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I see it, I like, I want it, I got it.

Ariana Grande breaks down a simple truth in her song "7 rings" - when you have your eyes on the prize you can achieve it. We need to heed her advice in the class because, sometimes, when it comes to sharing expectations and goals with students, the criteria may not always be crystal clear. This may cause trouble not only for the student, but also could create more work for you.

Which is why I love rubrics - really clear, well done rubrics!

A rubric is a scoring tool that identifies the various criteria relevant to a learning outcome, and then explicitly states the possible levels of achievement along a continuum.

There are many forms of rubrics out there - but my favorite are ones that are universally designed so students can see it, want it, and get it. When it comes to rubrics, you have three options: holistic, analytic, and single-point.

The Holistic Rubric

The holistic rubric usually gives a range of performance like "Superior to Developing", "A to F" or "4.0 - 1.0". As the name implies, you are evaluating the "whole" assignment and judging how well it meets the objectives. This can be used regardless of how students express their understanding so it lends itself well to Universal Design. For support in determining the most relevant learning targets, you may want to explore the FAR Cycle.

Grade/Point

Characteristics

3

Product models an understanding of UDL, cites evidence from unit resources, answers the essential question, and is clearly organized.

2

Product models an understanding of UDL but does not yet make connections to how unit resources impacted understanding and/or the product lacks organization.

1

Product models an emerging understanding of UDL but does not yet make connections to how unit resources impacted understanding and/or the product lacks organization.

The Analytic Rubric

The analytic rubric is more specific than the holistic rubric. It usually provides a score for 1 to 5 or gives points on some sort of scale and evaluates the assignment on a set of criteria.

3

2

1

UDL Understanding

Product models an understanding of UDL.

Product models an emerging understanding of UDL.

Product does not yet reflect an emerging understanding of UDL.

Cites Evidence

Response clearly cites evidence from unit resources to support the answer to essential questions.

Response alludes to unit resources but does not cite resources nor credit specific resources.

Response does not yet make connections to how unit resources impacted.

Effective Organization

Response is organized in a logical sequence which flows naturally and is engaging.

Response is organized so the audience can follow with minimal difficulty.

Organization would benefit from a revision.

Research on the effectiveness of rubrics has found that analytic rubrics are not always the best course of action for both teachers and students. According to Denise Krane in her Guest Post: What Students See in Rubrics, teachers often spend too much time completing the rubric and the rubric is too robust (long) for students to find value. With this in mind, the single point rubric was born.

The Single Point Rubric

The Single Point Rubric (SPRs) is essentially an evolved version of an analytic rubric. It features one performance metric, typically the "proficient" metric, and offers room for personalized feedback.

Single Point Rubrics are a relatively new form and came out of the research of Black and Williams as discussed in a paper presented by Jarene Fluckiger. Mary Dietz introduced Jennifer Gonzalez to the concept in 2000.

You may know that I wrote a book with George Couros called Innovate Inside the Box: Empowering Learners Through UDL and the Innovator's Mindset . Serendipitously, the paper that Black and Williams wrote was entitled Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment so I feel an immediate kinship with their ideas and I would like to share my thoughts with you on using single point rubrics from inside the UDL box.

So how can a single point rubric be used with UDL? As I mentioned, SPRs only describe one level of performance...proficient

Almost There

You Got This!

Nailed It!

Product models an understanding of UDL.

Response clearly cites evidence from unit resources to support the answer to essential questions.

Response is organized in a logical sequence which flows naturally and is engaging.

UDL is all about providing options and choices for students so that they can become expert learners. Students cannot become expert learners without multiple options for engagement, representation and action and expression. Also, students cannot become expert learners if they concentrate too much on the final grade and not enough on the process of learning. A major part of all of this is teacher feedback. Teacher feedback is a constant process and rubrics are great tools for providing some of that feedback.

SPRs were originally created as a formative assessment tool for students to self assess and can and should still be used for that purpose. As a self assessment tool an SPR can make the process of self assessment easier and faster by limiting the amount of criteria that need to be reviewed. There has been a recent surge in the last five years on the topic of SPRs as they:

Here is an example of a UDL style holistic SPR that we use in our professional development courses on UDL. This is a rubric for the final project of the course:

Almost There

You Got This!

Nailed It!

Product models an understanding of UDL, cites evidence from unit resources, answers the essential question, and is clearly organized.

Once a learner submits a reflection, the instructor uses the rubric to evaluate the work as with any other rubric but instead of checking off multiple boxes to assess the quality of the work, the instructor concentrates on providing constructive feedback on the positive elements of the work as well as areas for revision and improvement. If the learner does not meet the standard then the work is returned to the student for revision with suggestions for improvement. This is where the "mastery oriented feedback" plays a big role. There are no penalties... just a second (or third) chance to meet all of the standards.

If you haven't already, give a single point rubric a try. All you have to do is take the "proficient" column from one of your holistic rubrics and place it into its own table with lots of room for you to share feedback and resources.

I think that you will be pleasantly surprised by the work that your students do as a result, and you may get back some essential time too! And time - that's something where I know you're going to say: I see it, I like, I want it, I got it.
Download our quick access guide to Universally Designing Rubrics
Resources:

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Holistic, Single-point, and Analytic Rubrics, Oh My!

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Breaking down the pros and cons of holistic rubrics, analytic rubrics, and single point rubrics. Find the right universally designed rubric for you.

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Things that works well or things that could change...

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Things that works well or things that could change...

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#choices

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UDL is great. I feel that it was a better time taking in the info about it face to face over virtual.

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#DataFirst

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https://tenor.com/byBOp.gif

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Stretching Spongebob Squarepants GIF - Stretching Spongebob Squarepants Kamp Koral - Discover & Share GIFs

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The perfect Stretching Spongebob Squarepants Kamp Koral Animated GIF for your conversation. Discover and Share the best GIFs on Tenor.

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I used to think equity was the way to go, now I KNOW inclusion is best.

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It was hard to do only 3 slides with the free options they had listed.

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I used to think that data organization was overwhelming, but now I know that using technology (google forms/sheets) is a tool that can help streamline.

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Digital Center Rotation Slides with Timers for Reading Writing Math allow you to organize your groups within minutes by typing in your student names and select which activities they'll be doing with the moveable text icons. Once you get your rotation board set up, you can change it with a few clicks whenever you like--it's SO EASY! These are perfect for projecting your boards on a screen, but without the tedious printing, laminating, cutting, bulletin board prep work. You can also add your own images or student photos, making it easy for students to see where they need to be at a glance.

Digital Center Rotation Slides with Timers Reading Writing Math includes:

Slide to sort your students into groups (use the provided group titles or add student photos--add as many groups as you need!)

Center icon cards (see full list below--including blank icons so you can edit the text)

Digital rotation boards with editable tables (add rows/columns to create as many rotations or groups as you need, and you can edit the headings)

Slides to display a single rotation at a time (titled "Round 1"-"Round 6" and "Clean Up!" with an area to edit your own more specific directions and a timer)

Center accountability slides (use digitally with Seesaw or print--students check off as they complete a center)

Printable pages to create a center rotations bulletin board or display signs near the center area

Add a timer of your choice (30 seconds, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 minutes) to the Powerpoint version (timers will also work in Keynote). In Powerpoint, you can set your timer to include a sound that goes off and set a custom time to advance the slide automatically. Directions for how to add a timer to the Google version are also included. Google does not currently have an audio option for slide transitions or custom time to advance your slide (you have to click it to move to the next slide).

Math center icons: Fact Fluency, Flash Cards, Money, Telling Time, Pattern Blocks, Dominoes, Number Lines, Measurement, Dice, Number Sense, Fractions, Independent Practice, Graphs, Addition and Subtraction, Place Value, Math by Myself, Multiplication and Division, Calculator Practice, Geometry, Teacher Table, Math Tubs, Math Journals, Math Paperless Pocket Chart, Math Games, Math Buddies, Task Cards, Counting Bears, Counting Links, Two-Tone Counters, Snap Cubes

Literacy center icons: Word Work, Seat Work, Read to Self, Writing, Library, Buddy Reading, Teacher Table, Skill Work, Sight Words, Handwriting, Phonics, Alphabet, Work on Writing, Spelling, Read the Room, Pocket Chart, Poetry, Big Books, Listen to Reading, Guided Reading, Write About Reading, Read to Someone, Reading Fluency, Write the Room, Literature Circles

Miscellaneous center icons: Kitchen, Dry Erase, Crafts, Science, Puppets, Dramatic Play, Art, Dress Up, Cars, Stamps, Easel, Computer, Discovery, Listening, Blocks, Typing, STEAM, Sensory Table, Tablet, Math, Puzzles, Music, Playdoh, Coloring, Pinning, Fine Motor, Construction, Free Choice, Busy Boxes, Social Studies, Technology, Magnets, Light Table, Interactive Whiteboard, Overhead Projector, Games
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⭐ Phonics Math Writing Pocket Chart BUNDLE

⭐ Visual Direction Cards

⭐ Monthly Calendar

⭐ Word Banks

⭐ Teacher Planner

⭐ Visual Schedule

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Digital Center Rotation Slides with Timers Reading Writing Math

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Digital Center Rotation Slides with Timers for Reading Writing Math allow you to organize your groups within minutes by typing in your student names and select which activities they'll be doing with the moveable text icons. Once you get your rotation board set up, you can change it with a few clicks...

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Give students choice to show what they know.

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I used to think this was more related to differentiated instruction but I now know they are different and we received some examples of how to help teachers.

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I used to think UDL was pretty much the same as IB and PBL. Now I know it's about the intentional choices provided to students

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I used to think UDL was pretty much the same as IB and PBL. Now I know it's about the intentional choices provided to students

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All of these apps can be used in instruction. Could use most to give extra information for the students or find other resources to give the students that would provide the content in a different way than you would. Many can be used by the students to show how they know the content.

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Love the choice board  and option to form flexible groups! Definitely need a cohort!!!

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Love the choice board  and option to form flexible groups! Definitely need a cohort!!!

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I have some more ideas on how to incorporate small group instruction into my future math classroom.

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I feel like hearing from students that they realize "typical" classroom instruction moves too fast for them is very eye opening. I also firmly believe that students who struggle are so intimidated to participate in whole class activities and conversations.

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I always like it when they talk about how it boosts their confidence.

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I always like it when they talk about how it boosts their confidence.

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When students feel less anxiety there is more engagement.

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I like how teachers can build relationships using small group and really understanding student misconceptions. 

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I like how teachers can build relationships using small group and really understanding student misconceptions. 

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The students felt comfortable with small groups versus whole group.

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I love the idea of flexible seating and use it in my classroom but honestly never thought about calling it that. I am constantly moving furniture around to meet the needs of my lesson and learners. I just wish I had table that could roll around so easily. I think students respond well to this also because my classroom is always changing but my expectations stay the same and I think that is key with flexible seating. If you establish the goals and expectations from day 1, students know how to appropriately function in that sort of environment.

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1. Ensure that teacher can move around the room. This will help with teacher/student mobility, monitoring, and making connections! 

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1. Ensure that teacher can move around the room. This will help with teacher/student mobility, monitoring, and making connections! 

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2. Promotes a smooth traffic flow.
3. Desk/tables can be moved in various ways!

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I am more familiar with the UDL process than I thought, so that makes me feel more comfortable. While reflecting during the video I felt like I have done or do these things already. Basically making sure that my lessons for each stations are planned intentionally and with purpose for each student to learn. 

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I am more familiar with the UDL process than I thought, so that makes me feel more comfortable. While reflecting during the video I felt like I have done or do these things already. Basically making sure that my lessons for each stations are planned intentionally and with purpose for each student to learn. 

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ESMIRNA HERNANDEZ: WRITING THE ROOM RESOURCES. 

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ESMIRNA HERNANDEZ: WRITING THE ROOM RESOURCES. 

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I love how the video really addressed getting to know your student's strengths and weaknesses. I agree that too often teachers focus on the weaknesses instead of focusing on strengths and playing off that. It was a good reminder to use what works for a student and build off of that. I think the key to UDL in the inclusion classroom has to be collaboration between gen ed and sped. I think my district really struggles with this concept. Some gen ed teachers want all students to fit in this idea of a student they have and participate in class just like the gen ed students and that is not always going to work, and that is ok! Teachers at my district seem to "stress out" the moment a sped kid doesn't fit their idea of what student should do or look like in the classroom. I like giving the choice assignments. I think this is major for all students because it gives them ownership over assignments. They feel they are more in control of the work being assigned. Lots of good info with UDL and really looking forward to using this model more in my classroom this year.

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This is neat!

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6.7B and D
Group 1: (reteach/enrichment)
Allison, Caleb, Kaylee, Layla Natalie

Group 2: (reteach)
Johna, Ruth, Maynard, Isabella

Group 3: (reteach)
Sophia, Elkin, Ophilia, Braden, Zoey

Since both off these character/plot development I thought they could be paired together. I also paired based on weaknesses but adding some that had strengths into the groups as well. I did want to make sure and provide enrichment for those showing mastery so that they could be challenged with a deeper level of knowledge and instruction. I feel these groups would provide opportunities to be student led as opposed to the teacher having to be the driving force in each group.

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I wasn't able to share my room configuration and it wasn't quite accurate since I do not teach in the lower level. I do plan out my room each year using my furniture and needs for my learners and I change this frequently throughout the year as needed.

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I used to think I was giving choices and differentiating enough, but now I know I can be doing more and have it be more productive!

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Great training and lots of good information! Thank you!

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#intentionality

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Amazing session! Lots of information and very resourceful.

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I used to think that flexible classrooms are impossible but now I know I have guidelines to try it.

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I used to think that flexible classrooms are impossible but now I know I have guidelines to try it.

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Great information! Love the mini sessions with you plus having the options of the choice board. 

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Great information! Love the mini sessions with you plus having the options of the choice board. 

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Small group can be a great work on targeted TEKS where students found difficulty while others work on projects.

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MATERRE Small Group Take-Away Anchor Chart

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MATERRE Small Group Take-Away Anchor Chart

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So I love the idea of flexible seating. I never a thought about the different ideas and  how beneficial it can be for me and the students

The idea of large circles and opportunities for collab and independent groups ere my favorite i definitely want to try that.