• What is UDL and how does it support learner variability?

• How does UDL remove barriers and create equitable access in your classroom?

• If every student had voice and choice, what would teaching and learning look like—and how would your role shift?

• What is UDL and how does it support learner variability?

• How does UDL remove barriers and create equitable access in your classroom?

• If every student had voice and choice, what would teaching and learning look like—and how would your role shift?

• What is UDL and how does it support learner variability?

• How does UDL remove barriers and create equitable access in your classroom?

• If every student had voice and choice, what would teaching and learning look like—and how would your role shift?

• What is UDL and how does it support learner variability?

• How does UDL remove barriers and create equitable access in your classroom?

• If every student had voice and choice, what would teaching and learning look like—and how would your role shift?

1. Multiple Means of Representation (The What of Learning)

UDL ensures that content is presented in diverse ways to meet varied needs:

Visuals, songs, stories, and hands-on materials are used to teach the same concept.

For example, in a math lesson, students might see a number line, use physical counters, watch a video, and hear a story involving the math concept.

This helps students with different language abilities, background knowledge, or learning preferences access and understand material.

2. Multiple Means of Action and Expression (The How of Learning)

Students are given choices in how they show what they know, supporting different strengths and developmental levels:

A first grader might draw a picture, write a sentence, explain orally, or build something to demonstrate understanding.

This flexibility helps students with fine motor challenges, language delays, or emerging writing skills fully participate and succeed.

3. Multiple Means of Engagement (The Why of Learning)

UDL encourages varied ways to motivate students and keep them engaged:

Offering choice in activities or topics, like picking a book to read or selecting how to learn spelling words.

Building on interests, incorporating movement, or providing positive reinforcement supports focus and emotional needs.

Helps address attention differences, emotional regulation, or varied motivation levels.

In Practice: First Grade Example

Literacy Lesson on Story Elements

Representation: Teacher reads aloud, shows pictures, and uses puppets.

Action & Expression: Students choose to draw the setting, act it out, or write a sentence.

Engagement: Students pick their favorite book character to work with, and some work alone while others work in pairs.

Summary

UDL helps first-grade teachers proactively plan for all learners by:

Reducing barriers

Valuing individual strengths

Supporting inclusion

Encouraging growth in both academic and social-emotional areas

By embracing UDL, educators create a classroom where every child can thrive—not by chance, but by design.

UDL removes barriers and creates equitable access in the classrooms by giving students the power of choice.  The students will not have (1) way to show understanding, but a choice of numerous ways.

If every student and voice and choice teaching and learning would look like a classroom that shows the uniqueness and numerous ways that your classroom shows how they learn, promoting students interest and enthusiasm.

The role would shift from teacher centers and facilitator to student choice and voice.

By Kelly Saito

What is UDL and how does it support learner variability? 

UDL is a different way of reaching every student in the classroom regardless of cultural, learning, and economic backgrounds.  Through UDL, all students have access to highly rigorous instruction based on their engagement backgrounds.  Students are given choices to represent their own learning, which helps each individual to become purposeful, reflective, resourceful, authentic, strategic, and action-oriented learners.  For example, in reading, students can engage with the learning by choosing how they want to access the material, by reading a book, by watching a podcast, or by listening to the book being read to them. 

How Does UDL Remove Barriers and Create Equitable Access in Your Classroom?

By being proactive and planning for multiple ways to deliver instruction as well as assess students, barriers are removed, and equitable accessibility will take place in the classroom.  By making your goals and success criteria or the why we are doing this clearly communicated, all students will have equitable access to learning.  Students with learning disabilities, who need to have specific support put into place, will receive those supports, while still providing other students with various interests, identities, and emotional needs.  Sometimes, the instructional approaches will intersect with each other and that is where the barriers will be removed from the classroom and equitable accessibility to the lessons will take place. 

What Would Teaching and Learning Look Like and How Would the Teacher’s Role Shift if Every Student Had Voice and Choice? 

The learning environment would shift from a teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach where the students would be more actively engaged and involved in the entire learning process.  Students engagement would increase because students would have more accessibility and motivation to learn.  Student voice would be dominant throughout the classroom where their representations would be present with their work and projects that they completed through their choices.  Teachers on the other hand would take on more of a facilitator approach by providing choices and various means of engaging in the instruction for students.