In order to be a successful teacher, one must plan out effective strategies in order to allow all students in the class to learn effectively. Each student deserves an equal opportunity to learn, however, there are many who have individualized needs, such as gifted children, children with special needs, etc. In order to accommodate all students, teachers should follow the Universal Design for Learning to meet specific standards. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a set of principles that “provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone” (National Center on Universal Design for Learning, 2014). The concept of UDL allows all students to successfully learn, instead of just teaching lessons that are beneficial to the “average” student. This allows teachers to incorporate lessons into their curriculum that are flexible and can be adjusted to accommodate to the needs of diverse learners in his or her class. Since UDL was originated in the 1990’s, it has come a long way to establish fairness and opportunities for all students. As a future teacher, it is significant to look into the benefits of UDL, how to incorporate it into the classroom, why it is beneficial in the classroom, and the role of technology in UDL. I plan to implement UDL into my daily lessons in my future classroom. One way to do this is to provide multiple means of representation for options for perception. This could be done by offering alternatives for the way teachers present both auditory and visual information to the class. Another way to incorporate UDL into the classroom is to provide options for language, mathematical expressions and symbols through clarification, supporting decoding of text and mathematical notation, promoting understanding across languages and illustrating through media. A third way to implement UDL is to provide options for comprehension. Teachers could do this by providing background knowledge to their students, pointing out big ideas in a lesson, and guiding information processing and visualization. ....(Click below to read full essay)
References
Apple Inc. (2017). Different ways to learn for every kind of learner. Retrieved from https://www.apple.com/education/special- education/ios/. National Center On Universal Design for Learning. 2014. About UDL. Wakefield, MA. Retrieved September 20, 2017, from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/whatisud. Rose, D. H., Hasselbring, T. S., Stahl, S., Zabala, J. (n.d.) Assistive technology and universal design for learning: two sides of the same coin. Handbook of Special Education Technology Research and Practice. Pp. 508, 509, 510.
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