Tag: UDL

Expression & Application

acelmer

How do teachers universally design assessments that empower students to express knowledge and skills in authentic, meaningful ways that drive future teaching and learning?

Imagine your classroom (or your school) filled with students who are genuinely excited to come to school each day, who look forward to learning new skills and concepts, who accept challenges, and who persevere through an ongoing process of refining their personalized projects that demonstrate their new learning. What if we could create learning environments where students never used the words ‘bored’ or ‘tired’, and you never experienced ‘disruptive’ or ‘defiant’ students.

I’ve got some great news for you!  You can make this happen. You have everything you need to create this type of exhilarating learning community, where all learners feel successful and show growth over time.

I believe that the majority of children are eager to learn when things are of high interest to them personally, and when they feel like they will be successful. As facilitators of learning, our job is to find ways to present concepts in ways that are intriguing to the learners. We can reduce anxiety and increase confidence in risk-taking by providing clear exemplars of students’ work – so students know what the ultimate goal is and the different ways of getting there. When we can see where we’re headed, we are much more motivated to stay focused on achieving the goal.

When students know what is expected of them, are provided with choices, and believe their teacher is their #1 champion, the wonderful world of learning opens up for them. We can lean into students’ natural sense of curiosity to allow them to explore the world around them in ways that are meaningful to them. One of the many reasons I choose to work in education is to create the learning experience for kids that I didn’t have when I was growing up in the ’90’s. I knew there was a way to make learning more engaging and sticky than the drill-and-kill, pop-quiz, scantron testing, type of ‘learning’ that I was exposed to in school.

There is immense potential that universally designed assessment tools can have on improving instructional design and learning. The key to well-designed assessment tools is keeping focus on what the essential skills are that you are expecting students to be demonstrating. For example, being clear on a writing skill – spelling, grammar, handwriting, content, structure, etc. will dictate what items you list on your menu of options for demonstrating each skill. When students have the opportunity to choose how they apply their skills and knowledge in ways that are relevant to their real lives, they will be more engaged, motivated, and invested in their learning. By allowing students to utilize their strengths (ie creating videos, podcasts, graphic organizers, speaking/listening, performances, teaching, etc.) to create a product or presentation that shows what they know, they will be more inclined to take risks and show some areas of vulnerability (new learning).

Universally designing assessments means that we are removing barriers for students by providing a variety of ways for students to ‘show what they know’. There is pride in their work and excitement to take on achievable challenges that help create lasting, memorable, sticky learning. Learning solidifies when we can put skills into practice, explain our thinking, and teach others what we’ve learned.

When I was in my second year of teaching (back in 2012), I invited the 5th grade class to join my Kindergartners to participate in a collaborative Wiki project. I provided the context and scenario; all of the students were told they were ‘designers, engineers, and architects’ bidding to win a PTO project to upgrade our current school playground. Their mission was to research and brainstorm ways to improve our recess area, then design and build a prototype of what they would present to the PTO. I designed a website that led small groups and partners to explore a variety of materials at their own pace. We worked on these projects for about two months, and I was blown away to see the sustained focus and enthusiasm for these projects from all the kids. Groups chose how they wanted to present their projects to our PTO – some created videos, some wrote proposals, and some chose to present in person. Students applied a variety of skills throughout this project, connected with other students, and contributed to something that would benefit the greater community – now that’s some sticky learning!

Expression_AC_4_3_24 by Alison Celmer

Accessibility

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Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging,[2] is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other human-made structures. Scaffolds are widely used on site to get access to heights and areas that would be otherwise hard to get to. (Wikipedia, 2024.)

As an Educational Designer, and a facilitator of learning, my goal is to provide opportunities for all learners to be successful in reaching their individual potential. To help set every learner up for a successful learning experience, I assume nothing and teach everything. I provide background knowledge, context, and explicitly define terminology, and vocabulary before launching learners into the materials to extend their learning.

There’s an art to delivering complex and abstract concepts into simple and concrete experiences. Thoughtfully designed instructional delivery models ensure all learners have access to understand and engage with essential information. When we examine the Common Core State Standards, teaching methods, materials, and assessments are not outlined. This provides us with an opportunity to create multiple pathways to meet the same destination by providing students with options. It is important to take our time to work through our instructional materials with a sensory and experiential lens by putting ourselves in the learner’s seat.

As facilitators of learning, our job is to create a buffet filled with a variety of resources, strategies, and tools. The learners build their own customized plates full of relevant and accessible resources, strategies, and tools for personal skill-building. This ensures that the ownership and responsibility of learning is on the learner – by giving them choices in what and how they absorb and engage with information.

An educational designer must be cognizant of the ultimate objective of the lesson. What is the essential skill/concept that is the primary focus of this particular lesson? Will we be introducing, reviewing, practicing, and/or mastering that skill/concept in this lesson? It is easy to get overzealous in trying to incorporate a variety of skills/concepts in one lesson – but when we do this, our learners can lose focus on the essential skill.

We also need to know how to provide appropriate scaffolds – by providing bite-size mini-concepts to help slowly build up to the ultimate skill/concept. Asking, “What are the pre-requisite skills needed to understand, explore, and apply the essential skill?” is a vital step in designing effective learning experiences and knowing what materials to prepare and present for the learners to explore. By providing multiple checks for understanding throughout the lesson, the educational designer knows when to provide these scaffolds.

When I look at each of the resources/materials, I ask the question, “What assumptions are being made about who (and how) people can access this material?” For example, the reading material – what is the length of the article/chapter/book, is it available in other languages, is it available in an audible format, braille, etc. for videos – is closed captioning available, are other languages available, for movement activities, what modifications could be offered for less mobile learners, etc.

I also consider, “How can I ensure all learners are personally being challenged?“.  I provide multiple resources for a variety of entry points – we call this “challenge by choice”.  I also ask “Will these resources continue to challenge or stretch the learning for those who are coming into this lesson with a lot of context, background, and skills?”

Once I know what materials I will be presenting, I then consider how to organize the presentation of the materials. I try to think through how I want the learner to experience and explore the materials – what are they going to see, hear, feel, taste, smell, etc. Visually, I aim to create the presentation of materials to be appealing, digestible, and inspiring. I consider the length, density, navigation, graphics, etc. To represent materials in a universally accessible format, we need to be as clear, simple, and concise as possible.  Once we’ve intrigued the learner into wanting to dig deeper into the materials, we then turn our attention to incorporating a variety of ways learners will engage with the materials through reading, writing, drawing, recording, listening, watching, talking, moving, etc.

Let’s build skyscrapers together! Creating passionate life long learners with limitless potential.

Access_AC_3_23_24 by Alison Celmer

Elevating Teaching & Learning

acelmer

Why is it critical that we create a culture in our schools where educators are open about errors and open to change and unlearning? And why is this critical if we are to universally design instruction?

Change is inevitable – so, let’s embrace it. Embracing change means choosing to have a growth/innovative mindset – which includes; being adaptable, flexible, and resilient. When people are provided with a clear understanding of the reason or need for change, they are more apt to accept it. Be aware of the language you choose, it can really help encourage vs discourage people from leaning in and rolling up their sleeves to make change happen. I prefer to use the phrase, “reflect to refine” because it acknowledges that we’re working on fine-tuning or tweaking the systems and practices that are already in place vs. “continuous improvement” which can feel draining – as though we’re not doing enough. When people are given opportunities to be a part of the change process, they are even more inclined to engage and embrace the change. Finding the appropriate pacing for implementing change is also important – you want to go slow enough to keep everyone on board and feeling supported, yet, people need to see some positive results to keep the momentum going.

Schools are learning playgrounds for both adults and children. When learning community members co-create an environment that is a safe place for people to explore, discover, try new things, and reflect on process and progress, lifelong learning and continuous improvement will become a natural part of the community culture. School leaders play a major role in setting the stage for healthy risk-taking, which includes modeling; being transparent when trying something new, providing clarity on the purpose, accepting feedback, owning mistakes, and celebrating successes.

As social beings, we learn best by engaging in a process of collective learning. In all effective organizations, collaboration is an essential expectation. Genuine and authentic collaboration is not merely sharing/swapping resources with your colleagues. In an effective community of practice, everyone brings their perspective, ideas, wonderings, questions, etc. to the table. We work together (co-labor) to build something new, something better, than where we started. To achieve this, it requires mutual respect, the value of collective competence, unconditional commitment, and established trust of all members. During this collective learning process, we share openly what we are doing or working on, we offer one another ideas and feedback to improve, think differently, offer another perspective, and provide support for one another. Ultimately, collective inquiry supports a balanced exchange of ideas and action research. Members of this community develop a shared practice – they put concepts into action and work interdependently because, we, collectively, realize that we are responsible for the successful outcomes of all students.

Once we put our plans into action, we can then “reflect to refine” and truly elevate teaching and learning for all. The graphics below describe how we apply the Design Process (the “D” in “UDL”), to innovate and improve systems, processes, and practices.

Elevate_AC_2_29_24 by Alison Celmer

Evidence of Teaching & Learning

acelmer

In 2010, I earned my bachelor’s degree in education. Confidently, I believed that my education on ‘how to teach elementary students’ was well-rounded. Stepping into the classroom as a brand-new Kindergarten teacher made me realize the enormous responsibility I had just been given. I was completely unaware of my lack of knowledge. No amount of classes, workshops, books, podcasts, etc., could change this fact. Dufour was spot-on when he said that we ‘learn by doing’. To truly understand what effective teaching entails, I needed hands-on experience and direct interaction with real students.

I have a feeling I experienced the same moment of clarity that many brand-new teachers go through when they are first learning about the power of assessments. I truly believe that educators can only gain this understanding of what assessments are, how to design effective assessment tools, and how to not only administer these assessments but also analyze the results to better understand how students learn best and what actions teachers can take as a facilitator of learning to ensure all students are demonstrating growth over time by trying them out.

I used to believe assessments were solely paper tests given to all students at the end of a unit or year as a summative tool. Unlocking the power of formative assessments transformed my teaching significantly. Throughout the teaching and learning process, I obtained snapshots of students’ understanding, allowing me to make necessary adjustments to instruction. By directing my efforts toward specific skills that would advance students, I significantly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of my teaching. Realizing I didn’t have to stick to a rigid program and keep teaching things students already knew was liberating.

In my second year teaching Kindergarten, I discovered a true game-changer to add to my assessment arsenal – ESGI Software. This is an online progress monitoring tool (designed by a former kindergarten teacher) to help guide instruction proactively. This tool also helped students (yes, even 5-year-olds) get more engaged in the learning process. It provided immediate feedback to the students on what they could do, and what we were still working on. Not only was this motivating for students, but it was also encouraging for families because the software would populate individualized letters and flashcards to send home to families as well. This software had a healthy bank of pre-made assessments and it allowed me the opportunity to create my own assessments in the system. Like I said, total game-changer.

It was through the Professional Learning Community process that I experienced with incredibly talented colleagues that helped me understand the significance of common formative assessments and the value of authentic collaboration in enhancing teaching and learning for all. Designing our own assessments provided the flexibility to align better with what we were actually teaching students. We were also developing menus and rubrics of what success criteria could look like, which provided students with options in how they chose to ‘show what they know’.

When I think back to my very first year of teaching, I know it was a decent year of learning and growth for those little ones, and it was a tremendous amount of learning and growth for my teaching practice, which only further developed over time. It can feel disappointing to think “Oh, I wish I knew then what I know now – I could have done better for those kids that first year” – but we’ve all been there. You’re not alone. As much as we want to ‘nail it’ and think we have all the answers, or all the strategies to be fully prepared for teaching, the reality is teaching is an art as much as it is a science. It’s through honest reflection that we can truly master the art and science of the assessment process. This is how we can be better for those current and future students.

Be patient and kind to yourself as you explore all the benefits of effective assessment practices.

Evidence_AC_2_29_24 by Alison Celmer

Universal Design for (Life ) Learning (UDL)

acelmer

The first part of changing a system is having the right mindset and belief system, but then there is a lot of work to do to build a skill set and a system that embraces variability and equity.

When my team was starting to re-enter the building post-lockdown, I had purchased each individual person a white photo frame, and printed colorful posters that said, “We can do hard things.”. I hand-delivered

them to every classroom teacher, special educator, essential arts teacher, school counselor, interventionist, office member, etc. I was immensely proud of the work we had accomplished together through one of the most traumatic shared experiences we’ll ever encounter. We also proved to ourselves, and our community, that we can rise to the challenge and we’re not afraid of doing what it takes to support all of our students.

I was not prepared for the varied responses and feedback I received when I delivered these framed posters to individuals. Some were appreciative, some were moved, some were proud, and some were irritated and frustrated. When I asked for more detail about why the poster made them feel frustrated, they said “I don’t want to do hard things anymore, I’m exhausted. I don’t know how much more I have in me to keep up with the additional responsibilities and demands that have been put on educators. When I look at that poster, it makes me realize that our work is never done, and there will constantly be new challenges that we are expected to overcome.” Whew.

The mental, emotional, physical, and social shift that the pandemic has exposed is real, and three years later we’re still learning how to adjust. What that teacher expressed was her honest, raw, and real state of where she was at in that moment. And I so appreciated hearing it from her, because I know that others are feeling that way too, but she was brave enough to name it out loud for me. I needed to hear that because that is not how I think, feel, or act as an educational leader.

My teaching team has heard me passionately talk about Universal Design for Learning and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for about 7 years now, and initially, I thought the way to get people to listen and put these elements into practice was to explain how beneficial it is for ALL students – because that is our common denominator afterall, right? The students. We do this hard work for the students – we keep showing up for the students. The teachers need to see how the system supports them, in addition to the supporting the students. We need the adults to recognize how UDL and MTSS, benefit the adults, who are caring for our students. We have developed an interdependent system that relies on layered supports and services to help all students show growth toward or beyond proficiency.

As educators, we’re all lifelong learners, so I simply took off the word ‘students’ and was explicit and intentional about highlighting the benefits of UDL and MTSS for ALL (including adults). This has been a game-changer for quite a few of my faculty and staff members. We are fortunate to have an embedded Special Educator Model in my building – which means we have one special educator on every grade-level team. We started incorporating what used to be individual accommodations to universal best practices ie flexible seating options, we started shifting to more of a push-in intervention model (with some pull-out services), we began doing more guided group work and fewer whole class lessons, etc. Teaching teams are recognizing that it might take a bit more effort and energy initially, but they see that the results are worth it, when they see the increase in student engagement, participation, and application of learning. This reframing has shifted our mindset and belief system, which enabled us to establish a highly effective multi-tiered/layered support system within our school. (More on this in a future post.)

UDL is a framework for designing learning experiences, so students have options for how they learn, what materials they use, and how they demonstrate their learning. When implemented with a lens of equity in a multi-tiered system, the framework has the potential to eliminate opportunity gaps that exclude many learners, especially those who have been historically marginalized. If we want all students to have equal opportunities to learn, we have to be incredibly purposeful, proactive, and flexible (Novak, 2021).

Another (more current) experience that has helped people open up to the idea of Universal Design for Learning has been our recent influx of newcomers and multilingual students joining our school community. We welcomed 29 newcomers (mostly from Africa) within about 2 months, into a community that had 96% of the population identifying as English-speaking Caucasians. This caught some of our educators off-guard and they felt underprepared to support these students in their general education setting. We have an incredible three-person Multilingual Department (ML) that supports students within the classroom and has offered UDL suggestions to teachers such as ‘add more visuals’, ‘label materials’, ‘move posters to student eye height’, etc. We brought in outside guest speakers to offer ML trainings (which also brought up ways to incorporate UDL), but teachers only attended if they currently had a student who was working with the ML dept. It wasn’t until we provided an opportunity for a few of our teachers to visit another school in our state (not in our district) that has a well-established ML Program for newcomers, and they got to see UDL in action. That’s when the light bulbs started turning on…those teachers are now seeing how putting UDL elements in place in any classroom will benefit all students (and themselves) because they would already be prepared to welcome any student into their classroom, any time. I am confident that this experience is what will be the catalyst for our school system to start embracing variability and equity using the Universal Design for Learning Framework. Below, is a two-page coaching guide I created for an administrator or coach to share (or use to develop professional learning experiences) with an educator as they start to design inclusive learning experiences for all.

Now, if only I could get my district’s facilities and finance department to see the power of investing in some significant facility upgrades – we could really be more welcoming, accessible, and inclusive. We’ll get there, eventually. (I’m pretty persistent!)

TheExperience_AC_12_29_23 by Alison Celmer

Seizing Opportunities

acelmer

What was a constraint you have faced in education and how did you overcome it? What lessons did you learn from that process?

As an elementary principal in the largest PreK-8 public school in central Vermont, we are faced with a number of constraints and hurdles in moving our work forward in education. As a systems thinker and positive problem-solver, I try not to let most of these constraints hold us back, instead, I view them as challenges that we can (and do) overcome. I am relieved to know that I’m not alone in this work. I was so excited when I started taking courses with Katie Novak on Universal Design for Learning – this work bridged my previous career experience in Interior Design with Education (a new-found passion for me – I became an educator in 2010) – it all made SO much sense to me! I became inspired yet again, when I came across the book Innovate Inside the Box by George Couros and Katie Novak. These are two extremely bright individuals who truly “get” the realities of the common constraints we are all faced with in education in 2023 – they ‘walk the talk’.

 

 

Overall, I would say that my team shares the same concerns that probably every educator shares – we need to rethink how we are using the limited time we have to focus on the highest priorities that will leverage the most effective impacts for all students. I could easily use this space to point fingers and list all of the reasons we feel we don’t have the time we need to do the work that needs to be done (ie district consolidation, lack of alignment, commitment, and direction from the district leadership team, faculty and staff contracts, competing factors for our limited time, differing values and priorities, etc.). However, I’d much rather share with you how we have reshaped and refined elements that are within our control at the local level (MTSS, Schedules, PD, & PLC’s) to use our time as effectively and efficiently as possible…it’s not perfect, but it’s progress!

It’s been a six-year process, but throughout my tenure as the PreK-4 Principal, we have restructured our Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) to better align with our school community needs throughout our building. We now have people in coaching capacities (instructional/curriculum, Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and Digital Learning Leaders (DLL)) to ensure all of our teachers and special educators are providing all students with high-quality first instruction. Our grade-level teams (along with embedded Special Educators on each team) have established horizontal alignment on the scope, sequence, and pacing of a cohesive curriculum – which has helped provide equitable access to learning experiences and opportunities regardless of which classroom a student is in. We are working towards having a clear understanding of the vertical progression of this curriculum, and our two-year looping configuration has really helped with this as well. (We did a schoolwide reconfiguration back in 2018-2019.) We also have a team of Educational Support Team (EST) Coordinators (who are content-specific – Social-Emotional, Literacy, and Math) to help teaching teams progress monitor targeted/skill-based intervention for students, and we have a team of content-specific and grade-banded specialists who are available to support teaching teams provide intensive interventions for students who demonstrate that need for additional layers of support. We now have a solid EST process where we can meet the needs of all students, and celebrate when they demonstrate achievement of their EST goal and being independent at a specific essential skill. Over the years, our faculty and staff have shifted their mindset around what intervention can look like, and that it is not always a linear process and it requires the adults to be flexible and adaptable based on changing student needs. (Something we still struggle with is how to prioritize when a student needs intervention in multiple areas – and again, our schedules just don’t allow for that time.)

 

As we were planning our year-at-a-glance professional development calendar over the summer, we had these grand plans of introducing our faculty and staff to the Universal Design for Learning Framework during our weekly early-release time. Unfortunately, there were way too many district initiatives that took priority, so we had to rethink how we could still incorporate UDL training into the school year. So, we decided to take the UDL approach to how we plan, engage, and present our various PD material to our faculty and staff – modeling how to offer voice and choice, and provide a fixed goal with flexible pathways – even on topics like Safety, DEI, Budget, Academic Programs/Software, new assessment tools, etc. We provide a reflection/exit ticket at the end of each session for people to share their takeaways and how they’ll apply their new learning in the classroom/school. By modeling elements of UDL, and having coaches available to co-plan, co-teach, observe, etc. we are embedding UDL into the culture of our school in a more authentic and meaningful way (as opposed to the stand and deliver PD/trainings with a 40-slide presentation our faculty and staff snored through in previous years). 

While designing our school schedule for the year, we had to get really creative by adding more essential arts (ie Specials like art, music, PE, library, chorus, etc.) opportunities so that the teaching teams could have at least one common collaborative team time per week. We use this time to discuss problems of practice, curriculum revisions, success criteria/evidence, logistics of upcoming field trips, student concerns, etc. We moved our weekly Professional Learning Community meeting time to the second hour of our early release time. This is the first year that we have stipends for our PLC Facilitators (one per grade level), who will be participating in year-long data-analysis training and PLC’s at Work training as a vertical PLC to ensure that we are using this meeting time effectively with colleagues. This time is dedicated to reviewing student data (work samples) at the grade level, class, and student level answering one or more of the 4 PLC essential questions. This is where/when we might identify students who need additional support (either remediation, reteach, extension, etc.) to consider for EST. (The shifts we made to the schedule have been helpful, but may not be a sustainable practice moving forward.)

It would be great to connect with people who might have suggestions for how you and your school teams manage to fit it all in – or what you’ve decided to take off the plate! Please leave a comment or email me at acelmer@cvsdvt.org.