Rapp universal design for learning.pdf

Universal Design for Learning in Action

100 Ways to Teach All Learners

by

Whitney H. Rapp, Ph.D.

St. John Fisher College Rochester, New York

Contents

Section I Overview

Section II Strategies for Engagement

Section III Strategies for Input

Section IV Strategies for Output

Section V Strategies for Assessment

Section VI A Living Resource

About the Author

Whitney H. Rapp, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Inclusive Education, St. John Fisher College

Dr. Rapp is Associate Professor of Inclusive Education at St. John Fisher College, where she teaches courses on inclusive education pedagogy, assessment, classroom management, and diversity issues. Dr. Rapp holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and psychology from the State University of New York at Potsdam and master’s and doctoral degrees in special education from Michigan State University.

Prior to her experience in teacher education, Dr. Rapp taught many grade levels in a variety of settings, from fully inclusive classrooms to residential special education schools. All of these experiences reinforced her belief that all children can learn and that all children should learn together in inclusive settings. Dr. Rapp’s current research interests include universal design for learning throughout the school years and college. She is the coauthor of the textbook Teaching Everyone: An Introduction to Inclusive Education (coauthored with K.L. Arndt; Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 2012), and she presents at local, state, national, and international conferences on differentiation of instruction, teacher education, and inclusion. She serves on the Board of Directors of TASH. Dr. Rapp’s spare time is spent with her husband and three children, riding bikes, hiking, playing board games, reading, watching movies, and enjoying Owasco Lake.

Strategies for Engagement

Providing Multiple Means of Engagement

UDL includes many different ways to engage students in learning. Each student is unique in his or her learning style, abilities, and ways of engaging in various learning opportunities. Some prefer working alone, whereas others prefer group work. Some prefer open-ended, highly subjective tasks, whereas others prefer structured, objective tasks. To increase engagement, teachers need to catch students’ interest, as well as help them sustain effort and persist toward a goal, and self-regulate their learning behaviors.

Options for Catching Interest

One of the most effective ways to catch students’ interests and encourage them to attend to important information is to provide choice and autonomy. Students can choose the process used to accomplish a task, the tools or materials used during the process, and the product they create to show their learning. Differentiated menus are an excellent example of offering choice to students. As long as the choices are appropriate—not too easy and not too challenging—providing choice increases interest and engagement. Another important way to interest students is to offer relevant, valuable, authentic activities.

Options for Sustaining Effort and Persistence

Once the teacher has a student’s interest, it is important to help the student persevere in his or her efforts. Sustaining effort on a task can be increased by frequently revisiting the goals and steps toward the goal so that the student can strive for the goal. Varying resources and changing materials can refresh engagement. Fostering collaboration and communication through carefully structured groups helps students guide each other toward task completion.

Options for Self-Regulation

For students to self-regulate their learning behaviors, they need to know what those behaviors are and how they can be improved. As a teacher, every time you find an effective strategy for a student, it is important that the student be made aware of the strategy and its positive effect. The more students know about their strengths, needs, and best strategies, the more they will be able to take charge of their own learning, including self-regulating their performance and progress.

Considerations

There are several considerations to keep in mind when thinking about how to engage diverse learners.

Engagement Through Space: Bulletin Board Borders

"Place bold, distinct borders around bulletin boards and wall displays. Many teachers like to cover bulletin boards and classroom walls with displays of student work and decorations. This practice can help to create a shared space and to build classroom community. Sometimes, however, visual displays can be overwhelming to students who have difficulty processing a lot of visual stimuli. By placing a bold border that distinguishes the display from the background wall and from other displays, you can help students perceive each display as one piece instead of many pieces."

Engagement Through Space: Seating

"Offer varied seating. An outdated belief is that in order to be engaged, a student must be sitting up straight in a chair, at a desk, with feet on the floor. Now we know that some students are more engaged when moving or standing. It is time to rethink seating in the classroom. Student desks and chairs may still work best for some, so they should continue to have their place—as long as they are adjustable—but more options need to be added. For example, using a stability ball instead of a standard chair turns a student desk into a newly engaging workspace."