Module 4, Level 8 Reflection - UDL

Post and discuss your response to the reflection question - Reflect on what Universal Design for Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching means to you.

UDL is all about making sure all students are being correctly challenged so that they’re all learning.

Universal design is important to provide access to learning for all participants. Platforms that do not follow universal design guidelines are ultimately preventing people from utilizing them and restricting knowledge from being collected. Culturally responsive teaching is also important to ensure that all learners feel that they are welcome to learn and are represented in the materials being used for learning. Especially when there are students from various places and experiential backgrounds, it is critical that educators put in the work to ensure these students have content and resources that they connect with. If students are unable to see themselves represented in the things they are learning, it is more likely they will disengage and future learning will not occur.

ULD and CRT mean meeting students where they are at both academically and emotionally, scaffolding instruction to get them where they need to be, and giving them multiple modalities for expressing their learning. Essentially, instructors need to be creative and flexible rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.

Universal Design for Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching means to me that curriculum and content in the classroom is accessible to everyone in the exact same way, and that nothing is out of reach for any one student - everyone can access the content without restriction. Culturally responsive teaching is about teaching with a vast amount of students’ cultures in mind, being careful not to have expectation that some students can’t meet or are ignorant of something that would bother a student or a student might not have knowledge of due to their cultural background. Offering content in multiple ways to reach all types of learners.

I honestly had never heard of these terms before, so I had to look them up. My understanding at this point is that this is kind of like multi-cultural learning. Students come from so many different backgrounds, and all of those backgrounds impact their learning and HOW they learn. As educators, we need to really think about these things so that we can reach all of our students. We need to give them multiple ways to access the learning and show what they’re learning so that they can choose what works best for them. We need to be sure to present and discuss different issues and cultures to help broaden their thinking and improve critical thining.

UDL and CRT mean to make sure the curriculum is meeting the needs of all learners. It is giving students the supports that they need in order to reach the standard. It’s not about being equal, it’s about everyone getting what they need.

I believe Universal Design for Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching is when you use tools to ensure all students in the class are represented. I feel I am responsible for ensuring all of my students are represented when I am including culture in my lessons. Lessons are to be designed to use universally and within any classroom.

Universal Design for Learning means that every student, regardless of their physical, intellectual, or educational experiences, can participate in a learning activity. An example of this is adapting a self-monitoring checklist with differentiated reading, such as text-only, text-and-visuals, or visuals-only checklists. It also includes making the checklist available in various formats, such as audio, rather than just text.

Culturally Responsive Teaching means taking into account student and class cultural demographics so that the prior knowledge they have from experiencing life is honored and centered in the classroom. An example of this would be personalizing activities to suit student interests or experiences. For example, my school has a significant Spanish-speaking student population and a large portion of them come from or have family members from Mexico. When I do my “turn your robot into a spooky monster” task cards, students select which card they’d like to do among monsters like vampires, La Llorona, and Beetlejuice. These examples tap into student interests and cultures.