Universal design for learning and Culturally responsive teaching means to me that whatever I’m teaching, it should apply to any cultural background and learning style.
Universal Design for Learning provides students with various methods to access and engage with learning, while Culturally Responsive Teaching ensures learning is meaningful by including students’ culture.
Universal Design for Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching means to me expanding my teaching style to accommodate all types of students and to not look at my students through a biased lens such as racism or sexism. Teachers that utilise UDL and CRT should also make sure that all students have the same access to materials and that students have everything they need to successfully learn. Using UDL and CRT will certainly lead to a successful classroom.
Universal Design for Learning and Culturally Responsive to me means is as an educators, I’m knowledgeable and have the resources to enhance inclusive practices and able to explore the elements of personal cultural identity (traditions, beliefs, values of my students) and how cultural bias impacts the learning environment of students. As an educators, I make sure to develop culturally appropriate strategies to increase their ability to build and sustain a culturally responsive learning environment.
Both UDL and CRT are ways of focusing education to create inclusive and effective learning environments. They accomplish this in different ways, UDL focuses on building educational lessons that recognize that all learners are different and tries to deliver and assess in multiple formats. CRT also recognizes differences but on a cultural level, the goal is to make all students feel valued and a part of the curriculum.
For me, UDL are the strategies that can be used with all learner types and styles. Culturally responsive teaching refers to incorporating cultural elements into teaching that respond to cultural needs of all students.
Universal design means developing a curriculum for students in different formats. Teachers use various activities to add excitement and motivation for students to learn the curriculum.
Culturally responsive teaching means teaching students about various cultures and using sensitivity. Teachers will create lessons that address and teach cultural differences. In doing so, teachers create a safe and inviting environment for all students.
I had to look up UDL, but from what I’ve learned, it is a teaching approach that seeks to accommodate the needs of all learners by providing multiple means of engagement, representation, action, and expression. The goal is to remove barriers to learning and making education accessible to everyone.
CRT focuses on recognizing the cultural backgrounds of students to make learning more relevant and effective. It emphasizes cultural awareness, curriculum relevance, and equity in instruction. The ultimate goal of CRT is to create a learning environment where every student feels seen, respected, and empowered.
To me, UDL and CRT mean making the instruction and curriculum to all students. This might mean differentiating the learning, giving students choice in how they will demonstrate their learning, and/or making sure my students see examples that look like them in the materials that I use.
Universal design means all students can access the curriculum. Culturally responsive teaching means you take the students’ background in mind. Make sure students see themselves in their learning.
I was unfamiliar with these terms, so I asked AI and did some research to help me understand. I have come to see that utilizing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) provides a strong framework for helping students succeed and learn in the classroom no matter where they are educationally, physically, socially, culturally, etc. The students can feel included and needed and able to learn and perform because education is tailored to their individual needs and interests.
UDL is the blueprint for how the student accesses the information and ways they demonstrate their learning/knowledge. CRT is ultimately helping build background by connecting students’ cultural heritage with the topic so that they feel seen and heard, and can make connections with the learning. Both of these need to work together in a classroom to make it a more cohesive learning environment, where experiences are shared and learned from because students like learning from their peers as much, if not more, than from a teacher.
I am not going to lie, I am not familiar with the term Universal Design. However, it is being coupled with Culturally Responsive Teaching, so I assume it deals with valuing the diverse experiences and backgrounds that make up our learning environments and ensuring that we are sensitive to their needs and valuing everyone as individuals. Working with a diverse population, understanding the differences that exist and being aware of how different cultural values play a role in our learning environment, and carefully navigating those expressions that are different than what we might be comfortable with or expect in said environment all plays a part in culturally responsive teaching. It is akin to trauma informed teaching; we have to make the effort to develop relationships with our students and then tailor their learning experience so that they feel valued, their experiences and skills are taken into consideration, and their diversity is reflected in materials and approaches is essential.
In my mind both universal design and culturally responsive teaching are just proper scaffolding and differentiation. I need to provide student tasks that have entry points for them at all levels and then be able to provide support or extensions for all of those levels. These would also mean I need to find ways to make the content relevant to each student and be able to use their current experiences and background knowledge.
It’s about ensuring that students learn all of the required information by trying to adapt to all learning methods.
This would be a design to address any and all students, regardless of their levels and backgrounds, it would apply the content to the students cultural backgrounds to create relevance and meaning for them.
Universal Design for Learning seems like it should be a design that enhances how all children learn. I have not learned about that specifically, but since we know that all children learn differently, it would seem like a universal design would be a way that teaches all children. Some of the ways I like to address this is giving children options and different ways to interact with material. Culturally responsive would be taking the standards and figuring out a way to apply those standards to our location here, to the culture that children are raised in.
I like the idea of giving kids more options and different ways to interact with the material. Like you said, children learn differently.
Universal Design for Learning incorporates scaffolding to help each person learn the way that is best for them. There is no one correct learning style, and accommodating every student is important in education.