If you’ve had a chance to review the UDL Progression Rubric, you probably recognize that UDL isn’t a framework that you can implement overnight. It takes years – not weeks or months – to reach expert level and it’s easy to see how anyone, even the most experienced teachers, could get overwhelmed. For those just getting started, evaluating where you are in the UDL implementation process on a checkpoint by checkpoint basis might simply be too much.
When Melissa Toland of Ocean View School District reached out suggesting a simplified version for the time-strapped or overwhelmed teacher, I was totally sold. I love collaborating with others who are equally inspired by the promise of UDL and loved her quick-start UDL Implementation Rubric so much that I wanted to share it with you all.
This rubric is a great tool for self-evaluation and self-reflection in regards to big picture UDL implementation and also serves as a fantastic reference tool for remembering overall themes of UDL. When you are ready to get a little more granular, the UDL Progression Rubric builds upon this one.
When Melissa introduced the rubric to her district’s middle school educators, she encouraged them to use the tool as a road map for next steps to incorporate the principles of UDL into lessons and units.
As you review the tool, Melissa recommends thinking about:
What are your next steps in terms of implementation?
Based on your current level of practice, what is one goal you have for today?
Making commitments to yourself after you self-evaluate is a wonderful way to get started with the process. Remember, UDL implementation is a learning process, one that takes engagement, motivation, grit, resourcefulness, and creativity. You are not alone on this journey. You deserve the same tools, resources, and support that your students will get from you as you implement UDL.
We are always open to sharing new ideas and tools for UDL, so if you have something like this to share, please reach out!
The answer to creating innovative teaching and learning opportunities lies within you.
Every educator faces constraints—from budget restrictions to predetermined curriculum to “one-size-fits-all” mandatory assessments. The question is, how can you, as a teacher or administrator, ensure that regulations and limitations don’t impede authentic learning?
In Innovate Inside the Box,George Couros and Katie Novak provide informed insight on creating purposeful learning opportunities for all students. By combining the power of the Innovator’s Mindset and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), they empower educators to create opportunities that will benefit every learner. Couros and Novak show you how to . . .
Leverage the Core of Innovative Teaching and Learning with a focus on developing meaningful relationships.
Develop the 8 Characteristics of the Innovator’s Mindset in your students—and yourself.
Use UDL to proactively design learning experiences that foster voice and choice while addressing barriers that impede learning.
Create learner-driven, evidence-informed learning experiences that provide all students with options and choices to maximize success.
“No one articulates a more compelling, a more urgent, or a more motivating vision of education—for both teachers and their students—than George Couros. No one articulates how that vision can be reached—for every student and teacher—more daringly, more practically, and more inclusively, than Katie Novak. Having them together in one book not only helps us reimagine the goals and practices of education, it reminds us of why we ever wanted to be teachers at all.”
—David Rose, PhD. CAST’s cofounder and chief education officer, emeritus
“An incredible book! Innovate Inside the Box speaks to educators who are the change agents in their sphere of influence.”
—Sarah Thomas, PhD, founder of EduMatch
“George and Katie’s combined talents as spectacular storytellers drive this book. You will feel like you are flying through it and then realize how deeply you are learning.”
—Loui Lord Nelson, PhD, author of Design and Deliver, and podcast host of UDL in 15 Minutes
Below is a post by IMPress author George Couros whose book will be available on amazon on August 14th, 2019! For now, you can check out his first book The Innovator’s Mindset.
Here’s a quick confession: I (John) used to hate the word “innovative.” See those quotation marks right there around the word? Those are actually air quotes that I would use whenever I used the term. “It’s a buzzword,” I would say. “It’s overused,” I would point out.
But the truth is, sometimes a word becomes trendy because it’s tapping into something we all agree is important. Is it misused? Sometimes. Is it overused? Often. But so are the words “love” and “awesome” and “friend,” but I have no intention of ditching any of those words. I think I reacted poorly to the word “innovation” because it had a certain overly glossy, high-tech connotation to it. It made me think of the EPCOT Center and of the Astrodome and of the Flowbee (a true innovation in haircutting that combined a hair trimmer and a vacuum). But that’s not innovation. That’s novelty. That’s disruption.
I have been discussing innovation for probably the past ten years, and I agree with John here, 100%. When people use the word “innovation” to describe something new (usually technology related) than it does become a buzzword. This happens a lot in education where a term becomes “trendy” and is used without thought of what it means, which in turn makes the word a buzzword. It is not saying that the word in itself is terrible, but it is in the way that it is used.
I’m defining innovation as a way of thinking that creates something new and better. Innovation can come from either “invention” (something totally new) or “iteration” (a change of something that already exists), but if it does not meet the idea of “new and better,” it is not innovative. That means that change for the sake of change is never good enough.
The “better” part of the definition is the most crucial. The word “better” is vital when it comes to traditional practice or innovative practice. Some traditional methods work better for our students in learning, and that is crucial to understand. If we gravitate toward the “new” only because it is trendy and lose our students along the way, it is not innovation; it is bad practice.
But what constitutes ‘better’? How do I know when a new way is a better way? For me, better is equivalent to students learning more. Whatever the ‘better’ is assists my students with learning/remembering/retaining more information in a more efficient and/or effective manner. What does ‘better’ mean to you? I think this is a vitally important question to consider and I’m not sure all educators sincerely know what their ‘better’ is.
The question I have bolded is essential, not only for individuals but as schools and organizations. What does “better” actually mean? If you are looking for an answer from me, I won’t give it to you directly. Here is why; what is often measured as “better” in schools is all about higher scores. But understand, this doesn’t mean it is better learning. For example, a lot of studies that discuss “effective practice” totally correlate it to test scores, but in your experience as an educator, have you ever seen students that could ace a test but not truly understand the content? I will admit that I have taught that way in my career because the sole measure of my effectiveness what was if kids did well on a test. We promote the importance of scores in education, yet many organizations that scores are not an accurate indicator of someone’s ability. I am not against students doing well on standardized exams, but I also know that some of our smartest kids in our schools are weak academically. There is more to learning and understanding than we could ever possibly measure on a standardized test.
We also need to understand that people other than the students often define the “better” for our kids. This is why I have often discussed the importance of having students define what “success” looks like for them. Do we genuinely become as passionate or resilient in achieving goals that are solely set by others? I struggle with the thought that sometimes the “scores” are placed at the forefront because it is an easier way to show the success of the adults than it is to show the success of our students.
I believe that as a school if we are talking about “best practices” or “innovation,” or anything else, we have to figure out what “better” means for our students, and from our community. How we assess this “better” will drive practice, not the other way around.
A post by Tom Murray – His newest book will be out November 2019!
Traveling the country and working with school and district leaders over the past four years has significantly altered my lens. Spending fourteen years in the same district in Pennsylvania was an incredible blessing. I worked with so many dynamic, kid-loving people. Over my tenure there, our teams had come together during some of the most difficult times and also celebrated together through the joys we experienced.
In reflection, the downside of spending my entire k-12 career in one district was that my personal education lens and understanding became very narrow over time. Even though I worked at all levels in that system, it was the same community, many of the same adults, and many of the same leaders, year after year. (Please know that I see nothing wrong with being in one district and absolutely commend those that pour their lives into a single place for their entire career. I also absolutely loved where I was for those 14 years.) For me, that community and those [amazing] people, were all that I knew.
My point in sharing my personal reflection is that today I see so many things that other educators experience regularly, that were much smaller spots on my radar. A few examples: – Although I was a principal of two different Title 1 buildings; and both had significant levels of socioeconomic needs, now spending time in buildings where every child lives in poverty has given me more empathy for those who have far less and appreciate things that at times I took for granted in my work. – Where I worked, technology had been plentiful for years. I received a laptop as a brand new teacher, in 2000. Today, some teachers are just receiving personal devices for the first time, while others still yearn for that day to come. – Working with rural schools, which often lack the needed bandwidth to provide additional opportunities for students, puts connectivity much more on my radar than when leveraging technology worked pretty seamlessly for me as a teacher and administrator.
Although the list of where my lens has shifted could be expanded exponentially, there are also conversations I have with educators around themes that no matter what state I’m in, the demographics of the community they serve, or the budget in which they operate, are very similar in nature and where most things are agreed upon. Some examples include: – The importance of teacher leadership. – The desire for student agency. – The incredible talents of our nation’s children.
So what’s one area that never seems to go out of focus? The importance of school culture.
I recently had the opportunity to spend time with one of my closest friends, Jimmy Casas. Jimmy is a long-time educator, and the author of the best-selling book, Culturize: Every Student. Every Day. Whatever it Takes. Jimmy is also one of the best community builders that I’ve ever met. As you saw in the video above, I asked Jimmy for one simple idea to build culture in schools.
Jimmy shares the concept of “two a day,” an idea he gained from colleague and friend Jeff Zoul, where he’d take two note cards each day and write an encouraging, authentic note to two different staff members. Essentially, Jimmy points to a simple way in which he was able to help own the culture in which he was a part.
The difficulty lies not in the fact that people agree that culture is vital to a school’s success. That’s pretty much a given. The difficulty comes when not every person owns the culture in which they are a part. The idea is easy. Abdicating the responsibility is also easy. Placing the blame and pointing the finger is easy. Owning one’s part in it all is what’s challenging.
A school’s culture is the culmination of every interaction that occurs within it.
So how do you build your school’s culture? How do you help create a culture where people want to be? When you walk into the faculty room, do you build the energy up? Or, do you suck the air right out?
It’s no secret that school and district leadership set the tone for the culture within it; but to attempt to make the case that they are the only ones responsible for it is amazingly misguided.
What can you do tomorrow to move your school’s culture forward one step? Who’s that person on staff that needs some additional encouragement? Who’s that student that can help lead the way?
Having been to so many amazing schools over the past four years, I’ve also come to realize that creating school cultures where people want to be does not happen by chance.Creating cultures that people want to run to happens when the adults in the building are intentional with their interactions…one day at a time.
Will your interactions tomorrow help make your school a place people want to be? Or, a place people want to run from? What’s your role in the process? How does your own lens impact your thought process here?
The good news? No matter what you feel the condition of your school culture currently is, tomorrow is the first step in the remaining part of your journey. My advice? Be intentional. Be real. Build capacity in others. Work to understand your internal bias. Own your role in the work and don’t abdicate the responsibility we all have in creating the schools where our students will thrive.
A Post by Sunil Singh, co-author of Math Recess: Playful Learning in an Age of Disruption.
It is no coincidence that the deeper awareness of the value of play for our children is coming at the same time as the heightened attitudes towards play and mathematics. For a while, the pairing of those words generally meant trying to make math a joyful and fun experience. It seemed that play was serving a role that was limited to some kind of emotional outcome. Of course, having a positive attitude about math is critical, but the value of play goes much deeper than creating celebratory reactions from our students and teachers.
Much deeper.
And this depth is being charted at the same time as the general visibility of play in our society, ironically, is being eroded.
The number of minutes the average child now spends outside with unsupervised play is about 5 to 7 minutes every day. In the book “Math Recess: Playful Learning in an Age of Disruption”, the childhoods of Chris and I are were written with intentional detail–to paint a landscape of vivid, generally adult-free play. Nobody was counting, but pretty sure that our unsupervised play was clocking in at hours/day. It probably would have been a shock to ourselves to have this playtime measured with an egg-timer.
Play is fun. Play is integral to the social, emotional, and academic development of children.
Play is also our companion for our entire journey of mathematics. Whether that lasts for only until our teenage years or for the rest of our lives, play will never leave our side as we interact with mathematics. Play gives us permission to tinker, dabble, poke, prod, etc. with every math problem or idea that will appear before us.
It is actually more than permission, it is a historic and wondrous call–for every K to 12 student and teacher–that mathematics is something we must do for the sake of the moment of doing.
We cannot worry or entertain the idea of being “correct” as the goal. If that becomes the goal, as admirable as that it might be, we know that many students–and teachers–will exhibit anxiety and stress. These are not reactions that exist in play.
Dr. Peter Gray, who has written many books on Play, outlines the basic criteria for what constitutes the richest ideas of play.
(1) self-chosen and self-directed;
(2) motivated by means more than ends;
(3) guided by mental rules;
(4) includes a strong element of imagination
(5) is conducted in an alert, active, but relatively non-stressed frame of mind.
The purest of ideas of mathematics have had each and every one of those elements since mathematics was discovered. It has NEVER veered away or short-changed any of those five points above. Unfortunately, the mathematics that most of us have experienced and what our students experience has been a betrayal of play.
Thankfully, we are in a rebirth of play in math education. More of us are now doing mathematics in ways that honor the history of how mathematics evolved. And, sharing our most playful ideas about mathematics is naturally having the best social ramifications–we are forging friendships.
The Math Playground is being built. All are welcome and all belong.
A post by Brad Gustafson, author of Reclaiming Our Calling
Many of us are feeling a tension in education. We’ve been asked to prioritize student achievement above the human beings doing the actual achieving. Fortunately, there is hope. It is possible to prioritize relationships while also helping students achieve lasting learning.
Reclaiming Our Calling tackles this tension head-on. The book contains powerful classroom stories and strategies to support the heart, mind, and hope of education. It is written differently than most professional development-type books I’ve ever read, but I’ll let you decide whether that’s important or not.
Here are three things that are really important (and one promise):
1. Reclaiming Our Calling is based on the belief that great teaching begins with relationships and connectedness. This doesn’t mean we refuse to prioritize content and accountability; it just means we refuse to disregard everything else that’s important.
2. More than a book, we have an opportunity to connect and take things deeper. I’m intentionally focusing on people who want to work together to create more meaning and connection in this work. If this sounds important to you, I’d invite you to join a small and mighty group of mission-driven educators who are in the #UndergroundBookClub. You can sign-up HERE. We collaborate on weekly missions and are creating a child-centered ruckus together. If you’re already a member, please consider sharing this blog post with one colleague you care about on a deeper level.
3. This is not a book for everyone. It is for educators who believe they have been called to teach (which is drastically different than “just teaching”). This doesn’t mean we don’t do jobs as part of our calling; it simply means we understand the gravity of the lives we’re entrusted to teach.
4. My promise to you is that by engaging with the book (and others who are doing the same), we will help you navigate the tension many of us are feeling. We will help you hold on to all that’s right in education, leverage your strengths, and elevate your voice so you can help others who may need your support.
Thank you for trusting me enough to read this post. Please consider purchasing the book on Amazon. I don’t take your time or trust lightly. If you’re interested in reading a few of the blog posts that have been written in connection to the book (and feedback that truly touched me) you can check them out below:
