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Onsite UDL Training

Page history last edited by Mallory Burton 14 years, 1 month ago

In the Fall of 2009, the project leader visited each of the 7 teams to provide onsite training in UDL.   

 

Agenda and Handouts

Prior to the workshop team leaders pre-organized using a Training Planning Checklist.  At each of the 7 sites, the Agenda for Day 1 and the Agenda for Day 2 were roughly the same with a slightly different emphasis for elementary and secondary schools. All materials were provided in both paper and electronic form, and most participants had laptops with wireless internet access. During the sessions, the project leader kept track of UDL strategies modeled during the training.

 

Informal Rubric Activity

Teams from the previous year had created a VERY INFORMAL rubric to describe UDL implementation.  This rubric was cut into pieces which small groups of participants reassembled as a puzzle.  This introductory activity activated background knowledge of both rubrics and UDL.  Discussion afterwards focussed on the difference it made for participants to construct their own meaning rather than just have the rubric read to them.  We also examined the strategies they had used in re-assembling the rubric. 

 

Formal Rubric Activity

Team members indicated their current understanding of UDL on a more FORMAL rubric designed for use in Clark County Schools, Kentucky. They will also indicate their progress at the end of the year and this will be used as an Action Research question to assess the effectiveness of the teams' ongoing training. 

 

For more information on rubrics, see Jordan School District's excellent site.

 

Alternate Activity for Administrators and Resource Teachers

Administrators and resource teachers had a choice of working on the rubric puzzle or working with the project leader to look at some of the considerations for implementing UDL in a school or district.  They looked at the online version of Chapter 8 of Rose and Meyer's Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age and downloaded the Systemic Change Template.  

The tech coordinator pictured on the left, home with a back injury, attended the workshop by webcam!

Wordle Extension Activity for Groups Who Finished Early

Groups that finished early explored making Wordles and then explained what they had learned to the larger group.  Team members then brainstormed Ideas for Using Wordle in the classroom.  They were cautioned that Wordle is an uncensored site and to use the pic mute button on the projector remote to blank the screen before going to uncensored websites.  The project leader demonstrated how the SMARTBoard Notebook software screen capture feature could be used to capture the Wordle.

 

Introduction to UDL

The project leader provided an Overview of UDL in SMARTBoard Notebook software.  The project leader emphasized that UDL is a mindset, showing how good teachers are already using multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement.  Some activities are better done without technology, but a teacher's ability to differentiate instruction can often be extended using digital tools.  Team members were also encouraged to view a presentation by David Rose, hosted on the SET-BC website, called "Reaching Every Student in the Digital Age". 

Setting Goals

The project leader introduced this topic by relating the experience of a teacher in year 1 of the project who wanted his students to learn the anatomy of the eye by dissecting a sheep's eyeball.  When a group of students refused to do the task he gave them a digital camera and asked them to take photographs of the dissection and write up the lab report as a PPT Presentation.  They produced the best work that they had done, surprising themselves as well as the teacher!

The UDL workshop participants worked with the CAST Goal Setter Tool to learn how to write goals which do not confuse the goal of instruction with the method used to practice and/or evaluate knowledge of that goal.  They used the Anatomy of the Eye goal as an example.  This lead to a discussion of what the goals should be as the IRPs are often too general and the textbooks should not be determining the curriculum. 

Next we looked at Anita Strang's blog post about the powerful impact of declaring learning intentions at her school.  The project leader also showed her Learning Intentions written as All, Most, Some statements on pages 2-3 of the Agenda for Day 1.  The group also discussed different ways they already indicate goals such as I can statements or how they use the red/yellow/green strategy.

 

Lunch

Even lunch was designed with UDL principles in mind, including a visual created by one team leader to remind participants what they had ordered.  Lunch was fabulous at each of the sites with food provided by local caterers...from home-cooked cabbage rolls in Gold River to Wicked Thai soup on the Sunshine Coast.   And having lunch brought in enabled us to get right back to our busy agenda.

 

Student Profiles 

The group viewed a short video of Paul Potts and discussed possible reasons that Paul could go through the school system without his musical talent being recognized.  Team members then analyzed one or more students using CAST's Learning Profile Template.  This document helped everyone understand the recognition, stategic, and affective brain networks better and gave teams a common vocabulary for discussing students. Team members commented that they would also find the language useful in writing IEPs and report cards.

 

UDL Solutions 

The group examined CAST's UDL Solutions Template to learn how to analyze their curriculum for potential barriers and student opportunities.  We looked at several other examples of UDL Solutions including:

 UDL solutions will be the continuing focus for weekly online meetings beginning in January 2010.

 

Kurzweil 3000

Kurzweil training began with a choice of activities.  Several participants elected to explore the self-guided Kurzweil training modules at SET-BC's Learning Centre.  Participants who elected to participate in the group training learned about the reading, studying, test-taking, and writing features of Kurzweil.  We also looked at how the features of Kurzweil could be used to address possible curriculum barriers presented by Printed Text, Studying, Test-Taking, and Writing.  The session concluded with a discussion of how Kurzweil 3000 supports Universal Design for Learning, a look at additional Kurzweil resources and other sources of E-text, E-books, and Audio Books.

 

Teacher Technology Toolbelt

Participants began looking at a number of strategies and tools to help them work more effienctly during the year and to begin assembling their own teacher technology toolbelt.  Participants looked at ways to search more efficiently on the web, collect, organize and share websites, network with other project members, and collaborate during the year.  They also had time to explore 3 key theme-based educational websites.

Feedback from the teams was very positive and all agreed it would be better NOT to introduce the wiki on the first day and just make UDL the focus for Day 1.  By the afternoon of Day 2 people were ready to have more down time to just listen and watch or to explore the Teacher Technology Toolbelt resources on their own.

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