2017 Alaska RTI/MTSS Effective Instruction Conference

Teachers and schools are faced with the challenge of reaching the needs of all students, regardless of their academic, social, and developmental levels, and moving them forward. Any given classroom will contain a heterogeneous mix of students with different ability levels and educational needs. For this reason, teachers must be masters of differentiating the curriculum and providing access tools and strategies to meet the needs of all students, to remediate or accelerate instruction, and to provide all students with the opportunity to learn and grow. In this session, we will discuss Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the opportunities it provides for all students to access, participate in, and progress in the general-education curriculum by reducing barriers to instruction. Participants will learn more about how UDL offers options for how information is presented, how students respond or demonstrate their knowledge and skills, and how students are engaged in learning. Learning Objectives: A teacher’s goal is for students to learn skills and understand the subject. Traditional curriculum materials tend to offer only limited flexibility for meeting that goal — often requiring students to adapt to the curriculum. Universally designed curriculum overcomes limitations by incorporating three principles of flexibility into the design: We will explore multiple methods of presentation, We will explore multiple options for participation, We will explore multiple means of expression. This built-in flexible approach will provide a wider range of options for students to choose from — meaning the curriculum adapts to the student, rather than the other way around.