Making Your Curriculum Accessible:Success for All Students

Nancy MarkoskyKindy Segovia

KC4A4 Make-It Take-It 4th-6th Grade

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Things are always changing…

EDUCATION

Change

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Changes in the World Economy

• We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist . . .

• Using technologies that haven’t been invented . . .

• In order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.

• David Warlick in “The New Literacy”

Center for Applied Special Technologies, CAST

www.cast.org

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Today’s classroom:

• Teachers must deliver instruction to diverse groups of students who come from a variety of cultures with varying languages, learning styles, abilities and disabilities.

• These students are included in the General Education classroom.

• Educational demands are on the rise– Shift from acquiring knowledge to integrating

knowledge– Higher curriculum standards– All students are held to the same standards

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Accountability and Assessment• No Child Left Behind (NCLB) state

assessment participation rate.• Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) disaggregate

subgroups, 1% participation cap.• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of

2004 (IDEA 2004) – Match state benchmark and standards – Access for every student

• Response to Intervention (RtI)• Equity In Every Instructional Opportunity

(EIEIO)

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The Achievement Gap

Dave Edyburn

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Success for at-risk learners begins

– with good curriculum,– flexible materials,– engaging assignments and– built in universal access features

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What we know about student learning:

Students need to be able to:• Recognize information, ideas, and

concepts,• Apply effective strategies to process

the information and• Be engaged in the process.

Vygotsky

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Brain research

• Recent research in neuroscience confirms that…

each brain processes information differently.

The way we learn is as individual as DNA or fingerprints.

Center for Applied Special Technologies, CAST

www.cast.org

When the task is too difficult for learner

When the task is too easy for learner

ZONE OF PROXIMAL

DEVELOPMENT

Right amount of support

High engagement

Challenge is appropriate

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How we’ve been doing business…

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Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Definition: UDL is an educational approach to teaching, learning, and assessment, drawing on new brain research and new media technologies to respond to individual learner differences.

Center for Applied Special Technologies, CAST

www.cast.org

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UDL and the Learning Brain

David Rose, CAST

www.cast.org

Origins of Universal Design

Universal Design: Origin and Definition

“Consider the needs of the broadest possible range of users from the beginning”

Architect, Ron Mace

Universal Design Solutions

• Icons as well as text labels • Buses that kneel• Ramps• Curb Cuts• Electric Doors• Captions on Television• Lever door handles vs knobs

Universal Design Evolution: Retrofitting to Integrated

Design

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A UDL Curriculum• Is designed, developed

and flexible from the start.

• Has built in supports.• Is designed to

maximize options for students and teachers

• Meets the needs of all learners.

• Is under the auspices of general education.

Center for Applied Special Technologies, CAST

www.cast.org

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A UDL Curriculum…

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Learner Adjustable Scaffolds

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Universal Design for Learning: 8th Grade History

Studying for the End of the Unit Exam

Mr. Langhorst’s Virtual Classroom

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Studycast and Graphic Organizer– 8th grade American HistoryConstitutional Powers

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Universal Design for Learning Materials in the classroom

• Video streaming (www.unitedstreaming.com)• Electronic text books

(www.accessiblebookcollection.org)• Digital photos (www.pics4learning.com)• Talking Books (MP3, Start-to-Finish, Thinking Reader)• Concept maps• NASA Explores (http://www.nasaexplores.com/)• Blogging (www.visitmyclass.com)• Clay animation (www.tech4learning.com/claykit)• Pod Casting (http://epnweb.org)• Digital Storytelling

(http://www.scott.k12.ky.us/technology/digitalstorytelling/ds.html)• Project Based Learning (Regions)• ASK

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Resources

• Resources mentioned in this presentation:

http://www.protopage.com/hardins

http://www.protopage.com/gunderwood

How do you use the Internet?

Informational Software

How do your students (children)use the Internet?

Social Software

UDL and the Learning Brain

One must recognize information, ideas, and concepts

One must be able to apply strategies to process the information

One must be engaged

Vygotsky

All learners are unique and

universal does not mean

“one size fits all”

UDL and the Learning Brain