Universal Design For Learning Essay

Shared book reading focuses on developing comprehension, alphabetics, and general reading achievement to enhance student literacy achievement. The teacher selects a text and reads it aloud to a student and/or group of students. The shared book reading program allows the teacher to model reading strategies, increase alphabetic skills, and activate and increase comprehension skills through targeted questions, prompts, and strategies. During the reading the teacher prompts students with strategic prompts and/or questions to engage the students in the text. Moreover, the teacher directs the students to key elements within the pictures, words, and/or text features. The teacher tailors the shared reading experience to meet the needs of the participants (International Reading Association Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Committee, 2012). Hence, educators are able to alter prompts, questions, and strategies to enhance the learning needs of

As educators, it is important to address individual differences in students’ recognition, strategic, or affective networks, thus providing the best possible support by individualizing pathways to learning through Universal Design for Learning (UDL). A study on alternative education for children suggests oversimplifying learner differences by categorizing students into two groups, regular and special, fails to accurately represent the full diversity of learners in the classroom. ( Meo, 2010, p. 21) Therefore, UDL is a framework for designing curriculum which provides all students equal opportunities to learn, with no discrimination to individual needs. In order for students to have equal opportunity in their learning and achievement,

This assignment is another opportunity to apply the principles of universal design for learning (UDL) in the design of instruction and assessment. In this assignment, a lesson plan is developed, incorporating UDL and effectively leveraging educational technologies in the classroom.

Reading is the beginning of every child’s learning. The basis of education begins with learning to read. Short (2010) explained that literature acts as “an inquiry to life” and a “way of knowing” (p. 50). However, in order to support children’s learning, it is essential to show children that learning is interesting from a young age. When Short first began teaching using worksheets and a basal reading program, she wrote, “I often felt that children were learning to read in spite of me” (p. 49). The students were not learning to think critically. However, when she began introducing literature circles to her students, she saw them “critically exploring their understandings with each other” (p. 49).

Kristin had spent a large part of her literacy instruction using comprehension strategies with the children, such as; text-to-text (connections a reader makes between two different texts), text-to-self (personal connections a reader makes between the reading materials and herself), and

After presenting the data from content area diagnostic and district level assessments, as well as pertinent research related to this topic, the team expressed their interest and motivation to help close the achievement gaps in reading comprehension. In addition to our team, district level specialists and outside vendors have been contacted and will provide support and their expertise relating to improving student reading comprehension

Teachers can help improve student reading comprehension by generating questions that get students to think about what the text means, and by

Before taking this course I took, “Introduction to Education.” During that course we spent a lot of time talking a lot about the Governments role in education and the growth of its role in education. We spent time talking about how states and local governments were primarily responsible for the education process. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was also discussed. Both of these laws offered great improvements to the education process but also had drawbacks. One drawback is as the book stated a lot of teachers have to teach what is contained in the test. Gifted children are not challenged and disabled children don’t always grow academically as quick as a normal student.

When Grace was asked comprehension questions during our first tutoring sessions, she was able to correctly answer comprehension questions by looking back at the pictures, but not based on what she had read. To improve her comprehension, tutoring sessions were used to help Grace become a purposeful and active reader. Before reading any books, she was asked to look at the cover of the book and to make connections with the book to things in her own life. She was then asked questions about the book and asked to make predictions on what she thought would happen in the book. After reading the book, Grace was asked to confirm or refute her predictions. Through working together to understand the books, making connections to the books, and looking for predictions, Grace is now able read a book with few pictures and correctly answer comprehension questions correctly more than 80% of the

In 2011, the professional journal, Theory Into Practice, included an article titled, “Comprehension as Social and Intellectual Practice: Rebuilding Curriculum in Low Socioeconomic and Cultural Minority Schools.” The authors, Allan Luke, Annette Woods, and Karen Dooley, focus on the issue of reshaping the reading curriculum, particularly comprehension, in diverse schools, such as low socioeconomic status and cultural minority. This article highlights a different view of comprehension and a new way to teach comprehension to diverse students to help them truly learn and grasp comprehension when reading. As I hope to become a leader, it is beneficial to learn about different curriculum developments and research the effects of the changes in different curriculums. I chose this article, because since I am a first grade teacher and I teach comprehension, I thought this may be helpful to me as an educator, as I could compare my curriculum of teaching comprehension to this article’s ideas of rebuilding their curriculum. In addition, I have students in my classroom that are diverse that could benefit from my new learning from the information in this article.

Comprehension is understanding the meaning and purpose of a text. There are several strategies that can help students improve their understanding of complex texts. According to Vukelich, Christie, and Enz (2008), one of the strategies is a literacy journal where “children can record observations, questions, and insight to make important links between what they already know and what they are learning” (p. 179). This article talks about a strategy similar to a literacy journal, called a SQUINK chart. This article explains how SQUINK was developed and how it helps children comprehend different texts.

Universal design for learning also allows students to showcase their knowledge in a variety of ways. The three main principles of UDL are representation (presenting information and content in various ways so that all students can understand), action and expression (provides students with alternate activities or assignments so that they may demonstrate their learning), and engagement (utilizes student interest and motivation for learning in various ways). 2. When they develop

However, the second method being discussed in this paper, the whole language approach, focuses much of its attention on making sure the student understands and enjoys what he or she is reading. Whole language instruction occurs when a student acquires language rather than learning it through direct instruction (Brooks 35-36). This method is more child centered than teacher dominated, because the objective is for the student to learn how to read through talking and doing rather than through passive listening. Unlike phonics, whole language uses a variety of ways to give students the opportunity to interact with the text they are reading. Questioning, discussing, problem-solving, listening, writing, drawing, and dramatizing are among the ways students interact with text. Students are also encouraged to implement simple strategies while reading such as: reading the sentence and guessing what word will come next, looking at the picture on the page to help figure out the sentence, and also rereading the sentence for clarification. This method also does a good job in allowing the students to engage in text at their own speed and often in their own ways (36).

based research (DBR) can be summarized as “a systematic but flexible methodology aimed to improve educational practices through iterative analysis, design, development, and implementation, based on collaboration among researchers and practitioners in real-world settings, and leading to contextually-sensitive design principles and theories” (Wang & Hannafin, 2005, p. 6). The Wang and Hannafin definition provides a concise overview of this emerging methodology and indicates that using this type of methodology in research can lead to the production of theories. Although concise, this definition does not address the other roles that theory has in DBR. Theory is often used to guide the design and implementation of the research (Hoadley, 2004; Russell, Jackson, Krumm, & Frank, 2013). Hence, theory can be intertwined through every phase of DBR, including, but not limited to the development, design, implementation, and analysis phases. Theory can guide the design, be embodied in the design, and be a result of the design.

In this information–driven age, preparing students to read a variety of texts with complete understanding should likely be one of our educational system’s highest priorities. Understanding is more than just the ability to produce information on demand (knowledge) or the ability to perform learned routines (skills). “Understanding is the ability to think and act flexibly with what one knows.” (Active Learning Practice for Schools, n. d.) A review of the literature in the area of reading comprehension of elementary-age students shows two principle areas of focus. There is a body of literature that examines the development of proficient vs. struggling comprehenders and another body of literature that compares methodologies for teaching