Elizabeth Terhorst
What is UDL?
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Universal Design for Learning is meant to create the most inclusive type of lesson that gives students various ways to demonstrate that they understand the content wholly. UDL accomplishes this by following its three principles:
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Provide Multiple Means of Engagement (the “why” of learning).
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Provide Multiple Means of Representation (the “what” of learning).
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Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression (the “how” of learning).
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Overview of the Lesson
Bell Ringer: Look at this infographic on page 118 of your physical textbook. How many people out of 100 have safe water? How many people out of have no shelter? How many people out of 100 are able to read and write?
Overview of "The World As 100 People"
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Discuss with students the infographic in their textbook and what it means to break people down into numbers for demographic reasons.
Introduction of "A Contribution to Statistics"
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Give students a classroom copy of the annotated poem from their textbook and discuss who Wislawa Szymborska was as well as background on the poem
Analysis of "A Contribution to Statistics"
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Go over the annotated copy of the poem together and use close-reading analytical skills to find a deeper meaning of the poem
Exit Ticket/Formative Assessment: Collaborative Notecard Constructed Response
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Follow the propmts and use the models/examples to answer the three questions regarding the infographic and the poem/how they mesh together in groups of six
My UDL Lesson Plan: Wrapping Up Close Reading/Analysis + Preview Figurative Language
Using Indiana State Standard 9-10.RC.12: Analyze the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in works of literature, including figurative, connotative, and denotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings. (E), I created a UDL lesson plan to help transition us from our nonfiction unit into our figurative language unit. This invovled a mix of digital and physical resources in the classroom for them to access. I provided in the Google Classroom as well as within their textbook access to Jack Hagly's "The World As 100 People" infographic where it helps students understand percentages of a population and how many people on our planet can fit into certain demographics. With this, I paired "A Contribution to Statistics" by Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska where it dives into the human psyche from the perspective of statistics/population demographics. From there, I showed my students how to use their nonficiton analysis skills in a poetic sense to find the underlying meaning of the text.
These were our content objectives (I Can Statements)
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I can analyze an infographic and use a constructed response format to explain what I see.
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I can analyze a poem and make text-to-world connections about what is saying regarding the state of humanity.
These were our language objectives (I Can Statements)
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I can point out figurative language in a text and use in-person as well as digital resources to figure out what it means.
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I can use a pre-annotated text to help articulate my response to a question about the deeper meaning of a text.
Resouces/Student Materials
By doing this in a double-entry style, I was also able to introduce note taking skills to my students with a focus on metacognition that ended up paying off in later units. By consistently following this format for the rest of our figurative langugae unit and for the final story we read together before the end of the trimester, I was able to see growth in terms of their retention of knowledge and comprehension.
At first, it was a struggle, so I am really glad that I started out by giving the students a full and complete example that I made. It was also a great point for reference for the intermediate assignment I gave them in the midst of our figurative language unit where I had the annotations for them, but they needed to highlight the correct part of the quoted text. I worked with my high school's instructional coach to ensure it was properly scaffolded. And, I was able to provide adequate differentiation in the form of a "Choose Your Own Adventure." I wouldn't have been able to pull any of that off without this bridge activity.
Allowing the students to take the assessment in a group also allowed for a wonderful type of dialoge I wasn't used to seeing out of them. Unfortuantly, I had to modify on the fly as our time together was cut short, so it ended up being a partner assessment on a notecard where they answered one of the three questions, but it was still great to see those close reading skills pay off. They truly benefited from having a modeled answer as well, so going forward, I think having continued access to examples/models is going to be key to my students' success.