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Perceived Barriers to UDL Implementation

Survey of staff

The Questions: What perceived barriers are in

  • reaching all learners
  • lesson planning
  • creating assessments
  • general classroom implementation

Link: https://forms.gle/rfsrhEnwoEFKcx2YA

Common Concerns

No matter the question, these perceived barriers were noted by teachers

  • Behavior - Teachers were worried that with UDL, too much would be going on that classroom management would become an issue.
  • Solution - Luckily, UDL addresses this need with multiple means of engagement and providing options for self-regulation (need PD on this).
  • Planning Time - Teachers who are now learning more about the UDL Guidelines are realizing that it will take a lot of time to plan out UDL lessons-they felt they need more time to do it.
  • Solution - We currently are running multiple UDL lesson planning Zoom sessions with consultants who specialize in UDL. This will help build capacity. We will continue this work throughout the summer and in our PLCs.
  • With so many learning styles, needs of ELLs, and gaps, how do you address all of those needs in a UDL plan?
  • Solution - the very nature of a UDL plan will help address these needs (need more PD and concrete examples of plans to help demonstrate this).
  • Need More PD! Many teachers aren't fluent yet in the guidelines and are struggling to see how UDL will come alive in their classroom.
  • Solution - More PD is coming, and I feel many teachers who gave those responses have just started with some of the PD we are offering.

Wait - UDL or DI?

There seems to be confusion between UDL and Differentiated Instruction...

Many educators noted concerns about how the time to create lessons to meet the individual needs of all their students would be prohibitive-in terms of the amount of resources, time for planning and time to execute in a class period. As I reviewed these concerns, I realized that they must of have been thinking of Differentiated Instruction rather than UDL. SOLUTION: More PD and exemplars are needed to fully illustrate how providing a buffet of resources rather than individualized plates for each student is how UDL will happen successfully.

Let's start with a video!

https://youtu.be/iY9PecIWcWE

Katie Novak talks about how providing UDL is like providing students with a buffet!

Perceived Barriers with Choices

There was some concern with providing choices

Some teachers were concerned that

  • If students are provided choices, they will ultimately choose the easiest option.
  • Solution -more PD around lesson planning - if a learning goal has been set that is rooted in standards, all choices made (regardless if they are choices for multiple means of recruiting interest, multiple means of representation, or multiple means of action and expression) they should all be rigorous because they will all attend to the same learning goal. This will take time to develop.
  • If students are provided with choices they won't be prepared for the MCAS. "Students don't get to choose on MCAS."
  • Solution - more PD around developing assessments - the process that happens in the classroom is meant to prepare students by teaching them skills that are set when choosing learning goals for lessons. When you assess them, you see if they understand the skills. Once they are able to practice the skill-they can apply that learning to many scenarios, including MCAS. We've taught for years using only MCAS style materials and this hasn't worked.

Everyone Being on Board

Everyone is at different places with UDL

Many educators voiced concerns about having everyone "be on board." They recognize that this will be hard work, but it will be harder if not everyone believes in the work and continues with what they have always done.

Solution: Leadership at Normandin is dedicated to establish a UDL culture. We are working towards providing a number of opportunities for staff to receive PD and support through modeling, coaching and constant messaging. We are in the process of saturating our school with a UDL culture (and this is just year one). It is catching on, and our voluntary PDs are very well attended! I think a barrier that some teachers have to engaging in the work is that they haven't experienced a UDL success yet. Once they do, they will also start to believe and may begin to engage in the more of the work. Selecting one of the guidelines to focus on to start with might be a good place to start.

More PD, Please

More PD! Keep it coming!

As mentioned before, many times to various questions, educators simply stated they needed to understand UDL more. They couldn't yet see how it would work in their content, or in their resource room, or in their co-teach class. Luckily, we are currently engaging in PD to address all of the those areas!

Solution: We will continue to commit to more PD and provide support whenever possible. We all continue (including me) to become more fluent in the UDL mindset.

Time; Resources

Need Time! Need Resources!

Many educators recognize that in order to provide students with the ability to have choices in their materials, in their assessments and in their classroom in general, teachers can see that we need time to consider barriers and the resources to address them.

Solution: We are identifying low tech ways that some of these things can be addressed (creating anchor charts, providing more copy paper to have resources available, purchased classroom libraries and looking at our supply ordering to maximize resources for teaching tools) but have also been investing in technology for students (going one-to-one with Chromebooks for next year, and identifying a varitey of online tools and platforms to provide students with a varitey of ways to demonstrate their learning) as well as investing in teacher technology (short-throw projectors for as many classrooms as we can afford to outfit).

We are also looking at our PLC time and how we can better use it to provide support around lesson planning, strategy trouble-shooting and other types of support.

Admin Support

Teachers asked for specific things from admin

Teachers realized that one of the biggest barriers to implementing UDL is their lack of knowledge and experience and simply asked for patience and time from admin. Teachers asked for support through modelling, continued PD, and coaching.

Solution: Leadership has asked that teachers start small and begin to start planning UDL strategies by choosing one area of the guidelines and building from there. We've also tried to message to them that if they try a strategy and it doesn't go well, we will celebrate that they are engaging in the work and support them to be better. So many teachers fear receiving a negative evaluation and worry about trying new strategies. This is a barrier the admin team is working on constantly.

Big Takeaways

Big Takeaways

This was a very good exercise to better learn about staff needs through their perceived barriers. It will help in targeting future PD to help our staff better understand how to deliver UDL guidelines. I learned that barriers exist in the following forms:

  • There is still confusion between UDL and DI.
  • There is apprehension around providing students choices in recruiting interest, providing multiple means of representation and action and expression.
  • There is still a need for introductory PD to help our staff become more fluent in UDL.
  • Staff are still nervous to lose control of their classroom.
  • Staff are still nervous to try new things and not be successful.
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