UDL and the Pressures to Teach ALL Students

More and more responsibility is being placed on teachers to make sure that we educate all students and allow them to reach their fullest potential in the classroom. District, state and even national standards are being adopted to ensure that teachers are being accountable. On top of this, classrooms are being transformed into inclusive classrooms, where one teacher will have to handle students on multiple reading and academic levels, different behavioral or attentional issues and ever students who have mild-moderate learning disabilities. The pressure to reach all students has never been higher for educators. BUT this is why Universal Design for Learning has become so important for teachers to implement.

Long before Universal Design for Learning, educational theorists had believed that all students brains are similar in how they operate before, during and after learning new information. Now with new information from science on how the brain functions and with new educational theories being recognized (Howard Gardner and Multiple Intelligences) educators are finding that their instructional delivery needs to be as varied as the students themselves.  

Luckily, along with new scientific discoveries of the functioning of the brain has come new inventions to help educators deliver instruction using diverse resources. The internet has become a great tool for educators to use, for websites, videos and visuals/graphic organizers to help students better understand the curriculum. Digital books and audio books have also become great tools for educators in need of providing differentiated material for their students with specific learning disabilities. CAST, Center for Applied Special Technology, is a great resource for videos to help you learn more about UDL, and tools for teachers to use in the classroom.