Learning and Leading

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UDL provides a lesson blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone. This is not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather a series of flexible approaches that can be universally designed to meet the needs of every learner.

If you are going to transform learning so learners have a voice and a choice, you involve them in unpacking and how they meet standards, including the Common Core State Standards and the NETS for Students. When learners co-design their learning strategies, they become better prepared for college and the workforce because they are more engaged in the learning process and can continue to use these skills throughout their life.

In a traditional classroom, to meet the Common Core Reading Literature standard for Key Ideas and Details, third graders read or listen to the same text in the same way and are usually asked to respond in the same way as everyone else in the class.

Third Grade Literature: Key Ideas and Details (ELA-RL. 3. 1). Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

In a Stage One PLE, third graders are more involved in how they learn as they unpack ELA 3. 1 with their teacher, who asks them questions that encourage discussion, such as:

• What are the most important events that happened in the story? How do you know?

• Can you tell how the character is feeling in this part of the story?

• How does this character affect what happens in the beginning or at the end of the story?

• What lesson is this story teaching you?

For instance, imagine that the third graders are attempting to demonstrate understanding of the moral of Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney. This beautiful picture book tells of the life of the author’s great aunt Alice, now called the Lupine Lady. When she was little, Alice told her grandfather that she wanted to do as he did—go to far-away places and live in a house by the sea. He told her that she must also do something to make the world more beautiful.

The teacher reads the book to the whole class and then makes it accessible to them in several different formats, such as:

• On eBookBrowse ( ebookbrowse.com/miss-rumphius-pdf- d14743889)

• As a video on You Tube ( www.youtube.comwatch?v= DrjPzbuxLJU)

• As a podcast

• In other publishing formats, such as SpeakSelection (for iOS6),
a text-to-speech tool for readers who need to hear the story as
they read along
She then facilitates discussions about the lesson the book
teaches with the learners. The children decide that the moral of
the story is that people can make the world more beautiful.

In this Stage One lesson, the teacher identifies these NETS•S to address:

Ia. Creativity and Innovation: Apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.

IIa. Communication and Collaboration: Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media.