Universal Design for Learning: Face-to-Face

1. To meet this principle, each topic can be presented in different ways. For example, a concept of introducing 'animals' can be done through showing videos to the class (provides auditory inputs for visually impaired), planning a field trip to a zoo (real life experience for students with physical disabilities) . This way every child would be exposed to multiple ways of looking at a topic with repetition that's unique and interesting.

2. Multiple Means of Engagement

3. Multiple Means of Representation

3.1. In an Upper School English class, providing information through different modalities is important. For students who have difficulties, providing speech-to-text software to help students compose essays might be helpful, as well as enabling captions on films that are viewed in class. The reverse process is also important - allowing text to audio is important. Allowing students to listen to audio books to accompany the novels that we read is helpful. Listening to poets recite their work aids students in better understanding the emotional capacity of the literature, etc.

3.2. Allowing students to create comic strips, either using a technological application or more traditional drawing tools, in order to accompany literature that is being studied/read in class may help students to better understand character development and key ideas / themes.

3.3. Teaching annotation skills that encourage students to highlight, outline or otherwise transform important elements of the text might be helpful under this primciple.

3.3.1. Asking students to create presentations that deal with historical background about a novel's setting or an author's biography can help students to make connections between new pieces of material.

3.4. In order to clarify vocabulary in new reading, allowing students to create individual glossaries can be helpful. They can do this in a wiki space or on a forum if the teacher would like students to share their information.

4. For best results, teachers should be trained in how to write assignments, etc., that can be translated into high quality speech; similarly, they should know how to speak in class in a manner that ensures high quality translation into text.

5. During lessons, a teacher can provide a variety of organizers (e.g., concept map or mind map, text outline) for students' use in organizing the information.

6. As curriculum and standards permit, students should be allowed a choice in how much challenge they want to take on.

7. Students can be presented with novel "real world" problems that have no single right solution method. For students with less confidence in such an unstructured environment, teachers and fellow students can provide procedural scaffolding.

7.1. Students in an upper school English course could be asked to put a character on trial and to role play the parts of the "witnesses" using details from the novel in order to create the characters' testimony. Other role playing can also help students to create these simulations of "real world" scenarios.

7.1.1. While reading a distopian novel, like Fahrenheit 451, students can look at issues today with social media, the impact of technology on reading and the transfer of information, etc. and then work on projects that ask them to apply what they learn to their insights about the reading.

8. As often as possible, activities should be structured to be meaningful to the students; since meaning can vary among them, students should have some input in designing activities because sometimes even simple changes will make big differences to students' engagement.

8.1. Give students variety and choice in the way in which they demonstrate learning. Give them the basic criteria for grading (rubric) and then allow them to decide the means by which they will meet these standards. Give the kids opportunities to use their strengths in ways that best demonstrate their understanding and interpretation of the material.

9. New node

10. To be able to generate collaboration, students could be divided into teams and the assignments can be open-ended allowing students to use their ideas freely. Also it helps when all students are unable to contribute equally. Each student can learn something from the other members.

11. Students should be allowed to express their understanding in a way they wish. usually there is a structure that a teacher provides to which students respond. For meeting the second principle, instructor can allow the students to answer or recreate the information in a way they wish as long as the task recreates what they have learned. Taking the same example of topic of 'animals', student may draw the pictures of animals, just name them, or for really challenged students, just circle or point out the animals from the picture containing different images.

12. Multiple Means of Expression

13. Allow students to have options for their response to a piece of literature - rather than only permitting a traditional essay response, use voice recording to create a verbal demonstration of the students' understanding, or an opportunity to use visual art to show understanding of character development, theme, etc.

14. Team activities can be structured with multiple, flexible roles that allow students to participate in a variety of modalities.

15. Teachers can model for students a variety of ways to practice the learning so that the students can choose one with which they have the most comfort or one that might be a stretch, depending on their needs at the time.

16. Allowing students to use word processing softward that incorporates spell check, grammar check and text-to-speech can help them in the creation of their written work.