UDL in the classroom

        Today, many students in schools need special classes and more special help in order for the to be successful. This week, we had to talk about the Universal Design for Learning, or UDL. This article, Providing New Access, looking at the core curriculum for students, changing things and making things more understandable for other students to understand.

This week I pinned in my Pinterest about a book called A Boy who Grew Flowers is a story I thought would be a great thing to read in a classroom because it explains to students in a fun and creative way that not everyone is built the same, but thats no reason to think of them as different. Students all have things that make them unique, and what makes them unique is how other students can learn from each other. I thought this book was so interesting, and should be in every classroom, no matter what age level or educational level.

UDL Curriculum provides many things for those students who might need a little extra help in school. This chart is taken directly from the article that talks about UDL and inclusion in education.

In a UDL curriculum:
• Goals provide an appropriate challenge for all students.
• Materials have a flexible format, supporting transformation between media and multiple representations of content to support all students’ learning.
• Methods are flexible and diverse enough to provide appropriate learning experiences, challenges, and supports for all students.
• Assessment is sufficiently flexible to provide accurate, ongoing information that helps teachers adjust instruction and maximize learning.

Having a curriculum that has many concepts and materials is how it became universal, for all students shapes and sizes. This helps teachers to understand what needs to be taught in the classroom as well, allowing for not a lot of flexibility with material, but flexibility with how the material was going  to be taught. “The “general curriculum” is the overall plan for instruction adopted by a school or school system.” These general guidelines are their to help give instruction to schools and teachers in a school system.

This idea of UDL can be compared to the civil rights movement, just like it was compared in the article. The civil rights movement was all about people being equal and treated as equal, no matter gender, race, or sexuality. This is the same thing with the UDL, allowing students with all different learning skills to still continue through education just as any other students using their talents to their advantage and working to improve their weaknesses.

      The picture that I posted along with this blog has many words that describes UDL, and words that describe that no matter what type of student is in a classroom, their differences make them unique. It is so important that students understand that some students need a little extra help, and there is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes, having this difficulties in the classroom make students stronger in other areas of education or life, and that is what makes them special.

What is diversity? And what does being diverse mean in a classroom? Diversity is a term to corresponds with race, and culture. To be diverse means that that people or students are able to relate to many different cultures, learning all kinds of different things. To be culturally aware in a classroom is very important for kids especially when they are in an elementary school setting. Learning about different types of cultures helps students to understand their own culture, and what else is going on in the world. 

Chapter three in McNerghney’s book talks about eh importance of multicultural education in creating a classroom that discusses different types of culture. Culture, as defined in the book, “refers to all of the learned characteristics of a people”, which includes language, religion, social mores, artistic expression, beliefs, and values. When students are able to understand what makes up a culture, they are more likely to more more globally diverse, and even understand their own culture more than before.

Today, students in elementary schools are experiencing people for all different races and ethnicities coming to their classroom and moving into their neighborhoods. Often times, kids expect these new people to change their ways and adapt to the new society they are living in, but most times, these kids keep aspects from their old cultures, which then makes them different. By teaching the importance of different cultures and understanding the importance of different races, kids are more likely to not view these new kids as different, but accept that they have different values, and want to learn more about this new culture. This reading, multicultural education, race and education values are discussed. This reading from the module really stuck out to me about the importance of culture, but also about how by not understanding new cultures, racism is often developed. 

Teaching multicultural education also has many other benefits for education. One line in the book stood out to me about the importance of multicultural education. Page 52 outlines 5 approaches for multicultural education, and the first is “Teaching the culturally different tries to assimilate people into the cultural mainstream using transitional bridges in the regular school program”. Incorporating cultural aspects will help students in the long run be able to understand new cultures. 

By letting students explore cultures, students are more likely to share ideas, allowing students to learn from each other and grow into different learners.

The topic of Columbus day has become a challenging one in many school systems. As I was growing up, I was taught that Columbus was this big hero for discovering America and that if not for him, we could not exist. While part of this is true, he did not exactly land in The United States of America, something I later found out in my education, and himself and his sailors were not the first people to come live on this land. In fact, many Native American people were already starting the basis of our lives on this land, we as a society just give all the credit to Columbus. Was Columbus really the hero that we celebrate every year?

One of the reading posted,Discovering Columbus, demonstrates a sixth grade teacher trying to explain to his students that Columbus did not discover America by giving a parallel between stealing a students purse and Columbus ‘stealing’ America from the Native Americans. The teacher asks students what other words besides discovery would explain what Columbus did. “Discovery represents the point of view of the supported discovers. It’s the invaders masking the theft” (page 2). All the stories we are told and written in our text books are chosen by what people who support Columbus want us to read. If what we learned everyday was decided by people of Native American decent, we might know the truth about Columbus sooner in our educations. One thing that I remember learning about in the sixth grade that shocked me, and seemed to shock these students as well was what exactly Columbus brought back from America. We all know he brought back spices, and riches, and clothes, but on Columbus's second voyage(yes he had two) he took back 500 people to Spain, as slaves.

These books that teachers are using in elementary schools are getting students to route for Columbus, and certainly do not give all the facts about what kind of person he was. In the second article I looked at, No Reason to Celebrate an Invasion, an interesting question is brought up; What should be the goal and perspective of teachers when telling their elementary and high school students about Columbus? The article says that teachers should respect the truth about the past, and I agree.  By telling kids one thing in elementary school and then changing the story later on in life, kids become confused, and the question “What else am I being told that isn’t true?” is being seen more and more. Personally, I think the truth needs to be told earlier in kids lives. As someone that will be going into elementary education. I want to be honest and truthful with students, but I also understand that Columbus and his ways are very complex. I think that be starting off with the smaller details about Columbus, like that he came across America, and that he was not very kind to the people living there are a good way to start off for the little, innocent, kids, and then as they get older, discuss just how unjust he was to these people and the harsher things he did to hurt them. I think it is important to be able to understand the truth, especially in education.

             I think that if more students know the truth about Columbus, they will be better adapted towards learning and trusting education in the future.
          I found this wanted poster of Columbus online. I like it because besides being funny, it captivates the truth behind Columbus, and even thought he did find the Americas first, he did no discover them, he simply stole away the land, took about the peoples riches, and sold the natives into slavery. Does that sound like a hero in our country?