UDL to Solve a Problem Project Judith Kauffman Sped 644 March 12, 2014

General Class Description: There are four students that participate in our science class from our ALS classroom. These students have a varying range of ability and disabilities. The average reading level among these students is approximately mid first grade to mid third grade. Their comprehension is also an area of weakness, falling in the same range. In this general education classroom, there are 26 students. There is also wide range of academic ability and behavior problems within this classroom. The total amount of students during science instruction is 30. There are two additional support personal for science instruction.

Current Challenge: These students have difficulty communicating their ideas in writing. They have difficulty reading and understanding the subject matter in our Language Arts Infused science curriculum. These students also struggle with fine motor skills – such as writing. Their ability to sustain attention is low, so work needs to be chunked and meaningful.

Barriers: Our science curriculum was infused with language arts which demands reading and writing on a fifth grade level. These four students do not read or write on a fifth grade level Students reading and writing is on an average mid first grade to mid third grade level. Curriculum content is lost when their ability does not match content. Adult support can sometimes provide too much support and student’s conceptual knowledge is unknown. Attention during instruction is a problem that impairs their learning.

Solving Problem: The major item addressed was getting curriculum to meet their academic level – modifying curriculum without losing academic achievement or content.  Pre-teaching vocabulary  Providing sentence starters for assessment  Using multimedia expression  Activating prior knowledge  Creating a co-operative learning environment  Using visual aides

Representation Checkpoint:  Students were provided with pictures of vocabulary words and pre-printed vocabulary words. This allowed them to communicate their understanding of the scientific concepts and not focus on the task of writing or drawing pictures.  Student participated in a field-study. This would reinforce what we learned in the classroom and provide visuals and background knowledge to what they would eventually learn to create in a two-liter soda bottle.

Action and Expression Checkpoint:  Sentence starters were provided for the assessment. Students were required to fill in the appropriate vocabulary word to complete the sentences. Providing sentence starters allows students to “fill in” their understanding of the scientific concepts.  We worked in groups in the computer lab Students were paired with stronger, nurturing students to create a digital representation of what they would eventually create in a two-liter soda bottle.

Engagement Checkpoint:  Students would have trouble creating their own pictures to place in the eco-chamber. We provided pictures for students to cut out (if they are able), color, and paste in the eco-chamber. Students were able to actively participate in this activity (independent of most adult support) and their representations were included based on their computer model that they previously created. Fine motor skills were modified to suit student’s need.  Students have difficulty staying engaged in learning tasks. Picture clues are used to remind students to stay active participates in our learning objectives.

Worksheet for Representation:

Worksheet for Action and Expression

Worksheet for Engagement: