1. Variability, Barriers, & Student Behavior

2. Exploration Session Goal
Participants will gain insight into student behavior variability and explore strategies to address behavior barriers
Participants will consider behavior barriers in their learning environments and how to address them.

3. From Monday… Qualities of favorite teacher:
Keep the conversation going!
Qualities of favorite teacher:
Emotionally connected
Relatable
Connected on an emotional level
Super energized
Emotionally invested
Checked in with students
Met specific learning needs
Let’s try to get to know our “most challenging” student.

4. Brainstorming Activity
Find a partner
Discuss challenging behaviors/students
Agree on a type of student you want to keep in mind throughout the session
What makes this student challenging?
What characteristics describe this student?
What seem to be barriers for this student?

5. North, South, East, West

6. Compass Points: NSEW Debrief Questions
1. What are some strengths of your style?
2. What are some limitations of your style?
3. What does your style look like, both positively and negatively, in student form?
4. What supports does this style need in a learning/working environment?
5. What other style might cause this student the most behavior problems/barriers?

7. Danger Zones
Debrief
How could this type of activity be used in your learning environment to address variability in behavior?

8. What can we do about variability in student behavior?
Let’s share some strategies!

9. Five Finger Covenant

10. PBISWorld www.pbisworld.com Pick a behavior
See a list of strategies and interventions

11. Get Student Feedback
UDL Now! (Katie Novak)Chapter 8: Using Student Feedback to Inform Instruction
Ideas
Survey Students (What assignments are frustrating to you and why? What assignments help you to feel the most successful?)
Ask about personal coping strategies (What helps you learn best? Do you feel safe in school?)
Learn about the 7 Cs of effective teaching

12. UDL Now!, Chapter 8
“Once you understand the variability in students’ interests and how they view the world, you can differentiate processes by providing varying learning activities when you design your lessons. It’s not up to you to choose how the students learn. It’s up to you to provide options they will want to choose to learn. If you don’t know your students, you can’t design a curriculum that is relevant to them.”
-Katie Novak

13. Get To Know Your Students!
UDL Now! Chapter 3: Recruiting and Engaging Students as UDL Partners
Katie’s Strategies:
Create a class pledge for students to sign (PBIS Expectations, 5-Finger Covenant)
Ask students to write a letter explaining why they should be “The Favorite Student”

14. Teach Students to Collaborate
Use protocols!
Taken from “Why Protocols?”
“A protocol consists of agreed upon guidelines for a conversation, and it is the existence of this structure — which everyone understands and has agreed to — that permits a certain kind of conversation to occur — often a kind of conversation which people are not in the habit of having. Protocols are vehicles for building the skills — and culture — necessary for collaborative work.”

15. Resources for Protocols
National School Reform Faculty
Check out: “Tuning”, “Fishbowl”, “Dilemma”!

16. Resources for Protocols
Visible Thinking Routines
Check out: “See, Think, Wonder,” “Compass Points”

17. Pinterest Search for specific behaviors or barriers
See what ideas you find!

18. Other Ideas UDL Facilitators Remember, students can be experts!
Use student voice to create PBIS expectations

19. Exploration Time
Explore, discuss, or think about the activities (NSEW, Danger Zones) we completed and strategies offered.
With your “student” in mind, think about at least 1 strategy you could try in your learning environment.
Which UDL guideline does it fit into?

20. Debrief New insight on your “student?” Major takeaway or strategy?
Additions to learning environment?

21. Quote “Universal Design for Learning: theory and practice”
…”a UDL curriculum designer or teacher can plan for expected variability across learners and provide curriculum that has corresponding flexibility and affordances to amplify natural abilities and reduce unnecessary barriers for most students, and enable teachers to customize easily for each learner. Of course, there will be outliers who may require on-the-fly individualization or innovative single solutions.”
Page 10

22. Don’t Forget!
Remember, challenging students in a UDL classroom are more likely to find options that help them be successful and become expert learners than in an environment that is not universally designed!