Page 93 - EdViewptsSpring2021

expression, and finally multiple walk into – such as sharing the why of During those two years, our school
means of engagement. Two of these learning, making connections within the also moved to the math workshop
principles can be seen as sections of classroom, posing questions to students model where our entire math
a lesson. to inquire about, etc. This comes in department was able to shadow math
• Multiple means of representation multiple forms answering the question, classes within the West Windsor-
defined as providing multiple “What makes the student excited about Plainsboro Regional School District
ways for students to understand and engaged in their learning?” to glean practices that worked in their
the course content -- for example, Unity Charter School’s entire staff classrooms. We discovered that it
a lecture by the instructor, a spent two years educating ourselves was UDL that was making this model
video, or a listening activity like a about UDL. We hired UDL consultant, successful. Math teachers taught us
podcast -- all being offered within Sandra Wosniak, who led us through about how to best utilize online tools
the same “lesson.” full day workshops, immersing us in like Khan Academy and Desmos.
• Next moving to providing multiple what it truly means to have multiple They also showed us how to utilize a
variety of online math manipulatives
means of action and expression means of representation, action, and as alternatives to actual manipulatives.
defined as giving students the engagement. We worked through By allowing students choice of
opportunity to work with the activities that utilized numerous online activities, they were able to apply the
concept using different tools - for tools including Padlet, Wordles, knowledge they acquired through
example a game, some sort of Flipgrid, closed captioning on videos, inquiry, exploration, and discourse,
manipulative, a worksheet, or and identifying the right tool for the job coupled with small group instruction
even inviting the students to write within her magnificent livebinder. We and conferencing. The students were
a song about the concept. balanced the online tools with activities able to master math content and
The final principle of UDL, multiple that allowed students to build their application with great success. Our
means of engagement, leads to a own knowledge and ask questions of team was excited to integrate our new
discussion of how to engage the one another. Teachers started thinking learnings, and we were off to a strong
students in agency over their own about how they could move from 2019-2020 school year with UDL
continuing education. This may be giving information, to having students practices growing in each classroom.
different in each classroom that you unveil the information for themselves. Little did we know that a pandemic

Educational Viewpoints -91- Spring 2021