The CAST website is a recent phenomenon in the educational world. This website promotes a new style of both teaching and learn called the Universal Design of Learning. It is commonly referred to, as UDL.UDL is a type of teaching that promotes learning for all students. It focuses on “minimizing barriers and maximizing learning” (About Universal Design for Learning). All students learn different and it is important to recognize this. UDL believes that the way each student learns is about as unique as his or her fingerprint. Because of this, teachers must take steps to teach their students in new and appropriate ways to accommodate for all students regardless of the way they learn. There are three essential steps to successfully …show more content…
This section is the how of learning. When using action and expression in UDL teachers are trying to get the students to understand the different way to express their knowledge. This also focuses on the students’ preferences and how they prefer to complete tasks. The students take the variety of learning techniques the teacher uses and decides which one they prefer. They then take it and interpret the information and express it in their own way. It is very common that each student will interpret and then express each lesson differently and uniquely.
Engagement
The final part of the Universal Design for Learning is engagement. Engagement is the why of learning. This, I believe is the most important part of the UDL. Even if teachers are presenting information in a variety of ways, and encouraging their students to interpret and express the information is multiple ways it is useless if the students are not engaged. Engagement is making sure these students are motivated and inspired to learn. This is the teacher’s job. Teachers must keep levels of engagement high in order to have their students be successful at the end of the lesson.
Importance of …show more content…
Throughout the “Our Work” tab there are many links you can search and find information and suggestions supporting this theory. The one I found most interesting the website provides teachers is a way to keep students engaged during algebra. CAST recognized that the subject of algebra is difficult to teach and engage students during these lessons. With this being said algebra is a subject students must learn and master in order to graduate high school. Because of this CAST has designed interactive apps that students can use tablets in class to play. These apps teach them the basics of different lessons and provide them games to complete these concepts. These apps are free to people through iTunes. This resource is something I could see myself using as a future teacher. I believe it will be helpful for algebra lessons for many reasons. First, the apps will be fun. They reach the students at an educational level, while playing a game. They will want to win the game and it will push them to achieve. Second, it is helpful that the games are created by an education organization. It provides a level of comfort knowing that professionals created it and it will be appropriate for children.
Theorists
I believe that HDL can support Bloom’s Taxonomy and Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. Bloom’s theory talks about the hierarchy of learning. The when the student has the deepest understanding of the topic they will be able to produce new