Universal Design for Learning and CLIL (3)

 

UDL Principle II: Multiple Means of Expression

All educators know that there is not only one  means of action and expression that will be suitable for all learners; therefore, we should  do our best  to provide students  with a variety of alternatives for demonstrating what they have learned.

For those of you familiar with the Guidelines within UDL,  first I would like to focus on Guideline 5 and, specifically, checkpoint 5.2, i.e. "use multiple tools for construction and composition". 

In other words, how can we provide students with tools that match their abilities and the demand of the task regarding creation, construction or composition?  Let me give you some examples:

• Language tool offers spell and grammar checking. Very useful for students who need help with their pieces of writing in any content area.

• BookBuilder is the perfect tool to help students to create, share and publish their digital stories.  It also contains models which are ready to use.

• Scratch is available in many different languages, Basque included. Students will be able to create their interactive stories, games and animations. 

      

•  Canva   is the world’s easiest design tool that allows you to design anything and publish anywhere. 

Principle 2  also highlights the need educators have to provide options for executive functions (Guideline 6).  How can we help our students?   Let's consider a couple of tools:

• Worksheets to set goals  : this site offers  worksheets , teaching ideas and lessons for Math, Language, Science, social skills, behavioral, social emotional learning and media literacy.  Besides all this, it contains  a variety of worksheets for setting goals, which will be really useful to set personal goals which are challenging and realistic. 

      

• The learning Toolbox home enables students with several difficulties to be better learners.  Students have a menu that covers organization, note taking, reading, writing, test taking and Maths. 

Willing to know about how to make the most of  principle 3 ? Keep on reading this blog  because my next entry will focus on it.