Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Educator's Checklist

UDL Guidelines

Throughout my education at Michigan State and in my first years of teaching, I always prided myself on finding the needs of my students and meeting them. I thought this was the only way to make sure each student learned best and succeeded. This theory has worked for me and my students, however it is quite tedious. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has opened my eyes to a new way of meeting student needs in a more direct way. UDL has educators look for needs in one place- the curriculum. By identifying the strengths and weakness of the curriculum, I can create better and higher quality lessons. Therefore, the needs of my students have a better chance of being meet. 

When evaluating my myths and legends lesson, I realized I was meeting the needs of some of the principles, but I still had a lot of work to do. For example, I felt I did a good job offering auditory and visual information, using multiple media, activating background knowledge, and fostering collaboration and community. These are things I try to do in every lesson. I could use more scaffolding and differentiation. I will definitely use the UDL guidelines when creating lessons in the future.