Education and Parents are calling for “student centered” classrooms, but there is a wide range of practices and expectations of what this means. This presentation will provide four pillars of practice to consider in framing a student centered classroom. Beginning with UDL as the basis for how curriculum is presented to students, the other pillars include communication practices, student and teacher accountability, and feedback to guide student progression through curriculum. This session will focus on these practices which support the student centered classroom while retaining teacher sanity!

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The UDL-PLC series provides you with 15 modules that guide the development of a professional learning community focusing on UDL. Each module has 2 segments: Learn and Discuss.  While UDL-PLC modules can be viewed in the order of your choosing, we suggest that you be sure to view following module, which serves as introductions to the series. 

Introduction To Developing A PLC: UDL-PLC Module Series

In this module, you will learn about flexible, student-centered classroom design, and the importance of establishing classroom routines. You will reflect on how the organization of classroom space supports UDL principles and guidelines, and share your thoughts with your PLC colleagues.

The UDL core principles, multiple means of engagement, representation and expression, are the cornerstones of UDL. In this module, you will learn how to apply these guidelines during the design of lessons, materials and instruction. You will discover that many classroom strategies you already use are compatible with UDL, and you will add new strategies to your UDL toolkit. Some of these strategies will require the use of technology and others will not. You don’t need to embrace technology to begin applying the UDL Guidelines.

Each core principle is divided into 3 guidelines and each guideline is further divided into checkpoints.Collectively, these are known as the UDL Guidelines. Please print a copy of the UDL: Theory and Practice version of the Guidelines (2014)(link is external) from the National Center on Universal Design for Learning(link is external) to use while exploring this module. In the UDL 2.0 version of the UDL Guidelines (2008), the core principles appeared in a different order: Representation, Expression and Engagement. Both versions are currently in use.