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Upcoming Workshop

How Educators Can Use Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to Build Student Agency

Presenter: Susan Shapiro
An 8-month virtual workshop series

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

Many middle school educators report knowing a little bit about the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, being interested in learning more, but not having an opportunity to do so. This professional learning series is designed to address that need. It will build the capacity and confidence of educators/educational teams to proactively design inclusive instruction that provides every student with access (to the learning) and agency (as a learner).  

 

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING GOALS

Educators who participate in this series will understand:  

  • variability in student learning can be anticipated and designed for proactively 

  • emotion and cognition are inextricably linked in the learning process 

  • barriers are characteristics of designs — not characteristics of learners (or educators, administrators, families/caregivers) 


And be able to:  

  • Design learning experiences that honor and build students’ learning agency (i.e. the capacity to make decisions in the service of one’s goals) 

  • Align the strengths and effectiveness of their instructional practice (and/or the practice of their instructional teams) to the UDL Guidelines 

  • Set goals for improved instructional practice and identify how the UDL Guidelines can support professional growth  

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LOGISTICS AND SCHEDULE

​This virtual workshop series will meet once a month for eight months. Workshops will be interactive and include time for discussion. This series is designed for educators and paraeducators working in any role or content area with middle-level learners.  The maximum number of educators in each year-long cohort is 30. Schools are also invited to create a series for a cohort of 30 of their own.  Each virtual session will be 60-minutes with application exercises to try between sessions.  
 
Each virtual workshop session in the series will be held on a Monday from 3:30-4:30 pm ET.  


● October 26 - Educator Introductions: Instructional Strengths & Student Stories 
● November 23 - Variability in How Students Learn: What Educators Notice & Wonder  
● December 14 - Instructional Planning that Acknowledges the Relationship between Emotion & Cognition in Learning   
● January 25- Barriers as Characteristics of Designs (Not People): Rethinking Policies and Practices  
● February 22- Designing Multiple Ways for Students to Engage in Learning  
● March 15- Designing Multiple Representations of the Curricular Content  
● April 26- Designing Multiple Ways for Students to Act & Express Learning  
● May 24- Educator Showcase of UDL Applied to Instructional Practice 

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION: If you use the interactive form, please remember to do a "Save As" after you type in your information to save the form to your computer. Then you can print the form to mail or attach the form to email to NELMS.

Presenter Information

Susan Shapiro

Susan Shapiro brings a wealth of educational experience, expertise, and vision to her work. Throughout her career, Susan’s focus has been building the capacity of educators to design inclusive, accessible learning. She has worked as a teacher, inclusive education consultant, teacher education faculty member, and, most recently, as a Senior Professional Learning Specialist at CAST, the non-profit research and development organization that developed Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

 

Contact information: Susan Shapiro UDL Consulting, email address: susanshapiro711@gmail.com 

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