Universal Design for Learning

Introduction

Universal Design Learning is a framework for design, instructions and assessments that offer students equal opportunities to learn and demonstrate whatever they have learned. It is built on the basis that there is no distinct kind of learning. On the contrary, the process of learning differs across tasks and among individuals.

Importance of UDL in the Learning Environment

Universal Design Learning gives teachers inspiration and guidance to acquire ways of helping needy students. Teachers get the opportunity to discover strategies, methods and technologies that help kids who have trouble accessing the curriculum. It offers students choices on how to take the information presented, for example, by use of digital materials or screen reader, or by working with a partner. It helps them to be actively involved in their learning and build their own learning needs (Rose & Meyer, 2006).

Lesson Outline

Topic: Social Skills in Fork Art

Objectives. Students will be introduced to several Fork Art works, and they will identify the features of Fork Art. Afterwards, they will discuss positive messages about friendship and social interaction that the pieces of art have in common. After the students have discussed and viewed the artworks, they will develop their own personal artistic interpretation of social skills.

Procedures.

1. Students will be introduced to various works of Fork Arts.

2. The next step is to introduce the term ‘Fork Art’ by asking the students to classify the features of the art they see.

3. The teacher will guide the class meanings in the artwork by asking   questions such as: what do you think artworks are all about? Is it about being kind? What else do you see? This is called Respect. What does Respect mean? What do you see in the painting? Discuss possible social messages in the examples (Council for Exceptional Children, 2005).

4. The students will create artistic interpretation of social skills in fork art. They should include themselves in the assignment displaying a social feature. The teacher will review friendly features and social skills that are characterized in the artworks and ask students for more examples. Afterwards, the students stop and think about social skills they would like to show. The next task is to encourage students to imagine how they want their products to look like at this time. The point of this task is to let those who are willing share their ideas before beginning.