Misha_Padilla

I am a first-year SAI English III and IV teacher. I love the idea of designing pathways for student learning using the UDL model, rather than only using isolated lessons sprinkled throughout my yearly lesson plan. I now know that can create universal designed lesson plans by asking myself "What are the barriers?" and, "How can I overcome these barriers?" before creating the lesson plan. Coming from the general education classroom, I find that often we ask our students to "color in between the lines" all too often. Rather than offering students a variety of modalities to express their creativity, we are pressured to foster in them a sense of mastery of the traditional way of academic production, namely, essays, presentations, and speeches. The older model of direct instruction asks students to create appropriate products that we have asked of them, rather than to observe their thoughts and ideas and allow them the freedom to express these ideas in a creative way "out of the box'. As a teacher, we are often surrounded by a whirlwind of chaos, expectation, and information. To simplify my life, I will always make sure I do three things to create the best lesson plan I can: Engage all students, present information in a variety of ways, and give them options for sharing their knowledge while always remembering to focus on what a student CAN do rather than what he CAN'T.