An idea outlined in this chapter regarding student choice that struck me as one I could use immediately would be to have a method for assisting students who have a difficult time selecting an option for a task. This appeals to me because rolling dice or flipping a coin is an easy solution to help spur along reluctant students, and one that doesn't require anything special. I could see myself using this in my math classrooms when students are working on review or another project.

Ellie,
I really appreciate that you mentioned having several different ways for the activity to be completed, as that allows student choice in demonstrating their understanding. Allowing students to decide how they might best communicate proficiency can require a bit more work on the teacher's end, but the learning is more meaningful and genuine for the students.

The best lesson I have ever taught was one I created for 4th grade students in 2020, not long before we all went home for the school year. As I entered into a new math unit on multi-digit division, I planned a lot ahead of time, wanting to teach through task. Instead of telling my students that we would be dividing and using direct instruction, I gave students a situation where division would be used to answer a question, and then I provided them with many different manipulatives and had them work in partnerships.

The situation was a Halloween party that was catered by Cascadia Pizza's (local pizza place) food truck. I told the students how many single slices of pizza were sold, how many slices a whole pizza consisted of, and asked them how many whole pizzas must have been made. The follow up question to that was how many slices were unsold if no extra pizzas were made. Students jumped right in and started discussing, drawing, and manipulating tools to work the problem out.

I knew this was a success, because students kept referencing this activity when explaining their understanding throughout the unit (and even the following year when a student brought up how much they enjoyed it).

Here are the guidelines I believe I met:
Provide options for self-regulation
Provide options for sustaining effort and persistence
Provide options for recruiting interest
Provide options for comprehension
Provide options for executive functions
Provide options for expression and communication
Provide options for physical action

Ellie, I am also new to UDL. I am more easily seeing how I might implement UDL lessons in other subject areas, but have a hard time wrapping my mind around it with middle school math, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out.

Hello, my name is Shawn Seeley, and I am a math teacher at Maple View Middle School. I started my career teaching elementary, and have enjoyed different aspects of each over the last several years. I am in my 6th year of teaching.

This is the beginning of my UDL journey, but I have heard of it before. Being very interested in mathematical teaching, I have attempted to make math more accessible to as many students as possible by teaching through tasks, having both a "low floor" and "high ceiling". I do my best to understand my students at an individual level, and then anticipate how they might approach a novel problem or situation. I'm hoping to gain some insight into how I might better engage all of my students.

I also am planning on using the elevator speech, especially if we continue to use distance learning of some sort next year. It would be a great way to have students check-in for attendance purposes, while also checking for understanding.

The three strategies I would use and talk to my team about are: 1) 30-second elevator speech; 2) call-in summarization; and 3) Snap4Edu. I like the elevator speech because it allows students to practice being concise. One way I could use this is having students record Screencastify or Flipgrid videos, limiting the time to thirty seconds. Call-in summarization is a great strategy for many of the same reasons as the elevator speech. Lastly, Snap4Edu is a good strategy because I could see myself creating some Google Slide templates for students to use in their Reader’s Notebooks. Students could also create their own templates as well, allowing them to express their creativity.

I think this strategy would be a great one to try. It also has connections to poetry, which might be helpful for some students.

I chose Snap4Edu on page 174. I like this strategy because of the possibility of literature connections. In our new reading curriculum, we ask students to make connections in their Reader's Notebooks. This strategy could allow students to make connections digitally in an easily shareable format. Come to think of it, creating a Google Slides template for students to use and then putting that as a weekly assignment for students might be a great way to keep tabs on their notebooks. Students might even be able to search for or create images (with Google Drawings or similar) that help them visualize what they've read.

Dana,
I love integrating subjects whenever possible. It really helps students make stronger connections to concepts and material, while also giving them a dual purpose in their work.