UDL, PBL, & MTSS

Designing for Every Learner

I believe in setting students on the proper path to a meaningful life by ensuring learning is accessible, engaging, and highly relevant. As students transition into the upper elementary grades, they need instruction that fosters their natural curiosity while building their academic independence and executive functioning. To achieve this, I move away from rote, single-format tasks and instead rely on a layered approach combining Universal Design for Learning, Project-Based Learning, and a Multi-Tiered System of Supports. By grounding my core instruction in authentic projects with real-world audiences, and backing it with data-driven, targeted interventions, I ensure that every child, regardless of their learning profile, is motivated and set up to reach their highest potential.

Universal Design for Learning

Every child has unique strengths, and I do whatever it takes to differentiate my instruction so they can each find their own success.

Flexible Assessments

During a novel study on the historical fiction book The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn, I bypassed the traditional multiple-choice test. Instead, I assessed comprehension by having students create a "marketing campaign." They chose from a variety of formats, such as advertisement posters, video trailers, character trading cards, short graphic novels, producing a play, or making a webpage, which empowered diverse students to leverage their individual strengths to show mastery.

Digital Accessibility

For the California Mission Project, I allowed students to use multimedia tools like Google Slides. Many traditional mission projects require physical models that heavily rely on parent assistance, which takes ownership away from the student. Leveraging digital skills bridges the gap between high- and low-performing students and makes learning manageable and fun.

Project-Based Learning & Collaboration

Learning has to be meaningful, which is why I structure assignments to be project-based and collaborative whenever possible so diverse students can tap into each other’s strengths. We also want them to have authentic audiences so that their voices matter.

100-Year-Old Essays

Students authored reflective narratives envisioning their lives at 100 years old. To scaffold the drafting process, students completed a guided question organizer to structure their thoughts chronologically. To provide visual relevance, I captured student portraits, age-ified them, and embedded the aged photos directly into our Google Doc essays. The parents had quite the laughter during Open House night! Students felt so proud.

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Spooky Stories

Students drafted, revised, and published original scary stories. To enforce accountability during the revision and editing phases, the assignment required an authentic audience. Once their final drafts were complete, they had the opportunity to read their stories to friends in small groups, with the room darkened and flashlights provided. This eventually culminated in a performance directive where students presented their final drafts aloud to their families at home. I told them to have them turn off the lights, gather the family at the dinner table, and read their spooky stories aloud. They loved it!

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Trapped in a Snowglobe

To bridge the gap between abstract narrative writing and concrete plot development, students designed custom winter settings. I photographed each student and superimposed their images into their drawn environments. This visual scaffolding allowed students to spatially organize their narratives and establish setting details before generating text.

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Publishing Poetry

In 4th grade, we stepped outside to find inspiration like Robert Frost, drafted original poems, illustrated them in a Shel Silverstein fashion, and compiled a complete class poetry book, which was sent to families to enjoy. Students also wrote "poems of possibilities" to their older selves, visualized them on Google Slides, and recited them to the class and their families, gaining confidence through public speaking. As one parent said during Open House, "Man, some of these poems. They're deep."

The Wax Museum

Students mastered biographical research and writing by becoming historical figures who overcame challenges. They took notes, created visual timelines, drafted two-minute speeches, and performed live in outfits for an authentic audience of 6th-graders during the day and families at Open House. To prepare collaboratively, students practiced their speeches with a partner who provided feedback using a "Glows and Grows" rubric with sentence stems. This ensured English Learners had a safe, low-stakes opportunity to practice speaking constructively.

Bringing History to Life

To make abstract historical concepts tangible, my 7th-graders created medieval-style stained-glass art and descriptive plaques using construction and tracing paper. My 6th-graders built Roman columns to illustrate historical events, crafted clay terracotta soldiers, and deciphered ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. These cross-disciplinary projects were hung as a gallery walk so students could learn from each other's work.

Data-Driven MTSS

Teaching a full-inclusion 6th-grade class where over half the students were two or more grade levels behind, I utilized formative data from exit tickets and i-Ready reports to design targeted math intervention sessions for over 60 students (with the other classroom). I explicitly mapped differentiated materials to students, such as printing multi-digit arithmetic worksheets on place-value grids, ensuring all students had the scaffolding required to access grade-level standards.

Processing Informational Text

To combat the tendency for students to superficially scan historical and scientific texts, I explicitly teach Cornell Note-taking (students use two columns to record main ideas and bulleted details, followed by a summary). This structure forces students to slow down, process facts deeply, and generate their own questions, turning passive reading into active retention.

Scaffolding & Background Knowledge

To make grade-level content accessible for English Learners and students with IEPs, I consistently employ scaffolding strategies before reading. I preload academic vocabulary and build necessary background knowledge using multimedia, such as virtual tours or informational YouTube videos, reducing the cognitive load so students can confidently tackle rigorous texts.

Clinical Justification for Differentiation

Effective UDL requires differentiating instruction based on cognitive profiles rather than cultural preconceptions. Applying Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences ensures I provide a wide variety of instructional options. For those who benefit from auditory elements, I provide headphones during independent assignments to allow engagement with complementary audio. For students navigating attention or sensory challenges, I create designated, distraction-free environments with visual cues to avoid overwhelming them with dense text. During distance or asynchronous learning models, I curate digital hubs integrating interactive formative assessments through Pear Deck, digital manipulatives, and asynchronous video response tools to maintain instructional continuity.

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