Establishing Professional Learning Communities and Embedding UDL into Instructional FeedbackNICOLE NORRIS, PRINCIPAL

LANSDOWNE MIDDLE SCHOOL

BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Baltimore County Participation in CAST/Gates Granthttp://www.bcps.org/

Lansdowne Middle School

708 students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades

Grade 6-243, Grade 7-234, Grade 8-231

Female-341, Male-367

Student demographics-2 American Indian/Alaskan Native, 57Asian,

212 Black/African American, 109 Hispanic, 29 Two or More Races,

290 White

115 students who receive special education services

115 students who receive ELL services

573 FARMS(85%) (free and reduced meals)-Title I

Attendance is 93.5%

Overview of CAST grant

Opportunity for only 2 schools in BCPS – Lansdowne Middle and Pine Grove Middle Schools

Introduction of UDL to Instructional Leadership Team and Professional Development for selected staff

Support and motivation from Liz Berquist

Meeting CAST staff and continued collaboration

UDL Implementation Process

http://udlseries.udlcenter.org/presentations/udl_implementation.html

LMS PLC

Carrie Reeve – PE/Health (DC)

Lauren Kimble – Math/ESOL

Melissa Wiegner – Special Educaiton

Justin Benjamin – Social Studies (DC)

Amanda Hughes – English/Language Arts

Wendy Prioleau – Reading Resource Teacher

Carol Connor – Reading

Keys to Success

Introduction of UDL PLC to Instructional Leadership Team

PLC Members from each content area – chosen by their peers

Liz Berquist – UDL Facilitator

Nancy Reed – Technology Support

Open-minded; willingness to work with one another, learn and take risks

Professional Development Opportunities

Summer Professional Development for UDL PLC

Our Goals:

By the end of the summer, the PLC will be able to create and upload on UDL exchange one collaborative lesson and one individual lesson or resource for a teambuilding activity.

 

By winter break, all departments will be introduced to UDL exchange and UDL guidelines through presentations in department meetings.

 

By winter break , all PLC members will need to create and upload one lesson/resource in their content area on UDL exchange.

 

By the end of the 2013-2014 school year, PLC members will observe at least one PLC member and co-plan a cross curricular UDL lesson and upload on UDL exchange.

Strategies – Year 1

the right people at the right time – UDL PLC

monitoring and assistance from liaisons (Liz and Nancy) provided time needed for focus and organization

LMS access to technology and knowing which resources were available through BCPS – high tech and low tech

deliverables were an expectation

PLC meetings and monthly meetings with

district level administrators

Strategies – Year 1

Access to UDL Exchange and UDL Studio and sharing of resources

Willingness of PLC to share ideas through collaboration, professional development, and presentations

Barriers- Year 1

Initial anxiety and fear

Time needed to plan

Time needed to experiment with planning resources

Overwhelmed with number of resources

Questioning of current practices and strategies-implementation of UDL in more lessons

Allowing time and helping students process for self-reflection

Allowing proper student processing time without stepping in

Barriers- Year 1

Implementation outside of PLC Teacher mindset

Teacher capacity/time for PD

Teacher personality/beliefs

Internet access at LMS

Believe and Achieve

Overview of TU grantTowson University Presidential Scholar Universal Design

for Learning Professional Development Project

Strategies – Year 2

• Bi-weekly PLC meetings• 3 credit CPD Course

Support from Lisa Carey, Fellow, Center for Innovation & Leadership in Special Education ,The Kennedy Krieger Institute• Just-in-time planning support for small group and

tech integrationTechnology enhances (4 small group sets of

iPads)• Summer 3 Day UDL Institute at Towson University

Strategies – Year 2

UDL as a way to meet highly effective in new evaluation system (Danielson Framework)

Knowing resources that are available by the district, connecting them to the new evaluation, Common Core and UDL – making deliberate connections

Focus on UDL and the learning environment Focus on student-centered learning Continuous reflection on UDL implementation

Assessing and Improving our Learning Environment

Exercise conducted with PLC

Walk-through the building without students present and assess

Use of groups, iPads, and knowledge of UDL

Learning Environment Scavenger Hunt

A LOOK AT UDL AND THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AT LANSDOWNE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Flexible seating arrangements allow students to form groups or work independently. Options include mats for sitting on the floor to work.

The floor operates and adds a “fifth wall” and a plane for conducting instruction. This grid was used for a learning activity that incorporated “planned movement.”

Teachers at LMS support executive functioning skills such as self-management and self-regulation through their classroom designs.

Where students place their completed work becomes an opportunity for students to self-reflect on their learning.

What Else is LMS doing well?

Word walls with graphics to support comprehension

Large rubrics hung on walls that include sample products for students to reference for self-monitoring.

Desks arranged to facilitate student collaboration.

Executive Functioning supports built into classroom design. (Color coding and labeled organization)

What should LMS do next year? Recommendations from the UDL PLC:

Create a master schedule of “free-space” and allow teachers to sign up to use free classrooms, the gym, or the halls as flexible work spaces.

Ceiling mountings for the projectors.

Wire management system

EF assistance for Teachers who need help organizing and arranging classrooms.

Visit other schools to see what they do with physical space and furniture.

Materials the UDL PLC would like to purchase for next year:

Folders & Notebooks to keep in class to assist with student organization.

Bins for organization

Magnets to turn chalk boards into manipulative stations

Tape to transform floors into learning spaces.

Quick response sleeves to reduce paper use.

Mini-white boards and many more colored white board markers.

UDL Learning Walks

Barriers year 2

Providing proper differentiated professional development in order to support appropriate teacher growth

Identification of effective PLC members

Continuation of implementation process (explore, prepare, integrate)

Timing of UDL Learning Walks

What’s next for LMS and UDL?

Continued partnership with Liz Berquist and Lisa Carey

Continued professional development with a differentiated approach for all staff

Foster connections between BCPS system-wide initiatives and UDL for LMS staff

Scheduled UDL Learning Walks in October and February

Professional Development Resources

Mind, Brain, Education Science and UDL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmVWOe1ky8s

Decisions about the Learning Environment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_LbZ3XcfK4&list=PLvzOwE5lWqhSgJVgg7VfRkBisbmm-BFUL

Student-Centered Learning

http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/techconf00/mccombs_paper.html

Any questions?

Thank you!nnorris@bcps.org