3. Lansdowne Middle School
674 students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades
Student demographics-40 Asian, 218 African American, 107 Hispanic,
22 Two or More Races, 287 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%
4. 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
6. 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
7. 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.
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. Barriers- Year 1
Implementation outside of PLC
Teacher mindset
Teacher capacity/time for PD
Teacher personality/beliefs
Internet access at LMS
Believe and Achieve
12. Overview of TU grant
Towson University Presidential Scholar Universal Design for
Learning Professional Development Project
13. 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 integration
Technology enhances (4 small group sets of
iPads)
• Summer 3 Day UDL Institute at Towson University
14.
15. 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
16. 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
19. 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.”
20. 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.
21. 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)
22. 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.
23. 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.
25. 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
26. 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
