Teachers are Designers

Teaching is like designing because a teacher has many students and constantly has to design different learning styles to meet the needs of all of them so they can learn the material. It is important for all teachers to use UDL (Universal Design for Learning) because of the diversity that may be in the classroom. UDL allows teachers to support all of their students in the classroom.

The three principles of UDL are:

1. To support recognition learning, provide multiple, flexible methods of presentation.
2. To support strategic learning, provide multiple, flexible methods of expression and apprenticeship.
3. To support affective learning, provide multiple, flexible options for engagement.

Whenever I was a junior in high school I took chemistry. My class was given a project with strict guidelines of what was suppose to be accomplished. The project's purpose was to explain why one chemical met the need of a situation. We had to work alone and develop the reason and then write it on a piece of paper. I don't think the teacher incorporated the three principles of UDL into this project. Many of us were left confused. The few students that got the correct answer did not fully understand the information. It was very difficult to even think. I remember all of us were just staring at each other because we were used to working in groups and performing experiments. It was a difficult task to complete that left me unsatisfied as a learner.

I believe that this picture symbolizes that teachers are designers.