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1. Universal Design for Learning

So often curriculum and instruction focuses on the average student or students who are in the middle.  There is a better way!  Watch this 3 minute video for an excellent metaphor on not planning ONLY for the middle:


The 2e learner is on both of those sides (ok, physically impossible in bowling, but you get the idea, right?).  What if planning for the students on the two ends, not the middle, helped all students?  What if you also considered the cultures of the students as you were planning in the design of your instruction?

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an evidence-based approach that shows how to design curriculum and instruction to reach all learners.  UDL is regarded so highly that it's mentioned by name in the nation's main education law.  The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) encourages states and districts to use federal funding to help teachers expand the use of UDL.

Watch this short (5 minute) video to learn more. 


Simply put, UDL is a framework for how to develop lesson plans and assessments.  It's based on three main principles: (Morin. Understood.org)
  •  Engagement:  Look for ways to motivate learners and sustain their interest.  Here are some examples:
        •  Let people make choices
        • Give assignments that feel relevant to their lives
        • Make skill building feel like a game
        • Create opportunities for learners to get up and move around.  Movement throughout the day supports our 3e learner needs as well by incorporating culturally responsive learning practices. (Boykin, 2011, Trotman Scott & Ford, 2013).   It helps "flip the script" (Trotman Scott & Moss-Bouldin, 2014).
  • Representation:  Offer information in more than one format.  For example, if the instructor provides a worksheet,  make sure there are other options to demonstrate learning such as:  
      • Audio, which could be as simple as saying the written directions out loud
      • Video showing how to solve one of the problems
      • Experiential learning
      • Gamification of task or content
  • Action and Expression:  Give learners more than one way  to interact with the material and to show what they know.  For example, they might get to choose between:
    • Taking a pencil-and-paper test
    • Giving an oral report
    • Making a video, story board,  or a comic strip
    • Doing a group project
    • Incorporate culturally relevant representations using their heritage (or native language to demonstrate mastery:
      • Dance: step, ballet, folklorico, etc,
      • Textile arts representation
      • Composing a song
      • Supplanting graphic arts project or written one
      • Drama:  creating a skit or puppet show

Culturally responsive education (CRE) is an approach to schooling that promotes student engagement, learning, and achievement by centering their knowledge, cultural backgrounds, and everyday experiences in the classroom. Students who experience CRE engage with academic content in ways that are personally meaningful, build purpose, counter stereotypes, and develop their ability to connect across lines of difference. Other common frameworks that describe this education philosophy include culturally relevant pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, and culturally sustaining pedagogy (to learn more, see “Understanding Culturally Responsive Teaching”). By incorporating Culturally Responsive Gifted Education for 2e and 3e learners we can infuse the student's culture into the UDL framework to increase engagement to reach all learners.  

Take a moment to open this website,  Culturally Responsive Education Resources for Federal, State, and Local Stakeholders to see how you might use these ideas and lessons for all your students, including your 2e learners.


Optional Resources on UDL: (note this is not required reading)



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