September 5, 2023 • 28 mins
This week, we are chatting about providing options for comprehension in the classroom. Using the UDL (Universal Design for Learning) framework and representation pillar, we're going to share some different strategies on how we can help students make information accessible, but also how to transform that into knowledge they can use.
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Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/129**
- CAST.org - Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
- Representation pillar - Comprehension guideline
- It's all about teaching learners HOW to transform accessible information into useable knowledge
- Why Don't Student's Like School? by Daniel Willingham
- Checkpoint #1: Activate or supply background knowledge
- Value prior knowledge
- Get to know your learners and their background knowledge
- Consider using visual imagery, concept anchoring and mastery, KWL chart and other organizers, concept maps (whiteboards), pre-teaching with demos/models, analogies and metaphors, cross-curricular connections
- Learning That Transfers by Julie Stern et al. (ACT model)
- Checkpoint #2: Highlight patterns, critical features, big ideas, and relationships
- Difference between experts and novices
- Use explicit prompts or cues to point to important material
- Consider using graphic organizers, examples/non-examples (Frayer model), highlight previous skills (conceptual learning can be helpful)
- Checkpoint #3: Guide information processing and visualization
- Transform information into useable knowledge
- Consider using explicit prompts for sequential processes, organizational methods (tables), multiple entry points, "chunk" information, progressive release (Modern Classrooms and mastery-based learning), and ditch the distractions!
- Checkpoint #4: Maximize transfer and generalization
- Generalizing and transferring learning to new contexts
- Students need multiple representations and differing levels of scaffolding
- Consider using checklists, organizers, mnemonic devices (decrease cognitive load), explicit review, new ideas in familiar contexts
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- Rachel @dr_r_johnson
- Katie @KatieAttwell
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rachel (00:41):
In this episode, we are looking at providing options for
comprehension, which is part ofthe Universal Design for
Learning framework.
Katie (00:50):
Yes, we're going to share some different strategies on how
we can help students makeinformation accessible, but also
how to transform that intoknowledge they can use.
Rachel (01:01):
Let's get started.
This week Katie and I arechatting about and returning to
Universal Design for Learning.
So today we want to look atspecifically the pillar for
providing options forcomprehension, which is under
(01:24):
the representation pillar.
Katie (01:26):
Yes, so this will kind of cap off that conversation.
Of representation.
So it's the last pillar there.
So the, but there's a lot ofgreat knowledge here and I'm,
I'm actually excited about thisone.
And I love even just the firstexplanation for it.
And I think that kind ofsummarizes it really well and
kind of helps us get into thatmindset.
So cast Dot org, Which Is kindof that guideline where we've
(01:48):
been following along, it says,the purpose of education is not
to make information accessible.
But rather to teach learners howto transform accessible
information into usableknowledge, that's powerful.
That's a statement and it, whenI read that, I was just like,
yes, it's not enough to justspit something back.
(02:10):
They have to be able to use itand know it and understand it.
Rachel (02:13):
They do reference to cognitive science research.
And it was funny, when I readthat sort of first statement and
started diving into thisparticular area of U D L, it
reminded me of the book study wedid on why don't students like
school?
And it was just a immediately,like that connection in that
click.
It's like, wow, this is exactlywhat Daniel Willingham was
(02:36):
talking about in his book.
Katie (02:38):
Yep.
This whole idea of it, it has tobe active.
It can't just be sitting backand taking it in.
That doesn't work.
So, yeah, it's, it's amazing.
It, it actually is neat how allthe dots are connecting and
everything we've been learningis so connected to one another.
Rachel (02:52):
so a big sort of focus in this particular area is
developing those informationprocessing skills, and they did
list a few different informationprocessing skills.
So there's things like selectiveattending, integrating new
information with priorknowledge, strategic
categorization, and activememorization.
Katie (03:13):
And it all kind of brings it back to this idea of that,
you know, we have to make sureour designing our lessons and
scaffolding the information sothat they can access the
knowledge and then be able towork their way through it to
then process and use thatknowledge.
So the first checkpoint isactivate or supply background
knowledge.
To me the, the biggest kind oftakeaway here is we need to make
(03:36):
sure that what we are presentingis presented in such way that
students can take their priorlearning in prior knowledge and
things they bring with them tomake sense of what we are
teaching them.
Rachel (03:47):
yeah.
This, this is sort of an areaand it, it links really nicely
to C R R P, right?
Where there's a lot of potentialbarriers and inequities that.
It can happen here.
In terms of learners who lackthat background knowledge,
that's critical for that newinformation.
So thinking about what yourlearners are coming with or
(04:10):
really understanding where theyare coming from to know how to
link that information to then beable to build upon it.
But like you can't do that ifyou don't know where they're
starting from.
Katie (04:22):
And so that's kind of that whole idea of get to know
your students, figure out whatthey know, what education
experience do they have?
If they're newcomers, what doesthat look like and sound like
for them because they may knowthings and just not realize the
context is important and thefact that it does apply to what
you're teaching them.
Rachel (04:37):
Yeah.
And that was one other barrierhere that that is mentioned
where they might have thenecessary background knowledge,
but not even know that it'srelevant to the new learning
Katie (04:46):
So from there they kind of give some ideas as to how, as
educators we can ensure thatwe're, we're providing that
link.
And I really love the idea ofvisual imagery because to me, as
a teacher of ELLs, Englishlanguage learners Visuals can go
a long way to kind of helpbridge the language gap or
(05:07):
perhaps they don't have theright vocabulary, but a lot of
times visuals have like a reallypowerful punch.
Rachel (05:12):
I think visuals help with any area though.
And, and I mean, that's thewhole premise of U D L right?
Is designing for some, but it'saccessible to all, and it, it's
helpful for all students.
Katie (05:25):
Yeah, and I, and I think, you know why I'm, I'm always
very biased because I teach E SL,
Rachel (05:30):
Right.
Katie (05:31):
but I, but I also know that all of the accommodations
that are good for E S L studentsare good for all students in
that classroom regardless oftheir differences.
So there's something to be saidabout, you know, trying some
different ways of includingimages and vocabulary and all of
that great stuff just to make iteasier for everyone.
Rachel (05:52):
They also mentioned concept anchoring and concept
mastery routines, and I really,really like this.
So this reminds me of anotherbook that I read that I highly
recommend.
It's called Learning ThatTransfers.
I have mentioned it a few timeson the podcast before, but they
sort of go through a teachingstrategy where you're anchoring
everything in concepts.
(06:13):
And that can be really, reallyhelpful to activate that prior
knowledge.
And what's really neat is the IBcurriculum for chemistry, for
all the sciences actually ischanging starting sort of this
year for our year one chemistrykits.
And that new curriculum isactually laid out in terms of
(06:35):
concepts and it is so cool.
So there's.
You know, a concept and then itlinks all the different topics
and different sort of areaswithin the concept.
I know a lot of people likereally, really hate it, just
looking at it, but I saw it andI, I was in love with it
Instantly I'm like, this isamazing because it's actually
how I've been kind of laying outmy courses and my content uh,
(06:59):
for a little while now.
And so I'm like, yes.
They're now thinking like I'mthinking and I don't.
Necessarily have to think aboutit too much when I'm setting up
my curriculum Now, I, I justthought it was so cool.
Yeah, I love that.
So you kind of take a conceptlike sustainability and then you
link all the different thingsrelated to sustainability within
(07:21):
it.
Katie (07:21):
and even just that showing that to students, it
allows them to see how thingsare connected and to make well
those connections to backgroundknowledge and things they
already know.
Right.
Like, that's, that's a powerfultool.
It lays it out so clearly.
Rachel (07:35):
They already come to us knowing a little bit about
sustainability and have theirown sort of thinking around what
that term is and what it means,and so being able to activate
that and then build upon thatwith like science concepts is,
is really, really helpful forthem and their learning and
their transfer of theirlearning.
Katie (07:54):
Uh, So some other examples that they have are the
use of organizers like K W Lcharts, so what, you know, what
you wonder or want to know andwhat you've learned, concept
maps, et cetera.
So those can be great to getstudents really thinking about
the content, but you also kindof get to know what.
They need to know or want toknow and you can kind of advance
(08:15):
the lessons that way.
And I love concept maps and usethem all the time because it
really gets students thinkingand connecting their different
ideas and knowledge.
Rachel (08:24):
I always love to start out a unit, and I did this with
my grade nines last year where Ihave them all up at the
whiteboards and we just startwith the topics.
So astronomy, right?
We do a unit on astronomy.
What do we already know aboutastronomy?
And we, I get them to createconcept maps on the whiteboards
of what they already know andwhat they're bringing to them.
(08:46):
And I just kind of keep pushingthem in terms of like, Okay.
You know this, but what else doyou know about that?
Right?
Like they might put asteroids,okay, well what else do you know
about asteroids?
And can continue to reallyprompt them to.
Add onto their concept maps andthen I kind of like to take it a
step further, right.
And then have them rotate to thenext one and add to someone
(09:08):
else's concept map and kind ofdo that for a few rounds as
well.
It's so helpful.
It's, it tells me so much aboutwhat they're bringing in on that
topic, and then they get tolearn a few new things as
they're going around and seeingother concept maps.
Katie (09:24):
and I also love that that.
kind of opens the door forcollaboration and this idea of
working together and using eachother's knowledge to help
support and build one anotherbecause that's, that's a great
atmosphere in a classroom.
Rachel (09:38):
Yeah.
It's so much fun too.
Katie (09:40):
Uh, So the next one they talk about pre-teaching critical
concepts, so things they need toknow prior to new learning
through the use of demonstrationor models.
This one, I think isparticularly maybe important in
science, more so than my kind ofclassroom, but
Rachel (09:55):
Yeah, there's so many things in science that you just
can't see, right?
You can't, you can't see anatom, you can't see what's
inside an atom.
So using models is really,really helpful there in order to
help your students visualizewhat that looks like.
Uh, Demonstrations, you know,they're fantastic as well.
Katie (10:15):
And, I love that.
It's like the concepts that youshould already know.
And so it's this idea ofmodeling and demonstrating it to
kind of bring it back in theirminds to say, oh, I remember
this, now I get to see it again.
Rachel (10:27):
and I like using demos as well to kind of create that
curiosity and wonder as well.
So for example, one I like to dois putting alkaline metals in
water.
You know, you get this bigreaction, right?
but I'll sneak a little bit ofan indicator in the water that.
Turns the water pink when a baseis present.
(10:47):
And so when that reactionhappens, it creates a base and
so the water turns pink andthey're all like, what, what is
going on here?
So it's really fun to kind of,you know, use that with maybe
knowledge.
They're coming in about thealkali metals and how they react
with water, but then they,they're like, what is the pink?
And why is that happening?
And it's a nice sort of bridgethen into chemical reactions.
Katie (11:09):
Nice.
I love it.
Rachel (11:10):
so much fun.
Katie (11:14):
So the idea of bridging concepts with relevant analogies
and metaphors.
Rachel (11:18):
You know, I can remember a university prof who was
absolutely amazing.
I'm sure he's not teachinganymore'cause he was quite old
when, when I was in university.
But he used metaphors aboutbuses and people getting on and
off the bus and just, I think ithad to do with enzyme activity.
(11:39):
You know, I can't reallyremember it anymore.
But that metaphor, like still,like it still sticks in my mind.
And it's been a long time.
Katie (11:47):
That's amazing.
But I could see that like makingit something that is more real
life and day to day to compareit to something they're
learning.
Love that.
Rachel (11:55):
Well, again, it's, it's relating it to something the
students know and taking thatprior knowledge.
So it might not be related toyour course material and that's
fine there, you know, buses andpeople getting on and off, buses
like that has nothing to do withscience.
Katie (12:10):
No, however.
Rachel (12:13):
However, I'm sure most people have taken a bus at some
point in their life, so youknow, maybe not everybody has,
but it's still an easier thingto visualize than a science
concept.
Katie (12:24):
Um, And then making explicit.
Cross curricular connections, soliteracy strategies across the
curriculum.
Same with, I guess, numeracyacross the curriculum as well.
Rachel (12:34):
Yeah, I think that one's pretty self explicit.
So the next checkpoint is allabout highlighting patterns,
critical features, big ideas,relationships, and kind of goes
along with that last checkpoint,right?
But is starting to get into thisidea of the difference between
experts and novices and beingable to identify that
(12:54):
information that's important andrelevant versus the stuff that's
not important and not relevant.
Katie (13:01):
Yeah.
So it, it's teaching them thoseskills to, to really be able to
take it apart and, and And then,you know, pick up on the most
important things to then move onand kind of leave the
unimportant things.
And I think that's, it'srelevant across all curriculums,
but, and there's, but there'sdifferent ways that we can help
our students get there.
And I think that can often be, Ithink some of the most
(13:23):
challenging for students to pickup on.
Rachel (13:25):
Yeah, really.
Um, It's just about kind oftrying to make that a bit more
accessible to students by makingsure that you're adding in those
explicit cues or prompts toreally sort of pay attention to
the information or the detailsor the knowledge that's the most
important.
Katie (13:44):
Yeah.
And graphic organizers are oneof my favorite ways of doing
that.
It, it allows students to see,hey, This is what the teacher
thinks is most important, so Ineed to key on on these areas,
and the rest must not be asimportant.
So instead of spitting backeverything they're reading, for
example, they're now just honingin on the most important
sections of that text I,
Rachel (14:05):
Yeah, graphic organizers are great.
And uh, sort of another point tokind of go with those graphic
organizers is using examples andnon-examples to really emphasize
critical features.
So that makes me think Of theFrayer model.
Because you, you add in thatexample and non-example, right?
Like that's an idea.
Uh, An example of a really greatgraphic organizer that already
(14:27):
includes those examples ofnon-examples too.
Katie (14:29):
And then I also enjoy their suggestion of highlighting
previously learned skills.
It can be used to solve newproblems that they're faced
with.
And so it's showing studentsthat the skill you have is not
just in this one isolatedsituation.
Let's see how we can apply it tothis new situation and this new
learning.
Rachel (14:49):
Yeah, that's why kind of going back to that conceptual
learning and organizing thingsby concept, like it really comes
in handy here because then, thenyou can link some of these.
Unfamiliar kind of topicstogether, but they all use the
same skill, and that is, I don'tknow, it's awesome.
And it's something that I reallykind of like.
(15:09):
I like finding those littleconnections through the
curriculum.
Katie (15:13):
Now on to Checkpoint 3.3, which is Guide Information
Processing and Visualization.
And this is where we really wantto help students transform all
of this new information intousable knowledge and how we can
do that to help processeverything they're learning.
So in the previous checkpoint,we were kind of giving them
strategies in different ways toprocess information.
(15:36):
And now we want them to usethese strategies to then
manipulate what they're, whatthey're learning and what
they're reading and processingin such a way that now they can
remember it and, and process itin a way that they can.
Spit it out in a different wayor use that information in a new
context?
Rachel (15:54):
there's lots of really great ideas on how to do this.
So looking at, for example,really explicit prompts for each
step in a sequential process.
I can't tell you how many timesI do that in my classroom.
Katie (16:08):
Well, you have to.
Rachel (16:09):
Yeah.
Katie (16:10):
Like, even when I'm getting students to brainstorm,
I always say we're starting withmind map, for example, as one
strategy.
And they're like, why?
I just wanna go right to theend.
And I'm like, no, this is gonnahelp.
We need to do step one.
But it's amazing how, much moredetailed and how much more well
thought out it is when they usethe whole process versus just
(16:30):
skipping to the end.
Rachel (16:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like I really, I reallyemphasize that.
I always tell them when uh, youknow, especially if they're
showing and demonstrating thislearning to me and say a, a test
question.
Like, I want to see those stepsas well, and I need to see those
steps in order to make sure thatthey know how they're going
through and, and how they'reusing that strategy to solve
(16:53):
that problem.
So we do a lot of practice withUsing specific sequential pro
processes and kind of drillingdown on that sometimes in order
to really sort of understand howto go about solving some of
these problems.
Katie (17:10):
Yeah, and it actually takes me back to math class a
lot.
'cause I remember you had toshow the steps to show that you
understand the math to getthere.
And not just that you can figureit out quickly in your head and
write down an answer, likesometimes the steps and knowing
those steps and how you gotthere is almost more important
than just getting to an answerright away.
Rachel (17:28):
And that kind of goes along with the, the, another
suggestion there, which talksabout providing options for
organizational methods andapproaches.
So sometimes tables are really,really helpful to organize your
answer and organize your problemsolving.
So I can think of a fewinstances where we do that in
chemistry, where we layeverything out in a table format
(17:50):
and then students know like thesteps to go through to fill out
that table.
And it makes things, you know,kind of really easy and sort of
algorithmic in terms of solvingthat kind of problem.
Katie (18:02):
Yeah, and I think most of these suggestions really are
about.
Just step by step, smallerelements, breaking things down
and just helping guide studentsto know how to do that.
Rachel (18:13):
Yeah, for sure.
Like chunking the informationinto smaller elements.
Progressively releasinginformation, right?
Like all of these things go,especially go so well with
modern classrooms and withmastery based learning.
Also, I think the last one Ikind of wanna touch on is
removing unnecessarydistractions unless they're
(18:33):
essential to the instructionalgoal.
And I have been.
Guilty of this before, you know,in, in my classes, you know,
adding in silly jokes and stufflike that on my slides when, you
know, they are kind of relatedto the topic, but are they
essential?
You know, not really.
So they're really just adistraction to the learning, and
(18:55):
I've learned to kind of stepback from that and, and not do
as many of those, but, oh, it'sso hard.
Katie (19:02):
or even like just making slides too busy.
More than even just a joke, butjust a really busy slide so that
it's distracting.
They have no idea where to focusand what it is you want them to
know.
Like I'm the type of learnerwhere if you put like so many
images and memes and texts andfonts and colors and all, I'm
just like, where do you want meto begin?
Because this is overwhelming.
Rachel (19:24):
Yeah.
Yeah, I, I kind of got thatdrilled into me when I was in
grad school because my PhDsupervisor, like, he was very
adamant about how you lay outyour slide decks, and this is
probably where my, my uh, fontsnobbery came from and how I
sort of set things up and, setup those slides.
(19:44):
But, you know, he was like, you,you do not use backgrounds other
than white.
And black text.
You know, maybe a color here andthere to emphasize a point, but
don't use blue backgrounds withyellow text.
All that used to drive himmental.
Katie (19:58):
I could see that.
Rachel (19:59):
But then also using really clear fonts and, and just
making sure that those bulletpoints are essential information
only, and, and you're not justreading from the slide.
Like there's, there's so manythings that can cause a lot of
distraction.
Katie (20:14):
I was about to say the whole, the bullet points on a
slide, because I have satthrough so many presentations.
Where they've just vomited allof the information onto the
slides and I'm like, there's toomuch.
Give me the important point.
You can expand in your speakingand how you explain it, but just
give me that one important ideathat you're sharing
Rachel (20:34):
And I understand why people do that.
you don't wanna forgetsomething, right?
So I understand why it's there.
It's almost like it's your, yournotes in terms of what you wanna
say, but it does causedistractions for learners.
So I think there, there's ahappy medium between the two.
You can put enough informationon there that's going to help
(20:56):
remind your brain on what youwanna say, but not overwhelming
the learner at the same time.
Katie (21:02):
Yeah, and there's something to be like when
students are creating slides,for example.
I think that's maybe what I'mreferring to even more, because
I want to teach them how to takewhat they're learning and
summarize it in a way that isjust their words and not all of
these extras.
And so that's this whole idea oftaking information and making it
into usable knowledge.
I don't want you to tell me whatI told you.
(21:24):
I want you to make this your ownand to explain it yourself in
this context.
Rachel (21:28):
We did a couple of presentations at the end of our
grade nine course last uh,semester and, you know, sort of
really emphasizing with thestudents, you know, it should
look like a TED talk.
Like you should really be justfinding a really good visual to
go along with what you wannasay.
And maybe having one sort ofsentence on your slide with the
(21:50):
big visual and, and kind of keepit at that.
And I found that really, reallyhelpful.
Katie (21:55):
That's amazing.
Yeah.
And and did you do have to teachthem how to do that?
Like that is a skill and I thinka lot of times we assume coming
into high school or into ourclassrooms, that students have
been taught how to do that.
I.
And I think it's important tonot make that assumption.
And if anything, assume theopposite and go out of your way
to teach them how to do that sothat even if they know it's good
(22:17):
reminders and good review, andif they don't know, you're now
showing them how to, so you'renot assuming that they have a
skill without teaching ityourself.
Rachel (22:26):
All right, let's move on to the final checkpoint.
So the, the final one is aboutmaximizing transfer and
generalization.
So this is all about, you know,taking that information that
we're learning generalizing itand transferring it to new
contexts.
So a couple things they talkabout here is, uh, students need
(22:46):
multiple representations inorder for that transfer to be
able to occur.
And they also might needdiffering levels of scaffolding,
basically differentiation.
Katie (22:58):
This actually takes me back to one of my undergrad
courses.
I did a lit theory course and itwas the most out there course I
had ever taken.
And the amount of time and,processing it took for me to be
able to explain those, thosetheoretical concepts it was
actually quite hilarious.
And I had a study group and so.
(23:18):
We all struggled with theinformation, and so we would
pull all-nighters before exams.
Not a good idea for thoselistening.
but it was hilarious because assoon as it clicked, We could all
sense it and we could all hearit and see it, and then be able
to describe these processes backto one another.
But it took a long time of ustalking it through and, and
trying to create visuals foreach other and make it
(23:41):
accessible based on things weall knew about.
And so I, I actually feel likethis one speaks to me quite a
bit because it's notinstantaneous and it's gonna
take multiple times andsometimes it's harder than
others.
But it's this idea of.
It's going, you need to providea lot of options for your
students so that they canactually do this.
Rachel (23:59):
And they've got some really great strategies as
suggested here.
So things like checklists,organizers, sticky notes,
reminders, those are all reallygreat using mnemonic strategies
and devices as well.
So using those sort of things tohelp remember information so
that you can then not have toworry about the remembering
(24:21):
part, but then it's theapplication or the transfer
part.
Katie (24:24):
Yeah.
And it's this idea of embeddingnew ideas in familiar ideas and
contexts.
So like you shared before, likeanalogy, metaphor, et cetera, as
well as drama, music, film.
Like there's different ways todo that, but um, tends to help
make those nice connections.
Rachel (24:40):
And I think that's where it goes back to, I'm going back
to that book again, but learningthe transfers, it was such a
good book because they use amodel and I can't remember what
all the um, the steps are justoff the top of my head, but Oh,
it's acquire, connect, and thentransfer.
So you acquire the concepts.
With some different activities,you connect them to concepts
(25:04):
that are familiar to you, andthen you start connecting those
two more unfamiliar contexts andthen you end with a final sort
of project or some sort of taskwhere you're then transferring
it to a new con context.
And I think it's so neat interms of like leading students
through the process and buildingup to that.
(25:25):
Transfer, which is where we wantour students to
Katie (25:27):
Mm-hmm.
And it also takes me back toWilling's book as well, again,
because it's this idea of humansdon't wanna have to actually
think every single moment.
So connecting it to things wealready know and that students
understand.
It's a great way to kind ofminimize that load, that
cognitive load of trying to workthrough it, but learn at the
same time.
Rachel (25:46):
yeah, so lots of opportunities really just to.
Have students connect ideas andconnect between different
concepts and between familiarand unfamiliar contexts, like
that's, that's really, reallykey and ideal here.
Katie (26:01):
Yeah, and like review days are great, but make sure
you scaffold that review day,like provide some notes or an
organizer or something to kindof guide what they should be
looking at so that it's not justeverything in front of them.
Rachel (26:15):
You could even take, like if you do a concept map at
the beginning of a unit, if youhave a picture or some sort of
visual of that, you can give itback to the same groups and get
them to add to it now.
Katie (26:25):
Yeah.
And, and show their learning.
Rachel (26:27):
That would be so much fun.
Katie (26:28):
That is the final checkpoint for the comprehension
pillar.
Rachel (26:32):
Yeah, so I think we'll wrap up our conversation here
for today.
Hopefully you've learned somereally great things about
providing options forcomprehension, and so what we'll
do is we'll include any of thelinks or resources we talked
today about here today in ourshow notes.
You can access our show notesfor this episode@edugals.com
(26:52):
slash 1 29.
That's edu G a l s.com/ 1 29.
Katie (26:58):
And if you like what you heard today, then feel free to
share it with a colleague or afriend.
And don't forget to subscribe onyour favorite podcast app so
that you don't miss out on anyfuture content.
Rachel (27:07):
And as always, we'd love to hear from you.
So if you have some ideasrelated to providing options for
comprehension, we'd love to hearthem.
You could go onto our flip atedu gals.com/flipgrid and leave
us a video message there.
Or you can go onto ourwebsite@edugals.com and leave us
a written response.
Katie (27:27):
Thanks for listening and see you next week.
In this episode, we are looking at providing options for
comprehension, which is part ofthe Universal Design for
Learning framework.
Katie (00:50):
Yes, we're going to share some different strategies on how
we can help students makeinformation accessible, but also
how to transform that intoknowledge they can use.
Rachel (01:01):
Let's get started.
This week Katie and I arechatting about and returning to
Universal Design for Learning.
So today we want to look atspecifically the pillar for
providing options forcomprehension, which is under
(01:24):
the representation pillar.
Katie (01:26):
Yes, so this will kind of cap off that conversation.
Of representation.
So it's the last pillar there.
So the, but there's a lot ofgreat knowledge here and I'm,
I'm actually excited about thisone.
And I love even just the firstexplanation for it.
And I think that kind ofsummarizes it really well and
kind of helps us get into thatmindset.
So cast Dot org, Which Is kindof that guideline where we've
(01:48):
been following along, it says,the purpose of education is not
to make information accessible.
But rather to teach learners howto transform accessible
information into usableknowledge, that's powerful.
That's a statement and it, whenI read that, I was just like,
yes, it's not enough to justspit something back.
(02:10):
They have to be able to use itand know it and understand it.
Rachel (02:13):
They do reference to cognitive science research.
And it was funny, when I readthat sort of first statement and
started diving into thisparticular area of U D L, it
reminded me of the book study wedid on why don't students like
school?
And it was just a immediately,like that connection in that
click.
It's like, wow, this is exactlywhat Daniel Willingham was
(02:36):
talking about in his book.
Katie (02:38):
Yep.
This whole idea of it, it has tobe active.
It can't just be sitting backand taking it in.
That doesn't work.
So, yeah, it's, it's amazing.
It, it actually is neat how allthe dots are connecting and
everything we've been learningis so connected to one another.
Rachel (02:52):
so a big sort of focus in this particular area is
developing those informationprocessing skills, and they did
list a few different informationprocessing skills.
So there's things like selectiveattending, integrating new
information with priorknowledge, strategic
categorization, and activememorization.
Katie (03:13):
And it all kind of brings it back to this idea of that,
you know, we have to make sureour designing our lessons and
scaffolding the information sothat they can access the
knowledge and then be able towork their way through it to
then process and use thatknowledge.
So the first checkpoint isactivate or supply background
knowledge.
To me the, the biggest kind oftakeaway here is we need to make
(03:36):
sure that what we are presentingis presented in such way that
students can take their priorlearning in prior knowledge and
things they bring with them tomake sense of what we are
teaching them.
Rachel (03:47):
yeah.
This, this is sort of an areaand it, it links really nicely
to C R R P, right?
Where there's a lot of potentialbarriers and inequities that.
It can happen here.
In terms of learners who lackthat background knowledge,
that's critical for that newinformation.
So thinking about what yourlearners are coming with or
(04:10):
really understanding where theyare coming from to know how to
link that information to then beable to build upon it.
But like you can't do that ifyou don't know where they're
starting from.
Katie (04:22):
And so that's kind of that whole idea of get to know
your students, figure out whatthey know, what education
experience do they have?
If they're newcomers, what doesthat look like and sound like
for them because they may knowthings and just not realize the
context is important and thefact that it does apply to what
you're teaching them.
Rachel (04:37):
Yeah.
And that was one other barrierhere that that is mentioned
where they might have thenecessary background knowledge,
but not even know that it'srelevant to the new learning
Katie (04:46):
So from there they kind of give some ideas as to how, as
educators we can ensure thatwe're, we're providing that
link.
And I really love the idea ofvisual imagery because to me, as
a teacher of ELLs, Englishlanguage learners Visuals can go
a long way to kind of helpbridge the language gap or
(05:07):
perhaps they don't have theright vocabulary, but a lot of
times visuals have like a reallypowerful punch.
Rachel (05:12):
I think visuals help with any area though.
And, and I mean, that's thewhole premise of U D L right?
Is designing for some, but it'saccessible to all, and it, it's
helpful for all students.
Katie (05:25):
Yeah, and I, and I think, you know why I'm, I'm always
very biased because I teach E SL,
Rachel (05:30):
Right.
Katie (05:31):
but I, but I also know that all of the accommodations
that are good for E S L studentsare good for all students in
that classroom regardless oftheir differences.
So there's something to be saidabout, you know, trying some
different ways of includingimages and vocabulary and all of
that great stuff just to make iteasier for everyone.
Rachel (05:52):
They also mentioned concept anchoring and concept
mastery routines, and I really,really like this.
So this reminds me of anotherbook that I read that I highly
recommend.
It's called Learning ThatTransfers.
I have mentioned it a few timeson the podcast before, but they
sort of go through a teachingstrategy where you're anchoring
everything in concepts.
(06:13):
And that can be really, reallyhelpful to activate that prior
knowledge.
And what's really neat is the IBcurriculum for chemistry, for
all the sciences actually ischanging starting sort of this
year for our year one chemistrykits.
And that new curriculum isactually laid out in terms of
(06:35):
concepts and it is so cool.
So there's.
You know, a concept and then itlinks all the different topics
and different sort of areaswithin the concept.
I know a lot of people likereally, really hate it, just
looking at it, but I saw it andI, I was in love with it
Instantly I'm like, this isamazing because it's actually
how I've been kind of laying outmy courses and my content uh,
(06:59):
for a little while now.
And so I'm like, yes.
They're now thinking like I'mthinking and I don't.
Necessarily have to think aboutit too much when I'm setting up
my curriculum Now, I, I justthought it was so cool.
Yeah, I love that.
So you kind of take a conceptlike sustainability and then you
link all the different thingsrelated to sustainability within
(07:21):
it.
Katie (07:21):
and even just that showing that to students, it
allows them to see how thingsare connected and to make well
those connections to backgroundknowledge and things they
already know.
Right.
Like, that's, that's a powerfultool.
It lays it out so clearly.
Rachel (07:35):
They already come to us knowing a little bit about
sustainability and have theirown sort of thinking around what
that term is and what it means,and so being able to activate
that and then build upon thatwith like science concepts is,
is really, really helpful forthem and their learning and
their transfer of theirlearning.
Katie (07:54):
Uh, So some other examples that they have are the
use of organizers like K W Lcharts, so what, you know, what
you wonder or want to know andwhat you've learned, concept
maps, et cetera.
So those can be great to getstudents really thinking about
the content, but you also kindof get to know what.
They need to know or want toknow and you can kind of advance
(08:15):
the lessons that way.
And I love concept maps and usethem all the time because it
really gets students thinkingand connecting their different
ideas and knowledge.
Rachel (08:24):
I always love to start out a unit, and I did this with
my grade nines last year where Ihave them all up at the
whiteboards and we just startwith the topics.
So astronomy, right?
We do a unit on astronomy.
What do we already know aboutastronomy?
And we, I get them to createconcept maps on the whiteboards
of what they already know andwhat they're bringing to them.
(08:46):
And I just kind of keep pushingthem in terms of like, Okay.
You know this, but what else doyou know about that?
Right?
Like they might put asteroids,okay, well what else do you know
about asteroids?
And can continue to reallyprompt them to.
Add onto their concept maps andthen I kind of like to take it a
step further, right.
And then have them rotate to thenext one and add to someone
(09:08):
else's concept map and kind ofdo that for a few rounds as
well.
It's so helpful.
It's, it tells me so much aboutwhat they're bringing in on that
topic, and then they get tolearn a few new things as
they're going around and seeingother concept maps.
Katie (09:24):
and I also love that that.
kind of opens the door forcollaboration and this idea of
working together and using eachother's knowledge to help
support and build one anotherbecause that's, that's a great
atmosphere in a classroom.
Rachel (09:38):
Yeah.
It's so much fun too.
Katie (09:40):
Uh, So the next one they talk about pre-teaching critical
concepts, so things they need toknow prior to new learning
through the use of demonstrationor models.
This one, I think isparticularly maybe important in
science, more so than my kind ofclassroom, but
Rachel (09:55):
Yeah, there's so many things in science that you just
can't see, right?
You can't, you can't see anatom, you can't see what's
inside an atom.
So using models is really,really helpful there in order to
help your students visualizewhat that looks like.
Uh, Demonstrations, you know,they're fantastic as well.
Katie (10:15):
And, I love that.
It's like the concepts that youshould already know.
And so it's this idea ofmodeling and demonstrating it to
kind of bring it back in theirminds to say, oh, I remember
this, now I get to see it again.
Rachel (10:27):
and I like using demos as well to kind of create that
curiosity and wonder as well.
So for example, one I like to dois putting alkaline metals in
water.
You know, you get this bigreaction, right?
but I'll sneak a little bit ofan indicator in the water that.
Turns the water pink when a baseis present.
(10:47):
And so when that reactionhappens, it creates a base and
so the water turns pink andthey're all like, what, what is
going on here?
So it's really fun to kind of,you know, use that with maybe
knowledge.
They're coming in about thealkali metals and how they react
with water, but then they,they're like, what is the pink?
And why is that happening?
And it's a nice sort of bridgethen into chemical reactions.
Katie (11:09):
Nice.
I love it.
Rachel (11:10):
so much fun.
Katie (11:14):
So the idea of bridging concepts with relevant analogies
and metaphors.
Rachel (11:18):
You know, I can remember a university prof who was
absolutely amazing.
I'm sure he's not teachinganymore'cause he was quite old
when, when I was in university.
But he used metaphors aboutbuses and people getting on and
off the bus and just, I think ithad to do with enzyme activity.
(11:39):
You know, I can't reallyremember it anymore.
But that metaphor, like still,like it still sticks in my mind.
And it's been a long time.
Katie (11:47):
That's amazing.
But I could see that like makingit something that is more real
life and day to day to compareit to something they're
learning.
Love that.
Rachel (11:55):
Well, again, it's, it's relating it to something the
students know and taking thatprior knowledge.
So it might not be related toyour course material and that's
fine there, you know, buses andpeople getting on and off, buses
like that has nothing to do withscience.
Katie (12:10):
No, however.
Rachel (12:13):
However, I'm sure most people have taken a bus at some
point in their life, so youknow, maybe not everybody has,
but it's still an easier thingto visualize than a science
concept.
Katie (12:24):
Um, And then making explicit.
Cross curricular connections, soliteracy strategies across the
curriculum.
Same with, I guess, numeracyacross the curriculum as well.
Rachel (12:34):
Yeah, I think that one's pretty self explicit.
So the next checkpoint is allabout highlighting patterns,
critical features, big ideas,relationships, and kind of goes
along with that last checkpoint,right?
But is starting to get into thisidea of the difference between
experts and novices and beingable to identify that
(12:54):
information that's important andrelevant versus the stuff that's
not important and not relevant.
Katie (13:01):
Yeah.
So it, it's teaching them thoseskills to, to really be able to
take it apart and, and And then,you know, pick up on the most
important things to then move onand kind of leave the
unimportant things.
And I think that's, it'srelevant across all curriculums,
but, and there's, but there'sdifferent ways that we can help
our students get there.
And I think that can often be, Ithink some of the most
(13:23):
challenging for students to pickup on.
Rachel (13:25):
Yeah, really.
Um, It's just about kind oftrying to make that a bit more
accessible to students by makingsure that you're adding in those
explicit cues or prompts toreally sort of pay attention to
the information or the detailsor the knowledge that's the most
important.
Katie (13:44):
Yeah.
And graphic organizers are oneof my favorite ways of doing
that.
It, it allows students to see,hey, This is what the teacher
thinks is most important, so Ineed to key on on these areas,
and the rest must not be asimportant.
So instead of spitting backeverything they're reading, for
example, they're now just honingin on the most important
sections of that text I,
Rachel (14:05):
Yeah, graphic organizers are great.
And uh, sort of another point tokind of go with those graphic
organizers is using examples andnon-examples to really emphasize
critical features.
So that makes me think Of theFrayer model.
Because you, you add in thatexample and non-example, right?
Like that's an idea.
Uh, An example of a really greatgraphic organizer that already
(14:27):
includes those examples ofnon-examples too.
Katie (14:29):
And then I also enjoy their suggestion of highlighting
previously learned skills.
It can be used to solve newproblems that they're faced
with.
And so it's showing studentsthat the skill you have is not
just in this one isolatedsituation.
Let's see how we can apply it tothis new situation and this new
learning.
Rachel (14:49):
Yeah, that's why kind of going back to that conceptual
learning and organizing thingsby concept, like it really comes
in handy here because then, thenyou can link some of these.
Unfamiliar kind of topicstogether, but they all use the
same skill, and that is, I don'tknow, it's awesome.
And it's something that I reallykind of like.
(15:09):
I like finding those littleconnections through the
curriculum.
Katie (15:13):
Now on to Checkpoint 3.3, which is Guide Information
Processing and Visualization.
And this is where we really wantto help students transform all
of this new information intousable knowledge and how we can
do that to help processeverything they're learning.
So in the previous checkpoint,we were kind of giving them
strategies in different ways toprocess information.
(15:36):
And now we want them to usethese strategies to then
manipulate what they're, whatthey're learning and what
they're reading and processingin such a way that now they can
remember it and, and process itin a way that they can.
Spit it out in a different wayor use that information in a new
context?
Rachel (15:54):
there's lots of really great ideas on how to do this.
So looking at, for example,really explicit prompts for each
step in a sequential process.
I can't tell you how many timesI do that in my classroom.
Katie (16:08):
Well, you have to.
Rachel (16:09):
Yeah.
Katie (16:10):
Like, even when I'm getting students to brainstorm,
I always say we're starting withmind map, for example, as one
strategy.
And they're like, why?
I just wanna go right to theend.
And I'm like, no, this is gonnahelp.
We need to do step one.
But it's amazing how, much moredetailed and how much more well
thought out it is when they usethe whole process versus just
(16:30):
skipping to the end.
Rachel (16:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like I really, I reallyemphasize that.
I always tell them when uh, youknow, especially if they're
showing and demonstrating thislearning to me and say a, a test
question.
Like, I want to see those stepsas well, and I need to see those
steps in order to make sure thatthey know how they're going
through and, and how they'reusing that strategy to solve
(16:53):
that problem.
So we do a lot of practice withUsing specific sequential pro
processes and kind of drillingdown on that sometimes in order
to really sort of understand howto go about solving some of
these problems.
Katie (17:10):
Yeah, and it actually takes me back to math class a
lot.
'cause I remember you had toshow the steps to show that you
understand the math to getthere.
And not just that you can figureit out quickly in your head and
write down an answer, likesometimes the steps and knowing
those steps and how you gotthere is almost more important
than just getting to an answerright away.
Rachel (17:28):
And that kind of goes along with the, the, another
suggestion there, which talksabout providing options for
organizational methods andapproaches.
So sometimes tables are really,really helpful to organize your
answer and organize your problemsolving.
So I can think of a fewinstances where we do that in
chemistry, where we layeverything out in a table format
(17:50):
and then students know like thesteps to go through to fill out
that table.
And it makes things, you know,kind of really easy and sort of
algorithmic in terms of solvingthat kind of problem.
Katie (18:02):
Yeah, and I think most of these suggestions really are
about.
Just step by step, smallerelements, breaking things down
and just helping guide studentsto know how to do that.
Rachel (18:13):
Yeah, for sure.
Like chunking the informationinto smaller elements.
Progressively releasinginformation, right?
Like all of these things go,especially go so well with
modern classrooms and withmastery based learning.
Also, I think the last one Ikind of wanna touch on is
removing unnecessarydistractions unless they're
(18:33):
essential to the instructionalgoal.
And I have been.
Guilty of this before, you know,in, in my classes, you know,
adding in silly jokes and stufflike that on my slides when, you
know, they are kind of relatedto the topic, but are they
essential?
You know, not really.
So they're really just adistraction to the learning, and
(18:55):
I've learned to kind of stepback from that and, and not do
as many of those, but, oh, it'sso hard.
Katie (19:02):
or even like just making slides too busy.
More than even just a joke, butjust a really busy slide so that
it's distracting.
They have no idea where to focusand what it is you want them to
know.
Like I'm the type of learnerwhere if you put like so many
images and memes and texts andfonts and colors and all, I'm
just like, where do you want meto begin?
Because this is overwhelming.
Rachel (19:24):
Yeah.
Yeah, I, I kind of got thatdrilled into me when I was in
grad school because my PhDsupervisor, like, he was very
adamant about how you lay outyour slide decks, and this is
probably where my, my uh, fontsnobbery came from and how I
sort of set things up and, setup those slides.
(19:44):
But, you know, he was like, you,you do not use backgrounds other
than white.
And black text.
You know, maybe a color here andthere to emphasize a point, but
don't use blue backgrounds withyellow text.
All that used to drive himmental.
Katie (19:58):
I could see that.
Rachel (19:59):
But then also using really clear fonts and, and just
making sure that those bulletpoints are essential information
only, and, and you're not justreading from the slide.
Like there's, there's so manythings that can cause a lot of
distraction.
Katie (20:14):
I was about to say the whole, the bullet points on a
slide, because I have satthrough so many presentations.
Where they've just vomited allof the information onto the
slides and I'm like, there's toomuch.
Give me the important point.
You can expand in your speakingand how you explain it, but just
give me that one important ideathat you're sharing
Rachel (20:34):
And I understand why people do that.
you don't wanna forgetsomething, right?
So I understand why it's there.
It's almost like it's your, yournotes in terms of what you wanna
say, but it does causedistractions for learners.
So I think there, there's ahappy medium between the two.
You can put enough informationon there that's going to help
(20:56):
remind your brain on what youwanna say, but not overwhelming
the learner at the same time.
Katie (21:02):
Yeah, and there's something to be like when
students are creating slides,for example.
I think that's maybe what I'mreferring to even more, because
I want to teach them how to takewhat they're learning and
summarize it in a way that isjust their words and not all of
these extras.
And so that's this whole idea oftaking information and making it
into usable knowledge.
I don't want you to tell me whatI told you.
(21:24):
I want you to make this your ownand to explain it yourself in
this context.
Rachel (21:28):
We did a couple of presentations at the end of our
grade nine course last uh,semester and, you know, sort of
really emphasizing with thestudents, you know, it should
look like a TED talk.
Like you should really be justfinding a really good visual to
go along with what you wannasay.
And maybe having one sort ofsentence on your slide with the
(21:50):
big visual and, and kind of keepit at that.
And I found that really, reallyhelpful.
Katie (21:55):
That's amazing.
Yeah.
And and did you do have to teachthem how to do that?
Like that is a skill and I thinka lot of times we assume coming
into high school or into ourclassrooms, that students have
been taught how to do that.
I.
And I think it's important tonot make that assumption.
And if anything, assume theopposite and go out of your way
to teach them how to do that sothat even if they know it's good
(22:17):
reminders and good review, andif they don't know, you're now
showing them how to, so you'renot assuming that they have a
skill without teaching ityourself.
Rachel (22:26):
All right, let's move on to the final checkpoint.
So the, the final one is aboutmaximizing transfer and
generalization.
So this is all about, you know,taking that information that
we're learning generalizing itand transferring it to new
contexts.
So a couple things they talkabout here is, uh, students need
(22:46):
multiple representations inorder for that transfer to be
able to occur.
And they also might needdiffering levels of scaffolding,
basically differentiation.
Katie (22:58):
This actually takes me back to one of my undergrad
courses.
I did a lit theory course and itwas the most out there course I
had ever taken.
And the amount of time and,processing it took for me to be
able to explain those, thosetheoretical concepts it was
actually quite hilarious.
And I had a study group and so.
(23:18):
We all struggled with theinformation, and so we would
pull all-nighters before exams.
Not a good idea for thoselistening.
but it was hilarious because assoon as it clicked, We could all
sense it and we could all hearit and see it, and then be able
to describe these processes backto one another.
But it took a long time of ustalking it through and, and
trying to create visuals foreach other and make it
(23:41):
accessible based on things weall knew about.
And so I, I actually feel likethis one speaks to me quite a
bit because it's notinstantaneous and it's gonna
take multiple times andsometimes it's harder than
others.
But it's this idea of.
It's going, you need to providea lot of options for your
students so that they canactually do this.
Rachel (23:59):
And they've got some really great strategies as
suggested here.
So things like checklists,organizers, sticky notes,
reminders, those are all reallygreat using mnemonic strategies
and devices as well.
So using those sort of things tohelp remember information so
that you can then not have toworry about the remembering
(24:21):
part, but then it's theapplication or the transfer
part.
Katie (24:24):
Yeah.
And it's this idea of embeddingnew ideas in familiar ideas and
contexts.
So like you shared before, likeanalogy, metaphor, et cetera, as
well as drama, music, film.
Like there's different ways todo that, but um, tends to help
make those nice connections.
Rachel (24:40):
And I think that's where it goes back to, I'm going back
to that book again, but learningthe transfers, it was such a
good book because they use amodel and I can't remember what
all the um, the steps are justoff the top of my head, but Oh,
it's acquire, connect, and thentransfer.
So you acquire the concepts.
With some different activities,you connect them to concepts
(25:04):
that are familiar to you, andthen you start connecting those
two more unfamiliar contexts andthen you end with a final sort
of project or some sort of taskwhere you're then transferring
it to a new con context.
And I think it's so neat interms of like leading students
through the process and buildingup to that.
(25:25):
Transfer, which is where we wantour students to
Katie (25:27):
Mm-hmm.
And it also takes me back toWilling's book as well, again,
because it's this idea of humansdon't wanna have to actually
think every single moment.
So connecting it to things wealready know and that students
understand.
It's a great way to kind ofminimize that load, that
cognitive load of trying to workthrough it, but learn at the
same time.
Rachel (25:46):
yeah, so lots of opportunities really just to.
Have students connect ideas andconnect between different
concepts and between familiarand unfamiliar contexts, like
that's, that's really, reallykey and ideal here.
Katie (26:01):
Yeah, and like review days are great, but make sure
you scaffold that review day,like provide some notes or an
organizer or something to kindof guide what they should be
looking at so that it's not justeverything in front of them.
Rachel (26:15):
You could even take, like if you do a concept map at
the beginning of a unit, if youhave a picture or some sort of
visual of that, you can give itback to the same groups and get
them to add to it now.
Katie (26:25):
Yeah.
And, and show their learning.
Rachel (26:27):
That would be so much fun.
Katie (26:28):
That is the final checkpoint for the comprehension
pillar.
Rachel (26:32):
Yeah, so I think we'll wrap up our conversation here
for today.
Hopefully you've learned somereally great things about
providing options forcomprehension, and so what we'll
do is we'll include any of thelinks or resources we talked
today about here today in ourshow notes.
You can access our show notesfor this episode@edugals.com
(26:52):
slash 1 29.
That's edu G a l s.com/ 1 29.
Katie (26:58):
And if you like what you heard today, then feel free to
share it with a colleague or afriend.
And don't forget to subscribe onyour favorite podcast app so
that you don't miss out on anyfuture content.
Rachel (27:07):
And as always, we'd love to hear from you.
So if you have some ideasrelated to providing options for
comprehension, we'd love to hearthem.
You could go onto our flip atedu gals.com/flipgrid and leave
us a video message there.
Or you can go onto ourwebsite@edugals.com and leave us
a written response.
Katie (27:27):
Thanks for listening and see you next week.
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