Second-grade classrooms at Ixonia Elementary are exploring Universal Design for Learning practices

December 2, 2015 udcom

Second-grade classrooms at Ixonia Elementary are exploring Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practices.

Other grades and classrooms around the district are incorporating UDL into their work, but there are some things that are unique to 2nd grade at Ixonia. For example, we are the youngest grade to be piloting UDL practices. If you visit our classrooms, you will observe how we’ve created open spaces in our homerooms. This was very important because we co-teach all subjects, and we wanted to make sure there was enough room to comfortably fit 40 students.

Universal Design (UD) is an approach to design that increases the potential for developing a better quality of life for a wide range of individuals. It is a design process that enables and empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness, and social participation (Steinfeld and Maisel, 2012). It creates products, systems, and environments to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability or situation.