By Jana Nicol

I began to collect some baseline data for the UDL action research project from my grade 2 class.  They were given an index card and asked not to put their names on their cards. I asked them to describe how they felt about learning in school in one word.  All 21 of my students were present that day. 

Most students wrote either “good”, “awesome”, or “great” on their cards.  Three students wrote “happy” and four students wrote “fun”.  One student wrote “instrordinary” (I’m guessing they meant extraordinary).  This reminds me how much younger students either genuinely: like their teacher, like school, and/or like to learn.  It feels great to teach such a lovely group of children who have such a positive attitude toward school and learning!

I wonder if they understand that it’s okay if they don’t feel great about learning.  I emphasized the importance of being honest, and that they should feel free to write whatever they want.  While part of me is worried that my baseline data isn’t entirely valid, I am not too concerned because I teach a group of seven year olds, and they are young children who enjoy school.  There’s nothing wrong with that!  

I suppose what the real question is:  how do we as teachers help children stay in this frame of mind throughout their careers as students?  How do we help students capture this love of learning and hold onto it for the rest of their lives? 

By Jana Nicol

It all started with a grant possibility through our province's department of education. The lucky recipients would receive a $1000 budget and five days of release time (gasp!) to plan and execute an action research project about Universal Design for Learning (UDL)... but there was a catch - applicants needed to assemble a school-based team of four and complete the application by the last day of September. Seriously?!

On the teacher calendar, September is one of the busiest months of the year, what with getting to know
twenty-something students and their parents, putting the finishing touches on our classrooms, planning lessons, open house, PLCs, reading and signing Special Education Plans, and deadlines (cumulative files, information sheets, professional growth plans, etc.), something else was loaded onto our already heaping plates. And only one elementary, middle, and high school would be selected from each of the province's four school districts.  
 
I checked around... a lot of teachers in schools throughout our district were really excited about this grant, so there was going to be competition. And it was probably going to be fierce. After all, our district has a lot of amazing schools and educators. We put an excellent team of teachers in no time, completed the challenging feat of filling out the application and passing it in on time. Then it was just a waiting game... 
  
A few weeks later, we heard back from the department: we got it... how exciting! I am really looking forward to learning more about UDL and working with some amazing educators in the process.