UDL encourages teachers to clearly define their goals so that they can best determine first which brain networks are involved in meeting each goal and consequently what the strongest teaching method will be for helping students meet each goal.
Goal A
Students will primarily use their recognition networks to accomplish this goal; deciding which operation to use for a given word problem means identifying patterns. In order to support the student's recognition networks, this lesson will provide multiple examples and highlight critical differences between each example (Rose & Meyer, 2002)
Goal B
Students will primarily use their strategic networks to meet this goal since learning how to create number sentences is a procedural skill. In order to help students achieve this goal, the lesson will offer opportunities to practice with supports, ongoing feedback and flexible forums through which to demonstrate the skill (Rose and Meyer, 2002).
2. Scaffolding
for goal A
By working through multiple examples and creating class reference posters students will both practice recognizing which operation to use for a given story problem repeatedly and produce supports for themselves to continue recognizing the patterns in a given story problem.
for goal B
By using a variety of approaches to practice the skill, students will gain confidence in applying it to new situations. By receiving constant but varied supports and feedback all students will be able to focus on actually practicing the skill in question.
3. Supports
Students will be provided with these supports so that they can truly focus on the goals at hand. Since the goal of the lesson is not to learn math facts or execute computation, it is essential that students be relieved of the pressure of calculating correctly while simultaneously trying to learn to recognize new patterns and understand new proceedures. By providing multiple representations of the same support, more students are likely to find one they find helpful. By restricting the numbers to single digits, the lesson remains focused on the two goals, instead of adding an additional goal of reading, conceptualizing and/or computing large numbers. Finally, by reading and re-reading the problems aloud, along with providing them in a written format, students will be sure to understand the content of the problem's story so that they can get down to understadning the math!
The goals of this lesson are three fold:
A. Students will practice deciding which operation to use for a given story problem
B. Students will learn how to create a number sentence to represent the operations and solution of a story problem
For meeting the recognition goal (Goal A):
In Part I of the lesson students will encounter many examples of story problems. In small groups, they will use manipulatives and visual aids to decide which operation to use. The class will then create a giant chart, categorizing various story problems by the operation they require. Subsequently, the class will highlight key words in each story that indicate which operation to use (for example ("got ____ more" indicates addition). The class will then create posters (one for each operation) that lists all of the highlighted words and phrases. Both the chart and the posters will become classroom supports that remain on the wall.
For meeting the strategic goal (Goal B):
In Part II of the lesson students will use a variety of methods to solve word problems including a computer program, mathematics theater, and modeling problems with manipulatives. Each method will employ different supports and different methods of feedback. The computer program will have embedded supports that a) read problems outloud, b) check "answers" and c) make suggestions as to how to fix incorrect answers. The mathematics theater will draw on peer interaction as a support and audience reaction as feedback. During the modeling with manipulatives, the materials will provide support and the teacher will provide feedback.
Throughout the lesson, students will have access to, or be provided with the following supports:
-talking caluclulators (calculators that read the numbers, results and operations out as you type them in)
-grids that show the answers to addition and multiplication problems
-a computerized and a real abacus
-all numbers use in all problems will be from 0-9 (unless a student wishes to choose a problem from the "challenge basket" in which there will be problems that use double digit numbers as well.
-problems will not have extraneous numerical information (that's for a later lesson!)
-all problems will be read aloud, either by the teacher, peers, or a computer several times as a student works with it