UDL Implementation

In 2015, our school district was notified that because we are amongst the largest school districts in our state, we would be eligible for a grant to study Universal Design for Learning. District administration approached the instructional coaches and sought out two coaches, one with a general education background and one with a special education background to take the lead on this work. In March of 2015, two coaches (Elizabeth Mintie formerly of Fond du Lac) and Shannon Schultz attended the initial training in Madison. Two team members from the CAST organization provided this training to teachers and administrators from the largest school districts in Wisconsin.

As we continued our learning journey, it was time to join forces with a school willing to take on this learning with us. Because Elizabeth and Shannon were both serving as instructional coaches at Woodworth, they invited the staff and administration of Woodworth to join them on the journey of learning and implementing the principles of Universal Design for Learning.

After two years at Woodworth, instructional coaches, Shannon Schultz and Mary Rosenthal, invited Roberts Elementary to join this learning journey. During the 2018/2019 school year, the Rosenow Elementary team collaborated with Shannon and Mary for a year of UDL implementation.

During the 2019/2020 school year, Terese Weiler (Gifted/Talented Instructional Coach) joined Shannon and Mary to support the implementation of UDL at Chegwin Elementary. The coaching team of Terese, Shannon, and Mary, personifies our district's vision to provide high quality learning opportunities to meet the needs of ALL learners, including those learners on the edges. Unfortunately, our schools were closed on March 17, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our work to continue our UDL growth and learning has continued at Chegwin during the 2020/2021 school year. We have also been offering "sprinkles" of UDL at professional development sessions for other buildings within our district.

When the Covid pandemic arrived, our instructional shift moved to learning how to be teachers of remote instruction and teachers of in-person instruction. Our official UDL roll out was put on pause due to the pandemic. Despite the pause, instructional coaches, Terese Weiler and Shannon Schultz, continue to offer book clubs as well as small group profession

Check out what UDL looks like in these schools!