Curriculum Barriers Template

All of this UDL talk... it's time for a little practical application!

As I talked about in previous posts, CAST.org is a very informative website.  There are a lot of helpful resources including the Curriculum Barriers Tutorial which walks you through an example of applying UDL principles to student/curriculum scenarios.  I visited this site and utilized the template for a student from the school I am currently subbing at: Ethan*.  Ethan is a nice kid, gets along with his classmates and is polite to adults.  He enjoys nonfiction text and seems to solve one step math computations with relative ease.  He has trouble staying focused on instruction and individual work; also his handwriting is illegible at times.  

Curriculum Element	Student Characteristic	Barrier in Learning Environment for this Student
Lecture	Difficulty paying attention Difficulty following multiple step computations	Ethan can understand the content well but has a tough time following along, especially in his book.
Seat work in workbook	Difficulty keeping attention on current task	Ethan does not show what he knows because of his attention span.
Subject Matter	Loves math facts	The material is not quick, rapid equations all the time.  Ethan gets lost and/or distracted when the problems have multiple steps.

This is just a brief application of the Curriculum Barrier Template.  I think it would be helpful to break down different elements of the curriculum when I get my own classroom, to hopefully eliminate some of the barriers -- especially those that may not be so obvious to me.

References: CAST.org, Curriculum Barrier Template

*Name of student has been changed