UDL in Action Rice Lake High School British Literature

Summary

Amy Pelle, an English teacher and theater director at Rice Lake High School, shares her 24th year of educational experience. She discusses the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in her British literature class, emphasizing student choice and engagement. Pelle highlights projects that cater to multiple intelligences, tech tool integration, and creative assignments like graphic essays, which foster high-level thinking and cater to diverse learning styles. Her approach encourages hands-on learning, fostering a close-knit classroom environment and enhancing understanding of literature through relatable projects.

Takeaways

• 📚 Amy Pelle is an English teacher and theater director at Rice Lake High School with 24 years in education and 23 in the district.
• 🛠 She has been using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) philosophies for a long time and has found new ways to increase student engagement this year.
• 🎭 In her British literature class, she focuses on core literary pieces and incorporates student choice to showcase their learning.
• 🧠 She utilizes multiple intelligence projects to allow students to explore and learn about the United Kingdom or related topics in diverse ways.
• 💡 Amy encourages the use of technology, as seen on page 205 of a referenced book, and has students create projects using tools like Powtoon, websites, and Animoto.
• 📈 She experimented with assignment choices, allowing students to either write a standard essay or a graphic essay on 'Macbeth', yielding positive results.
• 📚 Amy provides a variety of literature stories but gives students the option to choose which ones to read, fostering engagement and independent work.
• 🤝 She emphasizes a close-knit classroom environment where students sit together, act out skits, and understand each other better, enhancing learning.
• 🎨 Amy herself took up a new artistic challenge by creating a map of the British Isles to express herself and understand the topic of folk music.
• 🌐 The class projects are connected to the British Isles, with students choosing diverse topics such as road family music, literature, and history.
• 🔥 A specific project mentioned involved creating a terrarium for 'The Mournful Child', showing the hands-on and creative approach to learning in Amy's class.

Q & A

Who is Amy Pelle and what is her role at Rice Lake High School?

Amy Pelle is an English teacher and the director of theater at Rice Lake High School.

How long has Amy been in the field of education?

Amy has been in education for 24 years, with her 23rd year being in the district.

What educational philosophy does Amy use in her teaching?

Amy uses the philosophies behind Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in her classroom.

What did Amy focus on in her British literature class to increase student engagement?

Amy focused on incorporating choice-based activities, multiple intelligence projects, and technology tools to increase student engagement.

What is a 'multiple intelligence project' as described by Amy?

A multiple intelligence project involves students using one or multiple intelligences to learn about a topic related to British literature or the United Kingdom and presenting their findings in various formats.

How did Amy incorporate technology into her teaching?

Amy used technology by encouraging students to create websites, PowToons, Animoto, S'more, and Flipsnack projects to showcase their knowledge.

What alternative to the standard Macbeth essay did Amy offer her students?

Amy offered students the choice to either write a standard Macbeth essay or create a graphic essay.

How does Amy provide choice in her literature curriculum?

Amy provides a menu of literature stories with guidelines and parameters, allowing students to choose which stories they want to read or avoid.

What was Amy's approach to fostering a close-knit classroom environment?

Amy fostered a close-knit classroom by having students sit together, act out skits, and relate the material back to one another.

What was the focus of Amy's first project in her class?

The focus of Amy's first project was to explore the concept of folk music and its connection to the British Isles.

How did Amy's students demonstrate their understanding of the material?

Students demonstrated their understanding through various projects, including creating terrariums, using color as an organizational device, and presenting on topics related to the British Isles.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Innovative Teaching with UDL in British Literature

Amy Pelle, an English teacher and theater director at Rice Lake High School, discusses her 24 years of experience in education, with a focus on Universal Design for Learning (UDL). She highlights her use of UDL to enhance student engagement, particularly in her British literature class for juniors and seniors. Amy emphasizes the importance of selecting core literature pieces and incorporating student choice in learning, such as showcasing their interests through multiple intelligence projects. These projects can range from electronic presentations to written stories, allowing students to explore topics related to British literature or the United Kingdom in a personalized manner. Amy also shares her experience with using technology, such as creating a powtoon about page 205 of a tech tool book, to encourage students to demonstrate their knowledge in diverse formats, including websites and various multimedia presentations.

05:06

🎨 Embracing Creativity and Choice in Learning

The script continues with Amy's personal journey in embracing creativity and choice in her teaching methodology. She shares her experience with a project on folk music from the British Isles, where she used multiple intelligences to connect with the subject matter. Amy admits to lacking artistic ability but found joy and a deeper understanding of the topic through creating a large map of the British Isles. The class environment is depicted as supportive, with students researching the same theme, which facilitates a more hands-on and engaging learning experience. The emphasis is on the importance of choice in learning, allowing students to explore topics in ways that best suit their individual learning styles.

10:09

🌿 Project-Based Learning in the British Isles

The final paragraph details a project term where students are tasked with creating projects related to the British Isles, covering a wide range of topics such as road family music, British literature, and history. Each project involves writing about chosen names, explaining them, and using visual elements like color and imagery to organize information. The paragraph showcases the students' enjoyment and learning outcomes from this project-based approach. One student's project on 'mourns in her child' involved creating a terrarium, demonstrating the diversity of projects and the creative freedom allowed. The paragraph concludes with a general reflection on the effectiveness and enjoyment of project-based learning in enhancing understanding and engagement with the subject matter.

Keywords

💡UDL

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that aims to make learning environments more accessible and inclusive for all students. In the script, Amy Pelle, an English teacher, mentions using UDL philosophies to enhance student engagement in her classroom, which is a central theme of the video.

💡Student Engagement

Student engagement refers to the level of interest and involvement students have in their learning process. The script highlights Amy's efforts to increase engagement through various teaching strategies, such as offering choices in assignments and incorporating technology, which is a key aspect of the video's narrative.

💡British Literature

British Literature is the study of literary works from the United Kingdom. Amy discusses her approach to teaching this subject, emphasizing the selection of core pieces and the incorporation of student choice, which is a specific application of the broader educational themes in the video.

💡Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences suggests that people have different types of intelligences, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, and spatial. Amy uses this theory to design projects that cater to various intelligences, allowing students to explore British literature in diverse ways, as illustrated in the script.

💡Choice

Choice in education refers to giving students the opportunity to select their learning path or projects. Amy emphasizes the importance of choice in her teaching, as it allows students to tailor their learning experience to their interests and abilities, which is a recurring theme in the video.

💡Technology Integration

Technology integration in education involves using digital tools and resources to enhance learning. Amy mentions using tech tools like Powtoon and websites for student projects, showcasing how technology can be leveraged to support diverse learning styles and increase engagement.

💡Graphic Essay

A graphic essay is a non-traditional form of academic writing that uses visual elements to convey ideas. Amy introduces the option of a graphic essay as an alternative to the standard essay format, allowing students to demonstrate their understanding of literary analysis in a creative way, which is an example of offering choice in the script.

💡RIT Lit Stories

RIT Lit Stories likely refers to a collection of literature stories used in Amy's curriculum. By providing students with a menu of stories to choose from, she encourages them to take ownership of their learning, which is a key concept in the video's message about personalized education.

💡Folk Music

Folk music is a type of traditional music that is passed down through generations and often reflects the cultural identity of a community. In the script, Amy uses the study of folk music as a project to connect with the theme of British literature and culture, demonstrating the interdisciplinary approach to learning.

💡Terrarium

A terrarium is a small, sealed container that houses plants and sometimes small animals, creating a self-sustaining miniature ecosystem. Amy mentions a student project involving the creation of a terrarium, which is an example of a hands-on, creative project that relates to the study of literature and culture.

Highlights

Amy Pelle is an English teacher and theater director at Rice Lake High School.

She has 24 years of experience in education and 23 years in the district.

Amy has been using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) philosophies for quite some time.

She found new ways to increase student engagement in her classroom this year.

Amy focused on implementing UDL in her British literature class for juniors and seniors.

She selected core pieces of literature and incorporated student choice in the curriculum.

Students showcased their learning through multiple intelligence projects.

Amy used technology to enhance learning, as referenced on page 205 of a book.

Students created websites, powtoons, and other digital projects to demonstrate their knowledge.

Amy introduced a choice between a standard essay and a graphic essay for Macbeth.

This approach fostered high-level thinking and accommodated different learning preferences.

Amy's book contains a variety of literature stories, allowing students to choose what to read.

She emphasizes the importance of student engagement, conversation, and independent work.

Amy's class is close-knit, with a focus on understanding each other and the material.

Students can relate literature to modern day and choose projects that interest them.

Amy explored the concept of folk music and its connection to the British Isles.

Students created projects on various topics related to the British Isles, demonstrating creativity.

Amy's approach to teaching encourages hands-on learning and student choice.

Students find the class engaging and feel they learn more due to the interactive nature.

Transcripts

[Music]

hi I'm Amy Pelle and I am an English

teacher and the director of theater here

at Rice Lake High School and this month

is my 24th year in education my 23rd

year in the district I've been using

philosophies behind UDL for quite some

time although I really found some new

tricks and interesting ways to just up

that student engagement in my classroom

this year and so I'd really liked

specific things and the area that I

really focused on more of my learning

and trials was in my British literature

class and it's a high level laude

laude a pointed class for juniors and

seniors and in nine weeks you cannot do

British literature justice so I picked

some core pieces of literature that we

for sure need to touch on and then I do

a lot of choice so three that my

students are showcasing and then I would

just reference quickly are my multiple

intelligence projects so they use one or

multiple of their intelligences that

we've kind of talked about and they

learn something that relates to either

British literature or the United

Kingdom's and/or its other personalities

and they find something of interest and

they find a text that then uses

is their base for a multiple trip

multiple intelligence project some of

those are presented some of those are

electronic projects some of those are

paper or stories the GAMP they run the

gamut and what's super interesting is

that we don't know exactly what we're

gonna learn about what we do learn is

always way more interesting than what I

would have decided myself so it always

keeps me open and brushed to new ideas

along that lines I really liked page 205

on the tech tools and I used that and

shared it with my class in fact I

created a powtoon about page 205 in

showing them mrs. pally

using that technology and my

encouragement was that's another way to

show what you know is using one of these

new tech tools and I had students who

created websites to show what they know

or powtoons or even some of the other

Animoto zand s'more and flips nakid

bulky and that was kind of cool to see

the electronic projects come out of some

of the students who were so used to

doing a PowerPoint or writing paper

I also took a leap this year and rather

than just assign the standard

I provided some choice there and so I

had seen something on my Facebook feed

and so this year students could either

do this standard Macbeth essay or they

could do a graphic essay and I got some

great results now out of that and I know

that we had some students showcase some

of theirs and I will hang on to some of

those samples so it will be easier to

teach in the future now that I've got

some great points of reference it still

did all of the high end thinking that I

wanted those students to do in terms of

literary analysis but it broke that mold

of the five paragraph essay but at the

same time it honored those students who

wanted to just do a standard essay if

that's the skill they needed to practice

and they wanted to do that as well they

could do that so I like that choice and

then my book is full of just wonderful

variety of RIT lit stories and we don't

have time for everything

so the fact that I give them a menu

I give them some guidelines and

parameters but then they have some

choice of which of those stories they

want to read or which of those stories

they want to avoid and I think that's

also an important option and I saw high

student engagement great student

conversation independent work time so I

could one-on-one with a student while

other kids could just kind of rise to

the occasion and all of those things are

things that

really we're fostered in my Berlet this

year and because I had read the udl for

me I like to be a little bit more

hands-on than not so in class we like to

sit together a lot it's been kind of

being close close-knit I guess sort of

stay in the classroom and we will read

will act out skits and we just work on

being able to I guess understand each

other a little more in the class which

helps with the material we kind of

relate it back to one another and so

this being able to choose projects in

the way we learned them relating them

back to this topic literature both

English and things like that it helps us

understand I guess the nature and so

being able to relate it to modern day so

I guess we start with this project so

what I want like what I was really

interested in was the choice of how we

get

from the British Islands and so what I

was really fascinated with so for my

first project I wanted to show and share

with the class work focus of Commerce

row and what makes it folk music and so

we talked about this thing in class

called multiple intelligences and art

and mathematics and things like that all

fall into that category

and something that I don't really think

I have is that artistic ability so

wanting to show the connection these

lines represent you know like so say

opens expense in Ireland the lines

represent that but I wanted to show like

I didn't want to make a small mouth I

wanted something bigger so I sat down

and apprehended this map of the British

Isles and so it would just I don't know

being able to express Who I am that way

or have the choice to try something new

like art or I don't know it makes me

really happy and it helped me understand

topic a little better

[Music]

so in this class it was nice to have

that choice because it was something new

for me

like everyone researching the same thing

because it helps me to learn in a way

that it's easiest for me to learn

instead of a teacher just for Siobhan

you do this I can learn like

I guess we learn more from this class

your new other class because it's more

hands-on

so like interested in I like how we can

choose

like this no it gives us

weeks so this project term of the thing

with the three projects we have to do

over the course of the class we have to

choose something that has to do with the

British Isles it can be anything like a

lot of people did stuff on the road

family music some people on British

literature project patient's history

horses and so each of these numbers

correspond to text that I wrote about

each of the names

and we had three Pope's for each and

explain them so then we had to come up

with an image the cauldron use color as

an organizational device and also the

fire and then these we didn't

I really enjoy learning I think I think

it's really fun and I learned a lot more

the first project I did mourns in her

child and I made a terrarium I think

everyone does project on one thing

it's reported like that it's

[Music]

you