Curriculum Barriers Tutorial

In my previous posts I have explored various resources in which to assist educators in making learning accessible for all students (Universal Design for Learning). When thinking about incorporating the UDL guidelines into everyday instruction, deciding where to start may be a little overwhelming. The curriculum barriers tutorial on CAST.org guides you through the creation of a template that can be used to easily identify your students characteristics and the barriers that theses may create in a learning environment specific to an area of curriculum. Once these barriers are identified, educators can look to UDL guidelines on how to eliminate or reduce learning barriers for students. 

To complete the tutorial:

1. You will be prompted to choose a student.

2. Choose a curriculum.

3. After reading about your student and the chosen curriculum, you will identify characteristics of your student will analyzing the barriers that they may face with that curriculum. 

4. Finally, you fill in and create the template. 
 

My student was Jamal, a young man with cerebral palsy who is an enthusiastic student, but struggles with motor skills that affect his writing and speech. See the finalized template that I created on Jamal below. 

After completing this tutorial, I can see how helpful it would be when implementing UDL into my instruction. The template is a quick and easy-to-understand reference that an educator can refer to when creating lessons to be sure that there are no barriers are present. Doing so will make learning accessible for all students in the classroom!