Professional Learning for Busy Educators

Recently, a teacher posted a comment to my blog lamenting that direct instruction consumed much of the class period. Like many, this teacher felt intense pressure to teach the standards and wasn’t sure how to embrace Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and blended learning. This is not unusual. There is often a tension created by the pressure put on teachers to cover content with the student-centered approach to learning described by UDL and blended learning. I understand the pressure teachers feel to cover the standards and move through their curriculum. We can indeed cover more ground when we present information in a traditional lecture format, but that doesn’t mean students understand the information.