UDL: Action & Expression

Have you ever sat through a class/workshop/meeting where there is that one person who won't shut up? It seems that they think their opinion is the only one that matters or that they just don't have any self-control.

If you didn't answer yes, I'd be very surprised. Everyone has been there, done that. It wasn't until the semester of college that I took a special education class that I received a new attitude towards those obnoxious kinds of students/peers/co-workers. My wise and experienced professor explained that it might not be ADHD that drives students of that kind. It could just be that they verbally process. We should tread lightly and not shut them down because if we shut them down, we will be shutting down their best strategy of learning.

I've thought a lot about that since that day in class. It would be so easy to shut every single one of those kind of students down. They not only rake on other students' nerves, but let's face it, they are hard for the teachers, too.

The action & expression portion of UDL provides the perfect outlet for the vocal processors as well as everyone else. The gist: give them all a chance to communicate about what they have learned with a preferred action or expression. 

Yes, I know; it seems like a no-brainer. But, think about it? With the popularity of multiple-choice tests, is American education really allowing for action and expression? Multiple choice works well for my husband and his nerdy-engineering friend types, but it has never worked for me or for the other 85% of people I know. Not only, does it not work, it extinguishes creation and problem-solving.

Doesn't the following explanation from the UDL Center website ring true:

Learners differ in the ways that they can navigate a learning environment and express what they know...In reality, there is not one means of action and expression that will be optimal for all learners; providing options for action and expression is essential.

As a little girl, I used to watch the TV show, Little House on the Prairie. In that show, there were many episodes that covered serious issues that arose inside of the small town's one-room schoolhouse. One episode made a huge imprint on my young tender heart. It was the episode with all the crazy school-boys running off schoolmaster after schoolmaster. Those boys, used to working on the farm, didn't do well reciting poetry or writing on their slate board for hours on end. They needed to move! They needed UDL. Specifically, they needed the sub guidelines of action and expression:

1. Provide options for physical action.
2. Provide options for  expression and communication.
3. Provide options for executive function.

My goal as a future teacher is to provide all three of the above "no-brainers" of teaching. I want all of my students to feel that they can thrive and not just learn in their best way, but apply that learning with their strongest methods of action and expression.

Funny story, although it didn't seem funny to me at all at the time. My husband with ADHD failed the legal bar the first time when he was surprised the day of the test that he had to write out his essay answers by hand instead of using a computer. This seemingly small procedure was ginormous to my husband. Writing by hand threw of his mo-jo big time. I chuckled a little inside when I read this study's words: "There is a long history to the suggestion that technology can be particularly advantageous for students with learning and academic disabilities in remediating or compensating for these problems." 

My husband wasn't given the option to express or communicate what he knew from law-school in the way that worked best for him. He spent the whole next 3  months after failing the first time practicing writing by hand instead of with a computer. Doesn't that seem ridiculous?! It sure did to me at home with three small kids while he studied full-time instead of working.

So what does all this mean for me as a teacher? I believe that my students shouldn't be required to waste time expressing in a way that could be expressed better in a another way. Yes, all of my English students need to learn how to write, even if they hate writing as much as I hate math. I will make sure they learn how to write effectively, even if I have to drag them along. However, if they can TELL me a story out loud, that might be the unorthodox means to get them excited enough to sit down long enough to drudge through writing it down for someone else to tell as well.