Universal design for learning in ESL curriculum and Hispanic female students

¶ … school that are related to all the students and have a general effect on the entire organization. The focus of the research pertinent to this investigation deals with the Hispanic female population in my school. Within this group there are some specific issues that could definitely benefit from a widespread application of a thoughtful universal design for learning (UDL) plan. At the heart of the learning problems with this specific demographic is the differing culture and communication methods that come into conflict with the student and her environment. The transition from Spanish to English is dramatic in many cases and the curriculum and school system design does not necessarily align itself with the a path to simple and easy learning. The environment has taken this problem into consideration and has addressed this communication gaps in some ways but there is much room for improvement. English as a second language (ESL) curriculum modifications have been implemented in some areas of the system, but the issue is that more can be done to make significant improvements on eliminating the diversity and striving for equality, fairness and justice for not just white male students, but for all that desire to learn.

Question 2

Strehorn (2011) advocated the use of UID in its application to ESL programs and curriculum. She wrote "The barriers faced by implementing UID techniques in the ESL classroom can be multiple, but never as big as an adherence to the status quo in an academic setting making change difficult to implement. This is what I call the "guarded knowledge" theory. Simply stated, we must have strict rules and regulations about how to learn in order to grade, label, and justify what we do. And, any derivation of the above (i.e. allowing more time, books on tape, etc.) results in a dilution of the curriculum. I disagree. I think it is important to implement new and useful course design and teaching techniques to allow more access to the information being taught." I fully support this approach and my school is also developing a more UID slanted adoption of these tenets as well. I would like my school to implement even more of an emphasis on ESL approaches and theories throughout the entire school. To address this problem a practice that will infuse this guarded knowledge with mainstream ideas that will synthesize the efforts of the entire organization.

Question 4

Sahin (2003) emphasized the importance of assessment within the structure of a UDL based theory of organization within school systems. He wrote "ESL students also need to be assessed both formally and informally. In addition to formal assessment, teachers can use informal, authentic assessment to evaluate ESL students. Ongoing classroom assessment provides opportunities for teachers to observe ESL students accomplish tasks in a variety of contexts and situations. In the content area courses, quality of the students' questions, their understanding of the content knowledge, their critical-mindedness and their initiative in exploring questions, not their language skills, must be taken into account when assessing ESL students." It is becoming more and more obvious that the role of the teacher is evolving and changing along with the demands and challenges that are placed before us today in the schools. Convention and routine need to be addressed for their practicality in such situations where intuition and wisdom will play important roles in the assessment stage of the education process. My selected school is adapting to a form of this approach but has not fully grasped the totality of the situation and the need for a modification of the current situation.