Response #3 "Universal Design and Multiple Literacies"

DFaye Anderson

Professor B. Gleason

ENGL 0862

Dec. 2014

Response #3

“Universal Design and Multiple Literacies: Creating Access and Ownership for Students with Disabilities”

            Martha G. Michael and Beverly J. Trezek are my new education sheroes. They are the authors of the third review selection, “Universal Design and Multiple Literacies: Creating Access and Ownership for Students with Disabilities.”  Initially, I thought I’d write about their wonderful advocacy in behalf of students with special needs. I admire those who fight for justice, so Michael and Trezek are easy, gratifying choices. I thought I’d write about their work to spread the gospel of Universal Design, a term borrowed from architecture, and loosely translated means to plan access for everyone.  In today’s classroom, students arrive with a wide range of skills and abilities. At my own school, a charter high school in the south Bronx, approximately 25% of our students have Individualized Education Plans (I.E.P.), educational plans for students who’ve been identified as having learning disabilities.  This access is gained by taking advantage of multiple literacies, the ability to learn and to show what you’ve learned through means other than pen and paper, or script literacy. I was ready to champion the champions of the marginalized.  And then I caught myself.

            Differentiation is the implementation of multiple literacies.  That means instruction may utilize the film, 12 Years A Slave, create a blog or post a YouTube clip of your classmates rapping about the solar system.  It might be a PowerPoint presentation of the Crusades, or drawing of the set of the play, The Lower Depths. Limited access to electronic? You can maneuver around that. Graphic organizers of all shapes and for lots of projects help visually oriented learners. An interview with a community leader can yield first person history reports. Of course, one of the best ways of learning is through experience.

            I was ready to congratulate the ladies on their efforts to assist young people. And then I had another thought. Differentiated learning is an effective method for reaching students who don’t do well with pen and paper, but students aren’t the only ones benefiting here. Seriously, who doesn’t like to create out of their ideas and talent? Script Literacy is tame, a weary lady rocking in her rocking chair, compared to differentiated teaching. I like the challenge of figuring out ways of using recorded music and film and live music and role playing and the other arts in the classroom. Differentiated teaching benefits students, but I’m having pretty good time over here, too.