On Monday, October 24 during the ISB faculty professional learning day, all PreK-Grade 12 faculty participated in a session with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) expert, Dr. Katie Novak. In fact our September 8, 2022 ES Parent Engage session focused on how we meet the needs of all learners at ISB via the core principles of Universal Design for Learning. This Parent Engage session gave us an opportunity to learn directly from Dr. Katie Novack via her LET THEM THRIVE WEBINAR (see minutes 1:58-11:35, 12:15-19:00, and 33:58-36:00) and explore the Universal Design For Learning Guidelines.
On Tuesday, October 25, Dr. Novak visited ES classrooms and lead an October 26 workshop exclusively for ES teachers where she celebrated several UDL areas of strength in the ES including:
- ongoing formative assessment is driving differentiated instruction;
- teachers are pulling small groups to work with kids on targeted instruction;
- students have opportunities to personalize their learning in every single classroom;
- collaboration and sense of community is strong; kids are connected, comfortable working together, and kind.
In regards to constructive feedback, Dr. Novak suggested that we work towards having students articulate and share how the choices they are making allow them to reach the identified learning goals. Students have lots of choices, and we want them to know how their choices impact their learning.
Thanks again to all the parents who joined us on September 8th, and we look forward to welcoming everyone to our next ES Parent Engage on Thursday, November 3rd at 7:45AM where the focus will be on managing and finding balance with media and technology use at home.
Your partner in education,
Michael Allen
michaela@isb.ac.th
