In this website I often refer to a UDL Lesson or Universally Designed or even a “Universally Designed Lesson” But what is this exactly?
UDL stands for “Universal Design for Β Learning” or “UDL” and it is a proven method to reach every student. Since students learn in different ways it has as its unique feature of accessibility to all ways of learning. Students learn visually and kinesthetically and through sound (audio). Just imagine how we have learned for centuries and millenia. We learned by watching someone else. Now we expect children to learn from a book. That is just not going to happen. The teacher is the one who shows the students how to do it. Specific skills must be taught including everything a student needs to succeed with explicit lessons.Β 

The three fundamental principles of the universally designed lesson are:
1. Offer up multiple means of representation – teach the concepts using all of the senses
2. Allow multiple means for the student to express the knowledge that he or she has learned.
The third principle of the Universal Design for Learning is to provide multiple means of engagement. Engagement could be called the “why” of learning. Why are you learning this subject? And engaging lesson always involves explaining why and how the information is used in life.
For more information this extensively researched effective teaching practice, just search “Universal Lesson Design” on your search engine.
Here is a sample of a Universally Designed lesson using music, words and fun to teach the long and short sounds of the Vowel “O”