Plan Authentic and Accessible Writing Experiences for Your Students With Katie Novak

Sara
Today we’re going to be talking about simple strategies that you can easily use to plan more authentic writing experiences for your students. And I sat down with Katie Novak, who is an educational consultant and best selling author.

Sara
Now, Katie is an expert in Universal Design for Learning, also known as UDL, blended learning and multi tiered systems of support, also known as MTSS. And if those terms mean nothing to you now, they will by the end of this podcast episode, and you’ll really understand how they can help you to increase the effectiveness of instruction.

Sara
Now, Katie is extremely passionate about equipping and empowering teachers with strategies that make it easy for them to help their students grow into confident and skilled writers. So if that is something that you are hoping for your current group of students, then this episode is perfect for you.

Sara
Hi, Katie, welcome to the show. I am so excited to have you on as a guest today.

Katie
I am so excited to be here.

Sara
So Katie, and I realized we have a sort of similar connection. Katie’s last name is Novak, which was my maiden name. So it’s like, oh, it’s not a very common name. I love sort of having that connection. So super excited to chat with you today.

Sara
Katie recently wrote a book, Shifting Writing into the Classroom with UDL and Blended Learning. I got a chance to read it. And Katie, it is absolutely incredible. Can you just share a little bit about your passion for why you want to write this book or sort of what the catalyst was for wanting to write a book about writing and shifting writing into the classroom with UDL and blended learning?

Katie
Yes, I would love to. So I got to be in the classroom for over a decade. I loved it, it was the best job I ever had. I taught high school and middle school English. And so I’ve always been incredibly passionate about writing, always trying to work with my colleagues to do really cool authentic interdisciplinary writing. And so it’s always been something that I’ve been really, really excited about and supporting my colleagues with.

Katie
I also on the other side, I’m really passionate about Universal Design for Learning, which we’ll talk about quite a bit in this podcast, which is a really good framework for thinking about what are the barriers that are preventing students from learning at high levels.

Katie
So we have this, I’m in love with literacy, I really want to make things accessible for all students. And then Chat GPT was invented. And it really threw everything we knew about writing into a frenzy. And so my co author, Kat Tucker, and I, we tried to balance, how do we help all teachers embrace the value of authentic writing, developing your voice making sense of ideas, while doing it in a way that all students have access to it?

Katie
But how do we do that, given that it’s just so easy to have the robot speak for you and write for you? So the intention of the book was really focused on how can we as educators take the best parts of the writing process, developing student voice and making meaning bring it into the classroom, and then teach students how to use the AI tools as what they should be, which is supplemental tools and not just taking over your mind for you.

Katie
So that is a little bit of background in where we stand in starting out these conversations. So talking about the value of literacy, talking about passion for writing, universal design, and of course, how we do that amongst the very smart robots that are really trying to take over.

Sara
So one, I needed this book when I was in the classroom, because unlike you, I was not a teacher who loved teaching writing, I think part of that is is I was not a competent writer, myself. So this idea of okay, I’m not a competent writer, myself, how then am I going to teach students how to write as well.

Sara
But as I was reading through your book, there are so many practical, effective, simple strategies that I feel like teachers can start putting into place. And as I was reading it, I was like, Oh my gosh, if I was in the classroom, I could start doing some of these things today. And I could tell it would make a difference with my students. And so as I was reading it, I was just like, this book, I feel like is so empowering for teachers, especially if they have a lack of confidence when it comes to teaching writing.

Sara
But I love the part in the beginning, especially where you guys talked about Chat GPT and sort of the catalyst for this book because AI is not going anywhere, right. So like, we need to figure out how to be instruct in a way that students know how to use artificial intelligence but not lose their own voice in their writing. So I love that you guys address that as well.

Sara
Now, one of the things that you really emphasize in the book, which I love, because I have a very similar opinion or belief on this, is that all teachers, whether they are classified as a writing teacher, or not really need to consider themselves as writing teachers. So it’s like whether you teach math, geography, whatever it is, you are a writing teacher. So I’d love to hear why is that just an important mindset shift that you think educators really need to make?

Katie
Well, first of all, it is the most lagging skill in education right now, we of course, know that we don’t have great outcomes nationally, or internationally when we’re talking about all learners, as it relates to mathematics and science, and literacy. But ultimately, the most significantly lagging skill, where especially in America, we’re underperforming, is with writing, with only about a quarter of students who are meeting expectations for reading at grade level.

Katie
And given that it is such an important skill, it simply cannot only happen 1/8 of the day, when students are with an English teacher, when so much of what we do is based on literacy is based on making meaning with language. And so it’s really important, of course, that we teach students how to make sense of language and text, whether that text is a video, whether it’s audio, whether it’s a painting or data, but also about responding to that in an expressive way, which really, it needs to be some sort of writing or speaking.

Katie
And I think that there’s a lot of teachers who will accept this idea of writing to learn. So there’s two different types of writing, writing to learn and then learning to write. And many teachers accept that they can use writing to learn so things like entrance tickets and exit tickets. And you know, take a moment and summarize what you just learned. And that’s just really good practice in writing.

Katie
But also, there’s really a need for everyone to teach students how to write in each content area. Because writing in science is very different than writing a critical piece of art or music is very different than writing a workout plan in a PE class is different from reading a story. And so really helping people understand the value of literacy, especially writing in their content area, and then really helping students to deconstruct what does high quality writing look like in that content area? How can we make sense and notice what those patterns are? And then how do we replicate them in our own work?

Katie
A lot of teachers who I had worked with, when I was an English teacher, were like, Well, I’m not going to correct the writing part, I’m just looking for the answer. I’m like, but scientists at the top of their field, produce writing, you know, mathematicians at the top of their field produce writing. And of course, we know that having, you know, a really good view of of critical analysis of art, and music and dance, that has to be something that essentially all of our students know how to do. And as teachers, when students don’t know how to do something, yet, we have to design instruction to support that process.

Sara
Yeah, I love that. And I mean, I think it is so important, because, you know, most of the teachers that listen to our podcasts are upper elementary, ELA teachers, so they understand the importance of reading and writing and how that transfers, you know, everywhere else, but we’re always encouraging them.

Sara
It’s like, if you’re departmentalized, like you need to connect with your math teacher and your science teacher and everybody else and let them know, like how important it is that they also focus on teaching, reading and writing. Because it’s like when students are literate, you know, both the ability to read and respond fluently. That’s just going to set them up for success in life.

Sara
And I feel like so often, we get so focused on the standards of like, you know, can they actually complete the math problem? Or can they regurgitate a science fact and less on how are they communicating their knowledge in an authentic way? So I just love that you’re like, No, all teachers are writing teachers like that is something that we need to embrace and really believe in.

Sara
So, you know, knowing then that all teachers really are considered writing teachers, I’m sure for a lot of teachers, it’s like, okay, well, how do I integrate writing into other subjects? And I think even for, you know, an elementary teacher who teaches all subjects, they tend to compartmentalize, right? I have my math block my reading block my writing block. So you know, what are some things that teachers can do to really integrate and infuse writing into everything that they teach?

Katie
Absolutely. So you know, first we can talk a little bit about that writing to learn writing to make sense. And that sometimes is, you know, truly, it’s not going to be graded. It’s very low stakes. It’s asking either content questions, or interpretive questions.

Katie
So, you know, content questions might be something like, after a mini lesson, you might say to students, what was the most important idea in this lesson? You know, I’m going to put on a timer for five minutes, take out your learning journals and just write down what you feel like was the most important thing and that’s very, very low threat.

Katie
It’s not extra work for the teacher, because it’s not something you’re collecting. You’re providing feedback on, but it is really valuable to use that as an informal formative assessment. Because you can put on some lovely classical music, you can walk around and notice what students are putting down and really getting a sense of, you know, are they understanding what I just maybe modeled or presented?

Katie
You might also at the end of the day, say, Okay, let’s really think about, you know, especially upper elementary, you know, let’s look at our agenda. Let’s think about the day we’ve had. And, you know, what do you think is the most important idea that we talked about today? So, you know, take a moment, think back to 9am, you know, look at the agenda, see where we’ve been. So those are really great reflection activities.

Katie
You can also have students use a learning journal for more interpretive questions. So it would be okay, so we just read a story. How did you connect to that, personally, what did that remind you of?

Katie
And again, especially elementary school teachers, you cannot collect and provide feedback on literally, you have five subjects a day, you might have 30, kids, you cannot take home 150 things a night. And I think sometimes there’s this hesitation of, but like, if I assign it, then I have to do something with it without recognizing the value of solidifying the learning by having that learning journal.

Katie
And again, you can do this in any subject. So after a, you know, physics test, you could ask something like, you know, if you had to restate this concept, you know, in your own words, you know, what would it be? And those are really great things, you can embed them into assessments, you can have them as entry tickets, or exit tickets. But I love the idea of keeping it in a journal where students have opportunities that sometimes to go back and really look at how their understanding has shifted.

Katie
As a teacher, every Friday, it was called hooray, hooray. It’s revision day. I did that for years that there was no explicit instruction on Friday. And it was really a time for me to conference with students. And for students to kind of work through a choice board where they had to look at some previous things they had written and decide based on their new knowledge that they wanted to revise, they could, you know, go back and look at their journal and, you know, share some things that they’ve learned it was an amazing day.

Katie
But that is when you’re talking about writing to learn. That’s very different when you’re teaching students to write learning to write, which requires the writing process. Writing is not an event. It’s not a product, it is a process.

Sara
Amen. Can we just restate that again, because I feel like that’s so important.

Katie
You’re like, I assign the writing. And it wasn’t that great. And it’s like, but we didn’t actually teach students how to write like, I don’t sit down and write a book, like we’re talking well over a year of daily, you know, drafting and researching, and getting feedback and scrapping things and revising. And so really supporting all teachers and understanding what the writing process actually is, which is a multi step process that starts off with just this prewriting activities.

Katie
And so prewriting activities are really great times to share with students like this is the purpose of what we’re going to be doing today. And you’re actually going to create a written product of which will be assessed for how you share your voice. And so we are going to be looking at things like organization, and you know, clarity, and, you know, grammatical correctness.

Katie
And I think these are the assignments where teachers are so, so nervous about artificial intelligence, because certainly if you just say to students, you know, take out your notebooks, do not worry about what language you’re writing it in. Don’t worry about spelling, you know, that is something that students can produce. But it’s the for homework tonight, I want you to write this paper, all you have to do is say, hey, Chat GPT This is the prompt, the teacher gave me write the paper, I just copy it into something else and make it a little my own Bada bing bada boom.

Katie
But I wouldn’t be concerned about students using Chat GPT at a finishing stage right at a copy editing stage, or proofreading stage, if I had really sat alongside them throughout the whole writing process. And so going through the value of prewriting activities, so what are you thinking that you want to write about and giving options and choices for that?

Katie
So allowing students to maybe do a brainstorm or a KWL chart or just researching and, and concept maps and things like that. So really giving students before we write really take a moment and think about like what you want to write about. You go around, use that as an informal assessment, you know, the direction they’re heading.

Katie
And then you might move to now let’s go to more of not drafting yet but organizing, right? So we’re kind of doing this prewriting and now let’s do some planning, and you have a choice. You can make a graphic organizer, you can use a traditional outline. Now upper elementary You’d have to teach these skills first, because you cannot choose between an outline and a graphic organizer, if you are having experience both and you don’t know which one is going to work better for you.

Katie
But I love the idea of kind of going through that process with students again. And you know, how are you going to pre write? How are you going to plan? I know what they’re planning, I know what their ideas are.

Katie
The next is then when you move to the drafting, right? I want you to kind of draft out, you know, a storyboard, you could do it kind of by hand, the sought process now at this point, is something that students own. And so when it gets to how do we make that draft better? It’s very easy to say, this does not in any way, shape, or form align to the discussions we’ve had the planning documents that you have, and I love using these tools. But I won’t draft in the tools, because I lose my voice.

Katie
And then I’m like, maybe, maybe that’s what I should have said, it’s like, no, that’s not what I should have said, I’m getting like, the robots are manipulating me. So you know, in the book, we have a, you know, a prewriting choice board, for example. And one of the things I like imagine four squares, if you’re listening, and before we started writing, I would usually give four options.

Katie
One was to explore resources to activate thinking. So imagine in a science class, I say, I want you to write up the results of the lab that we did, I might say before we you know, go through that process of starting to organize, why don’t you go back and explore and look at, you know, all of the notes of the lab or go into Google Classroom and look at the directions of what the lab was. Or just take a minute and kind of think about what you have on your data sheet.

Katie
Another option is just to brainstorm. So had a dump out, like this is what I want to say this is what I want to remember, this is the one that clued. Another can be free writing is like just take five minutes. And it’s not just like a brain dump with words and pictures and ideas, but almost a flow of consciousness. And then the last is start having a conversation. Right? What are you going to write about maybe an instructor chat.

Katie
And what I love, and we can get into Universal Design for Learning is it is so important for us to shift decision making to students. We talk about social emotional learning a lot. And people say, Well, where do we fit it in? But social emotional learning is about self awareness. It’s about responsible decision making.

Katie
And so I would say to students, we’re going to start on a writing process. And the first step of that process is going to be some prewriting. And I’m going to put on a timer for 10 minutes. And I really want you to think what is the best way for you to prepare for the planning stage and why? And really force that self reflection. And some students would say, Well, I don’t really remember the lab very much that was last week. So I want to take some time and look at it great decision.

Katie
Someone else might say I want to have a conversation because I want to know what other people are thinking before I start. And that is such power, such magic and aligns with a lot of the things that we’re hoping for in these portrait of a learner projects where we want kids to be problem solvers, critical thinkers, collaborators, like the real human skills.

Katie
And so allowing students to really think about which of these pathways is best for me right now and why. Allowing them to make a decision. And then afterwards, you could use a writing to learn activity and say, take a moment and just share in your journal, what did you choose today? Why did you choose it? And was it an effective choice?

Katie
And that, again, it supports that executive function, it supports reflection, but also it’s having students recognize that being a writer does not mean sitting down and spewing brilliance on a page immediately, it really is work. And so in those stages, I think that sometimes we say we don’t have time to do it, we don’t have time not to do it. Because the way we’re doing it now 75% of kids are not meeting even grade level expectations for writing.

Sara
So many good things that you just said here that I feel like teachers just need to like, I don’t know, chew on and embrace and really just hold on to.

Sara
But I think even going back to when you were talking about writing to learn, you know, I know so many teachers who are hesitant to want to assign something because they’re like, I don’t have time to, to check it or to correct it or to look at it. But it’s like, no, so much of learning is not about you know, collecting something, it’s about giving students that opportunity to practice and explore.

Sara
And it’s like, you’re not everything has to be graded, not everything has to be put in the gradebook or assess. It’s like just the act of students writing, you know, as a reflection I loved all of the ideas that you shared as a reflection I think is so important because that’s how they get to practice the skills that they’re learning in the then learning to write part of the lesson. And so, yeah, I try I think trying to increase more of those writing to learn opportunities can be so helpful for teachers.

Sara
But I love how you really emphasize that writing is a process and not a product, you know, and if we think about even like, you know, if I’m writing an email or if I’m writing, you know, a podcast outline or blog post, I never just sit down and do it all in one session, I usually do some research or some brainstorming and you know, maybe talk with a friend about something.

Sara
And it was like we do these things in the real world, in real writing experiences. And I think we forget that we need to then intentionally incorporate those things into the classroom. So our students know, like you were saying how to utilize a lot of those executive functioning skills and critical thinking skills and all of that.

Sara
So helping teachers really feel encouraged and empowered, that it’s like the writing process doesn’t need to be taught in a single day, doesn’t need to be taught in a single week, it doesn’t need to be this very clear cut like step one, step two, there’s a lot of opportunities for them to bring in choice and opportunity. So students can really design their own learning experience.

Sara
Which I feel like kind of leads us into just the whole idea of UDL to begin with. Can you really explain because I know you’ve mentioned that a couple of times, but can you explain what UDL is, and then some of the key strategies that can be used to enhance student’s writing skills?

Katie
Absolutely. So Universal Design for Learning is totally my bag. I love it. I love it. I love it. I implemented it in a classroom as a teacher. And it increased my student learning and student growth and even student performance on these wildly inaccessible standardized. Like, I mean, the impact of, of universal design was huge.

Katie
So first, universal design is actually an architecture concept. And the concept is, how do you design a building so that every single person can get in and use it, and all federal buildings have to be universally designed? So what does it mean if something is not universally designed, which is sometimes called hostile design, is that some people can’t get into it.

Katie
So if you have a post office, and there’s only stairs to get in, then if you have any sort of, you know, mobility support needs, then you’re going to be excluded from getting into that building. So if you go into a building, that’s a federal building, they’ll always be ramps, there’ll be buttons that you can push, sometimes there’s just sensors, so the doors open for you. They’ll always be elevators, if you look closely, there’ll be Braille inside the building, right? There’s lots of different supports to make sure that everyone can enter an access a building.

Katie
So Universal Design for Learning is how do you design a lesson, so every student has access to and can participate in that lesson. And we don’t want to hostilely design lessons, because then some students would be excluded.

Katie
So for example, as an English teacher, if my class was focused on, let’s say, reading an excerpt of a text, let’s say a vignette from Sandra Cisneros House on Mango Street, and I hand out a hard copy of that book to a truly inclusive class and say, okay, read the book. Some students do not speak English, some students have visual impairment, some students cannot decode at grade level.

Katie
And so Universal Design for Learning recognizes the variability of student needs, and really focuses on what actually is the goal here? And can I provide flexible methods for students to reach that goal? Lust like a building will have the stairs, and the ramp, and the elevator, right. And there’s all of these different paths.

Katie
So for lesson, I might say to students, the real focus here is really understanding the vignette, it’s comprehension, this is not a decoding standard. That’s not the point. That’s not the goal. And so I want all students to be able to make sense of it. So I’m going to allow them to maybe choose from a choice board to build background knowledge on just like the setting and who Sandra Cisneros is, and kind of what the book is about before they dive into a vignette.

Katie
And then I can allow them to either read a hard copy of it, or maybe join a small group. And I loved having the oral fluency job in my class, because I don’t want to be the one reading because I need to be constantly assessing and monitoring. So I made it a class job. And like the kids who are like really into performance in theater would line up drooling, with like anticipation because they wanted to do it.

Katie
So I would have, you can use a hard copy of the book to access it. You can join, you know, Sara, she’s going to be our reader this month. And Sara will use amazing inflection and she’ll read it. But I also might have it digitally. And that will allow students to maybe read a translation first in their first language, it allows them to use assistive and augmentative communication for a read aloud. If the text is too small, they can make it much bigger, right?

Katie
So universal design is firm goals and flexible means based on variability. Another analogy that I use all of the time, so if you’re listening and you want to share with somebody else, is just the idea of throwing a dinner party, because we recognize people’s variability when it comes to food.

Katie
And so if I was going to have 30 people over my house for dinner, and I didn’t exactly know a ton of about them, I would not just say I’m just going to serve a meat and cheese lasagna, because I am always thinking about well, what if somebody is vegetarian? Or what if somebody’s lactose intolerant?

Katie
So I would do something more buffet like, or more potluck, like, because I would want there to be options. And I might say I was thinking about serving a lasagna, you know, let me know if that presents any problems, I can make something else. But we, we don’t often do that in the classroom. So we’ll say here’s the book.

Sara
Yeah, I love that analogy of the building, right? Where it’s like, the goal is to get people into the building. And it doesn’t matter if they get in through the stairs, the ramp, the elevator, whatever it is, like they’re getting into the building. And I think as educators, sometimes we lose sight of what is the goal of our instruction, or the lesson or the activity? And really thinking, you know, is that end goal, like accessible for all students with the way that we’re delivering it?

Sara
Because I think, you know, like you said, he listed off all sorts of things that exist in our classrooms, you know, students who can’t decode at grade level students who aren’t native in English, you know, students who have visual or, you know, auditory impairments. And so it’s like, are we really making sure that our lessons are accessible to all of those students.

Sara
And I think, unfortunately, our education system doesn’t make it easy for teachers to consider those and plan around those. So it’s so important that just teachers on their own are like, Okay, I’m going to consider this and then design instruction that is accessible to all students. So I love I love those analogies that you shared.

Katie
And I also think it’s really important to think about these things as routines. Because, yeah, teachers shouldn’t have to spend so much time planning lessons, you know, if you’re listening, anytime there is a text, and the focus is comprehension, right? If you are teaching K to four, you are exempt, when you’re focused on foundational reading standards, right, actually require the ability to make sense of sounds and things like that.

Katie
And so the choices might be a little bit different, where you’re not just going to say, just listen, right all of the time, because like the goal is different. But if you are not a fourth grade teacher or below, then you cannot exclude students who don’t have the skills yet. Now, I agree, it is not your role as a sixth grade, a 10th grade 12th grade teacher to teach students how to decode. And so students who are going into middle school in high school without those skills, yet, they really need a supplemental reading class or a supplemental reading program.

Katie
But a lot of people will say to me, Katie, they should be able to read, and I’m like, but they aren’t readers yet. And they’re just gonna get further and further and further behind if we don’t provide them with access to grade level learning. So you make that text accessible by providing visuals by pre teaching vocabulary, by you know, having students do lots of activities as they’re working through discussing making meaning. But ultimately, you know, the system also needs to ensure that it is well staffed and that there’s a schedule that students can get that additional support as necessary.

Katie
And for elementary teachers who are K-4, you know, foundational reading is only a third of the reading standards. So there’s a lot of time where you’re focusing on reading literature and reading informational text, again, we want to make sure that everyone can get in to grade level text, which means we have to provide some options and choices.

Sara
Well, I love how you said that this, you know, because I think for some teachers hearing this, they can be like, Oh my gosh, this sounds like so much extra work for me. But like you just mentioned, this becomes a routine, right? If this is how we how we plan, how we set it up to the students how we introduce it, it doesn’t have to be a ton of extra work, because it just becomes a routine for this is how we do our reading lesson, right?

Katie
Whenever there is text, and the standard is going to be comprehension, then you have these options. But also, we really need to think about the purpose because let’s say for instance, that I am going to have students make sense of a text. And I’m using the word text really loosely, because all teachers have different types of text. It doesn’t have to be a story or a textbook, but then to say, but then you have to write a response to it. And you have to cite evidence.

Katie
At that point, I would never choose to only have an audio. Because if I have to cite evidence, I actually want the text. And I might pair it. I might say I want to listen to it, because it’s strong fluency. But I also want that text in front of me, because I know eventually I’m going to have to say evidence. So I want to highlight the things that pop out. I want to annotate that text.

Katie
And so that’s another thing is recently an administrator reached out and she said, You know, I’m walking into classrooms, and I see all of these teachers just playing the audio for all kids. And I’m like, no, no, because UDL is about options, and it’s about choice, but the choice is how do I work towards the firm goal. And if a teacher is just saying, I’ve already decided that you’re all gonna listen to it. That’s not universal design, because it’s not allowing the end user to be self aware and to make choices.

Katie
And so that learning journal is amazing for kids to just get into habit of thinking about what did they choose? How did it serve them as learners? Were they challenged were they supported? And then ultimately, was it an effective choice? Or should they maybe make another choice the next time. And so that’s a really great way to bring it in.

Katie
But even with writing, if you think about every single time you write, we’re going to pre write first, here’s what your options are, then we’re going to plan, here’s what your options are, then after we have an original plan, we’re going to really understand the task before we start drafting. So you have an option to maybe look at exemplars you have an option to examine the rubric, you have an option to have conversations with friends and think about, you know, what really, is it that this task is asking me to do? Let’s like analyze the prompt, let’s look at the rubric.

Katie
And then you can get into the drafting. And there could always be the same options for drafting, right where it’s like, you can start drafting it by hand, you can, you know, type up some ideas. And then after you’ve approved the draft, then you say, Okay, now use any tool available to you to make it really strong.

Sara
Yes, I love that. Yeah. And I think again, it’s all about giving students options, and the opportunity to choose what option is going to be really best for them.

Sara
So I know you kind of talked about this a little bit, but are there any other really sort of techniques or strategies to help really transfer the writing responsibility to students? And how to balance that with effective writing instruction? Right? It’s like, how do we balance the students having the choice with making sure that we’re actually teaching them the process, so that way they can be independent on their own.

Katie
So I think that when you’re talking about blended learning, which is this book is about universal design and blended learning, you’re talking about a model that allows students to work independently, but also, you want to have the ability to pull small groups of students as necessary.

Katie
And so as students are, let’s say, planning, I might notice that there are four or five students who don’t seem to have a coherent plan. So I might then say, you know, what, I’m just walking around, I used to walk around with a clipboard, this was my favorite strategy.

Katie
I would, you know, really think about what is my standard today. And so, for instance, you know, the writing process is a standard, right? Students understand the writing process. And I might create a grid on a clipboard with a pencil with my class list. And it’s like, you know, does the kid understand the prewriting task, the planning task, the drafting task, right, and I’m just walking around making checkmarks. And if you feel as though you’re in a culture where you have to use grades, that is a grade, right, you have met the criteria, one out of one.

Katie
And then I might say, Okay, I’ve walked through, and those four students, they haven’t done any brainstorming, they haven’t had a conversation, they’re not looking at resources. And so I might say that you know, what, I’m going to pull a small group for differentiated instruction. And that is, I am using data to differentiate my response.

Katie
Because some students will need some really, really explicit instruction. So I always want to give students an opportunity as a diagnostic assessment to try things out, I might model it. And then I might say, No, you know, try it out. But if there’s data, if there’s evidence, whether it’s street data, whether it’s just, you know, me actually noticing the student hasn’t done anything, I might say, Alright, everybody, I’m going to walk around, I’m going to stamp the papers where I need to check in with you for a quick writing conference, come on over.

Katie
You know, another thing I can do is maybe just take notice, and then the next day, I could do a station rotation. So you know, one of the stations is going to be with me. And I’ve clustered students based on what I knew to be true the day before. Again, I’ve never taken home a paper, I didn’t have to write anything, but I’m noticing, you know, these students here are really struggling with how to create an outline. So I need to pull that group for an outline.

Katie
This group here, they’re rushing through, they’re going to be done early, I need to integrate an element of additional complexity and challenge, because I feel as though they’re not going to get that if I don’t pull them, right. And so when students come in, I might say, Okay, this is what you’re going to be working on today. You know, here’s a playlist of tasks, but every 10 minutes, I’m going to pull a different group, you know, and I might post on a board, you know, this is group one, group two, group three, group four.

Katie
And it’s just that I want to provide you with explicit feedback in different areas, based on what I noticed you were doing yesterday. And then this is the magic, right? Is I pull them over for a writing conference, I give my instruction and then I say, take out your learning journals. And I want you to write down what I just told you, before you go back and you revise, right.

Sara
I love that. That’s so smart.

Katie
We’re shifting everything into the classroom. And then if I know what students have done in the classroom, in terms of their organization in terms of their the feedback that they’ve gotten from me the feedback they’ve gotten from classmates, I am not concerned about sending them home and saying, you know, use grammerly use Chat GPT like use what is available to you, you know, I really I know what you’re trying to say here.

Katie
And so having those, the blend of both, I’ve designed it so there are options and choices. But I also have created this safety net, where if you’re not making effective choices, or you’re not making progress, I can pull you for small groups.

Katie
And while I’m working with small groups, what’s everyone else doing, you can always, you know, create a playlist where students are kind of working through tasks at their own pace, you could maybe create a choice board.

Katie
For instance, we have a choice board, that’s a peer review, or a peer feedback choice board in the book, where like you, you partner up with somebody, you go through their paper, and then you choose, you know, one of let’s say, six prompts. And one might be like, What is the greatest strength of this paper? And why was it so strong? Another one might be what is an area of this paper that was very, very confusing, and you know, you have some questions about.

Katie
Another great task is having students look at a collection of exemplars and match them to different things on the rubric, that’s a great activity for students to work on wWhile I’m pulling small groups. I might use chat GPT and say, This is my rubric, can you create an example of what would have been a 1234, and five on this rubric. And then I mixed them all up. And I given to students and I said, you have to figure out like, notice the criteria, notice the quality of the writing? Where do you think each of these goes and why?

Katie
But it’s diving into not only what is the writing, say, but what is the author’s craft? And what does that mean? And how do you incorporate that into your writing and all of that there’s learning happening. And so I get a lot of pushback of, again, there’s, I don’t have time in our time, I have to cover things, I have to cover things.

Katie
And the truth is, is that education is shifting, moving away from I need to cover it so it’s going to be somehow filed in the archives of this child’s brain. And more towards how do we teach students how to be purposeful, and resourceful, and strategic, because the information they need is available at their fingertips at almost any time, if they are thinkers and problem solvers and know how to use it. And know that nothing generated by AI. Really nothing generated by anyone can be just trusted at the word is you always have to think critically about it and look into it.

Sara
Even hearing you talk about, you know, setting up this writing block so that way students have the choice, but you have the safety net of the small groups to make sure that students are progressing, because I think sometimes teachers feel like it can’t be both, right? It’s like, well, if students have free choice, like how am I going to make sure they’re making progress and getting what they need?

Sara
It’s like, you just give me a perfect example of like, there’s ways that you can give students choice, give them full agency over their writing. And yet, make sure that there are structures and routines that are allowing you to give them the feedback and the support with their writing. So I just I love hearing you talk about this.

Sara
It makes me excited because I know that writing is one of those things that so many teachers maybe are hesitant with or struggle with. And I just feel like so many of the ideas that you shared can really help teachers really increase the effectiveness of their instruction with their classroom. So thank you so much for coming on today. And just like sharing about your book and sharing about your work with UDL and sharing all of these great strategies with my audience.

Sara
If my audience wants to connect with you after the podcast episode, where can they find you online? What is the best way to get in touch with you?

Katie
So I am at Novak with a V I know your maiden name was Novak with a W, but I am at novakeducation.com. And if you want to write to me directly I am Katie [email protected]. And it should be pretty easy. If you just Google Katie Novak UDL Universal Design for Learning. I am been around enough that I think I’ll come up definitely on that first page.

Sara
We’ll be sure to link to those and to your book and our show notes as well. As we wrap up here. Do you have any like for a teacher who’s very interested in this and is maybe like, Okay, I want to start maybe shifting my instruction to be a little bit more aligned with UDL. What is like your best piece of advice for teachers who are like just getting started with this?

Katie
Think about something that you do every single day. So for instance, and I’ll give a couple of very, very quick ideas. When I taught middle school, my students would come in on a Tuesday and it was like Monday was 17 years before they had could not remember what we did yesterday.

Katie
And so I got into a really good habit of students came in, you know, we had the, you know, the bell would ring I would put on some pretty chill music. They could use noise cancelling headphones if it was distracting. And there would be you have to really think about what we have done before. So that I can then share what we’re doing today and how it connects.

Katie
And so it might be a prompt like, you know, yesterday, we read an excerpt out of this text, and what was the most important thing that happened in that excerpt? And the choice was to just go back and scan the text to write in a learning journal or to have a conversation quietly. If you were not here yesterday, come over here with me in a small group for three minutes, I’ll catch you up.

Katie
And that happened every day. It was just the routine is like, Okay. And you know, sometimes it might be I was starting a brand new unit, and there would be a question that was more activating background knowledge. Today, we’re going to be starting a new unit on this, what do you know about this? Right, you can either write it down, you can have a conversation, or you can start scanning the text that we will read today, or you can you know, Google the definitions of these words that we’re going to go in today.

Katie
And I think that a lot of people are like, oh, gosh, like, you know, where do I add that flexibility? And I said, think about the things you do all the time. Another is, for instance, you might be doing some explicit instruction. And you might say, Turn and talk. But really, what’s the purpose, the purpose is probably student reflection.

Katie
So that’s a great time to say, Okay, I want you to stop here. And you need to summarize what I just did. That might mean one catching up on your notes, that might mean two ask me a question. That might mean three, having a conversation with a classmate. Which of those do you feel like would be best for you? And why? Make your choice, right?

Katie
And you start realizing that oh, wait, if I did that at the beginning of every class, and then every time we had a text, and I was comprehending, they could read or listen. And then every time there was a pause and instruction, I gave them these options. Over the course of a class, students have so many opportunities to really personalize it for themselves.

Sara
I love that. Yeah. Think about what you do every day. And then think about the options that you can give students so they have a choice.

Katie
Exactly.

Sara
Awesome. Katie, thank you so much for coming on today. This was so fun to just hear you, like I said, talk about something you’re so passionate about that I know is gonna help so many educators. Thank you. This was really fun. It

Katie
It was super fun. And maybe we can chat again someday soon.

Sara
Absolutely.