We love student inquiry, right? Question #1: Why do I have to write this essay? This is stupid. I'm going to be a plumber, so why do I have to read? As a 10th grade Standard English teacher, it is not new for me to encounter students who don't want to engage in activities. This year, I decided to try some different approaches to see if I could get those students to try. I took a step back and really thought about their comments. I discovered a common theme among them: they d

Recently, I worked with a team of teachers who wished to explore the UDL Guidelines, a worthwhile endeavor, for sure. Like myself, they got lost in all of the ideas and suggestions that the Guidelines offered. They needed grounding to keep them on a productive path. So, we stopped for a moment to center ourselves on what’s real: creating a great lesson. I posed three simple questions: Why would students want to care about my lesson? (Engagement) In what ways can I pre