06. A UDL Approach to Strengthening Collaboration

Speaker: Nicole Tucker-Smith

Session Description:
This interactive session will apply a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Approach to strengthening and sustaining professional collaboration between general and special educators. Participants will explore UDL core ideas and how they relate to adult learner variability, removing barriers to collaboration, and flexible options to support a range of specializations and contexts. Participants will take away concrete strategies and resources that they can apply to their special education - general education teams and partnerships.

Session Handout:
Session Handouts google folder

Credits: Act 48, ASHA, Psych
Audience: Special Education Teachers, General Education Teachers, Supervisors/Administrators

Speaker Bio:
Nicole Tucker-Smith, founder and CEO of Lessoncast, helps schools implement professional learning initiatives focused on inclusive teaching and equity best practice.
Nicole co-authored Supercharge Your Professional Learning: 40 Concrete Strategies to Improve Adult Learning, which provides practical how-to information for applying the UDL Guidelines to professional learning experiences. In addition, she wrote Remote PD Zen, available on Amazon, Apple Books, and Google Play. She also leads the Jumpstart PD Network, a community of educators to share ideas, spread resources, post tips, and dialogue on key areas of interest related to designing and delivering effective PD focused on inclusion and equity. Nicole’s article, “The Illusion of Equity PD,” is featured in the March 2021 issue of Educational Leadership.
 
She has served as a teacher, supervisor of parent support services, principal, and systemwide coordinator of professional development and training for Baltimore County Public Schools. Nicole was also a program coordinator for Johns Hopkins University Center for Technology in Education and teaches as a faculty member for the JHU School of Education. Nicole is an international presenter on Universal Design for Learning, a member of the CAST National Faculty, co-chair of the UDL Rising to Equity initiative, and she provides her professional development expertise to support implementation of UDL in P12 and higher education learning environments.
 
In addition, Nicole hosts the podcast Did We Learn Anything and is a dancer and choreographer for Full Circle Dance Company where she resides in Baltimore, Maryland.

Email: nicole@lessoncast.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-tucker-smith-42717a47/
Twitter: @Ntuckersmith, @Lessoncast
Website: https://lessoncast.com/