Goals and Universal Design for Learning
Visions of Don Quijote, by Octavio Ocampo
Clear goals a key element of Universal Design for Learning (Rose & Meyer, 2002, pp. 87-107). Goals do not have to be tied to the methods by which they are attained. In fact, they should be separated from them in order to allow for greater diversification of instruction to meet the needs of a diverse student population. When the goals and the methods are separated, both teachers and students can consider diverse ways of reaching those goals, and also diverse ways of assessing whether they have been reached.
- Recognition Goals: "prioritize the learning specific content"; (Rose & Meyer, 2002, p. 93).
- Strategic Goals: "ask students to learn 'how' to do something [and] emphasize skills and strategies." (Rose & Meyer, 2002, p. 93) In these goals the medium is central.
- Affective Goals: are related to "a particular value or emotional outcome," (Rose & Meyer, 2002, p. 94) such as enjoyment, appreciation, love, etc.
Goals from the Base Lessons
- Understanding of literal and implied meanings in a text.
- Understanding of the organization of a text.
- Describing people and things.
- Narrating events in the past.
- Revision of the past tense in Spanish.
- Understanding the mentality of Don Quixote.
- Reflecting on the title of the first chapter of Don Quixote.
- Understanding the geography of La Mancha.
- Understanding how to describe people or places.
- Recognize the physical and emotional characteristics of Don Quixote.
- Define the terms “knight-errant” and “chivalry”.
- Listen to and understand the first chapter of the story of Don Quixote.
- Be able to describe, in Spanish, some physical and emotional characteristics of Don Quixote.
Universally Designed (and narrower) Goals
The lesson upon which this is based have many and varied goals. Most of them actually separate the objectives from the methods. However, they are formulated in different ways --some of them as general topics, and others as more specific learning goals--, there are too many of them for the scope of the project, and there is some overlap among them. In order to focus this lesson, we will narrow down the list of goals to two related to recognition networks:
- Recognition Goals:
- Students will be able to describe the character of Don Quixote both physically and mentally. This goal separates the description of the character from the medium in which it is done. Depending on students' preferences, strengths and limitations, they may chose to write a description, make one orally, draw one (digitally on using other media), act one out, etc.
- Students wil understand how Don Quixote became mad and the nature of his foolishness. This goal focuses on the content students will learn without determining the medium from which they will learn it. They may choose to read the first chapter of the novel from a book, read it from an digital version, or listen to it being read aloud by one of their peers, a digital voice or a recording.
