UDL For A More Inclusive PE experience

Some students walk into the gym ready to compete. Others walk in scanning for the closest exit, hoping the ball never finds them. That gap isn’t just about effort or attitude. It’s often the environment we’ve built and the narrow set of “right ways” we’ve allowed students to participate. We’re breaking down Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for physical education with practical, ready-for-tomorrow strategies that make PE more inclusive without lowering expectations.

We start with multiple means of engagement: how to move students from compliance to real buy-in using choice within structure. Think tiered challenge stations that let beginners find success fast, flexible roles that keep students meaningfully involved even when gameplay feels overwhelming, and simple self-regulation supports that help students reset and rejoin when the gym gets loud. These UDL strategies reduce behavior issues by preventing frustration before it starts.

Then we tackle multiple means of representation, because an echoing gym is an instructional obstacle. You’ll hear how to turn your space into an “information dashboard” with laminated station cards, QR-code skill demos, visual agendas, and clear floor and equipment cues so students know what to do and what success looks like even if they miss your verbal directions.

 Finally, we hit multiple means of action and expression: grading and assessment that separate understanding from raw athletic skill, plus growth-based, self-referenced progress that rewards improvement and persistence.

If you want UDL in PE to feel doable, not theoretical, hit subscribe, share this with a PE teacher friend, and leave a like and review so more educators can find it. 

What’s one small change you’ll try in your next class?

Resources:

UDL Guidelines 

**Deep Dive* Novak Education (Guide to UDL)

Sport Education Book (Amazon)

Thanks for listening! 🙏🏼 If you picked up a new idea or felt inspired by today’s episode. Please take a moment to follow the show and share it with another educator who’s passionate and let’s keep the conversation going!” I’d love to hear from you and if your interested in being a potential guest on the show; email mahperdpodcast@gmail.com 

Transcript

Why UDL Matters In PE

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Picture this, you're standing at the gym door on the first day of a new unit. Thirty students file in, some are already jostling for the ball, others are scanning the room for the closest exit. Before you blow your whistle, the gap between those two groups is already wide open, and whatever you do next will either close it or make it bigger. That's exactly what this series is about. Universal Design for Learning, UDL, is a framework for building environments that work for every student, not just the ones who already fit the mold. The core idea is simple. Instead of trying to fix the student, you fix the environment. We're going to scratch the surface today, but every strategy I share is something you can try in your next class. Picture a PE class during a team sports unit. On one end of the floor, you've got highly competitive students running the court, calling for the ball, and completely dominating the game. On the other end, you've got a handful of students trying their absolute best to blend into the bleachers, praying the ball never comes their way. We may label kids as unmotivated or lazy, or we assume they just hate physical activity. However, if a student is hiding in the bathroom, forgetting their sneakers, or walking laps on the baseline, it may not be a behavior problem. It may be an engagement problem. So let's talk about part one, multiple means of engagement. Imagine you could design your gym so that every student, regardless of skill level or confidence, walks in and immediately finds something they want to do. That's

Engagement Through Choice And Roles

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the goal. And it comes down to one thing, giving students real choices within a clear structure. Start with tiered challenge stations. Picture three cones set up at different distances from the hoop. No one tells students which cone to shoot from. They just pick. The student who hasn't made a basket all year walks up to the closest cone, takes a shot, and makes it. That moment of success? That's your entry point. Everyone is working on the same skill, just from where they actually are. Next, flexible roles. Think about the student who always ends up standing on the edge of the court, arms crossed, waiting for class to be over. Now picture that same student sitting courtside with an iPad, tracking passing accuracy for their team, or standing at a whiteboard drawing up a play during a timeout, or blowing the whistle as the official managing the game flow. Same student, completely different experience. The sport education model is built on this idea. I'll put a link in the show notes if you want to go deeper. And here's one more that often gets skipped. Self-regulation tools. Picture a student who loves basketball but shuts down the moment the gym gets loud and chaotic. Now picture a corner of the gym with a visual timer, a few fidget tools, and a quiet chair. That student can step away, reset, and come back. I let my students use that space whenever they need it. The gym doesn't have to be overwhelming, you can build in the reset valve. So how do we move from compliance, participate because I told you to, to autonomy? Participate because you found your entry point. It starts with choice within structure. Picture yourself saying this to your class, today we're working on striking. You can use a short paddle, a wide plastic bat or your hand, and you can practice against the wall or with a partner. That's it. You didn't blow up your lesson plan. You didn't give up control. You just opened three doors instead of one. And suddenly every student can walk through one of them. Here's what those tiers actually look like in a basketball unit. Level one, lower hoop, no defender, close range, pure mechanics, low stakes. Level two, regulation hoop, moderate pace, a defender closing in slowly. Level three, fast brake drill, full defensive pressure, high intensity, same skill. Three completely different experiences. The student at level one isn't failing, they're building. And when they're ready, they move up on their own. For more on structuring lessons this way, check out the modern classroom projects lesson classification system. The link will be in the show notes. Here's your challenge before the next class. Don't change a single rule. Don't restructure anything. Just do this. Put out two buckets, one filled with regulation balls, one filled with big, bright foam balls. Don't assign either to anyone. Just say, pick the one you want today. That's it. Then watch. Notice the students who usually disengage or freeze up. Do they suddenly step up to the line when they have a ball they feel confident holding? Try this challenge, drop your results in the comments, and stay tuned. In part two, we're going to take those engaged students and solve the next big hurdle, how to get them to actually understand your instructions, in a loud, echoing gym without you having to lose your voice. Picture this, your students just walked in, the gym is loud, someone's already bouncing a ball, and you haven't said a single word yet, but every student in the room already knows exactly what they're doing today, where to go, and what

Visual Instructions That Run Class

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success looks like. That's part two. Multiple means of representation, the what of learning. Let's talk about how to turn your gym into an information dashboard that does the talking for you. We've all been there. You blow your whistle, gather 30 students on the baseline or in squads, and give a flawless three-step verbal explanation of a new skill drill. You ask, Any questions? Silence. You yell, go! And within 10 seconds, half the class is running the skill backwards. Two kids are staring at the ceiling, and someone is throwing a dodgeball at the basketball hoop. The gym is an absolute acoustic nightmare, especially for students who get sensory overload. Between the echoing walls, the squeaking sneakers, and the sheer visual scale of the room, relying purely on verbal instructions, is a recipe for frustration. When students don't follow a task, it's usually not because they aren't listening, it's because the information got lost somewhere between your whistle and their ears. So what's the fix? Offering alternatives for auditory and visual information. Picture this. Instead of explaining the chest pass for the fifth time, there's a laminated task card at every station with a step-by-step photo sequence, or a QR code that plays a six-second slow motion loop of the skill. Students who missed your explanation, they scan the code, problem solved, without you having to stop the whole class. Second, multi-sensory cues, bright contrasting boundary cones, textured balls for tactile feedback, sound emitting balls like goal balls with bells inside for students with visual impairments or tracking difficulties. Third, pre-teaching vocabulary. Send out a quick video link before class so students already know what pacing or spatial awareness looks like before they walk through the gym door. Here's the mindset shift. Your walls, your floor, your equipment, they can all be doing the talking while you're coaching. Picture walking into your own gym and seeing laminated station cards at every cone, arrows on the floor showing foot placement, and a visual agenda on the whiteboard by the door. Before you say a word, half your management job is already done. Picture a student who runs on routine, the kind of student who asks you what we're doing today before you've even taken attendance. Now picture that same student walking through the gym door, reading the whiteboard agenda you wrote before class, and immediately settling in. Warm up 5 minutes, skill drill 15 minutes, choice game 15 minutes, the mystery is gone, the anxiety drops, class hasn't even started, and you've already won half the battle. And use your floor. Polyspots with arrows printed on them can show proper foot placement for a golf swing or tennis serve. Instead of telling students where to stand, you're showing them. For students with additional needs, use textured tape on handles, varying ball textures like foam, rubber, or textured vinyl to help with grip. Use beeping balls or bells inside balls for students with visual impairments. And here's the thing: none of this is just for neurodivergent students. Clear visual structure reduces disruptions for the whole room. In UDL there's a saying, what is good for some is good for all. So here's your challenge for tomorrow. Before your first class walks in, grab a dry erase marker and write three lines on the whiteboard by the door. One, warm-up tag, five minutes. Two, skill stations, fifteen minutes, three, choice game, fifteen minutes. When the students walk in, don't say a word about the board, just stand back and watch. Notice how many students walk up to it, read it, and immediately settle down because the mystery of what are we doing today is gone. Watch how many anxious questions disappear. Try the silent board. Next time you see your students and tell me if your transition times drop, you will see how much better students take in information visually. Tune into the next section where I talk about grading and assessment. We'll show you how to accurately grade what students know, even if their physical skills aren't quite there yet. Picture a student who knows the content inside and out. They can tell you exactly where to move, when to pass, and how to break a press. But on game day, they're the last one picked, because their body hasn't caught up to their brain yet. In traditional PE,

Assess Knowledge Beyond Skill

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that student gets a C. In a UDL PE class, that student gets a chance to show you what they actually know. That's part three, multiple means of action and expression. The how of learning. Imagine this scenario, a math teacher giving a test, but only offering one giant, thick, heavy pencil to the entire class. If a student has fine motor challenges and fails the test because they literally couldn't hold the pencil, did they fail math, or did the test fail them? This is where multiple means of action and expression comes in. This is where we change how students show they understand a physical concept, uncoupling the grade from raw athletic talent. The key consideration? Providing flexible options for physical action, navigation, and goal setting. Start with changing the tools while keeping the target. Picture your striking unit. In a traditional class, if you can't hit with a regulation bat, you strike out and sit down. In a UDL class, you've got a bucket of fat plastic bats, a bucket of tennis rackets, and a few flat paddles sitting right next to the regulation bats. The target hasn't moved, the skill hasn't changed, but now every student has a tool they can actually swing, and every student stays in the game. How can we have students demonstrate their knowledge? Here is a soccer example. How do you assess whether a student understands offensive support? One student might show it physically, consistently moving into space to provide passing options during play. Another might use magnets or a digital field diagram to show where supporting players should move when a teammate has possession. Another might describe verbally how creating triangles and angles helps maintain possession and advance the ball. Same concept, three different ways to show they got it. Now let's talk about growth over benchmarks. Traditional PE assessment often relies on a single fixed benchmark. Run a mile under a certain time, complete a set number of push-ups, reach a target score on a fitness test. The challenge is these benchmarks often tell us where a student is, but not how far they've come. Consider two students. Student A runs a mile in seven minutes at the beginning of the year and finishes in seven minutes again at the end. Student B starts at 14 minutes and improves to 11 minutes. If the only metric is the benchmark score, student A looks more successful. But if the goal is growth, effort, and learning, student B may have achieved far more. Instead of asking, did the student meet the benchmark? Ask, did the student improve from their starting point? This subtle shift changes PE from a comparison-based experience to a growth-based experience. Self-referenced grading, also known as ipsetive assessment measures students against their own previous performance, not against their classmates. Success becomes improving endurance over time, refining technique, increasing participation, setting and achieving personal goals, and demonstrating persistence through challenges. Students learn that the goal is progress, not perfection. Here's what that looks like in action. During a fitness unit, students establish a baseline, number of laps completed, plank hold duration, heart rate recovery time, number of successful skill repetitions. Throughout the unit, students track their own data using digital portfolios, goal tracking sheets, progress charts, emoji-based reflections, and simple self-assessment rubrics. At the end of the unit, students answer, what improved? What goal did you meet? What is your next target? UDL doesn't eliminate expectations. It changes how students demonstrate success. A student who starts far behind their peers should still have a pathway to experience achievement. When assessment focuses solely on fixed benchmarks, some students enter the game already knowing they can't win. When assessment includes personal growth, every student has a meaningful opportunity to succeed. The message shifts from, can you perform as well as everyone else? to can you become better than you were yesterday? As this episode comes to a close, here's your final challenge. Next time you have class, leave just two minutes before the bell rings. Grab a stack of sticky notes or scrap paper. As students line up to leave, ask them one tactical question

Growth Based Grading And Exit Checks

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about the lesson or game. For a soccer class, try this. When your teammate has possession and a defender is directly between you and the ball, where should you move to create a passing lane? Tell students they can write their answer, draw a quick diagram with arrows, point to a field diagram, or explain it verbally as they leave. Look closely at the responses from the students who struggled during gameplay. You may discover that the student who rarely touched the ball during the scrimmage can clearly draw how to create width, support a teammate, and find open space. They understand the tactical concepts perfectly. Their foot skills, confidence, or game speed are simply still developing. This is the power of providing multiple ways for students to demonstrate learning. Too often in PE we assume that performance and understanding are the same thing, but a student can know exactly where to move, when to pass, and how to create an advantage, without yet having the physical ability to execute those decisions consistently in a live game. When we assess only what students can physically perform in the moment, we risk missing what they actually know. You may find that some of your quietest or least skilled players have a much deeper understanding of the game than you ever realized, because sometimes the best evidence of understanding isn't what happened during the game, it's what students can explain, draw, teach, or describe afterward. Universal Design for Learning in PE isn't about lowering the bar, it's about widening the door. When we offer multiple ways for students to engage with an activity, access information, and show what they know, we stop sorting students by athletic talent and start teaching every one of them. The student hiding on the baseline, the student who forgets their sneakers, the quietest student in class, they all have something to offer. Our job is to build an environment where they can find their entry point, stay in the game, and walk out of the gym knowing they grew. This is good teaching. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a like and review. Also make sure to check out the links and resources in the show notes. Thank you all for listening. Have a good week, and I will be back soon.