| | JANUARY 20259between students, and how they differentiate and personalize the learning experience for the students in their classrooms. More than anything else, the intentional design allows teachers to design lessons to address the predictable barriers that are present in all classrooms.Some of these predictable barriers include: · Some students may not be interested in the content or may not know why the content is important.· Some students may lack the motivation to continue when faced with a significant challenge.· Some students may struggle with self-regulation and expected behaviours.· Some students may not be able to comprehend instruction if only presented in one format.· Some students struggle to express what they really know if only given a single way to do it.The intentional design addresses many of these issues before students even enter the classroom, ultimately making it easier for the teacher to ensure every student gets the learning experience they need. So, when I think about intentional design, it is one of the most important things teachers do to ensure every learner's needs are met.Katie Novak, one of the authors of Equity by Design, points out that effective design allows for the "best first instruction" before differentiation occurs and before systems of support are needed. She also does an excellent job of explaining how the focus of the design is an essential component in schools today. Katie likes to give the example of hosting a dinner party.I am sure we have all been there. We painstakingly clean the house, buy groceries, and prep the kitchen. We then cook whatever it is we are serving at the party. But we do not just cook one meal and serve it to all our guests. That would not make much sense since it is likely that many of our guests have different tastes in foods; some may have food allergies, and some may be vegan or vegetarian. We know that going in, we cannot cook just one meal that will satisfy everyone.So, what do we do? We may talk to the people on our guest list to see what foods they like. We may prepare different foods, anticipating that some people like certain things while others may want something different. Or we may create a buffet of sorts and provide our guests with many choices so they can create a meal that best fits their needs and preferences.Using that analogy, we, as educators, plan a dinner party in our classroom every day. That same attention to detail and that same attention to variability at our dinner party needs to happen in our classrooms if we are truly going to meet the needs of every student. It is certainly not easy, and it will take much time and planning to be an expert designer. Intentional design is learner-centered; and a way of thinking, developing, and implementing quality instruction to improve the learning experience for the end user. Put more simply; the intentional design is the focus on user experiences
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