Matthew Kennedy

“Universal design for learning (UDL) is a set of principles for designing curriculum that provides all individuals with equal opportunities to learn. UDL is designed to serve all learners, regardless of ability, disability, age, gender, or cultural and linguistic background” (TEAL Centre, p. 1). The graphic novel is ideally-suited for integrating the intersecting principles of UDL, and, as such, serves as a highly democratizing force/form in the ELA classroom: the images on each page provide important visual and contextual cues for students who struggle with reading comprehension, and the complex interplay between image and text requires a different kind of reading which will both stimulate and challenge even the strongest of readers.