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UDL and AI reading companions

Universal Design for Learning asks for more than one way to access information and more than one way to show understanding. A reading companion fits that frame when students can choose voice, text, or dialogue without losing the same source material.

What to standardise

Assign the ISBN or PDF your district licensed. When every student opens the same file, Celeste references the same paragraphs you discuss in class. Mixed editions break page alignment and hurt group tasks.

What to leave open

• Let students pick listening speed or visual reading based on fatigue and attention.
• Allow Celeste for clarification, but require citations back to the passage for graded work.
• Offer a no-AI path for assessments where you need a closed book baseline.

Communication with families

Describe Trellis as a tutor tied to the book, not a shortcut for skipping it. Link to the privacy policy and terms so guardians see how uploads work. For student-led routines outside class, share group reading habits in Trellis.

Equity checks

Students who share devices at home may need offline time to finish a chapter. Posting deadlines in local time and offering a catch-up window reduces pressure. If some learners rely on audio for fatigue or print disability, avoid grading speed of page turns and grade evidence that they engaged the same passages through listening or text.

Professional development touchpoints

Coach teams to compare notes on one short excerpt during a staff meeting. Ask what Celeste added that a colleague might also say, and where the group still needed human judgment. That keeps expectations realistic. Point staff to grounded prompts for PDFs so teachers model the same habits they expect from students.