This time it's Personal (Learning)

Find a case study or example of the adoption of your resource topic/tool that showcases use in practice.  Analyze the case/example and share your insights and takeaways that relate to your practice or your school division. When Personalized Learning Requires a More Human Touch The reason that I choose this case study is that it talks about the dangers of moving too fast into personalized learning, without having students becoming acclimated to their classroom setting.   "Early in our one-to-one model, we found our students were jumping into the technology too fast, without building the classroom relationships that needed to exist," was a quote that really caught my attention.  Before we jump into giving all of our students devices (looking at your Fairfax...), we first have to establish classroom procedures and norms, and build relationships with and between our students.   As mentioned in the article, the students really had no problem figuring out how to ...

Personalized learning is something that would be beneficial for students, but there is some researchers and practitioners  who believe that it takes away the collaborative  part of education.  While I understand this, it is important that teacher incorporate some type of collaborative learning with their students even if they are using a personalized learning system. Personalized learning is leading to alternate classroom designs.  Instead of rows of desks, students are spreading out around classrooms, sitting, standing, leaning against the wall, doing things that teachers never would have allowed even ten years ago. Teachers are no longer the "sage on the stage."  Guide on the side isn't the correct term either.  Teachers are becoming facilitators of information.  Instead of guiding students passively, students are active and engaged in their learning. More project based learning is taking place.  Real world learning that allows student...

Zmuda, Curtis,and Ullman would say that personalized learning isn't the future of education, it should be the present of education.   A 2019  article from Edutopia.org discussed things that personalized learning is not.  It's not dependent on technology, it's not students working independently, and it isn't students working at their own pace without any guidance from a teacher.  We have to make sure as educators that we don't look at personalized learning as a chance for us to take it easy and do less work in our classrooms.   In personalized learning, students work with teacher to setting and completing goals pertaining to their education.  Teachers have to spend time getting to know their students strengths and weaknesses, and a much more in depth level.  Instead of teaching all students the same thing, teachers will be working more 1 on 1 with student to set individual goals and working towards proficiency. "A s students become agent...

And we continue on... "Students are much more likely to be invested in work that engages them intellectually if they see value in the assignment."  Seems pretty straight forward.  But, how long have we given students work that they don't see any value in and expect them to put forth their best effort?  That's the beauty of personalized learning.  If, as the book discusses, we are able to design (there's that word) a system for students to become more involved in the learning process, it will open up a world of possibilities.  The book discusses twelve elements that must be present for personalized learning to work.  For me, the element that stood out was feedback.  It is important that as educators we give students regular, student friendly, and action oriented feedback.  It should be quick, and be separate from grades (!).  When schools can move past grades being the be all, end all, we can be that much closer to achieving more personalized ...

Begin Book Review- See Book Review and Topic Research item below (If you have additional time---Begin to explore your assigned topic.  What are definitions, concepts, and issues related to your topic?) "Students learn that they are powerful forces in their environments and where teachers see their work as a fascinating collaboration with students." (pg. 1).  This line for the first page of the book I'm reviewing,  Learning Personalized , by Allison Zmuda, Greg Curtis, and Diane Ullman, describes what the authors want for all teachers and students.  The book looks at how classrooms need to move from traditional learning to giving students more of a role in their education.  The book attempts (and I would say succeeds) in helping teachers and schools make the transition to more personalized learning. The book begins by making a case as to why to schools should strive to make learning more personalized.  One of the arguments the authors introduce against the w...

For too long, learning in schools has been impersonal.  As teachers we have often thought about what would be best for our honors students, or our special education students, on for a certain class period.  What we should be doing is spending time focusing on students as individuals and trying to determine how we can make learning personal for each of our students.   This blog is about taking those steps to make learning personalized for all students.  What can we as teachers do to change from a classroom that is student driven and not teacher driven?  Why is it important to give our students more of a say in the direction of their learning?  And finally, how will personalized learning help our students prepare as they go out into the real world? My name is Jeff Schneider, and I have been a teacher for 24 years.  I have seen how powerful it is when students are given power over their learning and what they can do when education is personal to them...