This time it's Personal (Learning)

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...