Personalized Learning

Personalized Learning is an interesting concept, one quite far removed from the experience many students in America are receiving today.  I believe it has great value for our students.  The world today’s students are growing up in is like no other faced by any previous generation.  Today’s students need to assume a degree of ownership over their learning, need a degree of flexibility in both the outcome and the journey, and need to be actively engaged in their learning.  Personalized, project-based learning can help both educators and students achieve their goals.  One of the greatest problems facing public education today, economic challenges aside, is that our schools are not evolving nearly as fast the world in which we live in.  Teachers continue to play a pivotal role in the educational process, however, this role has changed.  We need to function more as facilitators than directors.  We need to help students maximize their potential by providing personalized learning experiences that allow the learner not only to strengthen content knowledge, but also to build collaborative and problem solving skills while incorporating the use of available technologies.

The iClass model is realistic for my Capstone II lesson.  As the teacher, I have created an overall plan, but students will personalize their learning experience by selecting their topic, gathering information, and creating their plan using available resources.  My students will have some common expectations and experiences, but will choose different paths to create their outcomes.  I will facilitate, but I will not be directing a “one size fits all” experience.

My third grade students will be able to self-assess their performance at various steps in the process through conversations with their peers, rubrics, and through discussion as they articulate their plans.  As I facilitate, such open ended questions as “What do you think makes a good PSA?” or “How can you be sure Dr. Terrell will understand your plan?”  Checklists of crucial components or thought processes can be created if needed to ensure students create complete plans to present to the administration.