I attended John T. Spencer‘s session entitled, Customized Learning, at the Reform Symposium on the weekend. It is quite amazing how inspiring a person can be in 30 minutes! But, he was, just that, inspiring.
He talked about “empowering the students to take ownership over their own learning.” I discussed his session in a previous blog post.
John made Personalized Learning sound so easy – that’s what made him so inspiring, I think.
Then I heard @mrsbiology (Terie Engelbrecht). She talked about Differentiating Instruction for Today’s Learners. She was fabulous and so generous! I got a ton of ideas from her as well. She has a fabulous blog: Crazyteacherlady.com that includes a ton of resources for all teachers. Take a look.
But, I am now at a bit of a standstill as I’m trying to prepare for the two new classes I will be teaching …
How to get started?
Does it have to be either Personalized Learning or Differentiated Instruction?
Can it be a mix of each?
Is Personalized Learning even possible or realistic only being with the students for 100 minutes each week – 2 – 50minute blocks?
Is this possible to do in isolation – not knowing the classroom teacher’s teaching/learning approach.
Where to from here?
I know you well enough to know that you will find the right balance. Those are very lucky children you’ll be teaching (and hopefully the staff will notice and follow too). 🙂
I would say that you have a chicken and egg situation here. I would argue that you can’t have personalization without differentiation and you cannot have one without the other.
Thanks for the kind words about the presentation. I probably erred in making it sound easy (though it is far easier than differentiation, in my opinion). I don’t have it figured out. I had lessons that tanked. I had times when I tried to let students personalize learning only to realize they needed more support.
I’m a fan of balance, nuance and paradox. My blog used to be called “musings from a not-so-master teacher,” because, quite honestly, I don’t have it all figured out.
I first switched toward the customized learning style when I taught only one subject (social studies) and realized that I couldn’t differentiate effectively, because of the time and resource barriers. I began making lessons more fluid, more open and more free to student modification.
It’s been a slow journey and one filled with mistakes. That’s the downside of a thirty minute presentation. If we were sharing a pint, you’d get a chance to hear a little more about the failure.