Explore six promising practices that high schools are using to personalize education: guided personalized learning, personal learning plans, personalized teaching, community-based learning, and personalized assessment.
HOW to Personalize Learning This practical follow-up to Bray and McClaskey’s first book, Make Learning Personal: The What, Who, Wow, Where, and Whybrings theory to practice. Teachers will find the tools, skills, and strategies needed to personalize learning and develop self-directed, independent learners with agency. Discover how to get started and go deeper by building a shared vision that supports personalized learning using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. Also included are: Tools and templates such as the Learner Profile, Personal Learning Backpack, Personal Learning Plan, as well as tips for lesson design and PBL Lesson and project examples that show how teachers can change instructional practice by encouraging learner voice and choice QR codes and links to the authors’ website for electronic versions of tools, templates, activities, and checklists Create a powerful shift in education by building a culture of learning so every learner is valued. "If you are looking for a step-by-step guide on what personalized learning is and how to implement it, while being inspired and gaining ideas to implement immediately, this is definitely the book to read!" Diana Petschauer, Assistive Technology Professional, CEO AT for Education & Access4Employment, Wolfeboro Falls, NH "Barbara and Kathleen present well-tested strategies for personalization within a coherent framework. This highly practical book forms a reliable foundation for empowering a community striving to make schools work for all learners." John H. Clarke, Professor Emeritus, University of Vermont
Put learning back into the hands of the learner! Through personalized learning, education as we know it is transformed as learners are empowered to take control of their own learning. This thorough and timely resource draws on Universal Design for Learning® principles to create a powerful shift in classroom dynamics by guiding learners to become self-directed, self-monitoring, and self-motivated. You’ll discover: A system that includes tools and strategies to reduce barriers and maximize learning for all learners A clear explanation distinguishing personalized learning from differentiation and individualized instruction Teachers’ personal stories of moving through the Stages of Personalized Learning Environments to transform teacher and learner roles and school culture Background information on developing a rationale on why to personalize learning Strategies to create the change that occurs with the culture shift that happens in classrooms and schools as you personalize learning. Recognized authorities in personalized learning, the authors have led educational innovation for almost three decades. "As an educator for more than 30 years, I have seen a myriad of ideas to improve education. Personalized learning could truly be the game-changer! Barbara and Kathleen have certainly done their homework in clearly defining what it means to personalize learning. They identify stages that can help teachers gradually adapt their role, moving from a teacher-centered classroom to a learner-driven environment. This book will serve as a valuable handbook as educators make the decision to empower their learners!" - Betty Wottreng, Director of Technology Services, Verona Area School District, Wisconsin
Personalized Learning: A Guide for Engaging Students with Technology is designed to help educators make sense of the shifting landscape in modern education. While changes may pose significant challenges, they also offer countless opportunities to engage students in meaningful ways to improve their learning outcomes. Personalized learning is the key to engaging students, as teachers are leading the way toward making learning as relevant, rigorous, and meaningful inside school as outside and what kids do outside school: connecting and sharing online, and engaging in virtual communities of their own Renowned author of the Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go series, Dale Basye, and award winning educator Peggy Grant, provide a go-to tool available to every teacher today—technology as a way to ‘personalize’ the education experience for every student, enabling students to learn at their various paces and in the way most appropriate to their learning styles.
In this powerful new book, James Rickabaugh, former superintendent and current director of the Institute for Personalized Learning (IPL), presents the groundbreaking results of the Institute’s half-decade of research, development, and practice: a simple but powerful model for personalizing students’ learning experiences by building their levels of commitment, ownership, and independence. Tried and rigorously tested in urban, suburban, and rural districts--and in different academic and economic settings--the IPL model has been proven to enhance student engagement and achievement at all levels. Rickabaugh provides principals and other top-level leaders with * Step-by-step guidance for implementing the model; * A detailed overview of the research and work behind the model’s development; * A complete introduction to the heart of the model—a comprehensive, multi-layered framework centered on the three core components of learner profiles, customized learning paths, and proficiency-based progress; * Tools and activities for assessing and adjusting the model to meet the specific needs of students and staff; * Strategies for increasing and reinforcing enthusiasm for the change process among everyone involved, from the classroom to the greater community; and * An abundance of real-life examples and reflections from students, teachers, principals, and superintendents whose schools have flourished in record time and with minimal additional funding or resources. Tapping the Power of Personalized Learning offers a blueprint that dramatically improves student outcomes and prepares today’s learners to meet life’s challenges in college and beyond.
Where exactly did personalized learning go so wrong? For teacher and consultant Paul France, at first technology-powered personalized learning seemed like a panacea. But after three years spent at a personalized learning start-up and network of microschools, he soon realized that such corporate-driven individualized learning initiatives do more harm than good, especially among our most vulnerable students. The far-superior alternative? A human-centered pedagogy that prioritizes children over technology. First, let’s be clear: Reclaiming Personalized Learning is not yet-another ed tech book. Instead it’s a user’s guide to restoring equity and humanity to our classrooms and schools through personalization. One part polemical, eleven parts practical, the book describes how to: Shape whole-class instruction, leverage small-group interactions, and nurture a student’s inner-dialogue Cultivate awareness within and among students, and build autonomy and authority Design curriculum with a flexible frame and where exactly the standards fit Humanize assessment and instruction, including the place of responsive teaching Create a sense of belonging, humanize technology integration, and effect socially just teaching and learning—all central issues in equity The truth is this: there’s no one framework, there’s no one tool that makes learning personalized–what personalized learning companies with a vested interest in profits might tempt you to believe. It’s people who personalize learning, and people not technology must be at the center of education. The time is now for all of us teachers to reclaim personalized learning, and this all-important book is our very best resource for getting started. "This is a compelling and critically important book for our time. With rich stories of teaching and learning Paul France considers ways to create the most positive learning experiences possible." - JO BOALER, Nomellini & Olivier Professor of Education, Stanford Graduate School of Education "This brilliant book is a major contribution to the re-imagination of learning and teaching for the twenty-first century and should be essential reading for new and experienced teachers alike." - TONY WAGNER, Senior Research Fellow, Learning Policy Institute "In these troubled times, this book is more than a breath of fresh air, it is a call to action. Paul gives us an accessible and sophisticated book that explains how and why we should celebrate the humanity of every single student." - JIM KNIGHT, Senior Partner of the Instructional Coaching Group (ICG) and Author of The Impact Cycle
Actions to increase effectiveness of schools in a rapidly changing world Schools, in order to be nimble and stay relevant and impactful, need to abandon the rigid structures designed for less dynamic times. The NEW School Rules expands cutting-edge organizational design and modern management techniques into an operating system for empowering schools with the same agility and responsiveness so vital in the business world. 6 simple rules create a unified vision of responsiveness among educators Real life case studies illustrate responsive techniques implemented in a variety of educational demographics 15 experiments guide school and district leaders toward increased responsiveness in their faculty and staff
Written by practitioners with practical interest in moving high schools toward personalization, this book will excite others to initiate reforms that enable ALL young adult learners to meet common standards while designing and pursuing a unique pathway toward adult roles. That's what personal learning and this book are all about.
Educators’ most important work is to help students develop the intellectual and social strength of character necessary to live well in the world. The way to do this, argue authors Bena Kallick and Allison Zmuda, is to increase the say students have in their own learning and prepare them to navigate complexities they face both inside and beyond school. This means rethinking traditional teacher and student roles and re-examining goal setting, lesson planning, assessment, and feedback practices. It means establishing classrooms that prioritize ▪ Voice—Involving students in “the what” and “the how” of learning and equipping them to be stewards of their own education. ▪ Co-creation—Guiding students to identify the challenges and concepts they want to explore and outline the actions they will take. ▪ Social construction—Having students work with others to theorize, pursue common goals, build products, and generate performances. ▪ Self-discovery—Teaching students to reflect on their own developing skills and knowledge so that they will acquire new understandings of themselves and how they learn. Based on their exciting work in the field, Kallick and Zmuda map out a transformative model of personalization that puts students at the center and asks them to employ the set of dispositions for engagement and learning known as the Habits of Mind. They share the perspectives of educators engaged in this work; highlight the habits that empower students to pursue aspirations, investigate problems, design solutions, chase curiosities, and create performances; and provide tools and recommendations for adjusting classroom practices to facilitate learning that is self-directed, dynamic, sometimes messy, and always meaningful.
Educators and those who prepare teachers are facing increased scrutiny on their practice that include pressures to demonstrate their effectiveness, meet the needs of changing demographics and students, and adapt to ever-changing learning environments. Thus, there is a need for innovative pedagogies and adoption of best practices to effectively serve the needs of digital learners. The Handbook of Research on Innovative Pedagogies and Best Practices in Teacher Education is an essential research book that takes an in-depth look at the methods by which educators are prepared to address shifting demographics and technologies in the classroom and provides strategies for focusing their curricula on diverse learning types. It takes a look at the use of innovative pedagogies and effective learning spaces in teacher education programs and the decisions behind them to enhance more inquiry learning, STEM initiatives, and prove more kinds of exploratory learning for students. Covering topics such as higher education, virtual reality, and inclusive education, this book is ideally designed for teachers, administrators, academicians, instructors, and researchers.