My Thoughts on Personalized Learning...the Adult Learner

Here is a thought...

We talk about personalized learning or differentiation for our students, what about the adults?

How many times have you sat in a training and thought to yourself, "I'm not sure this applies to me?"

Several years ago I attended a Future Ready Summit in St. Louis. The experience was great! I made some connections, learned some cool stuff and even revisited Twitter (which I now love).

The Future Ready Pledge is pretty specific and asks schools districts to really focus on key components to make sure they are future ready and are producing future ready students. The one component that stuck with me most was the concept of personalized professional learning opportunities.

I copied this straight from the Future Ready website:

"...Access to professional learning experiences that are personal and authentic." That simple statement says a great deal. Personal and authentic, what does that mean?

To me, it is pretty simple. If an educator feels the need to increase his or her knowledge in the areas of blended learning, using Google tools in the classroom or teaching fluency to elementary students, then that educator should be able to get those opportunities. Some may need guidance in getting those opportunities but others may end up finding them on their own. Either way is ok, as long as the educators are constantly improving themselves. The administrator's role in this is to help the educators find their needs and then the find the resources to make it happen. 

The administrator needs to be doing this as well. Personalized learning opportunities are not limited to the teachers. 

Personal and Authentic...

Just the other day, Kyle Hamstra sent out this tweet...

As you can see, the same idea comes out of his thoughts as well.

Personal and Authentic...

So, the question is What do I do next?

Whether through a needs assessment, some kind of inventory, your past year's evaluation or even you gut...find one or two areas you want to improve on and get after it. Talk to your colleagues or administrator, find someone who is doing something you want to get better at or simply Google what you are looking for. 

That's it.

If you are lucky enough to be in a district that tailors PD around the needs of the individual, then you will not need to go far. Just ask around for resources and get better at those areas you want to strengthen. 

If you are part of a "sit and get" culture and want to create professional learning opportunities that are personal and authentic, a good place to start is Twitter. Build a connection with people and just look. The FREE professional learning is there and it will be both personal and authentic. Like it was said above, you do not have to wait around for someone to find that PD for you. 

One of my most valuable professional learning tools is my Professional Learning Network (PLN). I cannot tell you how many hours of FREE PD I have received just by interacting with my people on Twitter. You can be a part of a structured Twitter Chat or simply lurk to see what is going on in the world. You can gain from both but beware, lurking can lead to distraction...you know, funny cat or dog videos. 

Also understand it does not have to be Twitter and it may ultimately be a different platform but right now, that is what works. There plenty of other platforms and methods. Find what works for YOU. If you think you want to try Twitter,  follow ME and you can get an idea of what it looks like.

Word of warning, do not try to do too much at once. Focus on one or two areas, get good at it and then you can try new things. If you try too many things at once you may become mediocre at a bunch of different things. Instead, you really want to be GREAT at a couple.

Should you avoid whole-group PD? No, or course not! Do not get me wrong, whole-group PD can be beneficial, just like whole group lessons with students. But, do not rely on that as your only source of learning. Spend some time finding out what you are passionate about or what you want to get better at (or both) and come up with a plan to make your professional learning...

Personal and Authentic.

Let me know if you get stuck, I will lead you in the right direction.

Mick

By the way, if you missed the previous posts on My Thoughts on Personalized Learning, just click HERE.

All about Mick

Below I have created an interactive Google Slide, where YOU can click on images that have links. Each link takes you somewhere that is somehow connected to me. Start off by clicking My Philosophy on Education (you can read it first if you like). There will be a short video, then simply follow the purple arrows and click away. The last thing you see will be my contact info. 

Happy clicking!

MS

My Thoughts on Personalized Learning Part 3...The Admins' Role

What does a classroom that focuses on personalized learning look like?

Is it straight rows, neat papers, organized...just like in the picture below??

I bet you thought I was going to say NO!!

Well, I'm not because, depending on the situation that could be what a classroom that focuses on personalized learning looks like.

I have been in many, many classrooms over the years and they have all looked a little different. Of course I have seen some neat and tidy like the one above. And, I have seen some with desks pushed up against the walls and poster board projects on the ceiling (yes, I did that).

The point is, I am not sure there is a distinct look of a personalized learning classroom. One has to dig a little deeper to see what is going on.

Take for instance, this classroom...

I see desks lined up in rows but the students aren't. Is personalized learning occurring?

What about this one??

Or this one?

Well my fellow administrators (and teachers for that matter), I can assure you that yes, personalized learning is taking place in all of those photographs. How do I know?

I watched...

listened...

participated...

asked questions...

As an administrator are you doing those things? Do you see personalized learning in your classrooms? If not, what do you do to encourage it?

I mentioned before that I have had experience in every level from PreK to higher education. It wasn't until I was a principal at an elementary school that I really started seeing the benefits of this type of learning.

So Admins...what is YOUR role?

1. Share - Find articles, videos, podcasts, etc that talk about personalized learning and then share. You do not have to be specific or share with certain teachers, although you may have a good idea of who would be successful with certain techniques or strategies. But, keep it simple...just share.

2. Suggest - Talk to your teachers and mention certain things that YOU have seen or heard of and start collaborating on ways it can be implemented in the classroom. Obviously this is easier for folks who want to try things but it is possible for others as well.

3. Freedom - provide leave time, cover classes, get subs...whatever it takes to allow teachers to observe other teachers. You can start in the school and then expand outside of the school if necessary. Technology has allowed for easy observation, especially if teachers are willing to record their activities.

4. Support - Continue to provide resources for meeting the needs of that teacher. Allow for an environment in which mistakes are ok.

5. Promote - If someone is using these techniques and is successful, allow them to present to others their successes (and failures for that matter). Be positive about those who try different personalized learning strategies and show enthusiasm. We all know enthusiasm is contagious.

That is it. Pretty simple.

Understand that not everyone is going to be willing to attempt personalized learning in their classrooms (they should). But, build on those who are curious and those who are enthusiastic. Who knows, the ones who are not excited, may actually be converted when they see the successes.

MS