653: Individualization, Differentiation, & Personalization...Oh, My!

I'm guilty of being too teacher-centered. Although I try to differentiate for my students, but everyone ends up doing the same thing. When I'm planning, I'm concentrating too much on getting through the standards/objectives for The Test at the end of the semester, instead of the best way for my students to learn the material. I do give them choices of assignments sometimes --but only sometimes because I can't figure out how to put their learning in the district gradebook if they don't complete the same assignments. So, even if I wanted to work on personalizing my classroom, I'm impeded at the district level. I want to go to Mooresville and see what their setup is. In this TEDTalk, the presenter mentions that school district as a leader in reimagining technology in the classroom:

 


So, as I'm thinking about personalized learning using technology, it sounds like the SAMR model -- don't just digitize the same lectures, but allow technology to do its job for transformation. That's a powerful pedagogical shift in thinking!

For this assignment, I've created scenarios for personalized, differentiated, and individualized learning in my high school ELA classroom. We read the book Night last month, so I've based my examples on it.

1. Differentiation --In differentiation, the teacher is in charge of the class time and assignments; however the students can choose what to work on. Some teachers may use choice boards or groupings. Additionally, students could post to an online discussion through a shared Google slideshow or wiki.  Normally I teach this book through learning stations. The students rotate through 3-4 stations per day until all the assignments are completed. One of the stations I use is online research about particular topics pertaining to WWII and The Holocaust (I have links provided). They are graded on whether they complete the work, and their grade on the final test. Although there is choice (and movement), the teacher really owns the learning.


2. Individualization -- Here, the students may need more time to read the novel, or, they could become an expert on an aspect of the setting/time period, then teach to the class. Students can use technology to practice vocabulary or write blog posts about a topic of interest. But time is a factor when thinking about individualizing a lesson. Sometimes, I've let a student decide how to show their learning that might be different from a list of projects (ex: I want them to create a digital story, but they would rather make a 3D model). Again, the teacher owns the learning.


3. Personalization --In personalization, the teacher can use a "playlist" of assignments where the student chooses those that most interest him/her; the playlist is based on the standards/objectives emphasized in the unit. Here, the student is in charge of how they will learn those objectives. For example, in my unit on Night, if a student had a question about an aspect of WWII, she could visit the history teacher next door who is our resident expert. Then the student would connect that new knowledge to her learning objective. Most of the work in a personalized, student-centered classroom is digital, both in classroom work and in assessments. The teacher's role is providing feedback and facilitating student progress on objectives.


To illustrate the personalization scenario, I created a video using Dvolver, an animation program:

http://www.dvolver.com/live/movies-1266512

I tried to show personalized learning from a student's point of view. Coming to class and asking the teacher where to start, but the teacher directs the student to the pretest and a list of assignments to meet the objectives from it. The student gets to choose not only what he wants to work on, but how --he wants to work with a student who knows a lot about the book and who can help make sure he's on the right track. The student is in charge of how and with whom he learns; the teacher is a facilitator of the objectives.

This stuff has me like....