“I am in Blood,
Stepp’d so far, should I wade no more
Returning were as tedious as go o’er”
Macbeth, Act 3 Scene 4
While this is a melancholy line from “the Scottish play”, I feel it accurately summarizes my feelings of where I am. I’ve gone so far that there’s no going back. I wish I could but as they say, “the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there“. I feel like I have seen so much incredible and impressive work, that to return to what I was doing before seems almost insipid. My old approach seems to lack intellectual engagement for me as a teacher and respect for my students needs. I feel like everything has changed.
Most importantly the reason for this complete flip is that my motivation to teach has alway been to serve children and in light of my experiences it is just morally wrong to not offer this to my kids. I’ve been shown how to make their learning more purposeful, real and alive, to not do so would be to let them down. We will all make mistakes in the process but we have been given a direction to follow, execution of the promise of Personalized Learning will be challenging but essential.
Blended Learning really is Personalized Learning. It is giving children control and treating them as a partner in learning. It is to me more than just about achieving on some traditional measure of proficiency or a particular skill set. Instead it enables children to understand what they are learning and why it is important. This level of control was what I craved especially during my rebellious years. I resisted the teacher’s dictatorship (as I saw it). This confrontational dynamic is impossible if the student is engaged and given responsibility in their learning.
Furthermore this Personalized Learning offers a way for students to find their own independent route as learners. They can discover their own style and select materials based on their prior knowledge too. By passing an assessment at their own pace they can progress in a playlist. In my class I hope to use this to allow children greater choice and autonomy in selecting areas of study.
But this only happens because teachers are still there guiding, selecting, creating, questioning, facilitating, analyzing. A major takeaway from last week is that Personalized Learning requires us to be EVEN BETTER as teachers. If you have bad classroom management it will be more exposed by the transitions. If you can’t analyze and implement data you will be overcome by the data stream. If you are lackadaisical in your planning you will end up with badly organized activities.
All this means that Personalized Learning may ultimately require specialized teachers. A grade may share responsibilities based on strength and work collaboratively to best utilize the talent pool. Teachers may be required to departmentalize at the elementary level to stay on top of the quality of work created.
Another clear lesson is that we still need great routines and as evidenced at Titan, LWL and Summit. This is messy work right now so you need to have a school which has a strong and effective culture. Children need to understand expectations and be ready to demonstrate self control throughout the building and especially in their learning.
We also saw that leadership is essential. But leadership that works collaboratively with faculty is the ideal model to encourage innovation. Leaders who were honest, reflective and lead by doing retained strong, creative teachers who felt supported in the high level of work they were doing. For example at Titan only 3 teachers have left in 5 years. Astonishing.
Data will play an increasing part in our teaching. Rather than laboriously plodding through grading after a lesson and having to create complex excels or a confusing sequence of piled papers, we are able to get an accurate and in depth snap shot of the class quickly. This opens up the possibility for frequent regrouping a dynamic grouping. No longer high/middle/low instead grouped by standard or skill, by learning style etc. But always rooted in the data avalanche Personalized Learning offers.
We still need engaging teachers that can make content exciting and can use questioning to make learning active, real and challenging. Teachers must also be engaged in the process, they cannot have the model forced upon them by management. This is a massive commitment for teachers and good teachers will want to be a part of this work.
When engaged and treated as a partner teachers will demonstrate themselves capable of the same freedom and autonomy we are entrusting in our students. Teachers are committed, resilient and knowledgeable. Their insights on the ground floor cannot be ignored. They understand better than anyone what programs and structures will or will not work.
The last takeaway for teachers is that we have to cede control over the classroom. We may love our favorite lesson on Electricity as we know every twist or turn but that does not mean it is reaching all of our students. When I was in a band we played a song I wrote called “Hollow Victories” I loved this song and knew the melody and chord structure intimately. I could feel every direction the song could take. But it became a crutch, we played the song because we knew every movement and moment of it. We had to push ourselves to improve as musicians and further engage our audience. Similarly as teachers we must challenge ourselves to change for the good of our students.
To recap for Personalized Learning to occur we need:
1) teachers to be at their best
2) teachers to specialize
3) better more collaborative leadership
4) great culture and routines
5) Data analysis and flexible grouping
6) Engaging teachers
7) Teacher autonomy
8) To be ready to change.
But most excitingly to me is the world of possibilities opened by my closing thought on the end game of Personalized Learning. I believe it may mark the end of one size classrooms and schools. We will end up with the same variety of buildings, structures, classes and teaching that is displayed in our children’s learning styles. Children will be given a chance to learn in many classrooms and in many ways. Learning will no longer be automated into one main model. Instead we will have couture education specializing to the needs of the student.
Seriously how could you make do with this?
Educating Mr. Howes 