Category: Personalized Learning

Personalized Learning + Learning Mascots

12/18/2019

Personalized Learning

If there is one pedagogy I completely agree with, it's "Personalized Learning". What does that mean? Here's the definition that's used on our state framework here in South Carolina: "Personalized learning is an educational framework that supports all students as they seek to achieve the knowledge, skills, and characteristics identified in the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.

By fostering student ownership of learning, developing learner profiles and learning pathways and adopting flexible learning environments, each student’s education experience is tailored to meet his or her unique strengths, needs, and goals." There's a lot to "unpack" here, but I'm just focusing on Learner Profiles of it for this post.

Learner Profiles

A few weeks ago, I made myself put down my required reading to escape with Carrie Baughcum's book, My Pencil Made Me Do It. It's a guide to sketchnoting, which is one of my favorite ways to take notes! After I read a professional development book I go back and capture all the notes scribbled in the margins, along with highlighted quotes/thoughts and add them into a bullet journal type planner so I always have my notes with me. There's NO way I could carry my favorite EDU books around with me and I'm not one of those people who can spout off quotes like I'm the one who said them (my husband is like that and I WISH I was, but I digress). So... Sketchnoting is my way of documenting and accessing my learning when I can't retrieve it from my own memory.
What does Sketchnoting have anything to do with Learner Profiles? Here's an #sketchnote I created based on Carrie's idea of creating a Learning Mascot! It is basically a character you create to give your learner profile a life of it's own. Mine had to have an owl because I love them for no apparent reason, but I feel like they fit the education theme, the rest of the image is pretty self explanitory. ?

Learner Profiles + Learning Mascots

"Learner Profiles are up-to-date records that provide a deep understanding of each student’s progress toward meeting the knowledge, skills, and characteristics of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate as well as his or her unique strengths, needs, and goals. Meaningful evidence of learning from multiple sources is used to inform learner profiles including pre-and post-assessments and frequent formative assessments."

When I saw the questions asked to come up with a Learning Mascot, I realized that this activity also helps identify "unique strengths, needs, and goals" by creating a character to help students describe themselves. It's like having a friend that says what you want to say, but are too scared to say it.

My #Hyperdoc for a Learner Backpack from the book How to Personalize Learning.

Step 1 to create your Learning Mascot:

Identify 3 of your strengths
Identify 5 things you love
Say hello to your learning mascot

Step 2, answer the following questions:

What is it's story?
What does it need to grow?
What are 5 facts about your learning mascot?
What legacy does it leave?

*What does it say when things get hard? #growthmindset ?
*What does it's heart look like? #SEL

It's like giving your learner profile a life of it's own!

Now the fun part... Draw your mascot image and add it's height, age, and where it lives.

Of course, I can't explain this part like Carrie would, so you have to check out her videos that I have linked above and grab her book while your at it! I can't wait to demonstrate this process in classrooms to give life to our learner profiles to help Personalize learning. I hope you'll join us on our journey by following the hashtag #learningmascot on Twitter and Instagram!

Call to action!

What does your learning mascot look like? I hope you'll give this activity a try and share on social media! Make sure to tag me and Carrie too. This is a great visual to add to your personal mission statement or to visualize your "why". Happy doodling! ~Pam @specialtechie

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Using Blended Learning to Personalize Learning

11/17/2018

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Blended Learning

Have you ever understood one of our educational "buzz words" to mean something completely different than one of your coworkers? This happens all the time, especially when we mention Blended or Personalized Learning. Some people think of them as the same thing.
They can be used together, but they are not the same. So, how are they different? How can they be used together to enhance our classrooms today?

If someone asks me about Blended Learning, I always share the Blended Learning Universe site.
They describe 7 models "in action" as well as some videos and visuals to help you understand what they look like. Below are the definitions of each of the models from the Blended Learning Universe site, make sure to check it our for more details!

7 Models of Blended Learning

Blended Learning Universe

1. Station Rotation: allows students to rotate through stations on a fixed schedule, where at least one of the stations is an online learning station. This model is most common in elementary schools because teachers are already familiar rotating in “centers” or stations.

2. Lab Rotation: like a Station Rotation, allows students to rotate through stations on a fixed schedule. However, in this case, online learning occurs in a dedicated computer lab. This model allows for flexible scheduling arrangements with teachers and other paraprofessionals, and enables schools to make use of existing computer labs.

3: Individual Rotation: allows students to rotate through stations, but on individual schedules set by a teacher or software algorithm. Unlike other rotation models, students do not necessarily rotate to every station; they rotate only to the activities scheduled on their playlists.

4: Flipped Classroom: flips the traditional relationship between class time and homework. Students learn at home via online coursework and lectures, and teachers use class time for teacher-guided practice or projects. This model enables teachers to use class time for more than delivering traditional lectures.

5: Flex: lets students move on fluid schedules among learning activities according to their needs. Online learning is the backbone of student learning in a Flex model. Teachers provide support and instruction on a flexible, as-needed basis while students work through course curriculum and content. This model can give students a high degree of control over their learning.

6: A la Carte: enables students to take an online course with an online teacher of record _in addition_ to other face-to-face courses, which often provides students with more flexibility over their schedules. A La Carte courses can be a great option when schools can’t provide particular learning opportunities, such as an Advanced Placement or elective course, making it one of the more popular models in blended high schools.

7: Enriched Virtual: is an alternative to full-time online school that allows students to complete the majority of coursework online at home or outside of school, but attend school for required face-to-face learning sessions with a teacher. Unlike the Flipped Classroom, Enriched Virtual programs usually don’t require daily school attendance; some programs may only require twice-weekly attendance, for example.