Personalized Learning Notes
May 2021
In this month's newsletter:
- Ideas for closing out the year with your students
- Take a tour of school gardens across the country
- Making plans for our school garden
- Teaching to standards with PBL
- The importance of SEL for teachers
- Improving brainstorming practices
More Great Podcasts and Articles from Dr. John Spencer
Teaching to the Standards with PBL
"People often debate about whether we should be process-driven or product-driven in project-based learning....we should start with the question, 'What do we want students to learn?' and let that drive the process and the product."
Check out Spencer's table to see the connection between the types of standards you teach and the corresponding PBL approach (driven by inquiry, empathy, interest, product, or problem).
Find the article and podcast HERE.
Wasting Your Time with SEL?
Time spent on SEL is not wasted time, it is an investment of time.
Listen to the podcast HERE
Is Brainstorming Broken?
Spencer offers 7 ways to fix brainstorming.
Find the article and podcast HERE.
Plan to Use the Garden to Teach Your Standards Next Year!
We hope you feel the excitement and will join us in making plans to provide your students with a great hands-on learning experience! We look forward to collaborating with you and your students!
Watch All or Part of a Virtual School Garden Tour
You will find the links to the videos HERE. Scroll down the page to find the descriptions for each individual segment. There are videos from elementary, middle school, and community gardens.
- Connecting Food, Land, and People* (4:26 min)
- Make a Tape Bracelet* (3:05 min)
- Harvest the Sun Twice (solar garden!)* (2:36 min)
- How Do You Build Community? (2:53 min)
- Make Garden Fresh Aguas Frescas (3:03 min)
- What Does a Seed Mean to You? (3:58 min)
- We Are All Scientists--Engineer a Flying Seed Model (2:26 min)
* a couple of my favorites, but they were hard to pick!
Closing Out the Year
Edmentom's 30 Day Summer Challenge
Have Students Create a Summer Bucket List
8 Epic Ideas for Ending the School Year
Personalized Learning at STRIDE
Personalized Learning (PL):
Develops self-reflective learners who actively participate in:
Setting learning goals
Designing learning paths
Deciding how to demonstrate learning and growth
Ruth Thom, Personalized Learning Coordinator