Personalized Learning Notes
August 2021
In this month's PL Notes you will find:
- School garden news
- How to Empower Readers
Five project ideas for building relationships
10 Creative Risks to Take with Your Students this Year
NEW! FAQ Forum--please send your questions for next month!
Quick Note for new teachers
10 Creative Risks to Take with Your Students this Year
1. Get started with student blogging.
2. Do a Wonder Day or Wonder Week project.
3. Give sketch-noting a chance.
4. Launch a design-thinking sprint.
5. Carve out time for a genius hour.
6. Try out a divergent-thinking mini project.
7. Have students create sketch videos.
8. Do a Maker Monday. (I'd LOVE to gather the supplies and bring them to your room!)
9. Create Scratch video games together.
10. Show and Tell
You can read the full blog post or listen to the podcast HERE.
If you'd like to try one of these ideas, or a creative idea of your own, I'd be happy to help you think it through, gather supplies, or co-teach a lesson.
A Reminder of the Goal of Personalized Learning: Student Agency
How will you empower your students?
Stef has designed a Meeting Cycle Visual to guide the time that we meet with each team. Whether you are focusing on PL with me, or SEL with Stef (or likely a combination of both, as there is so much overlap), we hope this visual will help keep us focused on planning and revising to meet your needs and the needs of your students.
GARDEN NEWS
New School Garden!! We got the grant!
Have a green thumb? Do you believe gardening can transform lives? Join the group of us who are working to get a school garden started this year. We received funding for startup essentials and for curriculum to support implementation across grade levels and subjects. We have a site selected, and we have the assistance of two county Master Gardeners. Now, we just need a few more excited individuals to meet with us and/or provide input as we make this dream a reality!
Please let me know if you are willing to help get this great learning opportunity "in the ground"!
Books in Bloom--Garden Literature
Books in Bloom: Discovering the plant biology of great children's literature
Next Generation Science Standards
Literature for Books in Bloom curriculum
Project Ideas for Building Relationships
In her August 17th Spark Creativity blog post, Betsy suggests 5 ELA activities for building relationships. However, several of these ideas are not ELA specific.
#1 One-Pager Activities: About Me, Reading Profile, Hexagonal Identity, Name Tents
#2 Podcast Stories
#3 6 Word Memoir
#4 I Am From Poems
#5 One-Word Project
You can read the full blog post HERE. I have heard great feedback from those who have tried her Hexagonal thinking activities. On another note, she is currently living in Europe and her Instagram account is fun to follow.
Blog and Podcast Series--Empowering Readers
Empowering Readers from Day One
Spencer is one of my favorites. He inspires me with his energy, creativity, and his awesome sketch note visuals.
There is No Such Thing as a Reluctant Reader
Sometimes Student Choice Isn't the Answer to Reading
FAQ Forum
September's FAQs
Here are a few questions or statements that I routinely hear and some possible responses I might give in an effort to promote self reflection and student agency. I welcome you to submit questions for next month’s newsletter and to comment on and/or add to responses that I provide this month. Please email me with your contributions.
(I apologize for the weird numbering. The Smore platform is a bit finicky.)
“I can’t do this.”
What can’t you do?
What is it about the task that you can’t do?
What do you need in order to do this?
A pencil?
Better directions?
Repeated directions?
What might help you to be able to do this?
Is there something you need to know or practice first?
Would it help to do this with a partner?
Would it help to watch someone else do it first?
How can we solve this problem?
What have you tried so far?
“This is hard!”
What is hard about it?
What would make it easier?
What could you do to make it easier?
What have you tried so far?
How could we break this task into smaller parts that would be easier for you?
“This is dumb.”
That is your opinion, however, I believe it’s important. Let me tell you why.
Why do you say that? What would you suggest?
“Why do we need to know this?”
Can you think of any possible reasons? What do you think I might say?
Can anyone else in this room give a reason they can think of?
Great question! It’s important that you know why you are doing something. In order to personalize your learning, we need to think about your big goals, what you know and don’t know yet, and then what you need to know in order to reach your goals.
“This is too easy, or I already know this.”
Let’s find something more challenging for you to work on.
What would you like to learn while others are practicing this?
As long as you can demonstrate your knowledge to me, you are free to:
Work on an independent project of your choice
Choose from the challenge activity box
Work ahead
Free read, write, draw
Do homework
Quick Note for New Teachers
On the STRIDE PL Website, you will find a rationale for Personalized Learning (PL), interest inventory templates, PL templates, sample PL/SEL lesson plans and units, self reflection questions, questioning strategies, information about the Makerspace, former PL newsletters, and much more.
Quick link to last year's PL Notes HERE.
I am here to help personalize learning for both you and your students. Feel free to contact me with questions at any time, to request resource help, to schedule time to plan together, to request makerspace supplies delivered to your room, or to ask me to observe you or your students. WELCOME to STRIDE!
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