Personalized learning is an approach within our profession that excites, motivates, and even sometimes overwhelms teachers charged with implementing practices. Personalized learning has been developed and tailored to the local contexts in a variety of ways throughout the state. In order to support a customized approach to educating youth, teachers need a reflective partner, guide-on-the-side, and advocate. Instructional Coaches serving in districts throughout the state support personalized learning by serving teachers in these capacities. Below are perspectives on supporting personalized learning from Instructional Coaches at Benton Community. They speak to how they support personalized learning for teachers and with teachers for students.
Personalized Learning for Teachers: Personalized learning for teachers starts by having a conversation with the teacher or a team to decide what they want their learning to be. Once this is decided, then I look for resources to help guide them in their work towards their goal. I help teachers look at their data and assist them where they feel they need the most help.
When I am working with teams, I always make sure that I ask the teachers what their personal learning outcome is, in addition to their team goal. If I know both, I can try to connect the team with one another to model or share what they are doing to impact their students. When I'm working with an individual, it is again goal-based. I also try to see how and when they are going to apply their learning to their instruction, which is a great entry point for me as the coach to observe/script for them, etc.
Personalized learning can take shape in many different forms. As an Instructional Coach, it is my goal to be the connector to support movement within the goal that is personal. This connection piece might entail reflective conversation to ask questions or gain another's insight, it might mean finding resources related to the goal area to further our knowledge base, it might charge me with the task to model a strategy or co-teach with a teacher, it might be collaborative planning and/or analyzing student data. Supporting personalized learning really is the essence of my job. Being the connector is where the art of coaching occurs.
Personalized Learning with Teachers for Students: When I think of personalized learning I think about data-driven decision making, flexible content, targeted instruction, and student reflection. In coaching cycles, I work on many of these aspects daily. In our data team work, all teachers work to make data-driven decisions. In student-centered coaching cycles, we focus on data-driven decision making. I am working in a coaching cycle with a teacher right now where we are working on developing individual learning plans for students that target instructional steps using a combination of technology and individual instruction. Any time we help teachers focus instruction to address individual student needs, we are personalizing learning. By using technology, we are helping teachers make content flexible for students. Students can now focus their learning on areas that interest them by using technology to access information. In addition, technology allows teachers to receive individual responses to check for understanding. These individual responses help us personalize learning. When I know where each student is in their understanding, I can target my instruction. Finally, I have also worked with my own students in Spanish class to focus on individual reflection. When I ask students to journal on questions that make them reflect on their learning, I am personalizing learning.
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August 2022
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