Personalization: Weeks 5&6

Personalization Tip #3

Ask students how it is going. OFTEN. 

God bless you if you are teaching and still, somehow, making time for professional learning outside of school. I have not spent nearly the time I normally do reading blogs, checking out teacher content, or creating shared resources.

Mostly, I am watching TikTok and crying at how accurate all the teacher creators are. (I am also simultaneously guilt-ridden that I support TikTok when it is single-handedly making a job that already felt impossible actually unbearable. #amiright?)

Other than combatting "Devious Licks" and the far worse upcoming challenges, how are things? I mean, we're only handling the politicizing of COVID, subbing in every spare second because of crippling staff shortages, and being accused of "indoctrinating" children....

Lockdown isn't looking all that bad now.

But we persist. Somehow, we keep doing what is best for kids and sacrificing our own well-being (and sanity) for theirs. And listening... which is kind of what I wanted to focus on in today's personalization update.

My tip above is one that I think applies to all teaching, but especially to personalized learning. The entire goal of personalizing learning is to get students to use their voice and make positive choices about their education so that they can so the same outside of school. Without habitually checking in with them, they slowly lose that voice and just surrender to the traditional teacher-driven form of learning. In other words, without listening - personalization fails.

There are two types of check-in that I try to employ consistently: Conferencing and Surveys. 

1. Conferencing
While I try to do quick "How's it going?" checks while I move around the class during learning time, I also try to ask questions about their learning. For instance, as they were coming up with assessment ideas this week, a lot of them were asking me about finding articles to analyze. My response has usually been: "Well, what do you care about? What is going to make this interesting?" Then... they look at me blankly, as though they've never been asked such a question in school.
I also try to ask about the best approach. I had a few students who were taking a long time on the teacher-designed assessment (CHECK), so I asked: "Would it work better if I asked you the questions instead of you writing out all of your response?" Again... blank stares, usually followed by "I can DO that?" 

While conferencing is sometimes about questions they have on the content, I also use those moments to ask them what is working and what isn't. From conferences I've had during Unit 1, I learned that a couple students needed to be added to my oral response group for assessments (as mentioned above) and that my teacher-designed assessment was taking much longer than I had anticipated. It motivated me to look at my Unit 2 assessment and eliminate some redundant prompts. One of my favorite things about personalizing the learning process is that I have time for these conversations.

2. Surveys
When I want to hear from everyone, I use a survey. Especially, as I am learning about a new group of students, it is important to give them a chance to speak up anonymously or privately. Survey's give that opportunity.
This week, I created a survey about my LMS (Schoology) setup and pacing. It also had an open spot for kids to pose other questions. Based on their responses, I made some slight changes to Unit 2, but for the most part, they were on-board and positive.

Actually, what I liked about this check-in survey - which I created entirely to have them reflect on MY work - was that the kids used it more as a chance to reflect on how they were doing. I got a lot of comments about how they had the tools they needed, but they needed to avoid procrastination and focus in class. Or comments asking me what my expectations were in niche situations.
Surveys seem simple, but they are a powerful tool to hear from kids. And, as I learned with this one, a subtle way to get them reflecting on their learning.


Because this week and last have been focused on finishing assessments, my time has been largely spent in conferences and talking to kids. I have also started some of my usual interventions for those students who begin to fall behind.

This - the point where kids fall behind or struggle to manage their time - is what frightens a lot of teachers away from personalized learning. First of all, honestly, they're usually the same kids who fall behind regardless, and secondly, there are so many ways to keep kids on track.

Here are some strategies I've used over the last two weeks:

Pacing  Interventions

• Setting daily goals on their unit calendar.
• Mapping out a plan for the week in the same calendar.
• Emailing advisory (homeroom) teachers to let them know the student has English to work on.
• Requesting the students during flex time. (I know most schools don't have this. Sorry).
• Asking students to come in during their open periods.
• Reminding the entire class of each upcoming suggested deadline. Daily. 
• Chatting with their volleyball coach about focus in class.

You'll notice that as of now, I have not contacted home. Part of building agency is giving students a chance to handle it themselves. I try to give them as much chance to right mistakes on their own before reaching out to parents.

That said, our "blackout deadline" for unit 1 work is Oct 13. (These deadlines are the final cut off for any work related to Unit 1. I usually schedule them a week or two after my suggested deadline). Because my blackout deadline is Oct 13, I will probably message parents the Friday before if I am worried about a kid finishing on time. At that time, I send a list of their specific tasks to complete and the final blackout deadline.

I want to clarify that flexible pacing does not mean a free-for-all. Its more about allowing for a window of time in which kids can complete work. Completely open pacing - which I have also tried - is not successful and honestly, the kids didn't want it each. They love the flexibility, but they have told me every year that they need some  hard deadlines to keep on track. 


So these weeks, it was listening and intervening where I needed to. Without the daily lesson planning of traditional learning, I have time to do these things. As I mentioned in previous posts, personalized learning gives me the time to do all the things that I actually enjoy about teaching. Mostly, it allows me to really know kids...

...which is just enough to make up for stupid TikTok challenges.
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Sincerely, Cwik