• Personalized Learning

    Personalized Learning

    Oakland Elementary is on a new venture to bring personalized learning for all students.  Our teachers are devoted to offering an education that will prepare students for the 21st Century.  Our staff has begun training last year during our mini-pilot phase. During that time we started in the area of math and focused on goal setting and conferencing to increase the motivation of our students.  In looking back we had a successful year and showed increases in learning as well as the motivation in our students.  This year we have added nine additional teachers to our design team that are educating students using personalized learning.  It is anticipated that our school will be fully functional in personalized learning in 2020.

     

    What is Personalized Learning? 

    Personalized learning is a progressively student-driven model of education that empowers students to pursue aspirations, investigate problems, design solutions, chase curiosities, and create performances (Zmunda, Curtis, & Ullman, 2015).

    In the past, teachers would have the mindset of teaching one for all.  It would be a classroom where a large percentage of what students learned were led by teachers.  Today the roles have changed, and it’s expected for students to become leaders that are in control of their learning. Our society is no longer accepting students to just study the content out of context, but instead want citizens to examine issues, identify problems, brainstorm solutions, and act on their thoughts. Personalized learning will be the catalyst to help students become learners of the 21st Century.

     

    How can stakeholders help with Personalized Learning?

    I know that you have heard the popular slogan, “It takes a village to raise a child”, and well the same slogan holds true for personalized learning at Oakland Elementary School.  All hands are on deck as it relates to aiding our students to become successful. Parents, you are your child’s biggest advocate and can play a major role in personalized learning.  There is a strong need to have patience in the process, have an understanding that students learn at different speeds, and stress that there is great value in making mistakes.  All stakeholders can work together to bring the fear of failure to a minimum to non-existent. Below is an informational link that can help you understand personalized learning and its importance of having parental involvement.

    https://www.inacol.org/news/how-can-families-and-communities-support-personalized-learning/

     

    For more information please contact:

    Tabatha R. Ridley, Ed.S

    Instructional Personalized Learning Lead

    tabatha.ridley@henry.k12.ga.us